Fear Itself: Week Four

Yeah, I'm still totally watching this crap, if only because the very first episode wasn't half bad, as far as cliche-dependent, gore-eschewing watered-down-for-TV horror dreck goes. The Eric Roberts episode was 'meh,' and I missed it last week (I was working on a final mix for the new Nessie EP - coming soon!), but this week's John Landis-directed episode provided me with a diverting round of Guess The Twist that lasted all of about, oh, seven minutes or so.

Oh, John Landis. Has it really been 27 years since An American Werewolf in London, and 16 since Innocent Blood? And have you really spent that time directing episodes of Dream On and Psych? I was going to completely rationalize away any fault of yours with regard to your transparent installment. I was going to blame it on the bad actors reciting the hackneyed dialogue by the guy who wrote Jeepers Creepers. I was assuming you were saddled with inferior material and questionable talent. But you not only know that mugging human scenery-chainsaw from USA or TBS or whatever, you've worked with him!

The creepy-funny closeups of the children at the beginning were great, trademarked Landis touches. So was the screaming little girl running through the bride's tense-instrospection scene. But, honestly, this is the worst Fear Itself I've seen yet, and it came from the director of some of my favorite comedy and horror flicks. What's wrong with "In Sickness and in Health" is what's wrong with pretty much all American horror these days - it coasts on tired tropes. It assumes it can't show us anything new, and doesn't bother to try. Hell, it doesn't even bother to make fun of the stereotypes, something at which Landis used to subtly excel.