The 2008 Autopsy Report is a month-long look at the year in horror. An unflinching and frank examination of the genre's accomplishments, lapses, trends and random (or, rampant) stupidity in the big screen, television and direct-to-DVD world. This weekly series will sift through the detritus of the last twelve months and see what worked and what didn't, why and why not. Ultimately, the Autopsy Report will culminate in our year-end best and worst of 2008 list.
Showtime cornered the market on televised horror anthologies in 2005 with
Masters of Horror. The series survived two seasons while TNT tried
Nightmares and Dreamscapes on for size siphoning from the always reliable Stephen King well. Interest in small screen anthologies was stirring. This year, horror fans got NBC's
Fear Itself. The thirteen episode summertime series promoted heavily in the second quarter of 2008 kicked off on June 5th to mixed reviews and ratings that could not best contender
Swingtown over at rival CBS. Despite the network's suspect positive response in the trade papers boasting the show's opening performance,
Fear Itself's ratings were unimpressive yet steady through its run to July 31st when it took a break after its eighth episode
Skin and Bones. Then the Olympics coverage began followed by the onslaught of news-grabbing political election exposure.
Fear Itself never returned and, at the time of this writing, five episodes remain produced yet missing in action. Airdates unknown.
But is anyone really surprised by its absence and NBC's seemingly abandonment of the series? If you wanted to look at some of the worst mini-movies coming out of today's horror filmmakers, you only need turn to
Fear Itself. The episodes aired ranged from fair to poor. The lowest point being John Landis' installment
In Sickness and In Health and the pinnacle, arguably, being Stuart Gordon's entry, an average cat and mouse voodoo-laced thriller called
Eater.
Fear Itself was simply a refashioned
Masters of Horror, affixed with the same allure (recognized names in the genre writing and directing) and burdened by the same problems. And it's little wonder why - Industry Entertainment and Mick Garris developed both titles.
Essentially,
Masters of Horror, a series that struggled to return to Showtime for a third season, was packaged in '07 with a new title. It found a new home at NBC under the moniker
Fear Itself with Lionsgate committed to take over home video distribution duties. (Starz Entertainment's Anchor Bay Entertainment held that mantle on
MoH.) Then as the WGA strike swamped Hollywood, Garris stepped down as showrunner (he still receives proper credit) and the series producers
sped up their script delivery dates before principal photography began in Canada. Directors exercising their allegiance to Garris allegedly declined to participate in the
Fear foray. Tobe Hooper was one no-show who
was in negotiations for a spell but it was John Carpenter
who was the most vocal about bowing out.
Rushed scripts, capricious directors and talks of last minute rewrites by Canadian scribes.
Fear Itself's formula for success was looking questionable. Still, it attracted some
Masters of Horror vets (Gordon, Brad Anderson, Landis, Ernest Dickerson) and welcomed a number of promising newcomers like Eduardo Rodriguez (a last-minute entry), Larry Fessenden and John Dahl to name a few. And all had to consider their horror tales were going to be seen by a wider audience, one that wasn't necessarily going to groove to the "go for the throat" maxim
Masters of Horror liberally embraced in season two.
The producers insisted, however, that the horror fans would not be disappointed by the series' shocking subject matter.
The show did live up to the producers' promise of grisly imagery in some respects (if it wasn't enough for some there's always the uncut DVD to come); that's vapid praise when offering an overall assessment of the show. There was a certain miasma of mediocrity enshrouding
Fear Itself. Granted, the show bobbed at the surface with original stories in a sea of genre remakes but shoddy stories and scripts hardly gave it any identity. With a few exceptions, the producers reached for bland television talent rather than boost the value of the show with big screen names. (Seeing Doug Jones in one episode was perhaps the biggest highlight.)
Fear Itself was filler. Filler NBC revealed it no longer needed as the network has voiced no plans to air the remaining episodes. (Read episode-specific reviews
here.)
