Fear Itself Season One review
Vampires, windigos and serial killers, oh my! Fear Itself is a compilation of independent horror stories by a range of writers and directors including John Landis (An American Werewolf in London) and Mary Harron (American Psycho), which takes you on a somewhat cheesy journey into the macabre! We have Family Man, a good little story about transmogrification, with a sting in the tail; In Sickness and In Health, where a new bride begins to wonder exactly who she is about to marry; Eater,where we are faced with a serial killer who, as the name suggests, likes to eat his victims; and Community, where the neighbours just want you to be happy….at any cost!!
It is sometimes a challenge to review compilations as some episodes stand head and shoulders above the rest, this is not the case with Fear Itself, as even the more original stories are pretty badly acted and every episode looks like it’s been made on an extremely tight budget. In fact, most episodes bear more than a passing resemblance (in quality and style) to cult classic The Outer Limits. However, it should be noted that The Outer Limits (on its second outing) was filmed in 1995 and thus Fear Itself must have had very little budget to achieve the same end result in 2008. That being said, low-quality production and poor acting do tend to fit well within this genre and, in some cases, it is these elements that help make a show cult viewing. Unfortunately Fear Itself is probably too unoriginal (and short-lived thanks to a mid-season cancellation) to achieve the cult status enjoyed by similar productions. It does give it a good go though, with tacky special effects and unintentionally hilarious camera work.
The biggest issue with Fear Itself? Holes! Large, cavernous plot holes that plague every episode and are impossible to ignore. Each episode throws up a million unanswered questions and more often than not the conclusion contradicts what was seen earlier in the episode, so a note to the writers: if you’re going to write in a twist, you need to set it up!
Some of the stories are genuinely interesting, if badly executed, so it can be frustrating to see a potential good story squandered because of poor writing. Sometimes the stories drag and seem to be rather slow, which makes it even more irritating that certain elements are never fully explained.
This is not to say Fear Itself doesn’t have its plus points, it is fun to spot the celeb in each episode, sometimes it’s rather confusing seeing the likes of Elizabeth Moss (Mad Men), Anna Kendrick (Twilight) and Cory Monteith (Glee) slumming it in this schlock, but it’s nonetheless fun (and it makes sense to see so many Canadian actors in a Canadian production). And no low-budget nonsense would be complete without the ever-reliable Eric Roberts!!
It is hard to tell whether Fear Itself is intentionally naff or if it’s just an unfortunate accident. This reviewer is going to give it the benefit of the doubt and will assume that Fear Itself has knowingly placed its tongue firmly in cheek. So while it will not be bothering the Emmys anytime soon, Fear Itself it is fun and silly and sometimes that is exactly what horror should be. It may not be ground-breaking, or even particularly good, but it is entertaining, if not necessarily in the way it intended.
Lindsay Emerson