13: Fear is Real

The CW and Sam Raimi join forces to jump in to the reality ring with 13 Fear is Real. The show airs on Wednesday nights at 8pm on the CW.

Now, I know what you're thinking... a horror based reality show by Sam Raimi? You'd think it would be a good thing. Unfortunately, that's not quite the case. In the show, 13 clueless individuals are carted out to the woods where they come upon a fallen tree. After being told they have to walk the rest of the way, they make their way to a dilapidated cabin in the middle of woods, very reminiscent of the digs in Raimi's own "Evil Dead". Once they arrive, they are introduced to the 'Mastermind', our main bad guy for the series as well as explained the rules and such.

This phone call is where the problems with "13 Fear is Real" begins. Nevermind the "Saw" knockoff voice given to the Mastermind; that's laughable enough on its own. No, the real problem arises in the sheer panic and stupidity of the contestants as the begin to scream and carry own, hoping beyond hope to get themselves recognized in the world of reality TV. Truly, the cast in this show is beyond annoying and pretty slim on the smarts. There is one character amongst them all that seems to have a grasp of what's what, but that grasp is tenuous at best. "Cody", while his 3 ft. tall mohawk may say otherwise, seems to be on the ball. The rest though...yikes.

The show promises to put these folks through a series of tests and competitions. For the premiere episode, they are split into teams of two, while one member is tied to a chair in the middle of the woods, the other has to go and find them in the dark. The last time to return are then subjected to the execution ceremony. The execution ceremony was at least vaguely interesting as the two blond 'beauties' were subject to being buried alive, then forced to fight their way out. The premise was entertaining, however upon witnessing the escape there were issues of proportion. They showed the coffins being lowered into the ground, yet this girl managed to kick out the end of the coffin and wriggle free out the end. From what was shown to us, there shouldn't be space there. Hmm.

At any rate, "13 Fear is Real" is not a good show. However, the execution ceremonies do show some promise, and the sheer stupidity of the contestants do add an air of wanting to return to see just how bad they screw it up. There was another element added to the show with the Death Box, that would grant the holder a chance to take out 3 fellow contestants. The girl Stephanie who got the cojones up to steal the box? She put it back.

Really, I'll be willing to tune in again just to see her get eliminated for that very act.