Show Spy is a TVSA column that uncovers must-watch international shows. This column keeps you scooped on international series that get our thumbs-up! to help you choose what to watch from the huge selection of international shows available across multiple platforms.
You buy your dream home, move in, put your stamp on it and next thing - Boo! - it turns into your rigor mortis nightmare.
You see visions, some are real, others are hallucinations. Doors open, slam and trap you by themselves. Strangers arrive under moonshine, bloodied, eyes bulging, brandishing weapons to you kill.
The cellar has a dark secret that it spits out with fierce terror when you least expect it. Shadows dart across the corner of your eye, fleeting but persistent enough to be deadly.
The neighbours are more twisted than a pretzel and soak themselves into your life like a sour dip. They unlock your doors after midnight. They watch you.
You're haunted and there's no way to escape.
It's the stuff horror movies have been made of for forever and now the phenomenon has been turned into a TV show. The scream queen series American Horror Story premiered in the US two weeks ago and it's a true TV reinvention of horror classics: not for the faint-hearted but for those with hearts that are thrilled by being freaked.
Think a mix of
Poltergeist and the iconic 90's series
American Gothic and you'll have an idea of what it's like.
The story centres round a family of three who move from Boston to Los Angeles. They have a troubled past (of course) and want a fresh start.
They buy a restored mansion when they should know better. The real estate agent tells them that a series of grisly murders happened in the house but does it put them off? Nah.
They move in and surprise, surprise - the place is haunted. The house then becomes a mirror of their collective psyche as they attempt to work out what's real and what's not, while fighting to stay alive through it.
Dylan McDermott (The Practice, Dark Blue) stars as Ben: dad, a psychiatrist, carrying the burden of a mistake that his wife can't forgive him for.
Connie Britton (Spin City, Friday Night Lights, The West Wing) plays his wife Vivien: haunted by the past two years of their life.
And Jessica Lange plays their creepy, psycho neighbour. Yet another movie star who's seen that TV's taken over from films.
Chilling news: M-Net has confirmed that they've the secured the rights to it. It'll premiere on one of the M-Net channels early in 2012
As you'll see from the trailer, it's got the added freak-factor of being created by the creators of
Glee - which doesn't surprise me actually - I've always thought of Glee as a horror, brrrrr: