Since FEAR ITSELF is from the same group who brought you MASTERS OF HORROR, I knew the run of well-done stories was too good to last. Granted, I haven't seen all the episodes, so the few I viewed surprised and impressed me. But there is a pattern to the way these guys work, and it was only a matter of time before a clunker came along...and here it is. Call it complete thievery from George Romero, as this tale crosses NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and DAWN OF THE DEAD with BEVERLY HILLS 9021-"ARRRRGH".
It's New Year's Day, as the title informs us, and Helen (Brianna Evigan) wakes with The Ultimate Hangover. Only it's much worse than the usual case of "Boy, Was I Drunk Last Night." She remembers very little, feels extremely sick and OHMIGODWHATISTHATNOISEOUTSIDE??? As she gets violently ill, comes to her senses somewhat and goes looking for her MIA roommate, Eddie (Niall Matter), bits and pieces of the night before come back to her in disjointed flashes, in between the horrifying realization that whatever happened outside of their apartment is now INSIDE, and this includes neighbors and various folks suddenly appearing as the hungry walking dead.
Just as in the hit CLOVERFIELD, what we have here in the flashback sequences of Helen's night before is a pretty pathetic picture of self-absorbed, pretty young twentysomethings who bicker, whine, snivel and basically have cows about how that one person they love won't love them back, so they feel their 'world is coming to an end'...until certain events bring it brutally to their attention that the world around them is, in fact, REALLY COMING TO AN END.
It's a painful thing to watch a promising series suddenly hurl itself into the cruel and jagged chasm of mediocrity, but with NEW YEAR'S DAY, that's exactly what happens. Darren Lynn Bousman, the director of the last few installments of the SAW franchise, finds himself floundering here, unable to punctuate weak dialog and plot holes with that series' signature buckets 'o' gore. Although there is a nod here and there to some old-fashioned, down-home, Romero-style gut-munching, which I did appreciate as a zombie-fan.
As for the "twist" ending, seasoned horror vets will have it figured out well before Helen stumbles out of her apartment. I didn't catch it until about the last twenty minute mark, but by then I really wasn't paying attention. Bousman's "MacGuffin" to replace gore and gadgets was to throw as many visual and editing effects into the mix as possible, to distract the audience from the glaring fact that We've Seen It All Before, and done much better, too.
In light of the almost laughable conclusion, which is supposedly designed to make you run screaming from the room - only not with laughter - a great tag line for this episode would have been "Romance Is Dead."
But not nearly as dead as this script is, or any of the attempts the game cast tried to make to revive it.
Alright, guys. Let's try again next week, shall we?
It's New Year's Day, as the title informs us, and Helen (Brianna Evigan) wakes with The Ultimate Hangover. Only it's much worse than the usual case of "Boy, Was I Drunk Last Night." She remembers very little, feels extremely sick and OHMIGODWHATISTHATNOISEOUTSIDE??? As she gets violently ill, comes to her senses somewhat and goes looking for her MIA roommate, Eddie (Niall Matter), bits and pieces of the night before come back to her in disjointed flashes, in between the horrifying realization that whatever happened outside of their apartment is now INSIDE, and this includes neighbors and various folks suddenly appearing as the hungry walking dead.
Just as in the hit CLOVERFIELD, what we have here in the flashback sequences of Helen's night before is a pretty pathetic picture of self-absorbed, pretty young twentysomethings who bicker, whine, snivel and basically have cows about how that one person they love won't love them back, so they feel their 'world is coming to an end'...until certain events bring it brutally to their attention that the world around them is, in fact, REALLY COMING TO AN END.
It's a painful thing to watch a promising series suddenly hurl itself into the cruel and jagged chasm of mediocrity, but with NEW YEAR'S DAY, that's exactly what happens. Darren Lynn Bousman, the director of the last few installments of the SAW franchise, finds himself floundering here, unable to punctuate weak dialog and plot holes with that series' signature buckets 'o' gore. Although there is a nod here and there to some old-fashioned, down-home, Romero-style gut-munching, which I did appreciate as a zombie-fan.
As for the "twist" ending, seasoned horror vets will have it figured out well before Helen stumbles out of her apartment. I didn't catch it until about the last twenty minute mark, but by then I really wasn't paying attention. Bousman's "MacGuffin" to replace gore and gadgets was to throw as many visual and editing effects into the mix as possible, to distract the audience from the glaring fact that We've Seen It All Before, and done much better, too.
In light of the almost laughable conclusion, which is supposedly designed to make you run screaming from the room - only not with laughter - a great tag line for this episode would have been "Romance Is Dead."
But not nearly as dead as this script is, or any of the attempts the game cast tried to make to revive it.
Alright, guys. Let's try again next week, shall we?