What happens now? That's to be decided by the programmers. The powers-that-be at NBC may drop the remaining episodes into a free slot in their schedule or decide some other plan of attack. After talking to a few insiders we know this: Lionsgate can't release
Fear Itself on DVD until the show contractually runs its course at NBC. When I spoke to a network rep in September, I was informed they "had no plans" at that time to air the final five episodes. So it remains a waiting game. NBC could feasibly kick it over to the Universal-owned Chiller; it would certainly freshen up the musty genre channel loaded with reruns and repeat airings of
House of Frankenstein 1997. Or, the network could just forfeit the entire series to Lionsgate and grant its home video division the opportunity to release the entire series with (I can see the advertising now) "five unreleased episodes!"
Fear Itself had its audience and they're keen to see the final entries, as is this writer, in spite of my negative criticism of the show. But my curiosity is driven purely by hope that the series isn't a complete wash. Then again, eight out of thirteen episodes did little to allay my fear that creating an arresting and scary horror anthology series is a dying craft.
Comments
Posted by: Double A on December 1, 2008 at 09:28:59
FIRST!
I'd like to see the show continue.
Posted by: Steve Niles on December 1, 2008 at 14:57:54
Great write-up, Ryan.
Posted by: ico on December 1, 2008 at 16:36:21
I watched it when it aired and i was happy with it. The one with Doug Jones as the wendigo was awesome.
Posted by: Timmy Marty on December 1, 2008 at 17:48:02
thanks, i wondered what happened to the show.
Posted by: X on December 1, 2008 at 19:56:42
Fear Itself is playing on FearNet on Demand. Maybe the five final episodes will be there.
Posted by: Ryan Rotten, Managing Editor on December 1, 2008 at 19:59:09
Saw that too, X. Only the first eight episodes are airing, according to a press release I received today.
Posted by: Kris Avalon on December 2, 2008 at 00:25:07
I look at the track record of NBC, and those idiots over there show no respect when it comes to their programming. The shows have to make big numbers on the first episode, otherwise it's a failure. The first problem was too many cooks in the kitchen. You can't show a certain amount of violence and gore on network tv. Then Mick Garris dropped out. he was the one who was behind the show. Maybe the execs had a different idea. You know, the ones who don't have a creative bone in their body. Then they put the show on in the summer. Horror clearly works in the winter and during October. Masters was successful around that time on Showtime. I liked Fear Itself, but it lacked the pizzazz od Masters. hopefully we'll get to see the rest of the episodes and hopefully season 2 (if there is one) will air on a pay cable network. Chiller could definitely use some quality programming.
Posted by: schudder on December 2, 2008 at 16:54:56
The final 5 episodes have aired in other countries. F.e. they've been shown (twice) on Prime, one of Belgium's premium movie channels. "The Circle" wasn't that bad.
Posted by: Evan on December 5, 2008 at 17:30:01
I thoroughly enjoyed this. I think you have to remember that the directors/writers had to edit the content for network television censors and am thrilled they got to do what they did. My favorite episode was New Year's Day where the main character struggles through a zombie attack, only to find she has been a zombie the entire time. The one with Brandon Routh (AKA Superman) was also good as was Eater. I only felt a couple were "poor," but all in all, I would LOVE another season and the 5 unaired ones.
Posted by: ZOMBIE4PETA on December 5, 2008 at 21:41:14
Fear Itself was fair at best. "New Years Day" turned me off from the whole show. I was really looking forward to that particular episode and was very disappointed with that sorry excuse for a zombie story (and the shaky camara drove me freakin nuts). The episodes became more predictable as the season went on. Glad to see it go!
