There’s probably a reason that there aren’t any anthology shows on television anymore. It’s a lot to ask of today’s audiences to watch an entirely new show every week, with new settings, characters, and creative teams. It’s tough to build up an audience where they can’t invest in any of the characters or relationships, knowing they will have to start from scratch the following week. The only way for an anthology series to survive is for it to do something new and exciting with every airing. At the very least, maybe throw in some big name B-List stars? A few familiar actors and directors show up on occasion to try to lure audiences in, notably Eric Roberts (the good Roberts sibling), Elisabeth Moss (playing a determined woman in a male-dominated workplace), and John Landis (about 30 years past his prime) – but given the uneven run of this series, it isn’t surprising that it was not enough to save the show from early cancellation.
Fear Itself lies a bit when it declares itself to be a “horror anthology” series. Being the product of network television, it can’t quite indulge so much in the typical tropes of horror on the big screen: nudity, gore, and swearing are strict no-no’s, so the show veers more towards the psychological horror than the explicit scares. In doing so, it’s more The Twilight Zone than Tales from the Crypt. A show like this is only as strong as its ability to tell new, engaging stories every week – something Fear Itself manages to do only occasionally. The Twilight Zone was masterful at achieving consistency in its thoughtful, mind-bending stories, playing on strong primal fears and ideas with an amazing writer (Rod Serling) at its center. Fear Itself sometimes is able to hit similar notes, but more often than not ends up regurgitating certain ideas we’ve seen a thousand times before: there are episodes exposing the horrors of a Stepford-esque suburban community, an encounter with crazy backwoods hillbillies, a writer who finds his work coming to life, etc. It's weak writing, leaving the directors without much to work with.
There are a few stand-out episodes, however: “Skin & Bones” – anchored by Doug Jones and his horrifying physicality – is certainly memorable, however silly some moments may be. “The Spirit Box” and “Eater” both have iffy premises that end up playing out much better than expected - “Eater” especially overcomes its silliness by building the strongest atmosphere of any of the episodes. “Family Man” plays with a plot copyright-infringingly similar to Face/Off, only handling it much more deftly than Travolta and Cage were able to. Ultimately, the strength of these episodes almost justify the price of the DVD set on their own.
One issue with the episodes is that each and every one feels the need to have a twist ending – to the point where it becomes not only expected but anti-climactic. A few times, the twist works out to benefit the episode as a whole and ties the whole thing together dramatically (“Family Man,” “The Spirit Box”), but the rest of the time it feels either obligatory (“Something With a Bite”) or just painfully stupid (“In Sickness and Health”). I would like to single out “In Sickness and Health” for being the worst episode of this series. Directed by the once-great John Landis (known by horror-geeks for the awesome An American Werewolf in London), his episode is dull, sluggish, and ultimately nonsensical. I never thought Landis could sink lower than Blues Brothers 2000, but this might even be less redeemable.
The DVD packaging is a huge negative. The skeletal tombstone has an interesting look, but the cheap flimsy plastic it’s made of doesn’t inspire much confidence to what lies inside. Worse, each of the four discs are double-sided (something I thought we had moved past as a society) and put on top of each other (there are only two slots for the four discs, meaning you will have to stack them) - guaranteeing that the discs will be scratched and some episodes will be unwatchable soon. Depending on which episodes are left unwatchable, this could be a blessing or…A CURSE!
DVD Bonus Features
The discs contain small featurettes for each episode entitled “Recipe for Fear,” in which the director of said episode talks about their ideas and philosophies on the horror genre and about the production of the episode itself, occasionally bringing in the actors for a few comments. Each runs about five minutes, and unfortunately never gives us much insight to the creative process behind the episodes or how the series as a whole came together. Given that each cast, director, and writer only worked on a single episode apiece, it’s not surprising that there was no single longer piece on the series as a whole – but it still is disappointing not to have a greater insight to how the series was envisioned and produced. Also disappointing: no commentaries. As they say, the only thing to fear is...no director commentaries.
"Fear Itself: The Complete First Season" is on sale September 15, 2009 and is rated NR. Horror, Television, Thriller. Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, John Landis, Mary Harron, Stuart Gordon. Written by Mick Garris, Drew McWeeny, Daniel Knauf. Starring Brandon Routh, Doug Jones, Elisabeth Moss, Eric Roberts.
