American Horror Story worst episodes

The 10 worst episodes of American Horror Story, according to their rating on IMDb

Justice for number three!!!


American Horror Story is the telly equivalent of a car boot sale. Sure, you might find some hidden, AMAZING gems in every different car. But you know that mostly, you’re going to be rummaging your way through tat and crap. These episodes are what the general public has declared as the 10 most rotten piles of crap across the entire 10 season American Horror Story canon, thanks to ratings cast on IMDb. Here are the 10 worst episodes of American Horror Story, according to their rating on IMDb:

10. Great Again (7.1)

The finale of Cult comes in at 10th, officially the best of the worst. In the episode, Evan Peters’ cult leader Kai gets his comeuppance and Sarah Paulson’s Ally gets the last laugh as the one who managed to pull the strings to contact the FBI behind Kai’s back. Ally runs for senate, Kai tries to get revenge but Beverley shoots Kaid and Ally says “a nasty woman is more powerful than a humiliated man”. The reveal is then that Ally is forwarding Valerie Solanas’ SCUM agenda. This episode garnered mostly positive reviews and I personally thought it wrapped Cult up well, and I would attest this score mostly to Cult’s general unpopularity.

9. Inside (6.9)

Inside is the second episode of Death Valley, the second half of the currently airing 10th season Double Feature. The first half of Double Feature, dubbed Red Tide, was immensely popular and received acclaim. Death Valley has crashed, burned and plummeted back to earth so far in its panned reception from fans and critics alike. In its second episode, Death Valley tells the story of John F. Kennedy discovering that his predecessor as President, Dwight Eisenhower, made an agreement with aliens that allowed 5000 Americans to be abducted every year. O-kay.

8. Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark (6.8)

It’s no secret that American Horror Story: Cult got off to an unsavoury start with fans, and both of its opening episodes sit amongst AHS’s worst. This episode builds on Cult’s plot of opportunistic racism in the wake of Trump’s election win and more frenzy and paranoia surrounding the clowns. A lot of Sarah Paulson screaming and crying, which proved off-putting for many even if Billy Eichner and Leslie Grossman are delightful.

7. Sojourn (6.6)

One of the weaker IMDb rated and sitting amongst the worst episodes is Sojourn, a disliked episode in American Horror Story: Apocalypse. Apocalypse is otherwise a fairly well regarded season, but this episode that focuses on Antichrist Michael Langdon trying to find his purpose after the death of his mother figure Miriam Mead is one that finds him in contact with Mutt and Jeff, robotics engineers and Satanists. And also the Illuminati. Of course.

6. Election Night (6.5)

American Horror Story: Cult focussing on the aftermath of the 2017 US Presidential Election was on the nose, and the first episode got the season off to a dreadful start even if things managed to pick up later down the line. Election Night was too much too soon, and the premise in the first episode came across as thinly drawn. Both Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson’s characters were incredibly unlikeable from the off. First impressions are important.

5. Chapter 10 (6.4)

American Horror Story: Roanoke’s final hour is centred on Adina Porter’s character Lee, navigating various TV shows in the wake of the horrors that unfold on and off screen in the million different shows that formulate Roanoke’s plot. The highlight, of course, being the return of Lana Winters from AHS Asylum. This episode, whilst fun and unexpected, was quite a lowkey and anticlimactic end to Roanoke.

4. Blue Moon (6.3)

American Horror Story worst episodes

In the penultimate episode of both Death Valley and American Horror Story: Double Feature as a whole, the plot is all about Area 51, preserved hybrid aliens and present day births from humans of alien babies that want to eat faces. Chaos. I perused the IMDb reviews as to why this one was hated so strongly, and the answer seemingly lies within the realm of homophobia. The episode focusses a lot on a pregnant man in a gay couple (albeit with an alien baby, but still) and a lot of the negative reviews on IMDb criticise this episode for being “woke nonsense”… so, you know. Take this score with a pinch of bigoted salt.

3. Valerie Solanas Died For Your Sins: Scumbag (5.9)

Look, I’m no Lena Dunham apologist. But I actually thought this Valerie Solanas centred, weird episode of American Horror Story: Cult was very good and has no place within a list of worst episodes. I can see why it was divisive, but for me it worked. Most of the episode is focussed around Lena Dunham’s guest turn as Valerie Solanas, a radical feminist who in her SCUM Manifesto advocated for the destruction of men. She also tried to assassinate Andy Warhol. There’s also some plot about how Solanas orchestrated the Zodiac killings. Right.

2. Take Me To Your Leader (5.8)

American Horror Story worst episodes

The first episode of Death Valley didn’t exactly set American Horror Story: Double Feature up to a promising start for its second half. This episode got slated by fans and critics alike, for essentially crafting four modern day teen characters that were panned for annoying characterisation and bad acting. American Horror Story really tried to do something different with Double Feature, but after the sour ending of Red Tide and the flop plot of Death Valley it seems to have severely backfired.

1. Winter Kills (4.6)

American Horror Story worst episodes

Coming in with an embarrassing score of 4.6 and officially the worst rated amongst all episodes of American Horror Story is Winter Kills. The final episode of Red Tide practically ruined everything great Double Feature had spent five episodes establishing itself as. The first five eps are honestly some of the best and most tight AHS has ever been, and all that hard work was unwritten with a horribly rushed finale that dispatched of antagonists in about three seconds. It was still moderately entertaining, and Ryan Kiera Armstrong was superb as Alma for such a young actress, but what made Winter Kills so bad was how GREAT the build up was. A bitter flop through and through.

Seasons one to eight of American Horror Story are streaming now on Netflix. For all the latest Netflix news, drops and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.

Recommended stories by this writer

• The 10 best American Horror Story episodes of all time, according to IMDb

• Every chaotic season of American Horror Story ranked from worst to best

• Take this quiz and we’ll tell you what season of American Horror Story you’d die in