Strange Fiction and Truths
This is another one of my favorite unexplained phenomena documentary programs though also an honorable mention in favorite anthology shows, this show is also another under the radar gem that I feel has be a bit forgotten.The show is an interesting one as it's a bit on the variety side, what makes this show truly unique is how it can really pull the rug from under you or catch you off guard while retaining your interest.
It's somewhat of an anthology as we have a variety of tales some true some not, sort of like with the show "One Step Beyond" another forgotten gem. It's also sort of a game show, throughout our viewing we are constantly being challenged into guessing which stories are true or false. I honestly wasn't discouraged when I guessed wrong or saw that one story I enjoyed was fiction that was just part of the game and that's part of the point of the show, how sometimes the line between both fact and fiction can be a blur and how sometimes our perception we hold on the line between them isn't always what we think.
Just the way the stories we're told and enacted some of them are a stretch to believe and sometimes that feeling of scepticism is correct. But when we discover the stories are true, I'll admit it really blew me away and made the story even better because of that. Though even some of the fictional stories I enjoyed because even though they we're true they were fun all the same, and the way the story unfolds almost felt like they could have been.
I thought the reenactments or even just plain stories were well done and well-acted (ok, not every one of them but in reenactment segments it happens). Some of actors in them are ones you may have seen before, most notably sci-fi and horror alumni like Ashley Lawrence you know from the first two "Hellraiser" films, Grace Park from "Battlestar Galactica", and many more. In a way this sort of adds to the game show element as you constantly trying to spot the familiar faces much as anyone trying to find Waldo in the "Where's Waldo" books.
I even like the host, there were two of them and both I thought were good in their own way like James Brolin whom has a sort of calm subtlety to him. But to me it was Johnathan Frakes whom I thought was great he just has this energy and charisma. I even love it whenever there are these elaborate props involved in the host segments, much like with Hitchcock in "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" before each tale that correlate with it.
There are a lot of stories I like I'll just says three since there is a lot. Whether their true or not I won't say you'll just have to see them and find out for yourself.
1. Damsel: This one may seem like a tired cliché hence the title, but whose to say this can't happen. Ashley Lawrence as I mentioned before is in this one and is just fraking hot as usual. Like her character whom is sympathetic as she's a person looking for love and hasn't much luck, yeah, we've all been there; however as an old saying goes her luck is about to change.
2. Graffiti: It's a story that takes place in a time long gone, on a teenage trouble maker that could have a psychic ability he uses for evil and his connection with a message constantly scrawled, once we find out the meaning of that message at the end of the story, I'll admit it gave me a cold chill.
3. Dead Beat Dad: This one is on a person (played by Laura Haring from "Mulholland Drive") that either could be a guardian angel or have the power of suggestion delivering justice toward a cheating lowlife gambler. I just though it was a cool E.C. comic like tale seeing scum of society getting poetic justice.
Overall, if you're into the unexplained phenomena genre this is a show worth checking out. But remember, truth can be stranger than fiction.
Rating: 4 stars
score 10/10
hellraiser7 14 January 2019
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4581425/14506
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