Everyone I Ever Was and Everyone I Ever Will Be

I hadn't heard much about it, so when I watched the opening credits was when I found out who's going to show up in later episodes. Ron Livingston, Steven Weber, and I was really happy to see Samantha Mathis-- I think she's great and I don't see her in nearly enough stuff. The last thing I did catch her in, come to think of it, was a King adaptation.

I thought the first episode was good. (and if you heard a loud squeaking noise, that was my fangirl-squee when I saw Richard Christian Matheson's name on the teleplay). The Zuni fetish doll from Trilogy of Terror on the shelf was a nice touch. :-) I thought that it played better when you didn't really see the toy soldiers in true detail, but other than that, I enjoyed it.

The second one, not so much. It had the potential to be really creepy-- I loved the opening scene, with the blood running down next to the spider-- but then it kinda fell apart for me. Maybe because by about ten minutes in I wanted to reach into the screen and kill Claire Forlani's character myself for being so freaking annoying.

I don't know if it's her acting skills in general, or just the choices she made for this character. Maybe Doris is supposed to be annoying; I'd have to read the story again. I don't recall hating Forlani in Basil, though. But then, I haven't seen that movie in years, because I liked the villain character better than the protagonist-- that didn't hold true for Wilkie Collins' novel, but they switched a lot of things around. And then I got mad when I realized that the writers really were going down the road of making the spoiled, cold, violent jerk the 'hero' of the movie despite actions that had me yelling at the screen so thank goodness my parents weren't home. ;-) Another one I'd have to watch again, though, to see if I'd have the same impression of it now as I did at seventeen. If so, it wouldn't surprise me, since I've always had a thing for dark, conflicted villains (see also: Gladiator).

And I was talking about the second episode of Nightmares and Dreamscapes, wasn't I? Ah well.