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Review: 'American Horror Story Hotel' is worth checking into

The denizens of the Hotel Cortez , to paraphrase the inevitable Eagles song you'll hear at the end of Wednesday's American Horror Story: Hotel premiere, are all just prisoners there of their own device.

The fifth installment of the hit FX anthology series drips with atmosphere, mystique, murder, vampirism, kinky sex and Lady Gaga, who joins the ensemble cast this year as The Countess. As in the four previous installments, creators Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy celebrate social outcasts who turn the tables on so-called normalcy whenever they get the chance.

The premiere episode begins with the arrival of a pair of pretty Swedish teenagers who immediately regret having made reservations at the Cortez, an eerily lifeless, faded art deco palace from another time. They want to cancel, but are informed by the gruff desk clerk Iris (Kathy Bates) that there are no refunds.

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"Welcome to America," she hisses.

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One by one, we meet some of the permanent residents of the Cortez, including Liz Taylor (Denis O'Hare), a bald drag queen whose eye makeup mimics that of the real Elizabeth in Cleopatra'; Donovan (Matt Bomer), a drug addict with voracious sexual appetites; Hypodermic Sally (Sarah Paulson), a demented veteran hooker with unique appetites of her own; and the Countess (Lady Gaga), who plays the ringmistress of the circus of sex and drugs.

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Things happen in the hotel, especially in Room 64, and detective John Lowe (Wes Bentley) is sent to investigate. He seems to know his way around the hotel and Room 64 in particular.

Lowe is a straight arrow, but he works hard to keep it together. Five years earlier, something happened that threatened to shatter the picture of familial perfection in his marriage to Alex (Chloe Sevigny). He's still haunted by the past and is especially protective of his daughter Scarlett (Shree Grace Crooks).

Meanwhile, the Countess, Sally and Donovan continue using the Cortez as their own personal playpen, with lots of toys, lots of group sex, and a place to take advantage of those who think they can disappear from their normal lives for a while and indulge themselves in bad behavior.

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It never turns out all that well, of course. We won't spoil it, but let's just say the hotel's room service isn't quite what guests are expecting.

Kathy Bates as Iris in "American Horror Story"
Kathy Bates as Iris in "American Horror Story" (Suzanne Tenner / FX)

And then one day, the residents learn the hotel has been sold to Will Drake (Cheyenne Jackson) and they all worry they'll be cast out on the street and their party of depravity will come to an end.

The cast is mostly terrific, of course, including Mare Winningham as an unhinged hotel maid. The exception, unfortunately, is Lady Gaga. Don't get me wrong: She makes an enormous visual impact but the minute she opens her mouth to deliver a line, it's obvious acting just isn't one of her many talents. That may be one of the reasons that the first half of the premiere episode has so little dialogue, you may occasionally wonder if you're watching a silent movie.

Lady Gaga and Matt Bomer
Lady Gaga and Matt Bomer(Suzanne Tenner / FX)

Several members of past AHS ensembles don't appear until later episodes, including Angela Bassett as Ramona Royale, Finn Wittrock as Tristan Duffy, Lily Rabe as Aileen Wuornos, and Evan Peters as Mr. March. The most notable absentee from the first four seasons is Jessica Lange, who opted against a fifth year. Other cast members scheduled for future episodes include Darren Criss, Max Greenfield, Naomi Campbell and Madchen Amick.

Although there may be variations in the cast from year to year, setting plays an even more important role in distinguishing one Horror Story season from another. So far, the semi-comic grand guignol melodrama has been set in a haunted house, an asylum, a coven and a freak show. On paper, at least, the notion of a hotel offers Murphy and Falchuk an especially wide playing field, since any number of guests can easily check in.

Checking out, of course, may be an entirely different matter altogether, but that's when the fun begins.

David Wiegand, the San Francisco Chronicle

American Horror Story: Hotel

Wednesdays at 9 p.m. Central time on FX. Starts Oct. 7