After months of mysterious (and brilliant) teasers, American Horror Story finally premiered last night, and unfortunately, there were no screaming spiders. Only dead pigs, racist hillbillies, and Marcia Clarke and O.J. Simpson having sex. Classic Ryan Murphy. This season’s subtitle is My Roanoke Nightmare, a historical nod to the lost colony of Roanoke Island, but that’s not what anyone was talking about afterwards. They were too busy noticing the similarities between American Horror Story and The Blair Witch Project.
In AHS: My Roanoke Nightmare, a young married couple Shelby and Matt (Lily Rabe and Andre Holland in “real life,” Sarah Paulson and Cuba Gooding Jr. in the dramatic reenactment) leave the big city and move to a creepy old house in North Carolina. Things, as they are wont to do, immediately get spooky. Men with torches try to drown Shelby, she gets locked in the basement with her sister-in-law, and bundles of human-shaped twigs are scattered throughout the house and the woods. That got everyone thinking the same thing (it didn’t help that FX ran a promo for Blair Witch during the episode).
https://twitter.com/NoChillJerry/status/776251763406110721
This seems very Blair witch project to me? #AHSS6
— 🌵🍉 (@ok_vince) September 15, 2016
https://twitter.com/Rainstorm_Grey/status/776253177448366080
https://twitter.com/CapshawTeam/status/776253071630401536
Blair Witch???? Oooooh I'm here for it #AHSS6
— Sophia ♡ (@sophelise4real) September 15, 2016
American Horror Story: We Didn't Realize A New Blair Witch Movie Was Coming Out The Same Week As Our Season 6 Premiere, Our Bad
— 🔪 ghost hole 🔪 (@HexedSupernova) September 15, 2016
'American Horror Story: The Blair Witch Project' #AHS6 😂
— ฅ( ̳• ·̫ • ̳ฅ) (@javisanvs) September 15, 2016
Ok so the theme is colonial Blair witch lol #americanhorrorstory
— jonathan (@__j0nathan) September 15, 2016
THIS DONE TURNED INTO THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT WTF #AHSFX# AHS6 #AmericanHorrorStory
— myah✨ (@myaahhmxx) September 15, 2016
https://twitter.com/bbabybreee/status/776298262768660480
Blair Witch???? Wtf!! #AmericanHorrorStory
— Rose Garcia (@shotcalla) September 15, 2016
So is this suppose to be American horror story or Blair witch
— Alex Chase (@alexchase99) September 15, 2016
American Horror Story is looking more and more like The Blair Witch Project #AHSS6
— John Michaux (@johnbacon21) September 15, 2016
Twig-men will always be compared to The Blair Witch Project, but especially in the same week that a new (and unfortunately lackluster) Blair Witch movie is coming out. AHS also didn’t do itself any favors by showing shaky found footage that was filmed in the woods. Although neither The Blair Witch Project nor Blair Witch includes pig-monsters. Or do they…? (They don’t.)