Topic: Fear Itself Marathon

[addicted2dvd]

Fear Itself: The Complete Series

7. Something with Bite
When a veterinarian is bitten by a large, strange animal brought into his clinic, he begins to see the world and his stale life differently.
Director: Ernest Dickerson (NBC's "Heroes")

Stars:
Wendell Pierce
Paula Jai Parker-Martin
Kailin See
Gillian Barber
Fulvio Cecere

My Thoughts:
This is one of the unaired episodes in the set. This one I enjoyed quite a bit. A werewolf story with a twist. I got a bit of a kick on how vet got bitten by a werewolf. It also had a bit of a dark comedy aspect to it as well as some cool effects. Maybe if they actually aired more episodes like this one the series wouldn't have gotten canceled as early as it did.

My Rating:

[Najemikon]

That's Bunk! From The Wire! 

[addicted2dvd]

Fear Itself: The Complete Series

8. New Year's Day (Director's Cut)
A young woman wakes up in a post apocalyptic world overrun by terrifying zombies and struggles to survive the day.
Director: Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II, Saw III, Saw IV, Repo! The Genetic Opera)

Stars:
Briana Evigan
Zulay Henao
Niall Matter
Cory Monteith
Shelene Yung

My Thoughts:
While watching this one I must admit I found myself a little lost more then once.  What with the flashbacks going back and forth all the time. But for me at least... the end reveal made the episode. Thinking back maybe I should have... but I just didn't see it coming.

My Rating:

[MEJHarrison]

That's Bunk! From The Wire! 

You're right!

[addicted2dvd]

Fear Itself: The Complete Series

9. Skin and Bones (Director's Cut)
When a rancher leading a hunting party returns home to his family after being lost in the mountains for days, he just doesn't seem the same. Soon, a terrible mortal struggle ensues against the terrifying monster possessing him.
Director: Larry Fessenden (The Last Winter, Wendigo)

Stars:
John Pyper-Ferguson
Molly Hagan
Doug Jones
Gordon Tootoosis
Brett Dier

My Thoughts:
This episode I enjoyed. I liked the story... they made the possessed guy look cool and creepy. And I liked how they ended the episode. It is episodes like this that makes me sorry this series was canceled so soon. The mother in this... Molly Hagan (Pictured above)... looked so familiar while watching this. But I just wasn't able to place where I knew her from. After the episode I checked to see what else I had her in... and she has appeared in single episodes of several TV Series I have. I guess that she looked familiar do to this.

My Rating:

[addicted2dvd]

Fear Itself: The Complete Series

10. Chance
In the vein of such classic doppelganger stories as "Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde" and Poe's "William Wilson," "Chance" explores the dreadful classic battle that ensues when a man is confronted by his evil self. 
Director: John Dahl (You Kill Me, The Last Seduction)

Stars:
Ethan Embry
Vondie Curtis Hall
Christine Chatelain
Sean Hoy
Ellen Ewusie

My Thoughts:
This one... now this one wasn't all that great to me. I didn't find the story very interesting. It seemed to be drawn out as I found myself checking the clock on a few occasions throughout the episode. And I found I really didn't care about the characters.

My Rating:

[addicted2dvd]

Fear Itself: The Complete Series

11. The Spirit Box
When two suburban high school girls try to contact a dead classmate via a board game, they receive an unexpected message from beyond the grave.
Director: Rob Schmidt ("Masters of Horror," Wrong Turn)

Stars:
Anna Kendrick
Martin Donovan
Jessica Parker Kennedy
Mark Pellegrino
Samantha Hill
Teresa Hung

My Thoughts:
This is a Halloween episode! Which I found odd since according to the cover art the last episode in the set (The Circle) is a Halloween episode. So either there is 2 Halloween episodes in this set... or the misprinted the cover art for the last episode. Though this one... only the opening scene takes place on Halloween night. This is another episode I enjoyed quite a bit. I liked how they did the ending. I thought I knew what the end twist was... and no sooner as they were revealing it... they twisted it again.

My Rating:

[addicted2dvd]

Fear Itself: The Complete Series

12. Echoes (Director's Cut)
An affable, good-natured young man moves into an apartmant where he believes he once lived — 88 years ago in a past life. But as memories appear to him like ghosts, he begins to believe in this previous life he was a sadistic murderer — or is he just imagining things?
Director: Rob Schmidt ("Masters of Horror," Wrong Turn)

Stars:
Aaron Stanford
Eric Balfour
Camille Guaty
Gerard Plunkett
Michael Ryan

My Thoughts:
This one didn't impress me much at all. I found it slow and uninteresting. I didn't care for any of the characters. And once again found myself staring at the clock... wondering when it would be over.

My Rating:

[addicted2dvd]

Fear Itself: The Complete Series

13. The Circle
A group of people meet every Halloween to tell horror stories and suddenly discover they're living one.
Director: Eduardo Rodriguez (Curandero, Daughter)

Stars:
Jonathon Schaech
Ashley Scott
Victoria Pratt
Melanie Nicholls-King
Sarah Deakins

My Thoughts:
Going into this episode the first thing I notice is 2 names I am familiar with. Ashley Scott who I watched as The Huntress on Birds of Prey and Victoria Pratt who was "Sarge" on Cleopatra 2525. First thing I notice when I put the episode on... it is indeed a second Halloween episode. While I liked the episode... I think it could have been done better. I definitely liked the twist at the end... though it is another one I really should have seen coming.

My Rating:

[addicted2dvd]

Over All Thoughts:
This series had the bad luck where most the episodes that aired before were anything but great... actually ranging from good to poor. But most of the unaired episodes were among my favorite episodes. I think just maybe if they would have gave the show enough of a chance... and actually showed all the episodes that were produced they would have seen better ratings... and we would have possibly gotten a second season. Looking over all the episodes I at least liked 9 out of the 13 episodes. Even if some of them could have been better.

The DVDs themselves leaves me scratching my head. Why in the world would they have made them like they did? Double sided discs with only 2 episodes on each side.They could have either put all the episodes on 3 single sided discs... giving us some nice artwork for the discs... or they could have given us 2 double sided discs. I mean it is not like there was a whole lot of extras to the set... just a short featurette for each episode.

Over all I would say I am glad I got the set. I can definitely see myself watching at least most the episodes again at some time. But I would have liked to seen the discs done differently... and maybe some more extras.

[Achim]

The arrangement of this set also had me scatching my head. Normally I'd say that less running time per disc makes for better image/sound quality, but for a TV series...? (besides, I don't remember if it was true here in any way)

You seemed to have enjoyed most episodes though, so I should bump this up on my to-watch schedule.

[addicted2dvd]

Yup.... I enjoyed most of them within different levels... lets see out of 13 episodes I had...

1 -
7 -
2 -
2 -
1 -

I guess that is pretty good for a series that was canceled so quickly.