Fear Itself

Come on fellows give it a chance, the series is only five episodes in and reviewers are already calling it the worst horror anthology to grace the TV! Thats not very fair. Personally, i was always worried about Masters of Horror moving to NBC, MOH was hit and miss, the first season; quite excellent in my book, the second besides Gordon's and Rob Schmidt's episodes was mediocre, the only thing making it watchable at most times was blood and tits, 'Fear Itself' has none of those simple fall backs going for it and i have to say its been holding up better than the latter season. 'The Sacrifice' and 'Eater' are fantastic, 'Family Man' and "Spooked' have their flaws but were entertaining, 'In Sickness and in Health' well, that one was horrible. I've been pleasantly surprised so far but if the rest of the episodes suck, ill be the first to admit it bites the big one but wait till the damn seasons over before you claim its the worst of the worst. I'm staying positive and looking forward to the rest of it before the verdicts out.

p.s.i will admit that title theme is the most horrible thing I've ever heard, i miss the MOH riff, oh well.

This is an anthology horror series from NBC filmed in Canada. Surprisingly, the actors are top shelf with solid Canadians filling in the supporting cast. The stories are not scary but they play on the traditional horror tropes. It's a well-made series although it's not groundbreaking. There are thirteen episodes in total and only a few blander ones. It's usually a fun hour.

With all the negative reviews of this show I found it important to point out a few things. For one this is a show that is made from cult horror directors/writers and its on nbc. Two most of the directors where not happy with that fact that they had to choose from a small selection of scripts and didn't have a lot of time to prepare for their episodes. On the other hand its the only network TV horror show on this summer and props to nbc for that. Spooked and Community are the two bright spots in the series thus far, in sickness and health and new years day where not very good. All the other episodes were very watchable for horror fans. Im not going to give this show a rating cause its not important. Look in it in this theory i rather have a bad football team in my city(cleveland) then none at all. All over I was disappointed with this series but ill give nbc and mick and his crew credit for trying to bring the show to network TV.

This cable version of Masters of Horror has it's limitations but still manages to find itself a good foothold as a decent addition to horror television. There's a lot of talent here with directors such as Stuart Gordon, John Landis, Brad Anderson Ronnie Yu and many more each taking a shot at a 45 minute mini movie made for cable. Some of the effects by KNB are fantastic. They're werewolf effect in Something With Bite is amazing, and just goes to prove that practical is almost always better than CGI. There are some low points. John Landis's entry is probably the weakest. Although on a whole I find him to be rather hit or miss himself. As a whole this series is better than the second season of Master's of Horror by a long shot. These are some of my favorite directors anyways, and it's neat to see what else they can do. It's streaming on Netflix now. If you're a fan of horror there's no reason to not watch this. It's often corny and goofy, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth your time.

Since "Supernatural" is in reruns, Fear Itself warrants a look for those seeking their "things-that-go-bump-in-the-night" fix. Suspenseful and gripping in sixty minutes, instead of seeing the lead characters in "Supernatural" this show features some familiar and new faces and their performances are above average but their dynamics are what make the show great with a good pinch of subtlety; never knowing what's gonna happen next. Even more impressive is despite having great production values, some of the best writers of horror fiction lend their pen to ensure good stories and keep the audience on the edge of their seat. Although its obvious its a "season replacement" for the summer, it satisfies it's core audience really well in every regard and if time persists, may knock "Supernatural" as top-dog of TV horror series.

Check it out!!