‘Fear Itself’ has finally aired, the first episode being ‘The Sacrifice’. They put the show in ER’s old spot, which might be a vote of confidence or a sure way to make sure no one tunes in. I can’t tell. They’ve canceled their share of genius shows, though, right? Sure. So if NBC lacks confidence in a show, maybe that’s a good thing?

‘The Sacrifice’ is about four men with tons of guns who find themselves stranded in the middle of the woods after their truck hits some pointy object in the road. They need shelter and find an old fort in the middle of nowhere. There they meet three pretty sisters who are living la vida amish – no machines, no modern day medicines, etc., though they don’t have much problem yielding a rifle or swinging an ax. The ladies soon split the four criminals up and bad things start to happen – one is dropped into a well. One – who was already shot going into this – has his lips sewn shut (ground that was covered in the Masters of Horror episode ‘Pelts’). Another is hung upside down from the roof of a barn and the fourth – the leader in this scenario – is the final guy, going around, discovering bodies and getting the lowdown on what’s going on, which turns out to be that these ladies lure criminals to the fort to keep a vampire in their midst from venturing out into the world.

‘The Sacrifice’ has benefited from it’s move to broadcast TV. It’s tighter than the series was on Showtime – there are just more barriers for the filmmakers to push against, which made this first episode feel a little lighter on its feet than most ‘MoH’ shows. Some reviews have pointed out how tired the vampire story is in general, but that really didn’t bother me. The show only has 45 minutes to get itself told – 15 less than ‘MoH’ had – so if the word ‘vampire’ can shorthand a few things, great. I’d rather not waste a whole segment being educated on what the monster is – especially since it most likely won’t be that scary anyway.

I think there are really two big problems with ‘The Sacrifice’. First, the turns just aren’t there. Once you realize that these guys are in danger, the show follows a pretty straight line. These three pretty girls show up, acting creepy, so the immediate feeling is that they represent some sort of danger. And then it turns out that they are, in fact, dangerous. And while their motivations are mysterious, when the mystery is revealed, it doesn’t really deepen the story. There’s not much in the way of connection, here. Maybe if we knew more about the four men, who are apparently criminals and have two big bags of guns, the fact that they fall into this trap might be more poignant.

Which brings me to the second point – there are just too many characters than the story can support. We’re setup with four guys in a truck, one of them shot, so things definitely kick off in media res. But it feels generic and shrill, a sort of can’t-miss kickstart a la ‘Reservoir Dogs’. Except that in ‘RD’, there’s a pay off to thie gunshot wound. In ‘ The Sacrifice’, it’s just something that’s happened. I’m not even sure it forces the gang’s hand in finding the fort. Considering where things are going, they don’t need the wounded character at all. And only two of the remaining three guys seem to have discernible personalities. So maybe we only needed those two guys to begin with – the two brothers who are at odds. With a little more focus, maybe a connection could’ve been made between the situation the three sisters are in and the relationship between these brothers? But instead it feels like someone wanted a bigger body count, and they got it. Unfortunately.

On the upside, this episode is beautiful to look at. As bizarre as the setting seems (what is this fort, exactly? A fort? A gigantic, abandoned fort?), it feels real the whole time. The atmosphere bulletproof.

And, as predicted, the toned down blood kind of works. Not that this was a bloodless show, but there was a certain amount of restraint in the gore, especially in an off-screen decapitation and a fairly dry vampire feeding.

If you’d like to take a look and see what I’m talking about, watch away: