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THE HUNGER |
Series Overview
Narrator - David Bowie 
OTHER HUNGER SEASONS Season 1 OTHER SCARY SHOWS Supernatural Millennium Afterlife 
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Series OverviewBased on the idea that sex and the supernatural go together that underpinned Tony Scott's film of the same name, THE HUNGER returns for a second series that has toned down the sex and failed to dial up the supernatural. The stories are rarely substantial enough to fill even a half hour and the line of familiar faces not enough to make up for that. Season 1 host Terence Stamp has been replaced by the younger David Bowie, but the nonsense that he spouts is just the same, although his performance in the opening episode is not too bad at all and the episode proves to be a high point that the show rarely approaches afterwards. In fact, his opening and closing monologues were obviously all filmed on the same set as the episode and quite often make use of the most disturbing images from it because they have nothing else to add. Once again the agenda is style over substance, but too many directors of commercials and not enough storytellers make for a lacklustre series that doesn't have anything more than the promise of disrobing women to keep an audience interested. Top SanctuaryAn injured criminal seeks for a place to hide in the fortress-like home of a performance artist whose stunts proved eventually to be beyond public acceptance. A series of power games ensue which culminate in the ultimate act of art. The second series of the sex and (mild) scares series gets off to a signature start with this Tony Scott-directed story. It starts off intriguing, goest through genuinely terrifying, plays with pompousness and ends up in total incoherence. The fact that it is played out between David Bowie and Giovanni Ribisi gives it far more impact and subtelty than it really deserves. Written by Bruce M SmithDirected by Tony Scott Top Skin DeepA young woman becomes obsessed with a tattooed strip club dancer. The club has a back room full of bondage and pain games. She is warned off by her older friend, but continues the chase. It will take her to the heights of passion and then... At half an hour, this story is at least twenty minutes too long, filled out with repetitive MTV music video cutting that attempts to pass for style. The final surprise is obvious from about three minutes in and the characters are so nonexistant that it's almost impossible to care what happens to any of them. Oh all right then forget the 'almost'. Written by Bruce M SmithDirected by Jake Scott Top Dream SentinelAn exotic dancer is haunted by her tragic past to the point of wanting to die. She is also haunted by the ghost of a killer who is obssessed with her. The ghost enters her dreams and discovers her past. He also brings her back to life when she commits suicide. But when she decides that she wants to embrace life again, the ghost takes drastic action. Though it starts off intriguingly enough as the dancer and the ghost swap metaphysical chit chat, the relationship goes downhill when the man enters her dreams, reveals a rather dull tragedy and comes to a completely nonsensical conclusion in which the killer acts stupidly. The subplot with the audience member who acts violently towards the girl is padding and a show that lasts less than half an hour really ought not to need padding. The director is a commercials director and it shows. The cutting is hyperkinetic at times and lighting always goes for the obvious effect. Eric Roberts plays the killer to no real effect, being neither threatening (and this is Eric Roberts remember - the threat is usually built in) nor emotionally believable. Alice Poons is more effective as the dancer, but is asked to change moods too rapidly to be believable. Written by Gerald WexlerDirected by Chris Hartwill Top Wrath of GodA series of bloody murders horrify an apartment building just at the time that the owner is visited by a mysterious stranger called Michael Michael is an angel. That isn't really giving anything away as it's obvious not only from the title of the episode, but also from the heavy-handed voiceover. As played by Anthony Michael Hall, he's actually an interesting interpretation of an angel and there could certainly be some mileage in that character - angel as the weapon of a vengeful God. Sadly, the idea is all that there is. The plot is is far too flimsy to be termed, well, flimsy and when the angel isn't on the screen then the story flags tiresomely. The special effects realising the angel range from the ridiculous to the impressive. Written by Bruce M SmithDirected by Russell Mulcahy Top Nunc DimittisAn ageing servant to a mysterious princess offers her one last service. He goes out into the night amongst the prostitutes, pimps and rent boys to find her a replacement. The