Fear Itself: Season One (2009)

It seems like the horror community pretty much turned its collective back on 2008’s weekly episodic horror series, Fear Itself, originally broadcast on NBC. Even I only watched a few episodes before basically forgetting all about it. In fact, only eight episodes actually aired before the network pulled the plug on the show during the summer of 2008. Now, the series has been released on DVD with all of the 13 episodes (some even with director’s cuts) included.

Though this Mick Garris-created series might feel like just another Masters of Horror (which he also created) with a different horror director (some well-known, others not so well-known) directing each episode, I was actually quite surprised at the high quality of some of the episodes. I might even dare to say that this is better than or at least on par with the Masters of Horror series! The only real difference is that on network TV filmmakers couldn’t get away with as much blood and guts as they could on cable. This actually works in favor on Fear Itself, though, because it makes the scares all that much creepier and able to crawl under your skin more as opposed to a visceral, one-time shock of a gore scare.

The directors gracing Fear Itself with their talent include Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator, From Beyond), Mary Harron (American Psycho), John Landis (An American Werewolf in London), Darren Lynn Bousman (Repo! The Genetic Opera, Saw) and Larry Fessenden (The Last Winter, Wendigo). Some of my favorite episodes came from these well-known names, but a few lesser known names like Eduardo Rodriguez (Curandero) and John Dahl (Joy Ride) surprised me at their high quality episodes.

In fact, my favorite episode was probably Rodriguez’s “The Circle”. Set on Halloween night and opening with an eerie trick or treating scene, the episode quickly moves to a horror author and his friends holed up in a remote cabin…and two trick or treaters delivering a mysterious book where what’s written inside comes becomes horrifyingly real. This is one of the most stylish and suspenseful episodes of the series and really has some startling scenes. With the Halloween night setting exploited a bit more, this could easily turn into a frightening feature-length movie. Plus, it really makes me want to hunt down Rodriguez’s horror film Curandero.

My second favorite would have to be Darren Lynn Bousman’s twitchy end of the world episode “New Year’s Day”. This is an intense, suspenseful episode that throws you into the chaos of a mysterious catastrophe happening in the wee hours of New Year’s. The drama is heightened by jumping back and forth between the present and an earlier New Year’s Eve party our lead character attends. Though the spastic camera work and flighty editing is a bit much, overall the episode was very stylish and I loved the twist at the end!

In Larry Fessenden’s “Skin and Bones”, a rancher returns home to his family after being lost in the wilderness…but his miraculous homecoming is marred by the fact that he has become possessed by a wendigo. First of all, Doug Jones as the rancher was AMAZING! His gaunt, hollowed face was terrifying enough, but his mannerisms really sold the performance! This was a definitely creepy episode and kept my eyes glued to the screen for the entire running time!

I dug many of the other episodes, including Stuart Gordon’s “Eater”, Mary Harron’s “Community”, and Brad Anderson’s (Session 9) “Spooked”. A few of the episodes weren’t to my liking (Breck Eisner’s “The Sacrifice” was a bit too generic and “Something with Bite” by the relatively unknown Ernest R. Dickerson [Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight] felt kind of hokey), but overall Fear Itself delivers quite a frightfully fun collection of bite-sized horror!

Don’t let Fear Itself go overlooked any longer, seek it out for some surprising and satisfying scares!

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Stuck (2008)

When I first sat down to watch Stuck, I must admit I was skeptical of the film.  Surely director Stuart Gordon is a master of horror, having filmed such films like Reanimator, Castle Freak and Edmond, but a film that features a guy stuck in a windshield for most of its running time sounded rather dull to me, though the true story that the film is based on is downright chilling. Just see the Wikipedia entry on it below:

Chante Jawan Mallard is an African American woman from Texas who was convicted and sentenced to 50 years’ imprisonment for her role in the death of a 37 year old homeless man, Gregory Biggs.

The incident occurred on October 26, 2001 when Mallard’s car struck him; at the time Mallard was believed to have been driving while intoxicated by drugs and alcohol. The force of the impact sent Biggs flying through the windshield, lodging him there.

Mallard then drove home, leaving the injured Biggs stuck in her windshield, and parked her car in her garage. She then went inside, had sex with her boyfriend, and over the next day or so checked on the man still stuck in her windshield. After the accident Mallard did not notify the police or get Biggs any medical attention. 

The film follows the true story pretty accurately with the exception of characters changed and a very different conclusion to the true life tale. Brandi (Mena Suvari) works in a nursing home and is on the verge of a major promotion. She goes out that night to celebrate with her drug-dealing boyfriend and best friend, but parties a little too hard and while under the influence of drugs and alcohol, hits down-on-his-luck Thomas Bardo (Stephen Rea), who is crossing the street. Bardo crashes through her windshield and remains lodged there. Panicked, Brandi heads home and leaves the bloodied Bardo stuck in her windshield for the night…Though she promises to get help, Brandi tries to figure out a way to get rid of Bardo while Bardo tries to escape.

