Fear Itself (TV Series) Skin and Bones (2008) User Reviews

Doug Jones Steals the Show

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 5 August 2008]

After wandering through the woods for several days, a father returns home to his ranch emaciated and hungry. But while gone, he had to resort to cannibalism for survival (imagine the Donner Party). After ingesting human flesh, he becomes susceptible to the spirit of the wendigo, a mythical beast. Will his family be able to handle the new bloodthirsty killer that is their father? I entered this film knowing precious little about director Larry Fessenden, and having low expectations. The first reports I heard on this one were also very critical. But the writers (who did the great "Cigarette Burns") and the presence of Doug Jones made me curious. And in the end, I actually really liked this one.

First, we have easily the most blood and gore in the series yet (thanks, NBC). I thought the limits were pushed before, but here I think we've found the end. Human flesh! Then we have Doug Jones, who is amazing as the stick-thin wendigo-infused father. Say what you will about anything else, but Jones was pretty awesome.

My only real dislike (besides the usual complaint of not enough time) was the way Fessenden decided to make the wendigo very fast. Sure, in one scene i got a good jump. But generally it was annoying and I don't think it added anything to the character. If anything, stressing the superhuman and supernatural aspects took away from the chilling performance of Jones, who needed no effects.

This is the last episode before the Olympics, and they left on a good note. But the ratings continue to drop, so if the series doesn't come back after the Olympics, I won't be surprised. One way or another the remaining episodes will get released. I liked this episode, but to be honest, the series is nothing special and if it's not continued, I won't be hurt or surprised. I'll just enjoy it while it lasts, and this episode helped that.

Okay, Good News First...

[cchase · 7/10 · 13 August 2008]

And the good news is that Doug Jones, probably one of the greatest gifts to modern horror and fantasy since Don Coscarelli 'discovered' Angus Scrimm, gets showcased here. Not since Andy Serkis as Gollum has an actor been so good at playing characters who completely obscure his identity. If he's not at all familiar to you, hopefully you saw Guillermo Del Toro's mind-blowing PAN'S LABYRINTH, or the considerably less wonderful FANTASTIC FOUR sequel. The guy who played both the menacing "Faun" and the even scarier "Pale Man" in PAN'S, and the Silver Surfer? That was Doug. And with more of his real face and body showing than usual, he still manages to be creepy as hell in this FEAR ITSELF episode.

The other "good" news is that the script is penned by Scott Swan and Drew McWeeny, the writers behind the two John Carpenter episodes featured in MASTERS OF HORROR, "Cigarette Burns", which was one of that series' gorier entries, and "Pro-Life", which fell pretty short of the mark of greatness.

Unfortunately, "Skin and Bones" follows suit more with the latter than the former. Anybody see RAVENOUS? Well, this is more like RAVENOUS-LITE...none of the taste and half of the walking menu entrées in this one. As the stereotypical wise Native American shaman, Gordon Tootoosis probably gives the second best performance of the cast, with Molly Hagan coming in a close third as she gets the best line at the end: "Get...your...hands...off...of...MY...KIDS!" (It won't replace Ripley's "Get away from her, you BITCH!", but at least it's a good effort.)

But this is pretty much Doug's baby, and director Larry Fessenden wisely just points the camera at him and lets him go. It's just too bad the script doesn't nearly measure up to Doug's uniquely creepy talents. Here's hoping Guillermo has him back for his next film. Now THERE'S a man who knows how to put Doug's talents to good use.

A Dish Well Served

[ricardovs27 · 7/10 · 19 July 2011]

It took a few weeks, but this series has another good episode in tow, with the show belonging to the fantastic actor Doug Jones.

Probably the more prominent actor to work behind masks and make-up since Lon Chaney - he has made a number of excellent performances without showing his real face - Jones chews the scenery, literally, with this new serving about the aftershocks of cannibalism.

He is totally demented as the city boy who gets lost in the woods and returns to his family with a little change in diet that will put everyone in peril, giving us in the audience a few gruesome scenes to make our skin crawl.

After a lousy choice of cast in the last episode, "Community", that undermined a quite interesting story, in here the poles are reversed: the excellent cast turns the table on an average script.

Let's see what the future brings, but "Skin and Bones" raises the bar in this uneven anthology.

Scary parts, but not great acting

[darrenbailey17 · 7/10 · 1 August 2008]

This episode would have been terrible, were it not for the awesome Doug Jones. The man is a complete artist and performer, putting his whole self into every role he plays. This is no exception. The makeup team did a truly terrifying job with his look, and he was completely believable as someone at war with a personal demon.

However, his wife was not believable. Her dialog was pretty poorly written, and she did what she could with it, but there was little to add onto. The kids were mediocre. The Indian, Eddie Bear, was stereotypical, and reminded me of the Indian in Poltergeist.

It was enjoyable, and I do recommend it. Hey, every good horror film has at least SOME campy material. I just wish that there was more substance to the performances than just Doug Jones' work.

creepy face

[trashgang · 6/10 · 28 May 2010]

The director from Cabin Fever 2 en I sell The Dead amongst other movies brings us at last an episode that could concur with Masters of Horror. It contains everything, from suspense to excellent effects. Again, but by now we know it that gore and blood is left out of Fear Itself but still, there is blood in it, the killings are off camera but it is the face of the killer that makes the episode. A bit like The Man Who Laughs with Lon Chaney from 1926. Same face, for me...Anyway, it's better than Cabin fever 2 although the lack of gore. But the creepy face will get you, especially when he lays in bed. Also the ending has a real ending and not the ending like other episodes. A great performance by Doug Jones, the man we know from Pan's Labyrinth and of course Hellboy. This is a keeper from the series, at last one to remember.