princess is a vampire, a member of the Dracula family, and she needs a new servant. Again, the story could be told in ten minutes rather than the overlong thirty it is given here. It is helped greatly by the presence of the masterful David Warner who manages to bring it a lustre of quality that it really doesn't have. Marina Orsini also makes her vampire more interesting than the script deserves. Written by Gerald WexlerDirected by Russell Mulcahy Top The SeductressA beautiful writer spurns the advances of a young satanist who is obssessed with her. Shortly after learning that the kid committed suicide, she takes up an initially exciting relationship that turns increasingly abusive. The supposed sting in the tail of this story is clear from relatively early on, rendering the descending spiral from ardent couple to virtual rape merely unpleasant. None of the characters are particularly likeable, so it is impossible to connect with or care about any of them. The episode, as a result, is dull and unimportant. Written by Mark NelsonDirected by Alain Descrochers Top BrassA young man discovers a large brass bed and mirror in the basement of his recently dead satanist father's basement. The bed turns out to be a giant protective amulet and convenient place for him to make love to his new and beautiful girlfriend. The mirror, however, shows him that she was involved the death of his father. Not the first time that a bed has been the focus of one of these stories (see Bridal Suite in Season 1), but this is the inferior one of the two. Nothing very much happens and what does is pretty dull. There's a couple of visions and a visit to knowledgeable magic store and a resolution that can be seen coming as soon as the girlfriend claims to be protecting him. Written by Jeffrey CohenDirected by Jeff Fazio Top Approacing DesdemonaA successful marketing man proposes to his girlfriend, but she turns him down, not ready yet. Frustrated, he comes across an odd website that promises him great rewards for complete loyalty. When he refuses to pay the price of his girlfriend's life, he finds his own life crumbling and takes his own revenge on the website, but Desdemona is not about to be beaten just yet. A man who has a girlfriend that looks this good, is willing to have a committment-free relationship filled with energetic sex is not about to go looking for his jollies on the internet and even if he did then the website he finds here isn't likely to hold his attention for very long. It's vaguely interesting to see how the man's life can be ruined electronically (he can't get cash from the ATM, can't use his credit card, can't get on a plane etc) and the final twist is fine, but it's still less than impressive. Written by Terry Curtis FoxDirected by Jason Hreno Top Week WomanAn immigrant having problems with the immigration service agrees to marry a woman he has met only once in order that he should get a work permit. She, however, turns out be quite unique. Every week, she transforms into a totally new personality. At first he is besotted, but then some of the personalities turn out to be more extreme than he can handle. When the obligatory gratuitous sex scene turns out to be really gratuitous in terms of length then you just know that this is going to be a very poor episode, but it actually turns into one of the best of this weaker second series to date. Whilst a gift for Brooke Smith in that she gets to play a whole array of women in a single outing, the whole thing looks likely to get very dull very quickly until the tone shifts drastically with the shock of the suicidal personality. That's brutal, but immediately after it you can see where this is going to go, and how much danger he is going to be in. From there on, it's pretty much as you would expect, but it's a damned sight more intriguing than any of the others to date. Written by David PrestonDirected by Russell Mulcahy Top Triangle of Steelhe rivetting team building a bridge get a new catcher, a man whose job it is to catch red hot rivets thrown up to him. This one is a bit of an exhibitionist and manages to get on with nobody, especially when he starts noticing the ageing team leader's young wife. Interest leads to the inevitable and then tragedy. This is soap opera pure and simple. Younger man takes to older man's wife, takes older man's wife and gets revenge taken by older man's friends. It's simple, it's short, it's dull and suprisingly (considering that each story lasts about twenty minutes once you take out the break David Bowie's inane mumbling at beginning and end) quite repetitive. The seduction scene goes something like him saying 'Come to my truck for sex', her saying 'no way', him saying 'come to the wood shed and I'll show you why you should have sex with me', her saying 'Oh, OK then'. There's not supernatural element at all. An eagle flies around looking all soulful and trying to