Bannerman (Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss) is a rookie cop. Worse than that, she’s also a girl, which means she gets twice the ribbing and half the respect that a male cop would get. When you add in the fact that she’s petite, blonde, and a bit of a horror nut, well, it’s no wonder her fellow cops Steinwitz (Stephen Lee of Dark Angel and about a billion guest shots on various shows) and Mattingly (The Wire’s Pablo Schreiber) do nothing but mess with her all the time. Even though the Sergeant (Russell Hornsby) respects her and sticks up for her, Bannerman’s life isn’t easy.
In spite of the clichés handed to him by writers Richard Chizmar and Johnathon Schaech, (the snowy night, phones and power going out, the empty police station, etc.), Stuart Gordon knows how to craft a creepy piece of entertainment. Unlike the first episode, where the weak script is compounded with flaccid directing and weak staging, Gordon permeates his setting with suspense to spare and even sneaks some particularly good gross-out scenes past the network censors, including a memorable eyeball on pizza scene that nearly made me lose my dinner.
The writing isn’t actually that bad, either, if you can stomach the overuse of both horror genre staples and cop show standards simultaneously. It’s witty enough and there’s a lot of Gordon’s trademark black humor throughout, especially in the hands of Steinwitz as he torments Bannerman throughout the episode. It’s certainly a step up from the political polemic Masters of Horror episode The Washingtonians, which is the best known of Chizmar and Schaech’s writing work together (unless you’re a huge fan of Road House 2, in which case you should drive your car off the nearest high bridge).
Eater isn’t the best Fear Itself episode, or even second best, but it’s a close third best in a series that’s had more ups and downs than a manic depressive on a rollercoaster. This is definitely one of the stand-out episodes, and it’s a credit to Stuart Gordon’s ability to direct horror combined with some really good casting for all major characters. Nice to see this show can follow up a low point with a high point. Two good episodes in a row would be great, but next week is Darren Lynn Bousman’s New Year’s Day, so I kind of doubt it.
Ron Hogan, our US correspondent, is glad his parents spent so much money on braces and orthodontic work after seeing the horror that is The Eater’s maw. Find more by Ron at his blog, Subtle Bluntness, and daily at Shaktronics.
