EATER (Episode 105)
Directed by: Stuart Gordon / Written by:
Richard Chizmar
Starring: Elizabeth Moss, Stephen R. Hart, Russell Hornsby
SYNOPSIS:
A rookie cop must spend her first night in the precinct watching over a
serial killer that has been nicknamed “The Eater.” When fellow cops start
acting bizarre, she quickly learns that no one is as they seem.
ERIC WALKUSKI (Rating 3.5 out of
4):
Stuart Gordon’s EATER was by far the most anticipated FEAR ITSELF episode
leading into the series’ run, essentially the poster-child for the potential
of Mick Garris’ creation; it seemed to be the most photogenic and garish of
the completed episodes. Now, after 4 weeks of mostly uninspired, unexciting
entries, we’ve finally arrived at Gordon’s sinister contribution – and it
was well worth the wait.
What’s fun about EATER is that it directly addresses the horror geek:
references to Stephen King, Silence of the Lambs, and a magazine inspired by
Fangoria pervade the very first few minutes of the episode, not to mention
the fact that John Carpenter’s THE THING seems to be the tale’s biggest
inspiration (hell, our lead character is a horror aficionado with an
appreciation for the macabre).
It also has no illusions about what it is – campy horror – whereas a few
of the prior FEAR episodes had a tendency to take themselves a little too
seriously (or at the very least, had too straight-forward of a demeanor).
Best of all, there’s a genuinely creepy atmosphere – something most FEAR eps
so far have sorely lacked. The cinematography is effective and a
refreshingly unique score sets an unnerving tone. Plus, most of the
performances are entertainingly over-the-top – they fit perfectly in this
bizarre little world.
It’s not ALL sunshine and roses though. The ending is far too abrupt to
be satisfactory (c’mon guys, we deserved a little better than rat poison)
and the basic idea of a killer inhabiting other people’s bodies isn’t
exactly a brand-spanking-new concept… That’s alright though, because EATER
is still an entertaining hour of ghoulish fun.
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JARED
PACHECO (Rating 3 out of 4):
EATER definitely got the job done. What exactly do you want
in an hour long horror mini series? You want something that’s going to keep
your interest and have you entertained and spooked right? That’s what EATER
does.
Right from the get go it grabs your attention and sets you up
for a fun ride. I was reminded of way back in the day, when horror shows
didn’t try too scare you while trying to be smart. They just went for the
easy, cheap, obvious scares.. And they worked! EATER does that. The genius of
Stuart Gordon was behind this one, so no surprise that it’s definitely worth
watching. The episode places three characters in a spooky little police
station around 2 AM with a cannibalistic, voodoo reciting madman in a holding
cell. So you know something’s going down.
The atmosphere is key in this episode. It’s everything.
Without it they would have nothing. The villain’s back story is great, I
even really dug the performances, all of them. All 4 actors were great and
really helped the episode run smoothly. I’m talking this one up… but
don’t get me wrong… there are definitely some flaws.
I wasn’t really digging the villain. Maybe it’s because
we don’t get much except bits and pieces of his back story, maybe I wanted
more back story… he just seemed kind of stereotypical and one dimensional…
if you know what I mean. The plot was kind of predictable, but in a fun way. I
loved the ending… but I hated it. I was definitely down for the big
picture… just the way it went down wasn’t too
Definitely the best in the series thus far… EATER is
definitely worth checking out if you want some campy TV horror you’ll enjoy.
I still think the theme song and intro have been the best parts of this series
thus far… that’s a sweet theme song.
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MIKE CATALANO (Rating 2.5 out of
4):
Here we are with episode number 5 of FEAR ITSELF tastefully titled
EATER and directed by the great Stuart Wilson.
I was pretty pumped to see this one as it was being highly touted as the episode to watch. And
while it was much better than the previous week’s entry, it still managed to
leave me with an unsettling feeling of “eh”.
The show started out promising enough with a large, hulking figure being hauled
into a small jail cell in a quiet police precinct.
The long, dark hark obscuring the bad guy’s face was a nice touch, but
reminded me a little too much of Rob Zombie’s grown-up Michael Myers.
I did like Elisabeth Moss’s role as a rookie female cop with a penchant
for horror movies. Her fellow
“male pig” officers added a nice dash of fraternity-style fun.
Also, the old precinct itself with its flickering lights and dingy
stairwells really was an ideal setting.
And as for the gore? Well,
I can happily state that EATER respectfully looked to push the boundaries of
network TV censorship. We get plenty
of the red stuff as well as a nice collection of disturbing imagery.
Let’s just say that the “Mrs. Scale” which was introduced in last
week’s review, in no way applies to this episode and that’s definitely a
good thing.
Okay, like I said above, I wasn’t as pleased with EATER as I hoped to be.
Why? Well, for starters,
you’ve got an old police precinct being attacked in the middle of the night
while it’s snowing outside. Sounds
somewhat similar to the ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 remake, but whatever, I guess.
What goes on inside the precinct is totally original.
I was hoping the “Eater” would escape and stark wrecking havoc.
However, that wasn’t exactly
how it went and to me, I felt the episode suffered because of it.
There was this weird element of the supernatural to the storyline that
kind of cheapened the scare factor for me. Within
the episode, the killer was likened to Buffalo Bill from THE SILENCE OF THE
LAMBS, however the reason why that flick was so terrifying was because Bill was
a real, f*cked up dude that didn’t rely on voodoo magic—a lesson
EATER sadly missed.
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