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Fear Itself: Eater
by Jason Hughes, posted Jul 4th 2008 1:47AM
(S01E05) NBC's website says that writer Richard Chizmar's first big project with his writing partner Jonathan Schaech is an adaptation of Stephen King's From A Buick 8. Then, they say that Jonathan Schaech's first big project with his writing partner Richard Chizmar is an adaptation of Stephen King's Black House. I'm not horribly familiar with either of them, though they've written for Masters of Horror and Heroes, nor the director Stuard Gordon (Re-Animator). Yes, that means I've never seen Re-Animator.I am familiar with Elisabeth Moss who played the female rookie officer, though more for her work on Mad Men than The West Wing. She's one of those girls who isn't classically beautiful and because of that can play both the pretty girl when done up and the mousy girl when needed. For this installment she is cast in the latter role and put opposite the towering Stephen R. Hart as a serial killer named "The Eater." He doesn't even have to be anything more than his 6'11" in height and he's scary as all hell, but with the teeth and make-up added here, he's downright terrifying.
Right from the beginning, this episode won me over with the ultra-realistic banter between the cops. The ribbing of the girl and the sexist reluctance to have her on the force at all. Boy, thank goodness they aren't resorting to lame-ass stereotypes. [The preceding was brought to you by Sarcasm, Inc. "Sarcasm, Inc. When speaking plainly just isn't good enough anymore there's always Sarcasm. Where we respect all consumers as intelligent and thoughtful people."]
By the time the set-up staff meeting ended and "the girl" asked "Hey Sarge, he really ate all those people?" I settled down to really hate this episode. But at least they acknowledged that they ripped some of the characteristics of their cannibalistic serial killer from The Silence of the Lambs. Surprisingly, after a terrible set-up the show got a lot better. They did a great job of establishing the mood and of making the empty police station a pretty damned spooky place to be.
Why does Bannerman have two full sleeves of tattoos? I get that she's established as a horror buff, but I'm not seeing where the tattoos fit in with her personality. I guess I just don't see someone so skittish as she portrays this character to be going out and getting sleeves like that.
I did like Stephen Lee as fellow officer Marty Steinwitz. He was crass, crude and a bit creepy all at the same time. There was a lot of strength in the acting on the parts of both Moss and Lee, which served to ratchet up the tension perfectly as the hour progressed. That and the minimalistic usage of Hart's towering persona only exacerbated the psychological terror. Even Pablo Schreiber, who showed up later as an almost exact replica of the personality Lee had established, maintained the creepy level.
Pablo Schreiber and Stephen Lee were both sweating profusely throughout the episode, to establish that they were a little "off." I don't like that they used this trick and the odd swooping camera angles for Lee so early in the episode as it gave too much to the audience too soon. Let us be as uncertain as Bannerman at least for a little while.
Stupid Horror Movie Moves & Other Thoughts
- Hey, I'm a young girl alone in a room with a 6'11" serial killing cannibal. Why don't I open the locked jail door that is the only thing standing between me and him to make sure he's all right?
- I want to know how long Officer Marti Bannerman has been on the force, as there were times when the captain talked about her as if she's put in some time making arrests, and other instances where they almost act like this is her first week.
- Like anyone believed the captain wasn't "The Eater" when he showed up. But where the hell did his body come from to suddenly be in the holding area. And why the bag over its head? Plot holes? Let me just fill those up with flashing lights.
- The bad guy moves like a lumbering zombie, even when possessing other bodies, such that the girl can easily escape him, and has to take dramatic pauses to laugh maniacally.
- A hide-and-go-seek scene in a locker room. That's never been done before.
- The scene where he bit her hand couldn't have been done more awkwardly if it had been staged and filmed by those morons who do backyard wrestling videos on the 'net.
- So who chained the doors from the outside anyway? And how come nothing came of the rippling waves of reality?
- And then the ending. Rat poison? Really? Just like that? That was your ending? Guess you kind of wrote yourself into a corner there, huh? Yeah, horror is hard.
| Apparently | |
|---|---|
| It's not dead, it's just not being done anymore | |
| No |
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