Stuart Gordon is back to fine form with the exquisitely gripping Stuck. It is a suspenseful and horrifying film that is unrelenting from its first few scenes to its explosive finale. I didn’t have high expectations of this film going in, but it thoroughly impressed me with its conflicted, well-developed characters, stellar acting and fast pacing.

First off, the characters are very well rounded out and presented as extremely sympathetic. First, you have Thomas Bardo who is currently unemployed and has been kicked out of the skeevy hotel he was staying at. At an employment office he waits for hours for an appointment before being told he isn’t in the computer so they can’t help him. With no place to go and no money, he tries to sleep on a park bench but he is kicked out by a police officer. As if his day couldn’t get any worse, he is then hit by Brandi and sails through her windshield. While Brandi is set up to be the villain in this film, we can’t help but feel for her too. She is genuinely sweet to her patients at the nursing home and really cares for them. When she hits Bardo she has the very human reaction of covering up her mistake instead of ‘fessing up to it. We also feel bad for her when she is reprimanded by her slimy superior. When Brandi and Bardo go head-to-head, you really are at a loss as to who to root for, because both are sympathetic characters. Of course, Bardo wins our sympathies in the end because Brandi is basically just letting him die.

As for the acting, that is the absolute highlight of the film. I’m not a big Mena Suvari fan and I wasn’t diggin’ the whole ghetto-fabulous-wannabe/corn-row look, but she played the character of Brandi just right, with the perfect balance of sweetness and venom, cluelessness and resolve. The actor that really stole the show, though, was Stephen Rea as Thomas Bardo. Without him, I don’t think the film would have been as effective. He absolutely captures the forlorn desperation of Bardo and makes it easy to root for him.

While I thought this film’s storyline would be its weakest point, it actually impressed me. Gordon paces the film so that it’s packed with suspense and there isn’t a second to be bored. There’s always that tug-of-war between Brandi and Bardo that keeps things tense, but other characters added to the mix, like Brandi’s boyfriend Rashid (Russell Hornsby) and her friend Tanya (Rukiya Bernard), really give the movie additional depth and complexity. There is also plenty of black humor that will have you chuckling throughout the horrifying ordeal.

And horrifying it is…the fact that the story is rooted in reality adds to the ugly truth of human nature and shows us just how nasty we can get when it comes to our own preservation. Not only that, but there are several cringe-worthy scenes, including the car crash in slow motion, which shows Bardo’s leg snapping against the grill and him going through the windshield, many of which are drenched in blood. Though the film probably won’t satisfy gorehounds out for a cheap thrill, the gore portrayed is very realistic and works extremely well for the film.

Stuck is an unrelenting and thrilling cinematic horrorshow that shows us just how low people are willing to go to save their own skin and that your bad day can always get worse…

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Castle Freak (1995)

Despite its silly cover and title, Castle Freak is a surprisingly solid straight-to-DVD film from director Stuart Gordon. Though Gordon is most famously known for his blackly comedic and fun Re-Animator film, he takes a more serious approach with 1995’s Castle Freak, which stars Re-Animator alumni Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton.

An American family inherits a massive castle from an unknown relative in Italy. If the stress of moving wasn’t enough, the family also lost their 5-year-old son just nine months prior. The father, John (Jeffrey Combs) was driving drunk when he crashed the car carrying his son and daughter. His son was killed and his teenage daughter Rebecca (Jessica Dollarhide) was left blind. Since then, things have between John and his wife, Susan (Barbara Crampton), have been awfully strained. John sees the inheritance as a way to rekindle things with Susan, but Susan just can’t seem to forgive him, even though he has sobered up.

Meanwhile, their old Italian housekeeper tells them the scandalous story of the Duchess who lived in the castle and how she took an American husband. The Duchess soon had a child, Giorgio, but her husband abandoned them both and went back to America. Supposedly, Giorgio died when he was just 5 years old and for the 42 years since then the Duchess has let no one inside the castle. Some of the villagers, though, believe that the Duchess kept Giorgio alive and tortured him to punish her philandering husband. The old lady says that sometimes strange noises can be heard coming from the castle...

Soon, strange things start befalling the family. Rebecca swears there is someone else in the castle. After a stressful few days of strange noises and emotional turmoil, John takes to drinking again and even brings home a prostitute. Before long, mutilated bodies start piling up and suspicions fall on him.
Can the family band together to prove that the castle freak exists before John is hauled off to jail or, worse yet, before they all die painful deaths at the hands of the freak?

