So, I was curious what NBC was going to offer with their new series, Fear Itself. As part of the summer season, it was publicizing these hour-long features as a "provocative new 13-episode suspense and horror anthology set to push the the boundaries of this classical genre." To their credit, they are working with Lionsgate and IE to produce this, enlisting some better-known actors and directors/writers to try for quality over quantity (unlike much of their schedule this summer).
On the other hand, they do have the legacy of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Amazing Stories to live up to, no mean feat. So, I decided to give it a shot.
The premiere episode, "The Sacrifice," tried to spin the usual tale of guys lost in the woods (who happen to have a friend who got hurt along the way) stumbling upon an old fort, with 3 (cute) blond women living in the 1880's-style establishment. But something isn't quite right here; the guys are split up amongst the 3 women; one starts helping the hurt friend by applying herbs to his gaping chest wound, then stitching it up - then stitching his mouth closed. Meanwhile, friend 2 is lured by the "sexy" sister into the barn for a roll in the hay - which happens to cover a trapdoor to a pit.
So why are these women trapping these guys? Who is really out there, in the woods? Eventually, all is revealed, and pretty quickly (as they have about 44 minutes to tell the whole story), with a fairly reasonable finale that wouldn't have made Hitchcock throw up.
But seriously, there were some ups and downs to this premiere. The production quality was actually pretty good, definitely better than most of the Sci-Fi channel's 2-hour long movies (I'm a fan of SciFi, but some the Saturday movies make Anaconda look good). The acting was equally reasonable, particularly coming from mainly unknown actors (Rachel Miner, of indie-nudity fame like Showtime's Californication, was the biggest name this week).
On the other hand, the script could have used an extra few minutes. These guys are out in the woods, pulling their friend in a canoe across the frozen land - what were they really doing, anyway? After all, they do happen to be carrying UZI's with them? What type of hunting are these guys really doing?? And the ending, though satisfactory, lacked a degree of true horror/regret as the thing in the woods claims one last victim.
Still, a promising start (though I am nervous about next week's episode, starring Eric Roberts as a dirty PI haunted by his past). The real challenge will be remaining fresh week after week. Hitchcock and Serling had the benefit of being the pioneers, before everything had been done (as the guys at South Park so well-demonstrated in the Sea People episode).
On a final note, why is Mark Wahlberg still allowed to act? He says everything in that ridiculous, nasal, wondering voice. It worked for him in Boogie Nights as the ingenue, but as an assasin, a thief, twice a cop, and now some guy in a Shyamalan movie?? Go back to rap, Marky Mark.
5 comments:
you've got to get rid of that Marky Mark pic. Seriously.
I have to defend Marky Mark. I think he subs in for the everyman a hell of a lot better than The Rock or Keanu Reeves or Dane Cook or ... I can't think of any other B-grade actors right now, give me a sec ...
... Jason Statham or Nicholas Cage.
That's right, I'd rather see Marky Mark in a movie than Nicholas Cage, that's what Ghost Rider and Next and The Wicker Man and all that shit has done to me. Nick Cage needs to get his head out of his ass. At least Marky Mark's got his head in the right place.
In fact, I LIKE Marky Mark, and The Happening is number one on my list of Summer Movies to see right now. That R rating may just pull Shyamalan out of the pits.
But I'll have to agree with John - that picture needs to be photoshopped or removed. Maybe if you could draw a shirt on him and give him a pair of khakis.
Nilay,
Do you ever watch Masters of Horror on Showtime? It's just like Fear Itself, only with added sex/violence. It's really hit or miss - like 1 in every 5 is good, but they get John Carpenter and Stuart Gordon, Joe Dante and John Landis and people like that to do episodes.
Hasselhoff in a Speedo, and I hear no complaints, but Marky Mark in his boxers, and all of a sudden we're icked out. All right, I'll do something with it.
As for quality - one person's shittyness is not mitigated by other people's worse shittyness. It's all still shit. Yes, he is better than Dane Cook and a lot (but not all - I liked Matchstick Men, Lord of War, The Weather Man, and The Rock (quite a bit for the first and last)) of Nick Cage.
My point remains - Marky Mark is not an actor. And, as for everyman, how often does he play everyman? Three Kings is the main one I can think of (in which, I will admit, he was pretty good). The Happening might be good because of him, or more likely despite him, but I am ready for him to take a very long vacation (after all, the guy had the stupidity to critique Scorsese?). We shall have to agree to disagree.
Aaron, no cable. I'll have to see if they've released it on Netflix/DVD. The other series I've been wondering about is the "8 to die for," I think it's called. Theatrical releases. Any opinion?
You mean the After Dark Horror Fest series. I've seen a few of those, and they weren't really that good, although one called The Hamiltons was really disturbing. It was sort of like a Family Ties episode if the family were serial killers.
This one called The Deaths of Ian Stone started out good, but quickly degenerated into a Matrix-like action film with monsters. It started out as a horror version of Groundhog Day, where the guy keeps dying and dying.
Maybe you'll like them better than I did. All of them, and the Masters of Horror, are available on Netflix.
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