John Landis directs this weeks’ installment of FEAR ITSELF: In Sickness and in Health(2008).
© NBC-Universal

Mania Grade: B
TV Series: Fear Itself
Episode: In Sickness and in Health
Starring: James Roday, Maggie Lawson
Written By: Victor Salva
Directed By: John Landis
Network: NBC

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FEAR ITSELF: In Sickness and in Health

There’s a lot wrong with this episode, let’s get that said right away. There’s a big mislead in this episode that is built on poor character development. If you’re secretly a serial killer, would you really be scared of your next victim? That situation was really bothersome post credits. With that said though, there’s a lot to appreciate in this episode.

John Landis directed this one and while he didn’t fix the previously mentioned situation he did successfully bring in his style of humor, which I love in horror films. Landis is constantly held up as one of the “Masters of Horror” but the truth is he’s more a master of comedy. His greatest films include Animal House, Trading Spaces, and The Blues Brothers. Landis gets horror cred for two films: An American Werewolf in London and Twilight Zone: the Movie. What makes those films great is that Landis is able to instill these horror films with his own brand of schlocky humor. This episode of Fear Itself - the first half in particular - features some perfectly executed comedic elements from Landis which makes the overall experience fun even if it is a failure story wise.

In Sickness, and in Health is the story of a young couple that is rushing into marriage. The bride’s family and, especially her bridesmaids, are all talking behind her back about how quickly the marriage came about. Along with the above mentioned plot twist problem, this whole idea of the wedding happening too quickly was forced way too much, making it stand out in too bright of a spotlight as a red herring. The stinger into the opening credits of the series came when the bride received a note that warns her that she is marrying a serial killer.

Throughout the first half of the episode, she appears to be dealing with this newfound information and still trying to force herself through the wedding. Landis uses everything from children to religious iconography for laughs in very retro feeling slapstick ways. You have to remember that this is also the man who directed Kentucky Fried Movie so his humor is anything but subtle. The camera work in this episode of Fear Itself is stellar, often used for laughs but still well executed and also quite well lit. Where last weeks’ episode was slick in a very modern way, this episode is also quite slick but in a more subtle retro way, very much fitting the filmmaker.

It feels like everything that could possibly make this a bad episode is in place, clumsy writing, some bad actors, and a low budget, but even with those road blocks, there’s still fun to be had. If this were just a few minutes shorter and just a little more script work, it would be a perfect additional segment for one of the old Creepshow films or an installment in Tales from the Crypt. It’s good to see that after last week’s good episode that the series is at least not regressing back to the first two really terrible entries in the series. Also, has anyone else noticed that the opening music and credits are fantastic? The credits are HBO quality and the music from the lead singer of System of a Down does something really distinctive with the music.