I
knew when I started blogging I’d need some easy filler posts to
stay ahead. When I first started my plan was to go
episode-by-episode through a season of Z
Nation every year.
That was after the first season, when the show was firmly established
as my favorite show. When
I wrote my first draft of this review,
in February 2016, after the second season definitely took
a bit of a tumble as it’s become clear that the writers never
expected to get a second season and had no idea what they were doing
for most of it. Furthermore, I’m not sure if I want to subject
what little readership I have to a show so obscure that it could only
be called a vanity project for me.
And
now as I write this final draft (Layers upon irritating layers.
Sorry if it’s a tough read.), in late July of 2016, I’ve made the
decision to go back to school while still working full-time. Because
of this I’m going to have to wildly redirect the focus of my blog
to make sure I have time to continue it. Rather than my original
intention of one season of a show per year, I’m going to be
focusing mainly on a wide variety of anthology shows, tackling them
in season-long chunks, with whichever movies I’m able to get
watched lumped in-between.
I’d
love to tell you that I chose this first
series after careful
consideration of many shows, but sadly no: Goosebumps
is well-known among people my age, has four seasons and plenty of
episodes for me to cover, and is easy to write about because the
material is intended for children. It shares these traits with Are
You Afraid of the Dark?
The tie-breaker is that the copyright to that show are owned by
people who care about it, so the episodes available on Youtube are
sporadic. Goosebumps
is much easier to find.
Now
that I’ve admitted what a cheapskate I am, discussing the actual
show, I’d say that Goosebumps
doesn’t hold up very well to nostalgic expectations, even when
compared to its aforementioned competitor. Watching this first
episode it’s pretty evident why: this is a series adapted from a
book series that was heavily based on inhuman monsters that had to be
adapted with a television budget. AYAOTD,
on the other hand, was more easily able to create scripts and
monsters suitable to a television budget. Being on cable probably
didn’t hurt either.
The
entire premise of this episode would be difficult to film, even
without the restrictions of the Network. The titular Mask is
horrifying to anyone who sees it. The mask does not simply startle
people with a jump-scare. Just looking at it creates real terror.
That alone is going to make it difficult to film, since no possible
mask could scare everyone.
Does
this mean that the episode is “bad?” Not really. I’m sure by
now you all know that I tend to focus on the negatives first. To
talk about the positives, this is an episode that takes the Power of
Love cliché and turns it into something terrifying. Most
entertainment for children make love out to be some great force for
good, rather than the complicated and potentially dangerous emotion
that it really is.
Most
brilliantly of all, though: the Power of Love still saves the day.
While I don’t think many children consciously got the point, it’s
an idea we can come back to as adults: Love is amoral. It has no
interest in the happiness of the people it effects, and can be just
as destructive as it is useful.
Now
to talk about the actual episode, I give them props for having the
only good child actor present as the lead. Kathryn Long plays Carly
Beth Caldwell, a girl with a reputation around her school that she’s
“scared of everything.” She’s the target of constant bullying
by two boys (George Kinamis and Amos Crawley). While the dialogue
isn’t great, Long does a good job of portraying a girl constantly
on the brink of a panic attack.
So
for Halloween she goes to a mask shop looking for something that can
scare the two bullies. She stumbles across a group of grotesque
masks in the back, which the shop owner (Colin Fox) refuses to sell
her. In desperation, Carly Beth steals one and runs out.
The
Mask isn’t exactly bad, and Carly Beth knows how to get a bit
creative. She carries a plaster copy of her head that her mother
along with her on a stick to complete the costume. Even in real
life, this would probably have gotten a few points for effort in any
neighborhood. However, once Carly Beth goes out for Halloween the
effects are underwhelming. The mask apparently changes her
personality, but the effects seem to be limited to her saying mean
things, and jumping out at people.
I
strongly suspect the network is at work here. One mother (Anne Marie
DeLuise) threatens to call the police because Carly Beth makes an
obnoxious comment to the woman’s children. This is a story where
the protagonist needed to do some property damage,
After
getting her revenge on the bullies in an extremely satisfying scene
where they’re forced to apologize to what they seem to believe is
their victim’s decapitated head, Carly Beth discovers that she
can’t take the mask off, which seems to have melded into her skin.
In desperation she returns to the mask shop to be told “I was
expecting you.”
Fox’s
performance is easily the most chilling thing in the episode. He has
the demeanor of a man long-since jaded to evil, and irritated by the
stupid kid who stumbled into it. It’s clear that he’s willing to
help, but isn’t going to waste his tears if the mask can’t be
removed.
It’s
implied that he’s in some way deformed, and created beautiful,
perfectly-realistic masks to hide his face, but over time the masks
decayed and became hideous. The face he presents to us is one of
these, in the early stages of decay. Whether he’s a scientist or a
magician isn’t elaborated upon. His scenes avoid making the rules
of the Mask explicit, but manages to convey them fairly well by
implication: the first time worn the mask can be removed (an event
that happened at Carly Beth’s house), the second time only a Symbol
of Love can remove it, and the third time the mask will remain on
permanently.
And
my mention of the Power of Love? The masks are called “The Unloved
Ones,” because no one will ever want or love them. No one, that
is, except a girl desperate to create fear. The masks are drawn to
Carly Beth because she is the only person who could love them. In
fact, to give us a more exciting climax, the other masks start flying
and come after Carly Beth (not a clue how that happens). She uses
the cast of her head that her to fend them off, and finds that she
can remove the Mask through the power of her mother’s Love.
On
a technical side, the episode isn’t horrible. I think the Mask’s
mouth gains more mobility over the course of the episode, which makes
sense. If there is a problem it’s that we’re told multiple times
that Carly Beth’s voice sounds strange. Honestly, she sounds
like…a girl lowering her voice. I’m amazed they didn’t ADR a
deeper voice. It certainly would have been a cheap effect.
As
scary stuff aimed at kids goes, you could do better than this
episode, but you could also do a lot worse. It’s cheesy, and held
back by networks standards, but it’s clear there was effort. It’s
not the best of the season (that title will eventually go to A
Night in Terror Tower), but it’s
in the top half, and probably more thematic than any other episode to
come.
And
one thing I have to mention: The actress who played the main
character was Kathryn Long. Her best friend is played by Kathryn
Short. What are the odds?
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