we scare because we care

the wake of the success of the blair witch project brought many tv shows that capitalized on the home-made camera work and cinema verite-style of the film. one of the more imaginative of this fare was the tv show fear broadcast on mtv in 2000. the premise is simple: take a handful of young people, hook them up with cameras so they can film themselves, place them in an old hospital or prison in the middle of the night, psyche them out with frightening back-stories of the sordid happenings and the plentiful deaths done in these places, and give these young people a set of tasks in the name of investigating paranormal phenomena.

it's a genius set-up and even the most hardened and realistic of us would maybe freak-out in such situations. the mind is scarier than reality it seems and we can scare ourselves real good as we are tasked to go into an abandoned death chamber all alone and with little to no light to shine the cold light of reason upon our surroundings. the air temperature, the smells, every little creak and crack, and the shadows on the walls and floors would trick us into believing, if only for a moment, that some menacing thing is watching and could pounce at any second. i loved the show and tho fear i think trailed on for a couple of seasons it is an episode in the first season anna and i remember the most, the one where the participants investigated the old west virginia state penitentiary.

the clip below is where one member, ryan, is tasked to go into the death chamber and pull the tarp off the old electric chair and then sit alone with the chair in the dank cold of the room for 15 minutes. already two participants couldn't complete the task and chickened out. i recall when this show was first broadcast anna and i were in bed watching and at this particular moment we laughed our asses off. because i too would scream like a girl. watch, listen and shudder. remember, it is all in the mind. the mind is a terrible thing to taste.

boo