Ashton Kutcher: Horror Meister?
"I invite you to join me in a place your senses will betray you, a place where seeing isn't always believing. What the people in these films experience...is real. And the fear they feel is also -- very real."
So says the serious but hip-looking host in the Ashton Kutcher-produced MTV series Room 401 which premieres tonight. From the trailer, it seems to be kind of like Punk'd meets The Twilight Zone.
Wanna see why I think the show could (possibly) be totally worthy of watching?
Since the budget of MTV shows is notoriously low, Kutcher and his crew have resorted to using old school methods of scaring people out of their wits. Forget the CGI, you've got model makers, magicians and makeup artists as the stars here. One wonderfully cheesy scene in the trailer had a guy ripping open his rubber stomach to reveal real life maggots coming out from his innards. Heck, is the mood was right, I'd be scared as hell if I saw something like that.
I'm not saying this show is going to be a classic. It surely isn't anything near as good as The Twilight Zone or even Tales From The Crypt. Then again, it's not supposed to be. But as a fun study in what induces horror in the average person, Room 401 seems to get it right.
One thing's sad, though. One the MTV page for the show, they drool so much about Kutcher, they don't even mentioned the host of the show, who's featured in the trailer (and Kutcher isn't). For the record, the host is Jared Padalecki, the talented actor from Supernatural (I think).
Well, I'm here drooling thinking about Padalecki!
MTV sucks like always, they have that sexy man to host their show and they don't even mention him.
Screw Kutcher, I'm gonna watch to see Jared and his hot new hair!
Tonight's 401 was pretty dead-beat and didn't come close to resurrecting a similar pulse of the classic Twilight zone. Some of the actor's responses reminded me of maybe the untold story of: Candid Camera~The Dark Side. I did appreciate understatedness of the Emergency Response Cleanup Team T-shirts and how the new meat packer hardly missed chewing his gum during the handling, as well as the un-hand-thing.
Did anyone else catch/think the burned hand first looked like a giant pig foot/hoof? The slowmo play-back towards the end of the scene definitely looked like a 5 digit hand. I also appreciated that women weren't victimized, but the show was quite a vehicle for horror movie advertisers that seemed to be promoting women as victims from what I could tell. I wouldn't have minded my kids watching the episode, but some of the movie promos were bothersome. Tonight confirmed that I'm a more wholesome,classic fan and don't care for today's horror for the most part. However, 401 was a relief considering today's generation/audience because it was milder than I imagined it would be. I've checked into 401, but am checking out. Don't plan to revisit it ever again. Prefer monsterlore that's inspired from early literature greats where imagination runs through your blood instead of blood being what's used to just shock/gross you out. Longing for something more cerebral.
P.S. And by cerebral...I don't mean a lobotomy.
I caught it tonight. Nothing special. I'll only be watching 'cause Supernatural won't be back until September and this is the only way I can get a look at Jared Padalecki for now.
Lizette, that's a terrific review of the show, and I agree with you. To be honest, I got through about half of it. I liked the sushi scenario and the insects out of the chest idea. But there's no story that holds the show together. It's just too episodic for me. I won't be coming back, either.
I mean, nice comment, Lizette. Kudos for the nice review go to AX.
Much thanks! Aspiring to be a serial writer. Hoping to live more than die repeatedly on paper. Enjoy your work.
Who's Ashton Kucher, LOL? I watched to see Jared Padalecki. The show was pretty dumb-- I hate those things anyway, but Jared was waaaaaay Hot!
i didnt watch this. it was on mtv and i HATE mtv. the only show ive ever watched there was beavis and butthead and they took that off the air a LONG time ago. mtv needs to leave the horror genre alone.