In Sickness and in Health

Fear Itself: In Sickness and In Health (2008)

*** (out of 4)

Right before her wedding stars, a woman (Maggie Lawson) receives a letter from a mysterious woman warning her that the groom (James Roday) is a serial killer. The bride to be naturally freaks out but goes ahead with the wedding but begins to fear that the note might contain the truth. Landis contributed a couple entries in the Masters of Horror series and I loved both of them but while this here is a step backwards there are still many interesting aspects. Landis has always added a lot comic relief to his horror films but that's not the case here as the director stays away from the laughs and instead tries to deliver the suspense. It's also worth noting that the director doesn't try to fall back on any gore, which is rather refreshing for a horror film of today. There are several nods to Hitchcock here and the film plays out a lot like you'd expect from him and that includes a couple twists in the story, which come out of no where and really work very well. I won't ruin the twists but they certainly caught me off guard and when I went back and thought about the clues in the film I was even more impressed at how well they worked and how well the story was put together by screenwriter Victor Salva. My biggest problem with the film was the performance by Lawson who I feel really kills the momentum in the story. She handles the scary stuff just fine but I found her to be quite annoying throughout the movie and while some of this might fall into the lap of Landis, I still found the actress to be fairly lame. Roday on the other hand delivers a very strong performance and he does a great job at building the mystery around his character that we're never quite sure what to think of him. Marshall Bell, one of my favorite character actors, is also on hand but isn't given too much to do in the role of twins.

A young bride is getting married. She receives a note from the priest via a woman who entered the church before the ceremony. It reads that the person you may be marrying is a serial killer. Despite her doubts, she goes through with the wedding ceremony at the church. Her brother has yet to appear. Her husband's parents died under a cloud of mystery. She begins to wonder why the woman would leave such a horrendous note. Her new husband makes a confession but it is not until the end which we know the truth about the mystery woman, the note, and who it was for. It was kind of great moment but it ended too soon without an explanation as to why it happened. I thought it was chilling and original and the kind of series that I looked forward to seeing again on television. I haven't been than interested in a television show in a long time that kept me up so late in a long time.

I saw the first 4 parts of "Fear itself" and to me its some really weak stuff there. The visuals are nice, the acting is good but the stories are most of the time pretty much ridiculous. "In sickness and health" was one of the weakest ... its about a woman who gets rushed into marriage with a guy she met not too long ago and her friends wondering if she makes the right decision. On her wedding day she receives a note from a strange lady informing her that she es about to marry a serial killer. From here on the thing is well filmed but mainly just a bore and when the final twist comes in you wonder why anyone gets money to make a movie out of such an idea... it just makes no sense at all. This movie is a giant plot-hole with a twist that turns it all upside down trying to be smart but making no sense with what characters did throughout the movie. You can think about the end in any way you like but everything in the script just sucks for laying out stupid red herrings all the way and letting characters do things that don't make sense in the end. Unless everybody in this movie was supposed to be a serial killer its just bad...this one was even way worse than the episode with the voodoo guy in the cell. Cheap suspense leading absolutely nowhere but to real stupid script ideas.

Sam (Maggie Lawson) and Carlos (James Roday) are at the church, ready to be married after a very short engagement. But moments before the ceremony is scheduled to begin, a woman in a red scarf drops off a note that gets passed on to Sam: "The person you are marrying is a serial killer." She freaks out, and although she's ready to go through with the wedding, the mood was changed and the night is about to become stressful for everyone involved.

I seem to be in the minority on this episode. Michael Gingold of Fangoria didn't really care for it. But it seems every episode I liked, he didn't and every one he didn't, I did. So, Michael, I think you're a great reporter but I don't think I trust your taste in movies anymore. Further, most people seem to disapprove of it, calling it "boring" or "slow" or "confusing". I can understand it being confusing -- especially after a few plot twists and some characters are introduced who don't have very well-defined backgrounds. I didn't find it boring or slow at all, though. (I think this may be in part because I get copies of the show without the commercials... sorry, NBC.) My good friend Hannah liked it, but not as much as she liked "Family Man". I think that's a fair call and I'm not far removed from her. I think I liked "In Sickness and in Health" slightly better, but it's hard to say. They seem to be the best episodes so far (thank you, Ronny Yu and John Landis). With "Innocent Blood" still fresh in my mind, it's not surprising this one left a good taste in my mouth. I'm still holding out for next week's Stuart Gordon episode ("Eater") to be the best, but the plot doesn't impress me. And Gingold likes it, so it's bound to be horrible.

There isn't much to analyze in this week's installment, simply because most of it is suspense and very little plot. I think they succeeded on the suspense. And the traps for the audience were set up well, even if it doesn't all make sense in the end. I don't know. I liked it. Maybe Hannah is right, maybe "Family Man" is better. I'll have to wait until my second viewing when these come out on DVD. But I can say after the slow start of the series, this was a welcome addition.

This episode falls apart in nearly every way possible. The characters overreact to everything. The final revelation is anything but surprising, and yet, once we know it, nothing we've seen before makes any sense. Some mysterious characters' motivations are never explained. In short, the entire script plays out like a poorly conceived "gotcha" that strains credulity at every turn. You persevere to the end hoping that at least the explanation will offer something of a payoff, but everything just crumbles like dry mud.

Nor does the direction help in the least. The characters are either annoying or unlikable. Humorous moments are thrown in with no rhyme or reason. We cut to commercial seemingly every three minutes. And worst of all, THERE'S NO FEAR! There have been some entertaining entries in the series, but this is not one of them. It feels like a student film based on a high-schooler's screenplay. Skip it.