Unnerving

[bustamantemiike · 9/10 · 12 May 2020]

This episode actually creeped me out when I saw it. Everyone involved did a great job

Get YOUR Hands off MY Kids!

[bababear · 9/10 · 31 July 2008]

Director Larry Fessenden explores familiar themes in this episode of NBC's FEAR ITSELF. A rancher is missing in the mountains and is presumed dead. Unexpectedly, he returns home. Alone. Three friends had been with him, but there's no trace of them.

The man looks like an animated corpse. His family finds that he's...changed.

The heart and soul of this episode is Doug Jones's performance as the rancher. The only time we see him before his ordeal is glimpses of photographs. His makeup is reminiscent of the silent classic NOSFERATU. In the second act he's in bed, flat on his back, staring at nothing: Jones does more with his eyes than most actors can with ten pages of dialog.

Fessenden directed THE WENDIGO seven years ago, and he reintroduces this legendary creature. The family slowly realizes that their patriarch has been taken over by a creature not of this world.

In 1973 Mario Bava directed Boris Karloff in one of the three stories in BLACK SABBATH. Adapted from a Tolstoi novel, "The Wurdalak" told of Gorka, a Russian patriarch (Karloff, of course) who goes hunting and tells his family that if he's not back within a certain period of time they aren't to let him in the house. Karloff. Bava. You know that he returns after the deadline. Changed, but not for the better.

Fessenden does a good job of creating suspense, made difficult by the structure of a prologue and four acts that broadcast television imposes. The action is limited to a ranch house and its grounds, and there are only half a dozen characters. This allows the author to develop the characters so that the viewer has an emotional investment in what happens. Although the gore is limited, it ventures into a subplot about cannibalism that's surprisingly strong for broadcast television.

There aren't any big surprises or plot twists here. The material is familiar, but effective. None of the performers are big names, but all give strong performances. The one point this episode lost was for not having a stronger finish. It didn't reach a peak like it should: it seemed to just stop.

Good work. FEAR ITSELF will at some point give up its time slot to allow ER to come back for a final round, but it's been fun while it lasted.

Original Story

[claudio_carvalho · 5/10 · 27 February 2015]

Elena Edlund, her sons Derek and Tim and her brother-in-law and lover Rowdy Edlund are worried about the fate of the rancher Grady Edlund, who has disappeared in the mountains for several days. Out of the blue, Grady returns skinny and starved. The Indian Eddie Bear tells the story of the flesh-eater Wendigo and soon the family learns that Grady was possessed by the demon.

"Skin and Bones" is an original episode of "Fear Itself" and Doug Jones has a scary face. However the plot is not well developed and has a rushed conclusion. But the worst: Can you imagine watching this show with the characters speaking Portuguese? Unfortunately the shameful DVD box released by Universal in Brazil does not have the original audio in English and no subtitles in a total lack of respect to the Brazilian audiences. The only options are the audio in Portuguese of Spanish. Shame on you, Universal! My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Skin and Bones"

Best episode in the series

[thagza95 · 9/10 · 31 May 2021]

The acting by the main character was phenomenal..crazy plot and crazy acting make this well worth watching. Huge horror fan and this one blew me away..main character was beyond creepy.

weak Wendigo film

[Fernando-Rodrigues · 4/10 · 22 November 2020]

Weak makeup FX and plot twist. (they made such a mystery to reveal that the kid's "uncle" was really their father. girl...)

Doug Jones knocks it out of the park. Watch this episode for his performance

[VAndolini · 9/10 · 4 October 2018]

This episode contains an absolutely incredible performance by Doug Jones, who usually has his genius shine through under makeup and costume, as in Pan's Labrynth, The Shape of Water, Hellboy, etc. He absolutey creeped me out with minimal makeup and a powerhouse performance as a man touched by the Wendigo. I cannot say enough good things about the man, he is a gem of an actor.

Won't Forget It!

[lyndsaymclean28 · 9/10 · 5 March 2014]

I saw this episode the date it aired (in 2008), and I have never forgotten it. I saw other episodes of this series the dates that they aired as well, and have seemingly forgotten them. This episode was so creepy, so unlike other attempts at horror that parts of this episode occasionally slip back into my mind. I'm not trying to scare anyone here into not actually watching the episode for fear of being plagued for life, what I'm explaining here is that the acting and horror imaging built into this episode is literally unforgettable. It's too bad this series ended completely after one season, I would have liked to see it continue. This episode is quite original!

Creepy episode

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 7 August 2012]

Rancher Grady Edlund (an excellent and unnerving performance by Doug Jones) returns home to his family after being lost in the mountains for several days. However, it turns out that Grady has been taken over by a deadly flesh-eating monster known as a wendigo. Director Larry Fessenden, working from an engrossing script by Drew McWeeny and Scott Swan, relates the compelling story at a steady pace, does an ace job of creating and sustaining a spooky atmosphere, delivers several moments of bloody'n'brutal violence, and builds the tension to a bloodcurdling fever pitch as the plot unfolds towards a bold ambiguous conclusion. Moreover, Fessenden keeps the horrific premise on an extremely intimate and hence genuinely harrowing level. The sound acting by the capable cast keeps things humming: Jones does stand-out work in the lead, with sturdy support from Molly Hagan as Grady's concerned wife Elena, John Pyper-Ferguson as Grady's bitter ranch hand brother Rowdy, Gordon Tootoosis as the wise Eddie Bear, and Brett Dier as surly teenage son Derek. Better still, the possessed Grady manages to be both scary and pitiable, while the conflict between Grady and Rowdy provides an extra shattering poignancy. Jeff Grace's shuddery score and Lynne Willingham's shadowy cinematography further enhance the overall skin-crawling mood of this effective and unsettling episode.