Fox finally premieres the anthology series “Night Visions” July 12 with a two-hour kickoff. I saw the one-hour pilot, “The Passenger,” a year ago and thought it bland -- not even as compelling as an average episode of Showtime’s “Outer Limits” revival. But where I found the “dark humor” in the “Night Visions” pilot uninspired and poorly realized, Dig seems to consider it one of the pilot’s strong points. Also, I thought the “eerie, good” plane crash special effects Dig describes pretty dang cheesy! You’ll be able to judge for yourself in less than three weeks! Here’s Dig’s version:
Saw the pilot for the anthology horror show “Night Visions.” The premise [of the series, not just the pilot – HTS] is that a horror writer has been injured in an accident. In the title sequence there’s a shot of him in hospital with a freaky Frankenstein scar on his forehead.
“Can you imagine,” the voice-over intones, “no ability to speak, move, or communicate, but complete awareness in my brain...the famous horror writer imprisoned in his own flesh. Think of all the stories trapped in my mind.” Okay - whatever.
The pilot is called “The Passenger List,” and stars Aidan Quinn and Kelly Rutherford. The opening sequence is embarrassing, but I’m pretty enthusiastic about this show. Thankfully, the phrase “complete awareness in my brain,” is not indicative of the quality of the writing.
This installment opens with Jeremy Bell (Aidan Quinn) in a field of debris. You don’t have to wade through all kinds of back-story before the show actually moves forward. Jeremy works for the National Transportation Safety Board. He investigates plane crashes. “You saw the plane go down?” asks a paramedic. “What’re the odds?”
Suspense-thriller specialist Yves Simoneau directs (have a look at Simoneau’s heist movie “Pouvoir intime”). The show is tight - moody and highly stylized. Quinn, doing what he does best, is impressively tormented. Is he crackers, or did his daughter just phone him from beyond the grave? A brunet Kelly Rutherford is beautiful and mysterious. Was her family on that plane, or is she a nymphomaniacal disaster junkie?
There’s a quirkiness to the proceedings, like the burly paramedic seeing a body up a tree and greenly saying, “Whoopsi-daisy!” In the morgue tent the pathologist fits dismembered bodies together, complaining “nobody would wear that skirt with that blouse.”
There’s an excellent plane crash, from the POV of the passengers - awful and eerie, good effects. The best moment, though, is just a glance from Rutherford to Quinn, and doesn’t come with a lot of fanfare. It’s a great director working with great actors. The Big Revelation doesn’t come bang at the end, so the show has time to roll along and give you a couple more punches.
In the publicity, the creators of the show talk about how human dilemmas give horror stories “that added dimension, and create some sort of metaphor.” Not to worry, this all goes down a great deal easier than a “Star Trek” manifesto, or those stupid voice overs on “The Outer Limits.” They’re just making a little observation about irony and chance. Nothing too painful.
On deck to direct are Joe Dante, Tobe Hooper, Nick Gomez (The Sopranos), and Ernest Dickerson.
This has also made me think about how glad I am Stephen King survived that car crash. Can you imagine, all those people who don’t read anything but Stephen King would have stopped reading altogether. The thought of a bunch of horror novel addicts with extra time on their hands is the thing that’s really scary.
Dig
