MTV's Fear | |
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Show logo
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Created by |
Martin Kunert Eric Manes |
Opening theme | "Voodoo" by Godsmack |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 16 |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | Martin Kunert, Eric Manes, Beau Flynn |
Running time | 43 minutes |
Release | |
Original network | MTV |
Picture format | 480i (SDTV) |
Original release | September 10, 2000 | – April 28, 2002
Chronology | |
Followed by | MTV's Inside Fear (2001) |
Related shows | Celebrity Paranormal Project (2006) |
External links | |
Website |
Fear (promoted as MTV's Fear) is an American paranormal reality television series that originally aired from 2000 to 2002 on MTV. The program follows a group of five or more contestants being left at an allegedly haunted location and led them on a series of dares over two nights to explore and confirm whether or not the place is haunted. The show was created by Martin Kunert and Eric Manes who were inspired by the 1973 horror film The Legend of Hell House. The pilot episode was co-executive produced and directed by George Verschoor. The series aired the first two episodes in a pilot run, which received outstanding reviews and a full season was ordered. After eight more episodes, another season was ordered. The second season ended after only six aired episodes. The series was not cancelled due to a lack of interest (the show was the second most popular on MTV at the time of its cancellation), but due to the high cost of producing each episode. A DVD, MTV's Inside Fear, was released on November 6, 2001.
Fear was named #6 on Entertainment Weekly's "15 Taboo-Breaking TV Moments".
Fear was the first scary/supernatural reality show created in the world. The visual style, mood, music, editing and filmmaking techniques Fear innovated have become the standard for the genre. The show also brought innovations to the general reality show genre, including having contestants film their own experience as no video crew followed them into the "haunted" locations, use of night vision cameras, and use of POV body mounted cameras to have contestants film their own close-ups.
Contestants were led by guides to the haunted area. They were then instructed to remove their blindfolds after a predetermined amount of time, allowing the guides to slip out unseen. The area where they are taken is known as the 'safe house', which is usually a large room somewhere within the haunted location where no hauntings are reported to have taken place. This location serves as the group's base and is the only part of the haunted location with lighting. Every member of the group chooses a color at random from a predefined list. During daylight hours, the group is allowed to sleep and eat, as dares only take place at night. Once night arrives, a computer terminal will usually pick one or two colors and assign a dare. This computer also provides the group with background information about the area. A member of the group, not assigned to the current dare, provides instructions from the computer via two-way radios.