Fear Itself Season 1 Episode 4

I think the fear itself shows should only be only a half an hour long because there's a lot of stuff that is just dumb and repeats itself. There was a twist ending in this just like in mostly all of the episodes. Sam's brother and her house is pretty disturbing. The end is extremely unexpected (hense twist ending). My question is why would she go back into the church like ten times, and by herself? Do they think that real people are this stupid? Well some are, but most are not. This episode was good, compared to the previous episodes it was okay.

In my opinion this episode wasnt that bad. I mean, the bride was a little stupid, but still. The story was pretty good, and the characters were relatable. The only thing is that the bride kept going back alone in the church. The ending though, did make the episode a lot better. Most of the episode was just boring and leading up to the climax. The bride calling her brother, causing her bridemaids to confront the groom. The two alone in the church(stupid move). Actually it all seemed stupid until you see the end. I guess i dont wanna spoil it for anyone, but yeah, it made this episode a little more redeemable.

What do you get when you have a very Twilight Zone like story and two stars from Psych? Tonight's episode of Fear Itself.





While I saw the twist ending coming from a mile away (the note actually should have gone to Carlos) that does not mean it was not a great hour of television. Networks tried to restore the horror series with shows like this, Masters of Science Fiction and Nightmares and Dreamscapes, but for some reason people just did not tune in.





I hope soon a channel will give it another go, but despite the poor ratings, Fear Itself was a very enjoyable series.

Scores 4 points for James Roday, 1 point for Maggie Lawson, 1 point for William B. Davis and 0,5 for the episode effort.





(warning: contains spoilers!)





We have a disfunctional family composed by 2 siblings, Samantha(the Bride)and Steven, both of them psycho-killers apparently with Dissociative Personality Disorder. They target Samantha's dates. After Samantha gets engaged her brother Steven dresses as a woman, flirts with them grooms and starts to stalk them, ultimately delivering them a note(anonymous) saying they are about to marry to a serial killer. That causes them to ditch on Samantha and thereafter the twisted siblings manage to kill them and keep their heads as a trofee in big jam jars in their house.





Samantha is about to marry Carlos. Carlos is an only child who became an orfan at age 16, when his parents "disappeared". It is suggested to us that Carlos is a psycho-killer, that he targets killing the bride right after the honeymoon, and that he was the one who killed his parents.





Samantha and Carlos do not know about each-other being psycho-killers, but even unaware of that fact, it seems to be the subconcious reason why they like eachother, and ultimately the reason Sam seems (temporarily) incapable of bringging up her psycho-killer alter ego. Well, that's the most decent sense i could come up with after watching this episode, yet there are lots of holes left on the plot, questions to be answered and poorly used elements. It's fair and doesen't hurt to watch, this series wouldn't miss it much. James Roday fans thought would miss a great oportunity to see all his acting skills as he did a pretty good job while playing a bad guy, and that's worth the episode itself.

I am a huge fan of James Roday. I love the show Psych. I was ready to give up on Fear Itself after the first three unimpressive episodes but when I realized that James and his girlfriend/Psych co-star Maggie Lawson were going to star in this episode, I decided to watch it. I also heard that Landis would be directing and since he has some skill as a director, I hoped the episode wouldn't be terrible.





I suppose I can say that I don't regret watching the episode and the reason I don't regret that is because James and Maggie acted wonderfully. James Roday truly looked evil at times. Maggie's fear was impressive, although it really doesn't make sense that she was so scared.





At many points in the episode, especially the scene between Carlos and Sam in the church, the dialogue didn't really make sense. Their actions and the stuff they said wasn't totally cohesive. At times I thought to myself "Why would she say that?" in a response to something he'd said, or vice versa.





