The Campfire: American Horror Story: Hotel
Shownotes
Welcome back to the Campfire — our special bonus section!
In this episode, Hannah introduces Rebecca to the vampires that live at the Hotel Cortez in the fifth season of American Horror Story, Ryan Murphy’s horror TV series. While Hannah is 99% sure the word “vampire” is never mentioned once during the 12 episodes, the show features not only literal undead blood-drinking immortals, but also very vampiric people and places (plus some sadistic ghosts).
Half a lifetime ago, Hannah used to force Rebecca to watch scary shows like American Horror Story so she didn’t have to be frightened alone. Today, Hannah saves Rebecca (and you) from the terror and happily recounts the crazy details and exciting allusions to the vampire media intertext. We discuss the harmony between horror and camp, our dislike of blood disease origin stories, and the contradiction of being immortalized in Hollywood. The moral of the story? Get your kids vaccinated!
Come vamps, join us around the campfire.
CW: brief discussions of sexual violence, brief mentions of suicide and an abortion
Major Spoilers:
* American Horror Story: Hotel, 2015
Other media mentioned in this episode:
Fiction
* Stainless by Todd Grimson, 19961
* Milkteeth by Caitlin Starling, 2026
Film
* Nosferatu, directed by F.W. Murnau, 1922
* Daughters of Darkness, directed by Harry Kümel, 1971
* The Hunger, directed by Tony Scott, 1983
* Shadow of the Vampire, directed by E. Elias Merhige, 2000
* The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 and Part 2, directed by Bill Condon, 2011-2012
* Abigail, directed by Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, 2024
* Sinners, directed by Ryan Coogler, 2025
TV
* The Vampire Diaries, 2009-2013
* The Vampire Lestat, 2026
* Brides of Blood, 2027– (pre-production)
Liked this episode? You’ll also like…
Comedy, Camp, and Parody: When Vampires Make Us Laugh
To Live Forever and Never Grow Up: The Vampire Child
Women Eating: Appetite, Desire, and the Female Vampire
Are All Vampires A Leetle Gäy?
Crushing the Creation Myth: Explaining Vampires through Science
Thanksgiving Special: Romanticizing the Vampire & the Gothic Story
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This episode was written, recorded, and produced by Rebecca Glazer & Hannah Spiegelman — without AI, ever.
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