suggest some link with the american indian culture and past traditions, but it's all pretty much wasted. A real low point. Written by Gerald WexlerDirected by Adrian Moat Top The Falling ManAn academic in the field of architecture, civil engineering and aesthetics is delighted when a young woman references his work. He is even more delighted when she goes home with him and has sex. Then she plays a series of sex games that so rile him up that he comes up with the ultimate building design. When he offers to build it on top of a pug-ugly shopping mall, his hands are broken up by some villains, but that it still not the price that has to be paid for immortality. When your story is based around a building that inspires awe and wonder and is described as a work of genius then it better be something special when you finally reveal it. Here, of course, it isn't. It's no rectangular carbuncle, to be sure, but there are lots of buildings that compare favourably in real life so the effect is somewhat lessened. The story of the woman inspiring greatness at a price is almost interesting, but once the comedy villains walk in the mood is shattered, even if the hands in the vice is wince-inducing. Written by Bruce M SmithDirected by Daniel Grou Top Night BloomerThe inventor of a seed distribution machine that is likely to increase yields hugely finds that the head of the company isn't about to use his invention. Then he meets a woman from another department whose topsoil, combined with his seed delivery system, could net the company millions. Together, and with an ancient seed, the last of its species, they take over the company, but he finds that he has only been the means to and end. Industrial farming and food production at least makes for an intriguing background to this story, although very little of interest is put in front of it. A deadly plant, another in human form and a deadly betrayal. All par for the course, neither written nor acted with anything out of the ordinary, although his final fate is a neat twist (if you're still interested by that point). Written by Mark NelsonDirected by Erik Canuel Top The Suction MethodMax is adulterous husband enjoying bouts of athletic sex with the wives of his neighbours. When his own wife goes to visit her sister, he plans to have a wonderful three days, but she leaves him with a task to carry out, make sure that the carpet cleaners don't damage the rug. When the cleaner turns up, she's positively gorgeous. Max suspects a set up, but decides that his suburban existence is worth risking and decides to seduce the cleaner. He soon learns that her 'suction method' is like nothing he could have imagined. Comedy episodes are few and far between in THE HUNGER, but they prove to be effective when they come along and this is no exception. It benefits hugely from the central performance from Fisher Stevens as the lecherous Max, mugging away and making his sleazy character quite likeable and certainly charming enough to get the women to go for him. He manages to make the bout of phone sex funny rather than sleazy and actually adds some pathos as he considers the pathetic nature of his life. It's a shame that the special effects of the suction method itself are so poor that they threaten to ruin the whole thing. Fortunately, they don't quite manage it and this remains one of the few episodes to be remembered beyond the final credits (though not too far beyond). Written by Gerald WexlerDirected by Darrell Wasyk Top I'm Very Dangerous TonightA young woman about to pull off a coup at his father's music company finds that his wife changes personality when he offers her a dress made by a famous designer who was murdered by the woman who first wore it. This is a direct sequel to I'm Dangerous Tonight. It's hard to understand why they thought that episode was the only one worth a sequel when there were much better, but considering that this is a dull story with almost nothing going for it and a feeling that the majority of the plot was excised just to get it into the running time it's probably just as well that they haven't sequelised any of the others. The plot that's left is muddied and the resolution unsatisfying. Written by Terry Curtis FoxDirected by Alain Descrochers Top ReplacementsA doctor notices that all of the women in the town seem to be turning away from their husbands, becoming indifferent to them. He spots some of them hiding something under their coats and discovers that they are suckling some kind of vampire batlike creature that takes over their minds. He saves his wife and sets about destroying the creatures' incubator, but can it be enough? For once, a plot that fills out the whole running time of an episode of THE HUNGER without any signs of being overstretched. Admittedly that is because it is the whole plot of INVASION OF THE BODYSNATCHERS mixed in with a little of THE STEPFORD WIVES. Even more