There were a couple of suspenseful moments but they didn't last long and I don't think any part of this episode could be described as scary. (And did that little girl's screaming annoy anyone other than me?) I liked the little surprise ending because I'm dumb enough to not have expected that. I expected her to "forgive" Carlos and go hug and kiss him, and then he'd stab her to death or something. Still, as pleased as I was with the ending, a lot of this didn't make sense. If she was a serial killer, would she really be THAT freaked out about possibly marrying a serial killer? Why did her brother have to dress up like a woman in an attempt to deliver the note? Why didn't he just scare Carlos away himself or just tell him the truth face to face? Why wouldn't he just kill him (if he's in on the murders with his sister). This is something I'm not very clear on. Is the brother a killer too? And what was up with Carlos' uncles? They kept nodding to each other and making cryptic faces. What were those expressions about? Why did Carlos look so evil if all he was hiding was a dinner date? I could go on and on with the questions but the truth is that I won't care about the answers after I'm done with this review. I will never watch this show again.





I love James Roday and I like Maggie Lawson but even being a fan of theirs wasn't enough to make me like this episode more.

I had sort of high hopes for this episode especially after last week's awesome episode (and to me best of the series thus far with Colin Ferguson) plus with a cast of Maggie Lawson and James Roday from the USA network show Psych I was excited. However this episode was a big let down. It didn't seem to go anywhere and when it tried to it just seem to brake down around itself. As my dad described the episode it was like watching a dog chase his tail around the rug for an hour. The episode kept going around in circles. The acting of Maggie Lawson and James Roday was good for the most part I thought they were just handed a bad script. I expected a little more from the writers! I really thought it was dumb that once again they relied on cheap scares such as pounding on doors, lights turning off and "things going bump in the night" (the vase falling and breaking for instance). I really hope they don't consider that crap horror I mean that's just bottom of the barrel stuff right there.





However to me the ending did make some sense. Her brother who loved her very much (crossing the insect line there) wanted her back and never wanted her to leave. To me it seemed like the two of them were this serial killer brother and sister team with incest ties. Regardless I hope next Thursday's episode will be better and I'll keep on trucking with this show.

I'm truly puzzled why I stuck with this painful mess till the very end, but then, if I hadn't, I wouldn't be able to warn you away from watching it. This was the first episode I watched of this Friday night horror anthology but clearly, if they were willing to let this air with their names attached to it they aren't too concerned about the quality of their episodes. Flip over to virtually anything else and you'll be happier. Why? Oh, if you have to have reasons: extremely rushed appearance to the overall production, blocking, camera setups, acting, everything appeared as though you were watching the first or second take, characters who seemed like they might have something to do with the plot but ultimately had zero to do with anything, a hair brained "twist" ending that was tacked on and in no way made any sense, acting that wouldn't cut the mustard on even the most mundane of soap operas. I could go on, but why bother.

After watching last nights episode I think it is safe to say that I can take this show off the DVR. From beginning to end none of the characters feel....real. The ending felt forced. As though they looked at the watch and said "Well, crap! Were all out of time! Best to wrap it up quickly." What I enjoy about twists at the end are the minute clues that are delivered throughout the preceding story. This on the other hand had no basis other than it needed a conclusion. The best part about this episode was when it was over.

First, let me say that I love Psych and James Roday. I love John Landis. I, however, hated this episode. It made no sense at all.





The setup was good. The bride gets a note that she is marrying a serial killer. Okay, I buy that. They had not known each other long. She had bad luck in relationships.





Then the whole show dissolved into the bride blindly running around alone. Where was the maid of honor? She met the out-of-nowhere twin uncles. Who cares? The groom runs after her, and she is terrified. Why?





I am all for red herrings and twists, as long as they make sense and are well done. The red herrings went nowher. The twist negated everything we had seen in the entire episode. What a cheat!

This series is not a patch on masters of horror, which had some genuinely scary moments. Fear Itself has exactly the same directors and writers as Masters of Horror, yet constantly proves itself to be inferior to its predecessor. The good thing about masters of horror was it's timeslot and of course the freedom it gained from being broadcast on showtime. NBC, meanwhile, seems to be greatly limiting what the guys working on fear itself can do and as a result the show suffers greatly. Masters of Horror had its ups and downs, but it was still a good show and there were episodes that i found pretty frightening. John carpenter even managed to make something of a return to form. When i heard that the same guys who did masters of horror would be doing a new horror anthology series i was very excited, but thats gone now. I think after the first few episodes i just started watching out of habit, hoping the show would eventually pay off. I know only four episodes have been broadcast so far, but i've really lost hope for the series since this subpar effort on John Landis's part. This guy is responsible for one of the greatest horror films of all time and one of my favourite episodes of masters of horror and yet i think this was the worst episode of this series so far. The guy doesn't even seem to be trying to make this episode scary. The entire narrative is just setup, setup, setup and then no payoff. The twist was too easy, i'm betting that anyone who saw the trailer before watching this episode saw it coming. It was unsurprising and totally boring. Several opportunities to make the episode more exciting were stepped on. What was up with the two mysterious uncles? Surely something could have been done with them. Instead they're introduced, made to look integral to the plot and then ditched. Aside from them, every other character came across as two dimensional and i had absolutely no problem with watching any of them die... yet none of them did. In fact, there wasn't a single death scene in this episode and the only real gore comes at the end buy which point you don't really care.