The most impressive thing about Castle Freak is the depth it goes into in regards to character development. There are no wispy-thin characters and everyone has a detailed background. The interactions between all the players drew me further and further into the story, fully engaging me until I couldn’t pry my eyes from the screen. Of course, Jeffrey Combs was a joy to watch as always. Though he quickly becomes unhinged as the movies progresses, I couldn’t help but feel for the poor guy as well. Barbara Crampton does a fantastic job as the fed-up and overwhelmed Susan, but it’s Jessica Dollarhide as Rebecca that really shines. Even though she was handicapped, she wasn’t whiny or spoiled, but looked at her disability as a challenge she had to face. It was very easy to root for her the entire time! Another standout performance was the castle freak himself, played by Jonathan Fuller. His creepy movement and Neanderthal grunts, plus the raw emotion he exhibited, really left me with conflicted feelings. One minute I was cheering him on as he escaped, the next I was hoping he would be caught…

For a straight-to-DVD film, Castle Freak sure looks sharp, even if it does have a low-budget feel. The special FX makeup and gore are the most impressive. The makeup and prosthetics done on the “freak” look incredibly real and very freaky. The gore is pretty gruesome, especially a scene involving Mr. Freak and the prostitute. There’s a fair bit of whipping, biting, dismemberment and plenty of blood flowing!

I also enjoyed that the film was shot on location in Italy, at an actual Italian castle (owned by the head of distribution company Full Moon Pictures). The beautiful countryside and gothic castle complemented the story (loosely based on the H.P. Lovecraft tale “The Outsider”) perfectly.

The film is not without its flaws, though. It takes about a good solid hour for anything to really happen, which might be a deal-breaker for some. The beginning felt a little too repetitive and slow for me, but the ending made up for the fact. Also, no matter how well it tries to hide the fact, Castle Freak is still a low-budget film and at times looks as such.

Still, for what it is, Castle Freak is a great film if enjoyed by the right people. It has complex characters, a fantastic location, great performances and solid special FX. The next time you have an itch for a serious B-movie, look no further than one of Full Moon’s best efforts, Castle Freak!

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Edmond (2005)

Edmond is a bleak, existential journey one man takes when he realizes his life is meaningless…

Edmond Burke decides he’s had enough of his boring, beige-colored, corporate life. Taking the advice of a psychic, he leaves his wife and his old life behind to discover where he is really supposed to be. Unfortunately, his journey takes him into the seedy underground of the city, where in one night he visits multiple bars, strip clubs, peep shows and massage parlors. Through his hellish journey, he finds the hookers too expensive, the pimps violent and many a conman roaming the dirty streets. It seems everyone wants to take advantage of him, from the hookers to a man running a card game con on the street. He is beaten and robbed, but keeps on roaming the streets searching for answers. In such a lonely, dog-eat-dog world, Edmond finally snaps and ends up killing a woman and threatening others. He is sent to prison, where he has a lifetime to mull over the philosophy of life that sent him to the brink of madness.

William H. Macy stars as Edmond, playing the same lost, lonely, sad and confused man he plays in almost every other film. Sure, he gives a powerful performance, but it is one we have already seen in countless films. His Edmond is a pathetic sack of a man who does whatever people tell him to do including following the psychic’s advice that he’s not in the right place in life and a man at a bar (played by Joe Mantegna) who tells him to go get laid. He finally snaps when he realizes that the world outside of his white-bread upbringing is a mean place where people just use and abuse each other.

The cast features many other familiar faces, including Julia Stiles as a waitress he ends up sleeping with, Mena Suvari, Bai Ling and Denise Richards all as hookers, Debi Mazar as a madam of a massage parlor, Jeffrey Combs as a hotel desk clerk and George Wendt as a pawn shop owner. Unfortunately, these appearances are little more than cameos as Edmond wanders through the dangerous underbelly of the city and we don’t get to see much these actors. This film is solely focused on Macy’s character.

That being said, this is much more a character-driven film than a horror movie. It was penned from a play by David Mamet and directed by Stuart Gordon of Re-Animator fame. Don’t expect any over-the-top, gory, humorous horror here, though. Edmond’s level of violence doesn’t exceed a couple of beatings and one killing, which happens off-screen. The horror here is much more psychological as Edmond’s sanity continues to slip. Gordon, though, does a masterful job of directing the Mamet-penned emotional script and cinematographer Denis Maloney captures all the seedy trashiness of Downtown.

This film won’t please a lot of horror fans because of its slow pace and lack of bloodshed. You will need some patience to view the film, but the unsettling and uneven pace mirrors Edmond’s own psychological state of mind and is there for a reason. Fans of David Mamet films will find this more their style, but Edmond should also hold some interest to those who enjoy psychological dramas about a person’s changing reality. Edmond is an intriguing piece of cinema that forces you to wake up and examine your own life to see if you are really living it.

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