Review - Fear Itself: Family Man

Family Man is a testament to the fact that Sunday is the Lord’s day and you shouldn’t be a workin’ . . .

. . . now I finally understand why my husband always gets so mad at me when I am working on a Sunday afternoon. Hmmmm . . .

Unfortunately, for Dennis Mahoney (Colin Ferguson) he hasn’t learned that lesson yet and decides to go into the office after church. He gets into a horrible accident and is rushed to the hospital on his death bed. Also unfortunate for Dennis is that at the same time, serial killer Richard Brautigan (Clifton Collins, Jr.) is also brought into the hospital. In a cruel twist of fate, Dennis wakes up in his body and is carted off to jail as the monster that Brautigan is.

From his prison cell Dennis somehow tries to warn his family as they are subjected to Brautigan’s violent mood swings and strange ideas about family life. When he finally manages to escape the prison to save his family and reclaim his identity he is dealt the final cruel blow that fate has in store for him.

A decent episode of Fear Itself if not a little predictable, I ultimately enjoyed Family Man. Ronny Yu did a good job directing Clifton Collins, Jr. and Colin Ferguson on how to portray their frustration at their situations. Although I found that Kathy Mahoney’s (Josie Davis) reaction to the change in demeanor of her husband was a little unrealistic. I mean seriously I would have told Dennis to F-off for sure!

I find myself really enjoying the Fear Itself series and I hope it can find itself landing another season.

Directed by
Ronny Yu

Writing credits
Mick Garris (creator)
Daniel Knauf (written by)

Episode Cast (in credits order)
Clifton Collins Jr. ... Richard Brautigan
Colin Ferguson ... Dennis Mahoney
Josie Davis ... Kathy Mahoney (as Josie Rebecca Davis)
Stephen Lobo ... John Amir
Brent Stait ... Deputy / Guard Toomey
Nicole Leduc ... Courtney Mahoney
Gig Morton ... Sean Mahoney
Michael St. John Smith ... Sheriff Weller
Terence Kelly ... Reverend
Tyler Playford
Roberta Mauer-Phillips
Mieko Ouchi
Chris Aanderson
Jodi Stecyk
Patricia Darbasie ... EMS Tech