Acting was pretty crummy. There were no actual scares to be found anywhere. I want to believe that this series is going to get better, but if this is all landis can do with the show then i don't see much hope for other directors. Next week is stuart gordons turn. He is one of my favourite horror directors of all time, yet the trailer for the next episode looks tacky and camp. Lets hope this show turns around and soon.

So I vowed never to watch this show again, but I saw that Maggie Lawson and James Roday were in the episode so I thought that I would give it a go. This was by far the best episode in the series so far, but it was still pretty bad. John Landis is a fabulous director, but with a script like this no one could makes this good (unless he wrote this then not as fabulous as I thought). I have to admit the ending was kinda good although completely predictable. The main problem I had with this episode was how open they left the motivations of the characters. No ones actions made any sense and the twist at the end only made the reactions of all the characters even more odd. It was overall just a really weak attempt that wasn't even remotely scary, but it was better than watching the news. But the writing, was just awful, the lines were so awful and repetitive, the tedium of this episode just became overwhelming after like 15 minutes.

I was so looking forward to seeing James Roday and Maggie Lawson (aka Shawn and Juliet from Psych) getting married... but after suffering through this episode all I have to say is Where's Lassie?





I hated James Roday in this role... he has such a likable laid back style in Psych and he just seemed wasted in this role... Maggie Lawson was at least believable, but her character was ridiculous...





The twist with the brother at the end was slightly interesting, but not played well so it gave away the ending... That reveal should have come after Sam promised to show Carlos the note someday... Then at least it would have been clever...





Overall I'm deeply disappointed with this series and John Landis should go back to National Lampoon...

Having watched 4 episodes I have seen this show go constantly downhill. This episode was so transparent that there was no surprise just like the previous shows. I guess I watched too much of this stuff over the last 45 years. It was nice to see two actors from a semi comedy show (Psych) doing a serious show even if it was bad. Maggie Lawson was okay and James Roday playing a possible serial killer was a change. The ending was trite and you could see it coming right from the beginning. I have questions (StOp HeRe If YoU HaVeN'T WaTCHeD) Why was the brother dressed as a girl, why did he have her trophies or if it was her house why did she call her house and leave a message for her brother? Bad show.

So awful that I had to register with tv.com to express my dislike for this particular episode. One of the worst episodes of a television show that I have ever seen. The next episode of this series that makes me as mad as this one did will put me off the entire series, no matter who they get to direct. A director is only as good as the script they have to work with. And this one shows! Let's not blame Landis alone. Someone else has GOT to be responsible for how bad this was. Let's go grab our torch and pitchforks!

Wow! this episode was horrible. Everything about the episode was stupid and predictable. I would rather shoot myself in the face several times and then light myself on fire than watch this episode again. Nothing about the episode reedemmed it and after a few minutes i felt like the director just yelled **** it!" and then shot himself in the head. Studies show that 90% of the population killed themselves after watching this episode. On the walls, in blood were the words "Why God Why?" anyways this episode sucked just like the last one and the one before that. This show really needs to get better

i am not familiar with this series, and the only watched it because the actors from psych (james roday, maggie lawson) were in it. If you watched it for these reasons, don't bother. this episode is nothing like psych. First of all, the acting is terrible. roday and lawson not nearly as good as they are in psych. also, i didn't get half the plot, especially that twist ending. I think they just tacked it on there at the end because they needed a twist. apparantly, they needed one that was totally confusing and impossible to understand. was sam (lawson) actually the serial killer? was it her groom (roday)? Or was it that creepy brother guy? Honestly, i watched the ending over again about 5 times and still never got it. so if you are like me and watching this episode because you like psych, don't bother. It is not worth it.

