13: Fear is Real – Series Premiere Review

Shows

13: Fear is Real is a new reality show on the CW. It’s a horror themed show with 13 contestants who try to be the last one standing by winning horrific challenges. If they win, then they get $66, 666; a devilish number. The contestants have to stay at a old, rundown cabin in the Louisiana bayou. One contestant describes it as “straight out of Friday the 13th” There is a challenge at the beginning of the show where all of the contestants have to compete. The last two to finish it have to go to the elimination challenge. The two people will have to compete against each other and the last one to finish is killed off.

13: Fear is Real is a fun reality show that’s hurt by mind-numbing stupidity and taking itself too seriously. The show literally wants us to believe that the contestant that looses the elimination challenge will be killed off. For example, the first contestant that is eliminated supposedly suffocates to death in a coffin. On the good side, the intro helps draw you into the show. The music is very creepy and the mastermind cutting up pictures is very eerie. There are quick, horrific pictures thrown in there to make it more scary. It’s very reminiscent of the Masters of Horror opening.

The first challenge of 13: Fear is Real is quite a bore. The 12 people that participate(one is left behind) are divided into pairs. Six of them go out into the woods and are tied up to chairs. The other six have to go find them. Other than being very boring, the show wants us to believe that the people were kidnapped and reluctantly tied up to chairs. Most of the contestants scream bloody murder constantly, and it comes off as very fake. You can just picture in your mind the producers telling them to do it or they will be the first ones to get eliminated. So,we watch people run around the woods for a few minutes and we learn who is going to the elimination challenge. If you recoreded this show, than you should just fast forward through this part.

Between the challenges, we get to learn a little bit about some contestants, while others continue to be extras. The only men we learn anything about are Cody and Nasser. There are somewhere between 3 and 4 other guys, but I can’t even remember their names. There is also an interesting subplot in the show with a death book. If one of the contestants is able to get the book without the other ones seeing them, than they themself become a killer and get to choose three other people to kill off at anytime they want to do so.

The elimination challenge is the exact opposite of the preliminary challenge. The contestants are buried in a coffin and the first one to escape gets to stay alive. The graveyard they are put in is very spooky and helps set the mood. The challenge is over in about a minute, but it is very suspenseful for the time that it lasts. The surviving contestant brings back to the group a video tape with the “dead” contestants last words. This makes us feel like we knew the contestant better than we did.

Overall, 13: Fear is Real is a fun show, even though it is very corny. But if you ask me, I look for my classy dramas in my movies, not my reality shows. 13 isn’t nearly as good as Survivor or The Amazing Race, but it’s good enough to keep watching. I would rate 13: Fear is Real as a 6/10.