New Horror Series on NBC Lacks Women Writers & Directors

by Naamenblog

So there’s a new Horror Anthology series called Fear Itself which will premiere June 5th on NBC. The network has gone ahead and revealed summaries for their first ten episodes.

Right from the jump I get nervous because horror, in my admittedly limited  experience, does not have the best track record with female characters. Whenever I see anything resembling horror the women always seem to be extras that are a bundle of stereotypes and are there just to have these highly sexualized deaths. As I go through the summaries and realize about 4 out of the 10 have female leads it gave me a little bit of hope that maybe they’d survive. Then I took a look at who was writing and directing the episodes.

Out of the ten stories on tap only one is written by a woman and only one is directed by a woman and it’s the same episode. It also happens to be the only episode that deals directly with domesticity (I’m aware that there’s another one that deals with a wedding and a bride who gets a note about her fiance but I think that’s a separate thing than a story that focuses on domesticity). And let’s be clear I’m not saying women shouldn’t write or direct things that have to with domesticity and newlyweds but when that’s the only thing they seem to be allowed to do it raises an alarm with me.

Now we only have the first ten descriptions and while I’m not sure if that’s a big enough sample to wholesale write off the series I will be watching it closely to see what’s going on and to see if they get any other female writers/directors on deck and to see how the female characters are treated.

Below find the descriptions currently available

“Something With Bite,”directed by Ernest Dickerson (NBC’s “Heroes”), is a reinvention of the classic werewolf story from writer Max Landis (”Masters of Horror”), the son of John Landis (”An American Werewolf in London”). When a veterinarian (Wendell Pierce, “The Wire”) gets bitten by a large, strange animal brought into his clinic, he begins to see the world and his stale life differently. Paula Jai Parker (”Side Order of Life,” “The Proud Family”) also stars.

“New Year’s Day”will be directed by Darren Bousman (”Saw II, III and IV”), and is written by Steve Niles (”30 Days of Night”) from a story by Paul Kane. A young woman (Briana Evigan, “Step Up 2: The Streets”) wakes up in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by horrifying zombies.

“Skin & Bones”will be directed by Larry Fessenden (”The Last Winter,” “Wendigo”), and is written by Drew McWeeny & Scott Swan (”Masters of Horror”). When a cattle herder returns home to his family after being lost in the woods for days, he just doesn’t seem the same. Soon, a terrible mortal struggle ensues against the terrifying monster possessing him.

“The Spirit Box”will be directed by Rupert Wainwright (”The Fog,” “Stigmata”), and is written by Joe Gangemi(”Wind Chill,” the novel “Inamorata”). When two suburban high school girls try to contact a dead classmate via a board game, they receive an unexpected message from beyond the grave — The dead girl, thought to be a teen suicide, was actually killed by a teacher with whom she’d been having an affair and now wants their help in avenging her murder.

“Chance”will be directed by John Dahl (”You Kill Me,” “The Last Seduction”), and is written by Lem Dobbs (”The Score”). In the vein of such classic doppelganger stories as “Jekyll & Hyde” and Poe’s “William Wilson,” the episode explores a dreadful, classic battle that ensues when a man is confronted by his evil self.

“Echoes” is written by Sean Hood (”The Crow: Wicked Prayer,” “Halloween: Resurrection”), with a director to be announced. Sam, an affable, good-natured young man, moves into an apartment where he believes he once lived — 88 years ago in a past life. But as memories appear to him like ghosts, he realizes that in this previous life he was a sadistic murderer, and he must keep that past life from bleeding into his present one.

“The Circle”is written by Cemetery Dance Magazine publisher and editor Richard Chizmar (”From a Buick 8″) & actor Johnathon Schaech(”Masters of Horror,” “That Thing You Do!”), based on the short story of the same title written by Lewis Shiner, with a director to be announced. A group of people meet every Halloween to tell horror stories and suddenly discover they’re living one.

 
“Eater,”also written by Richard Chizmar & Johnathon Schaech, is directed by Stuart Gordon (”Re-Animator,” “Masters of Horror”). A rookie cop (Moss) must spend her first night in the precinct watching over a serial killer, coined “The Eater” (Stephen R. Hart, “Shoot ‘Em Up”). When her fellow cops start acting bizarre, she quickly learns that no one is who they seem. Russell Hornsby (”Lincoln Heights”), Pablo Schreiber (”The Wire”) and Stephen Lee (”Boston Legal”) also star.

“Spooked,”is directed by Brad Anderson (”The Machinist”) and written by Matt Venne (”White Noise 2: The Light”). While on a stake out in a haunted house, a private eye (Roberts) is made to confront the demons of his past. Jack Noseworthy (”Judging Amy”), Cynthia Watros (”Lost”) and Larry Gilliard Jr. (”The Wire”) also star.

“Community”is directed by Mary Harron (”American Psycho,” “Big Love”) and written by Kelly Kennemer (”The Music Within”). When a young married couple, played by Routh and Appleby, find the perfect house in the perfect neighborhood, their lives seem…well…perfect. But as the dark underbelly of their neighborhood creeps to the surface, they soon realize that their neighbors will go to any extreme — even murder — to make sure that they comply with their twisted sense of conformity. John Billingsley (”Star Trek: Enterprise”) and wife Bonita Friedericy (NBC’s “Chuck”) also star.

Did reading that raise the same alarms in you? How do you feel about the series with only this to go on? 

- More blogging by Naamenblog at http://naamenblog.wordpress.com/

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