Ryan Murphy's American Horror Story and its spinoff American Horror Stories have given audiences 15 seasons of anthology-style stories about fear and villainy. However, if that's not enough slow-burn horror for fans, the Paramount+ series Evil, currently airing its fourth and final season, is a show that's not to be missed. Following a trio of Catholic Church investigators, the series from Robert and Michelle King delves deep into the nature of evil and supernatural reality. Unlike the AHS universe, Evil is a serialized tale that originally aired on CBS and moved to Paramount+, allowing it to go even darker and more explicit.

Ultimately tamer than American Horror Story when it comes to sex and gory violence, Evil uses religious symbolism to create truly terrifying and mind-bending tales of death, demons and the nature of fear. In Evil, even the angels are terrifying. While early seasons kept a narrative distance about what is "real" and what isn't, the final seasons fall squarely in the realm of the paranormal. Ultimately Evil is about the war the forces of "good" wage for humanity, and how hopelessly outmatched they ultimately are.

What Evil and American Horror Story Have In Common

Save for select elements of narrative crossover, American Horror Story offers viewers a wholly new world each season. Through these anthology tales, AHS gives viewers a unique horror experience, whose story is often reflective of modern social or political issues. Despite a strong overall serial story, the procedural nature of Evil allows for similar variety in the kinds of horror scenarios the characters find themselves in. Similarly, AHS characters often go into the story not particularly aware or concerned by the supernatural, only to discover how real the threat is over a season. Evil puts this debate front-and-center in its story, with the Catholic characters certain of the reality of the demonic and the divine, while the skeptics search for rational explanations.

When something paranormal does happen, the reality of these occurrences are ambiguous. In early seasons, skeptical characters are visited by horrific demons, which they rationalize as night terrors. Other times, supernatural occurrences are shown to the audience without any additional context. This allows the viewer to believe what they want, with evidence for or against the presence of celestial shenanigans left open to interpretation. The journey to acceptance of the paranormal for American Horror Story takes place in a similar fashion over each season, which is ironic considering the narratives are so different. Evil simply allows that doubt to shift back and forth from episode-to-episode.

In any given season, there is institutional critique at play in American Horror Story, though the institution itself varies from year to year. With Evil, the institution at the center of the story is the Catholic Church. The believers in the cast find their faith tested routinely, while the skeptics are often presented with situations that challenge their surety that everything can be explained. The procedural nature of the show also allows individual episodes to tackle real-life examples of evil. Stories about toxic masculinity, violence against women and the woeful inadequacy of the justice system are weaved throughout the supernatural narrative.

What Makes Evil So Special Are Its Characters and Their Relationship to Faith

Luke Cage's Mike Colter plays Father David Acosta, an ardent believer and a holy man imbued with a supernatural power of his own. He has visions, which he believes come from God, warning him about various demonic acts. Since these sequences all occur from his own point of view, whether they are real or not is a matter of debate. Yet, especially in later seasons, his visions are crucial to allow him and his team to help those in need and avoid disasters, some of which could cost human lives. He's joined by Andrea Martin's Sister Andrea, a nun who also sees the demonic in the real world, though she's far more certain of how true it all is.

Katja Herbers plays Kristen Bouchard, a psychologist who begins the series as an expert witness testifying against a serial killer. Previously a hero in Person of Interest, Michael Emerson plays Leland Townsend, a fellow psychologist who is committed to serving the cause of the demonic. He specifically targets Kristen, whom he sees as an integral figure in his "destiny" to bring about the rise of the Antichrist. So much so, that he seduces and recruits her mother Sheryl (Christine Lahti) into his evil plans. Also at risk are Kristen's daughters, including Lexis (Maddy Crocco) conceived via IVF from a fertility clinic with ties to the larger demonic plot.

Lastly, there is Aasif Mandvi's Ben Shakir, an atheist who was raised Muslim, who serves as the investigative team's science expert. He is the character most committed to skepticism, though Season 4 introduces an element that challenges his disbelief. Similarly on the journey from non-believer to faithful is Kristen's therapist, Dr. Kurt Boggs (Kurt Fuller) who may or may not have sold his soul to write a book about the occult investigations the team undertakes. The journeys these characters take over the four seasons of Evil are a larger reason why the show is so brilliant. It allows the faithful to lose faith and provides moments for the skeptics to doubt their own certainty, all while still providing a variety of horrific scenarios to freak out the audience.

Evil Is Not Straightforward Horror Like American Horror Story

Through its myriad seasons, American Horror Story rarely fails to find fresh approaches to terrifying stories. Yet, Evil is able to accomplish the same, all while fitting dynamic and unique situations for their characters to investigate. The individual cases in each episode present unique and terrifying situations. There's the supercollider that may have unlocked a gate to Hell or whether a demon was responsible for the extrajudicial killing of a Black motorist. The study of "evil" in the series isn't limited to a handful of scenarios per season.

While a single episode may not seem like enough narrative space for some of these questions, the serial element to the show allows for frequent follow-up. Unlike AHS, the religious overtones of Evil give a consistent and, at times, rigid framework for the evaluation of a specific supernatural event. Since the team is comprised of both believers and skeptics, more direct interrogation of these concepts is possible because they are germane to a given episode's plot.

With certain cases, the single-episode format is less of a slow-burn and sometimes offers less nuance than a whole season of a single supernatural event allows. Yet, the viewers' experience doesn't suffer, especially because Evil's storytellers are excellent at making audiences care about the characters and their personal issues with a given case. As the show leans more towards asserting the celestial element to the narrative is "real," it only bolsters the strength of these stories. Also, there are enough genuinely creepy moments each week that marry well with the continued emotional struggles and triumphs of the series' ensemble.

American Horror Story and Evil Are Different Shows, but Work on Similar Levels

American Horror Story is a more dynamic series, if only because each season feels like a completely different show. Evil isn't like that, despite how each season escalates and evolves the level of paranormal activity in a given story. Audiences who enjoy AHS will find a lot to love where Evil is concerned, and they may even find themselves latching onto the overall narrative more strongly. A big part of what drives any show is the desire to find out what happens next. AHS doesn't often provide that, at least from year to year. Evil is clearly telling one big, cosmically important tale that includes individual episodes examining all kinds of terror and wickedness.

However, while AHS often doesn't give audiences characters with whom they can identify and "root for," Evil does. Whether one is a believer like David or a passionate skeptic like Kristen, the central characters are all likable people, even when one of them unrepentantly commits a murder. American Horror Story is a collection of disparate stories that examine what sort of things scare people. Evil is a study of profound immorality and wickedness in all its forms. AHS often ensures there is a supernatural element driving the bad things that happen to its characters. Evil examines the root cause of such things, and whether it's ghouls, demons or whatever else that drives it or simply a foundational flaw in humanity.

Siding with the skeptics or the believers doesn't change the overall moral questions posed by Evil. It's a more difficult show in that respect, because there are no easy answers. The ultimate malevolence in American Horror Story is a "murder house," corrupt asylum, covens of witches or whatever supernatural presence drives the story. Even with the trend towards suggesting the celestial figures in play actually exist, a person's humanity is often the deciding factor in whether they act or not. Evil is a thrilling story about the battle between light and darkness, giving equal weight to magical influence and the innate human capacity to choose wickedness over the alternative.

American Horror Story and American Horror Stories are available to stream on Hulu, while Evil streams on Netflix and Paramount+.