Eater

Stuart Gordon's 'The Black Cat' is considered by many one of the best (if not the best) episode of of the earlier 'Masters of Horror' series, created by Mick Garris. Now Gordon did it again here, giving us 'hands down' the best episode of Fear Itself. (also created by Garris). 'Eater' is extremely thrilling - it could also be called suspenseful- and shot masterfully. The police station building with the dark corners, locked doors, stairs and corridors makes an ideal 'scenery' while adding a certain 90's feel to the segment (I count that as a plus). Elizabeth Moss's performance as the 'boot' (newly recruited officer) who is being sexually teased by her male co-officers is phenomenal. And those teeeth... (I'm not spoiling anything, just see it for yourself if you haven't) are a pure nightmare!

My only criticism: The ending was a bit too abrupt- 2 more minutes wouldn't have hurt. Still, the episode is definitely worth a watch or two (unlike most of the episodes in the series, unfortunately..)

The female cop in a small police headquarters is to spend the night with two male police officers, Mattingly and Miller. Don't forget the serial killer and cannibal who has killed as many as 32 victims is held up in the holding cell upstairs being guarded by one of her male counterparts. Strange things start happening once she looks at his file of terror regarding scenes of a young woman being tortured. This serial killer is as close to a monster as you can get. Lights go out and there seems to be trouble. The doors are locked to get outside the police station. Mattingly and Miller are acting stranger and the monster under the black blanket appears to be either dead or has run away. The female police officer must deal with the department's sexism and her superior's doubts about the strange ongoings at the police station. She faces her fear of the monster by doing something both admirable and destructive at the end.

Fear Itself: Eater (2008)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Elisabeth Moss plays a policewoman who is obsessed with horror movies and gets a big thrill when a serial killer is captured and thrown into her jail. This killer not only slaughters men and women but he's infamous for eating them and soon the policewoman starts to notice that something isn't quite right in the jail as her co-workers seem not to be their real selves. This is an extremely well made film from Gordon who is best known for Re-Animator and he doesn't shy away from the gore here. For being shown on Network television I was rather shocked at how much blood and violence they allowed in the film especially scenes where the killer is shown eating his victims. Gordon does a superb job with his direction and really creates some nice suspense mixed in with all the blood. The ending is extremely well done and Gordon also manages to make a film that doesn't also rely on laughs. This was the first time I had seen moss in anything but she really caught my eye and delivered a very good performance. She fits the role of the horror fan very well and she comes off quite natural as an actress so I wouldn't mind seeing more of her. The supporting cast are pretty good as well. I've never been a die-hard fan of Gordon's work as I find some of his films to be overrated but I was highly impressed here.

From Beyond and Re-Animator. What excellent movies they are. Stuart Gordon, the man behind those gory flicks is here with an episode of Fear Itself. By now I know that gore or even blood isn't available in most of the episodes but this is an exception. The blood is available and even a bit of gore is added. The story is again, very simple. It's a bit of a story about shapeshifters. The way Stuart used the camera's is in a scary way, the zoom in on faces with a wide angle lens gives a creepy look. And he isn't afraid to show the result of the 'eater'. The only problem that I have is again, the ending of the episode. Suddenly all problems are solved but with a result that makes you go huh? I agree in some terms that people are saying, you can feel that writing was done in a very fast way, sadly it gives that look. But this one is surely one for the geeks and the best part so far in the series.

I just finished watching "Eater", and I thought it was an okay episode. The ending was disappointing and the lights that kept going on and off were annoying and gave me a headache. The main girl was the only one that could act. The killer was creepy but kind of dumb at the same time. I thought it was a rip off of Hannibal Rising. It seems that the plot wasn't thought out well. This was not my favorite. I would say this would be my third favorite out of the five episodes. I would recommend it if you are bored. The effects were decent so that was a good thing. Overall I would would give the episode "Eater" a 8/10 for the good effects and a decent episode.