10 Most Disturbing American Horror Story Episodes

4. “Holes” – Season 7, Episode 5

American Horror Story Smouldering Children
FX

From an episode which gets its name from a certain kind of phobia, you bet that we are going to see some truly disturbing stuff. Separated from her wife and child, series protagonist Ally contends with her mounting anxieties in a home that has been ‘marked’ by a cult of killer clowns. The most horrifying moment from this episode stems from this cult’s attack on the home of a local newsman named Bob.

People nowadays will do anything for likes, but few go as far as the series antagonist, Kai. In a bid to spread a message of fear to the general public, Kai and his cult dress up as clowns and torture Bob on camera. Their attack is interrupted, however, when Bob reveals that he has a gimp strung up in his attic. Sure enough, the cult finds a man suspended by hooks through his skin in the newsman’s attic. Kai instructs his followers to attack both Bob and his gimp, stabbing them to death in an all-too-real film sequence.

The American Horror Story creators really wanted to double-down on Kai’s psychopathy, it would seem, because later in the same episode we discover his parents' fate. After a nasty murder-suicide, Kai discovered his parents' bodies, and rather than calling the police or doing any other rational thing, he mummifies them. Kids these days.

Contributor
Contributor

Dan is a writer and actor originally from South Australia who now lives in a constant state of anxiety... and Los Angeles. Whether writing about movies, watching movies, or binging the Great British Bake-off, Dan approaches any endeavour with a steely resolve which is rivalled only by his ability to lie about his strengths. For professional inquiries, call Melissa Cropley - Dan's mum; she wishes he would call more often and you'd really be doing him a favour.