Utter waste of time. This episode was pure crap. I can't believe they would air an episode like this. There's more horror to be seen in rigged flash games where a zombie jumps on screen unsuspectingly. The ending causes the whole episode to fall apart. This is worse then watching an entire tv series and then finding out everything in the past year was in the main character's dreams. Again, how do they release this crap? There's got to be an abundance of film grads who can make a better episode then this with 1/10 the budget. This series is going down the drain. I tried to rate this a 0.1 but tv.com won't let me.

I hate to say it, but this show is getting worse by the week. Why the writers felt the need to bludgeon viewers of this episode with a barrage of suspense-killing clues is beyond me. From the opening scene in which Gurrlfriend and Bride-to-be are rehashing the latter's history with men ("...they just disappear..."), to the incessant reminders that the pastor is hard of hearing, to abstruse dead-end plot aspects (twin uncles? huh?), this proved to be a tedious exercise in poorly written and equally poorly acted television. Alfred Hitchcock Presents could have done a fine job with this story in half the time, and without dropping a single clue on an audience whose intelligence it obviously had more respect for than Fear Itself does for its viewers.





I must also say that Fear Itself has now populated four episodes with annoying, hard to watch actors, and I see that next week's episode will feature the most annoying actor on AMC's Mad Men. Ugh.

I like James Roday and Maggie Lawson - though I have to wonder if NBC thinks that "Fear Itself" will have a big enough audience to get people introduced to the actors from "Psych" and follow them back to their normal show, or if they think "Psych" is popular enough that using actors from that show will bring fans to "Fear Itself."





In either event, this just has to be one of the stupidest things I've ever seen on TV. Twist ending are all well and good, but once the twist occurs, there needs to be a feeling that the story somehow led up to it and all the questions raised by the plot thus far will all click into place. Under NO circumstances should the twist make so little sense that you feel compelled to go back and rewatch it to find out what it was you missed. Whatever. I may give it one more shot, but if the next outing is *this* bad, it certainly won't last any longer than that on my DVR.





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UPDATE (10:48pm) Nope, didn't make any more sense the 2nd time around. I've gotta agree with the other posters who find it ridiculous that, if *she's* the serial killer, why would she be afraid of marrying one? You'd think she'd figure that either they'd have a *lot* of fun working together or that if she started to feel threatened by him, she could pretty easily take care of herself, eh? Yeesh! And was it really clear that she's the killer, or is it that her brother dresses up like her so that if she were ever to try and tell anyone, evidence would lead to her and not him (not that that's terribly likely to work in the real world, but obviously this episode didn't take place there, so who knows?) Maybe that's why she never reported him to anyone.





And what was the deal with the identical twin uncles, and all the hush-hushed talk about Carlos' parents? Red herrings are all well and good, but this was more like when one of the soap operas had lost one of their regular actors, so one day his character went upstairs to check on something, and he wasn't sean, heard from or spoken of again until a few years later when they hired a new guy to play him. There just needs to be *something* that those tie into, even if it turns out to be very subtle or unimportant.





What a *waste*!

What a terrible episode! I really enjoyed last weeks thriller but this one was a complete let down. The plot seemed alright at first and looked promising for maybe the first fifteen minutes or so. Then time went by and nothing was happening at all. It was just speculation about whether Carlos could be a serial killer and the whole situation with the bridesmaids questioning Samantha got annoying. The worst part of it by far was the ending which was a complete failure. Samantha a serial killer? I mean my god you don't have a serial killer scared out of her mind at the prospect of her husband being a serial killer. It made absolutely no sense. There were no clues to indicate that she might be abnormal in any way. Also, the uncles who seemed incahoots turned out to be nothing and it seems the writers just threw that in to build suspense and that they themselves had no idea what was going on there. I was hoping this was a series I could really get into but after this episode I think I'll avoid wasting my time. Poor writing like this doesn't belong on tv.