HNUM²

Officer Bannermn is a horror movie obsessed rookie cop.  It’s her first overnight shift at the station. When the captain brings in “The Eater”, a Cajun Serial Killer, she is curious about the case file.  While browsing the file she hears a noise.  Investigating, she feels something is not quite right, the strange actions of her co-workers increases her unease.  When she discovers the eater’s cell door unlocked she realizes that she’s living a horror movie.

They picked a great episode to start off the Fear Itself boxset.  Directed by Stuart Gordon, this creepy tale of the notorious “Eater” gets off to a great start with the giant being lead into the building. Eater, face shrowded by long grimy hair, towering over everyone, makes a hell of a sight.  There’s some great tracking shots as he’s lead through the station to the holding cells.  The rest of the episode is as skillfully made, featuring some nicely composed shots.  I especially like the look of the flashback scenes. The shift in the colors from a cold green hue to a warm brown tone while Bannerman is reading the case file links the past and present together nicely, and subtly changes back to slightly colder tones when Eater’s magic brings her mind back to the present.

The tension is built up well here.  She knows there’s something wrong.  We see it too.  Her colleagues strange behavior is giving off signals that she’s seen before, in countless horror movies.  Never entirely trusting them, it’s no real surprise to her that Eater has, well, eaten.  The cat and mouse game plays out nicely, with an ending that, I would image, wouldn’t sit well with most network TV audiences.  After the first creepy tense forty minutes, I think a lot of people would like a happy ending.  There’s not really one here which is very refreshing.

Another thing I enjoyed about this episode are the score.  I really loved the was it was composed to fit perfectly with the chanting.  Almost as if he was creating the sound itself.  It worked really well.  And was pretty catchy, too.

Overall, Gordon has made something that, within the confines of network tv, managed to be very creepy, riveting and well worth your forty-something minutes.  He definitely deserves the “Master of Horror”… Er, “Master of Fear Itself” title.