OMG Horror.com

Eight years removed from the hysterically irreverent dark horror/comedy American Psycho, director Mary Harron hones her directorial eye on the 7th episode of Fear Itself entitled 'Community'. While Harron deserves credit for, through a series of time cuts and fade to black edits, developing a denser story than we're used to seeing from Fear Itself - it's too bad the episode is wasted and utterly devoid of anything that truly warrants said complexity. In other words, 'Community' is hardly worth the effort it took to create it. Sadly, it's even less worthy of watching.

The episode starts with a Clark Kent look-alike (uh, wait...it;s Brandon Routh) sprinting through a snowy meadow. He's petrified. A horde of men with rabid dogs chase him until he stops at the sight of a glowing white light. The young man roars. Cut to five months prior, where we meet Bobby (Routh) and Tracy (Shiri Appleby), a good looking couple confined to a crowded city sublet. When Bobby returns with some groceries one night, he finds Tracy in the bathroom, teary-eyed. She desperately wants a child, yet laments another failed pregnancy test. Not only that, she wants a nice quiet environment to raise her children, a lovely suburb in fact.

After a persuasive recommendation over dinner (by friends Scott and Meryl), Bobby and Tracy entertain the notion of taking up residence in 'The Commons', an exclusive swanked out estate with a foreboding wrought-iron front-gate. Each house is uniform, comprised of brick. Bobby and Tracy agree to move. We meet an eerily chipper spokeswoman named Candace who gives the couple a tour of the neighborhood, everything serene, ideal. But when the couple notices abnormally generous interest rates and plentiful house furnishings, they begin to notice that something is a bit off. Proving the deal to be too good to refuse, Bobby signs the contract anyway.

Weird shit starts to happen. We meet next door neighbors Deb and Phil, 12 year community veterans. Deb boasts more zeal than an amped up girl scout; Phil clearly besotted by something no less than 100 proof. At a house-welcoming Xmas party, we learn Phil has a prosthetic leg in addition to penchant for the sauce. I'm not sure I'll spoil it, but legs play a central motif in the episode. Back to the weird shit! At a town meeting Bobby learns that infidelity isn't taken lightly, a promiscuous woman is tied up in a public square, masked, and pelted with garbage (a modern day tarring/feathering?) A cop oversees this activity, Bobby questions the officer and gets some lame 'she has to pay for what she's doing to us all, the community will be stronger' screed that illustrates what kind of quasi-religious communal sect 'The Commons' really is.

That's the basic crux. We have a Wicker Man type of cult of Arian suburbanites who prey on young couples looking to fertilize. They hound for a perpetual cycle of brainwashed children who can keep their sick uniformity intact for a lifetime. When Tracy finally does get pregnant, she and Bobby become the central focus of the townies hell-bent on stripping all privacy or civil liberties from the couple. When Bobby tries to wriggle his way out of the hood, his lawyer reiterates that a contract has been signed - one that stipulates that Tracy must be pregnant within six months from when they move in (among other egregious privacy breaches). Other odd doings include a skeptic being hit by a car while a slew of witnesses (including cops) dismiss it as a suicide. Home surveillance and video monitoring inside each home is made out for entertainment, neighbors watching neighbors. All of this culminates in a weak, hapless, disaffecting final revelation that neither scares, inspires, challenges, or even remotely thrills you.

I guess you've got to start with the script. The story by greenhorn Kelly Kennemer aims for a kind of psychological thriller built around themes of privacy, but doesn't really go far enough to either frighten or convince a viewer. Yes, privacy these days is a real issue (U.S. Patriot Act anyway), and if contextualized via government corruption, it could have not only been more poignant, but scarier as well. To place these themes in a Rosemary's Baby type occult scenario just feels too rehashed and would take execution of the highest caliber to achieve its desired effect. The acting is mediocre at best, Routh still spouting lines like he was orbiting Krypton in red panties. Harron kind of misses the mark here as well, although elevating the look of the show from a network TV series to a network made for TV movie. Her set ups are often punctuated by an overbearing score, Dark Knight style.

Amid it all however, was a single beacon of awesome. At one point, when Candace exposes her ruse and tries to sequester Tracy (during pregnancy), Phil drunkenly jabs a pair of large scissors right through the apparent ring leader's throat - a hail of blood extruding from her neck. Harron gives us gore-hounds a nice tip, holding on Candy's face with the large orange blade handles jutting from her larynx. She quivers. Other than that bit right there, I can't find a whole lot to recommend in the episode. Harron need stick to directing the material she writes herself, maybe she can get back to the quality of American Psycho. Really, this is one 'Community' you'll want little part of.

Terror Rating: 1.5 out of 5
Originality: 1.5 out of 5
Level of Gore: 1.5 out of 5
Overall Rating: 2 out of 5

Fear Itself airs Thursday @ 10:00 PM on NBC and can be re-watched at nbc.com

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