Posted by: Ketchum Fan on December 20, 2008 at 01:46:47
I think Fear Itself ranged, true- from ok to fair. MOH seasons 1 and 2 though, I really enjoyed- and there were some absolute gems in there. My issue with the write up, is the ever-so-fashionable-and-ultimately-predictable bagging of series creator Mick Garris- which is both unfair and realistically, unjustified. I mean, since when did Shock become the IMDB? As a producer he got the series up off the ground, and produced John Carpenters best film in YEARS, gave us the gift of un-tampered Lucky Mckee, brought Takeshi Miike to a US market (and despite contrary opinion was not the one who pulled Imprint, that was showtime- Garris was anti-censorship in the matter), gave us the best John Landis film in yonks! (Family) As a writer, he brought us some of the greatest Amazing Story episodes (he actually wrote the classic Scorscese episode, though uncredited!), and a kick-ass novel. As a director he brought The Stand to the screen, when even George A Romero couldn't, directed the effective, handsome and faithful adaptation of The Shining. I have other Garris favorites, but I guess they are of a more guilty kind (though I have no issue saying them here- as I do think his output has credit -ie: Psycho 4, Desperation (with the exception of the budget destroyed ending) and the wonderfully delirious and insanely quotable Sleepwalkers). I understand where the criticism comes from, but I don't agree with much of it. The man can be classy, funny, scary and imaginative- even with moving (ie- The Stand). But hey, that's just me. I know plenty of people who seriously dig Garris stuff. And it just seems to me, that the backlash- is as stated above, typical of internet hounds (especially internet based critics, both with credit and without), to jump on the bandwagon. Working in the industry, I see a lot of that too. It's just predictable and usually unmerited, as the case here. In fact, laughable.
Posted by: Toothpick man on December 20, 2008 at 02:00:45
Ketchum Fan, it's great to hear your opinion voiced. I have often thought this of internet jerks and hand-me-down critics, who find it so cool to cut down the big fella (im from Australia and there are a lot of critics here who love to do that). I think Garris is great, and tallented. Like you said, The Stand- I just LOVE that miniseries. And not to forget- he also made one of the great misunderstood and undervalued episodes of the MOH series- Chocolate. I laugh when i read about the crit directed towards that short film, when it is realistically one of the better made episodes. I thought the first half of Desperation was incredible, but petered off towards the end- but then again, so did Kings novel. But my big attraction to Garris, is his visual storytelling. I think Sleepwalkers, though corny, has a fantastic visual look, with some insane camera work that would occasionally make Argento blush. And I don't know why Sleepwalkers does not have as big a following as something like Reanimator, when the two share such similar sensibilities. And I think The Shining is just brilliant. And brave. It is such it's own voice. Garris has created some of the best horror for TV i've ever seen. I even liked Riding the Bullet, though I think it is better directed than it is written, except for the moving epilogue, which impressed me. I also like his Clive Barker collaborations as well and actually think the ending of Valerie on the Stairs, is Barker done just as good as Barker doing himself. But I'm with you totally on the critical bandwagon- it's flawed and most importantly- trite and predictable. If people think they are in a position to unfairly cut down someone's life work without going out and beating said persons product with output of their own within the medium- then they are in no position to critique. My opinion anyway. PS- can't wait for Bag of Bones.
Posted by: Ryan Rotten, Managing Editor on December 20, 2008 at 02:21:17
Ketchum/Tootpick: First of all, you share the same IP address, are you talking to and agreeing with yourself?
Secondly, where am I fashionably "bagging" on Garris? The topic of discussion, if you read the piece (which I'm doubting you did), is "Fear Itself" - its origins, production and the outcome. And if you read carefully, I'm not pointing blame at Garris - who is, in fact, a friend of mine and respects my criticism - I'm singly out the producers who took over.
So, please, before you launch into a (bipolar) critism of "internet hounds" (I don't get your jab at Shock about being the IMDB), please re-read the piece.
PS - Can't wait for "Bag of Bones," either.
Posted by: Xavier on December 22, 2008 at 12:44:21
According to IMDB.com, the remaining episodes will be shown in January every Saturday Night til January 31, 2009.
Posted by: anonymous on January 24, 2009 at 14:03:36
i loved the show! it was one of the best shows ever. i wish it was back on tv!
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