So far this fall, Fear Factor's ratings have not impressed. Could NBC's gross-out fest be hemorrhaging fans? They lost one early on: big-screen horror maven Wes Craven. "I enjoyed the first couple episodes," the Scream scribe tells TV Guide Online. "It was interesting, like when people cross between two high buildings on a high cable. But when they started eating bugs... as strange as this sounds, I felt bad for the bugs!
"It seems strange entertainment to kill a living creature for some banal amusement," he gripes. "It just reveals such a lack of human dignity that, for money, they'll do this really disgusting stuff." Shrugging, he adds: "Eh, maybe I'm just being tight-assed. Who knows? But there is a fascination we all have with overcoming fear, dread and disgust."
That's the focus of Craven's new TV series, Phobia — debuting tonight at 8:30 pm/ET on the National Geographic Channel. "I've obviously been dealing with different permutations of fear my whole career," he says. "I try to puzzle out why people come to movie theaters to be scared. I always say it's because they're already scared — they're dealing with their fears brought into a story structure, so they have resolution and it's easier to handle. It lasts for an hour and a half, and you're okay!
"In some ways, [Phobia's] people are treated similarly," Craven argues. "They are exposed to very controlled situations where these fears" — heebie jeebies like heights, snakes and confinement — "are presented to them. Once people get past these morbid fears, it's amazing how they blossom! That's something people should keep in mind when they criticize scary movies. I think they're beneficial!"
