I had high expectations for this. I love reality television. I love horror films. I love Tiffany Pollard and Alaska from Rupaul's Drag Race. This had the makings of a seasonal masterpiece.
But it is unbearable viewing. Firstly, it's about as far from reality as you can get. It is not filmed in some legendary haunted manor as the viewer is led to believe, but instead in a gorgeous seaside modern mansion on Hampton Island in Liberty County Georgia. VH1 took the multi million dollar home and dressed it to appear, on the exterior anyway, as decayed and spooky. The glamorous interior with luxury furniture, natural wood floors and a kitchen that cost more than most homes alone betrays the haunted vibe the show is going for. There's nothing scary about it.
And then you have the gags. They're not scares, they're special effects done in post production that the cast never really experiences. In the vein of Lord of the rings, they react to things that aren't there during filming, and tossed in afterward with awful CGI that any preteen with After effects and an online Tutorial could likely do better.
I like Redman, he's a big character in his industry and a talented actor, but he's a terrible host. He does nothing to drum up any suspense to speak of, but is more like a drunk uncle at a family reunion refereeing a game of corn hole.
The tasks aren't at all tedious. Not frightening, not unnerving, not even tedious. They're simple, pedestrian tasks you'd play at a Halloween party at your local VFW. There's no real element of competition, unless you consider half the cast of Love and Hip Hop (Which I've never seen but know that it is another VH1 reality series) screaming at each other, then at a green screen, then at a puppet on the end of a stick where something is to be edited in later. It's insulting, not just to horror fans, or fans of their respective shows, but to the intelligence of anyone who give this show a chance.
There was a lot of potential, but providing lavish accommodations to ten VH1 reality show stars without ever actually scaring them in a show called "Scared Famous" is not just embarrassing, it makes you wonder how such dreadful content received the greenlight. It's reality- and I use the term incredibly loosely- at it's absolute worst.
