Mass Movement Magazine

Fear Itself – The Complete First Season (Lionsgate)
‘Fear Itself’, the series born from the ashes of the aborted third season of ‘Masters Of Horror’, was like its more famous predecessor, a horror anthology show, that each week shared a different tale from the dark side with its audience. At least it would have done, had it actually been allowed to find its audience by its original US broadcaster instead of being cancelled after eight episodes, becoming another victim of the eternal ratings war that fuels the world of American Television. Which, if you ask me (and you are, because you’re reading this, so shut up, keep reading and save the insults for later okay?), was one of the worst decisions that NBC ever made, because despite a few weak links, ‘Fear Itself’ had a lot of promise, the good episodes far outweigh the bad and the series offered up enough genuine scares and gore to keep even the most ardent horror fanatic happy. Okay, so some of the stories are a little below par, like, the usually dependable Stuart Gordon’s offering, ‘Eater’, which is highly reminiscent of the finale of most James Herbert novels, in that it’s rushed and feels flat, and John Dahl’s ‘Chance’, which just seems to go nowhere despite a sterling lead performance from Ethan Embury. And then, there’s the lack of cohesion. I know that each episode is a standalone story, but the series still needed something to link each episode, something that would have helped it to develop its own identity. It needed its own Rod Serling, Crypt Keeper or Control Voice, and because it didn’t have anything to link its widely different stories, it doesn’t feel like a series, it feels like what it actually is. A collection of short horror films bunched together under a group name. However, don’t let those minor annoyances put you off rushing out to buy the “series”, because ‘Fear Itself’ has enough blood soaked, gore smeared, dread fuelled goodies to power any Terror marathon and will keep you locked on the idiot box until the final credits have finished rolling on the final episode. ‘Sacrifice’, ‘Skin And Bones’, ‘New Year’s Day’ and ‘Something With Bite’ serve up monsters galore, while ‘The Spirit Box’ and ‘Spooked’ each deliver a master class in supernatural scares, while the weird end of the horror spectrum is well and truly catered for by ‘Echoes’, ‘Family Man’ and ‘Community’, each and every one of the aforementioned episodes making sure that even though its life was short, ‘Fear Itself’ was horrifically sweet, and did exactly what it set out to do. It made horror fans, especially this one, very, very happy. So kids, be happy. Surrender yourself to ‘Fear Itself’… Tim Mass Movement