unusual, the sex scene isn't completely gratuitous as it heightens the difference between the caring, loving, daring wife and the automaton that follows. That said, once the poorly realised creatures are revealed, they are so poor that the whole thing falls apart and the finale in which a group of men huddle in despair doesn't ring true in a country where they probably own enough guns to wipe out the entire infestation. Written by Bruce M SmithDirected by John Hamilton Top And She LaughedHaving moved into a new city, a woman finds herself isolated in her new flat and is visited nightly by a stalker who peers through her mailbox. Her only friend warns her to call the police, but she decides to deal with it her own way. One woman's descent into madness, so she's the only one doing the laughing, but the story is intriguing and atmospheric, although Jennifer Beales isn't strong enough an actress to make the jarring switch from normal to jibbering idiot a little less rough. It's partly down to the running time, but needed a stronger presence at the centre. The twist in the tale isn't much of a twist. Written by Jeff FazioDirected by Jean Beaudin Top The Sacred FireA soup kitchen volunteer takes a boy she knew in college into her home and gets him fed and cleaned up. What she doesn't know is that he is on a mission to kill other homeless people he believes to be monsters, a mission he wants to pass on to her. James Marshall (James Hurley from TWIN PEAKS gives an unsettling performance as the killer of demons, something that his role in his more well-known show would have benefitted from, whilst Kim Huffman makes for an appealing foil who could easily save the souls of the fallen. They are the heart of the story and it is one of the best of the series thanks to them. Written by Gerald WexlerDirected by Russell Mulcahy Top The DiaristTwo witches fight over the soul of a man, the ex-boyfriend of one and the new love of the other. Watching a catfight between two women over the same man isn't usually an edifying experience and this proves to be the case here. There is lots of visual flair, but nothing else about the story inspires or, quite frankly, interests. Written by Gemma FilesDirected by Alain Descrochers Top DoubleTwo identical women have been locked in a battle down the ages, a battle of souls. One wants to kill, the other to simply understand, but by then end of the story only one will be left standing and not necessarily in the body that she was inhabiting in the first place. Lori Petty plays the two women and fails to give either of them any real life. There is some slight interest in finding out what the link between them actually is, but by the time that the muddled ending finally comes around that has long since worn away. Written by Marianne AckermanDirected by Howard Rodman Top Bottle of SmokeA young woman inherits a house from a relative that the family never spoke about, a house that contains a bottle with the secret of ultimate pleasure in it, pleasure that comes with a warning. The historical side of this story is far more interesting than the young woman looking around her new house, but it is she who provides the sting in the tail of the story. The moral is to never try anything without reading all the instructions first. The period setting has believable detailing and a real sense of atmosphere, making it one of the more intriguing outings in this second season. Written by Gemma FilesDirected by Jean Beaudin Top Sin SeerA man who sees a person's darkest secrets when he looks into their eyes goes to a psychiatrist for help, but he learns the truth about what he is seeing just before it is too late. Brad Dourif brings his usual 'man on the edge of sanity, sctick to this story and is certainly better than it deserves. So is the twist, which actally crowns an otherwise turgid tale. The main problem is the way that the psychiatrist is written. He seems more intent on giving the patient conflicting theories as to what might be wrong with him than actually finding out what is wrong with him. The eye-slashing scene is, by its very nature, squirm-inducing. Written by Peter LenkovDirected by Daniel Grou Top The Perfect CoupleAn apparently angelic cupid brings two people together at an airport to create what appears to be the perfect couple. Four years later he finds them having torrid affairs and so gives them the gift of hearing each other's thoughts. Apart from the twist (is the cupid really on the side of good?) this is a tiresome episode. The internal monologues at the beginning get annoying after barely a couple of minutes and then it's downhill from there. And if the cupid figure can actually cause a car crash by waggling his fingers then why go through all the rigmarole of setting them up and giving them telepathy? Written by Gerald WexlerDirected by Darrell Wasyk Top |
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