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'Family Man', the third installment of horror anthology Fear Itself stars Clifton Collins Jr. and Colin Ferguson, under the swift direction of Ronny Yu (Freddy vs. Jason, The Bride of Chucky). Although the series is still in a nascent stage, 'Family Man' is clearly the show's most competent effort; it boasts a terrifying premise, above average acting, a focused approach that doesn't try to tackle the world in a sixty minute time slot. But most of all, the episode has a sinister, pulsing-pessimistic ending that you really can't see coming. Greatly horrific the episode is not, but comparatively speaking it's a noticeable cut above.

We open in a cathedral, where after a sermon we meet Dennis (Ferguson) and Kathy (Josie Davis) Mahoney, a pair of good looking devout faithfuls. We gather how involved they are in the church, staying late to discuss activities with the minister. Moving to their home life, we see a gorgeous house, a young daughter named Courtney. When Dennis is called in for work on the third Sunday in a row, he quips "someone's got to pay for this house." Kathy bites her lip. So Dennis totes his Dodge Intrepid to work, but in a cell-phone distraction, is suddenly t-boned by a large SUV. Dennis hangs half way out the window, bleeding his life away.

Cut to flashes of hospital halls. Dennis is barely alive, or so he thinks. But when he comes to, and his family doesn't hear his address, it becomes pretty clear that Dennis is in a semi-purgatorial state of consciousness; stranded somewhere between the dead and the living. He's approached in his hospital bed by a man named Richard Brautigan (Collins), who confirms to Dennis that both of them are dead, Brautigan being the other driver involved in the accident. Then SNAP...Dennis jolts awake, thinking it was all a dream. Only it wasn't a dream. In fact, as the accident occurred, both Dennis and Richard inadvertently swapped bodies. Dennis now resembles Richard and vise versa.

So what's the kicker? When Dennis is being interrogated under the appearance of Brautigan, he learns that the D.A. has incriminating evidence against him as a multiple rapist/murderer stemming from prior to the car accident. Dennis is stunned to learn he's essentially stuck behind the heinous visage of a criminal pervert, meanwhile his wife and two kids are living at home with the actual killer posing as their patriarch (Brautigan). Fanning the proverbial flames is the fact Dennis' incarceration leaves him next to helpless, as he has to try and save his family from behind bars.

Frequent visits are made by Brautigan, tormenting Mahoney with domestic anecdotes about Courtney's school play, or how Kathy's reticent nature is sullied after a few drinks. This festers in Dennis' mind, driving him into a fevered hallucinatory state where he witnesses a disturbing and bloodletting version of Courtney's play. Meanwhile on the home-front, Kathy and kids slowly start to notices changes in what appears to be their husband and father. Brautigan's edgy, temperamental personality starts to shine through; he almost knocks a church kid out for running off with 'his' children (a boy the real Dennis knew since birth). A good amount of tension and unrest is established between Ferguson and Davis that serves as more than mere filler until the exciting climax.

Deciding to make an escape and return to his family, Dennis agrees with the D.A. to show where the raped and murdered bodies are being stored. With absolutely no knowledge of said murders, Dennis tactfully makes a shackled escape but not before taking a bullet wound to the side. When he finally reaches his house, an ultimate show down between him and Brautigan (in each others body) culminates with some hand to hand combat with everything from butcher knives, a frying pan, a #2 pencil, even a glass coffee table thrown in for good measure. I won't spill the final revelation; a snap ending that takes a dark, almost nihilistic stance. I'm not sure an "it's good for TV" caveat is warranted here, but let's just say the ending is what makes the episode!

With only a handful of principal performers here, the strongest part of the show is the acting. It's hard enough to make us believe in one character, let alone a character that is literally trapped inside another character. Yet to the credit of Collins Jr. (who's been doing good film work for awhile now) and Ferguson, who dominate the majority of scenes; we never get the embarrassment of overacting or a sense that these guys are trying to hard to convince the audience. In addition, the truncated casting only served to keep things simple and on course; there weren't any over-saturated story lines or superfluous characters like episodes prior. All of these things augmented this show and elevated it as one of the better thus far.

But that's not say the episode is faultless. The script, while certainly efficient and unpredictable at times, can be viewed as a pastiche of thrillers like Face/Off or even older TV shows like The Twilight Zone or Quantum Leap. And because of the requisite commercial breaks, not enough time is allowed to get to sympathize with the characters, especially on the family side with Kathy and the kids. With more time and even a hard R-rating, the show could have nicely elaborated on the interplay between Brautigan and Kathy on some reverse Stepford Wives, Body Snatchers type tension (with a sex-offending murder instead of aliens). As it is, any emotional response becomes fractured by the constant commercial interruption. Either way you chop it though, 'Family Man' is so far the most enjoyable entry of Fear Itself.

Terror Rating: 3 out of 5
Originality: 2 out of 5
Level of Gore: 2.5 out 5
Overall Rating: 3.25 out 5

Fear Itself Airs Thursday Night @ 10:00 P.M. on NBC.

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