By focusing on the effects of the murders and the disease through the early-1980s gay community, American Horror Story: NYC showed a kind of horror the anthology series has never seen: apathy. Regardless of what happened on the show in terms of death or torture, the real horror was that the people who could help the community refused to do so. People dying in their community almost became expected within the episodes, and each character knew it was a matter of time before their own time arrived. As far as exploitation is concerned, this isn't too far from real life.