MTV's Fear
Encyclopedia
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 5 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
. 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 6 episodes aired. 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.
MTV's Fear was named #6 on Entertainment Weekly
s "15 Taboo-Breaking TV Moments."
The show brought several innovations to the 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 body mounted cameras to have contestants film their own close-ups.
Each contestant is given the option, at any time during the dare, to abort. However, doing so will cause the contestant to forfeit their share of the winnings, and they will be required to leave the group. Another contestant will then be chosen by the computer to complete the dare. After two nights, any contestants remaining in the game will be directed to the location of their monetary prize, and each would collect $5,000 (in the pilot episode, the survivors only received $3,000 each).
The dares themselves ranged in difficulty, often starting out easy and close to the safe house, eventually getting more difficult and further from the group's base. While most relied on simple observation (radio silence
, EMF Detector), some of the dares relied on specific re-enactments of haunting events, and a few even dabbled in occult or paranormal possession (séance
, automatic drawing, spirit channeling
). For a complete list of dares, see Dares of MTV's Fear
.
to piece together potential matches for the locations used in the show. The locations used in the show were:
Season 1
Season 2
(* denotes locations where names are not the actual names of the location)
band Godsmack
's song "Voodoo
" was used as the theme song. For much of the second season, the song "First Day of Nowhere" by Sinisstar was used in the end credits.
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
. The program follows a group of 5 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
Martin Kunert
Martin Kunert is a founding partner of Booya Studios and a feature film and television writer, director and producer. In 2004, Kunert conceived and directed the critically acclaimed documentary Voices of Iraq, made by sending 150 DV cameras to Iraqis to film their own lives...
and Eric Manes
Eric Manes
Eric Manes is a writer and producer in the film and television industry. As a producer, Manes made the groundbreaking documentary Voices of Iraq.-Biography:...
. The pilot episode was Co-Executive Produced and directed by George Verschoor
George Verschoor
George Verschoor is a showrunner, director and writer known primarily for producing unscripted/reality series for television, such as The Real World.-Career :...
. 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 6 episodes aired. 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.
MTV's Fear was named #6 on Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
s "15 Taboo-Breaking TV Moments."
The show brought several innovations to the reality show genre, including having contestants film their own experience as no video crew followed them into the 'haunted' locations, use of night vision
Night vision
Night vision is the ability to see in low light conditions. Whether by biological or technological means, night vision is made possible by a combination of two approaches: sufficient spectral range, and sufficient intensity range...
cameras, and use of body mounted cameras to have contestants film their own close-ups.
Rules
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 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.Each contestant is given the option, at any time during the dare, to abort. However, doing so will cause the contestant to forfeit their share of the winnings, and they will be required to leave the group. Another contestant will then be chosen by the computer to complete the dare. After two nights, any contestants remaining in the game will be directed to the location of their monetary prize, and each would collect $5,000 (in the pilot episode, the survivors only received $3,000 each).
The dares themselves ranged in difficulty, often starting out easy and close to the safe house, eventually getting more difficult and further from the group's base. While most relied on simple observation (radio silence
Radio silence
In telecommunications, radio silence is a status in which all fixed or mobile radio stations in an area are asked to stop transmitting for safety or security reasons.The term "radio station" may include anything capable of transmitting a radio signal....
, EMF Detector), some of the dares relied on specific re-enactments of haunting events, and a few even dabbled in occult or paranormal possession (séance
Séance
A séance is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word "séance" comes from the French word for "seat," "session" or "sitting," from the Old French "seoir," "to sit." In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma"...
, automatic drawing, spirit channeling
Mediumship
Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...
). For a complete list of dares, see Dares of MTV's Fear
Dares of MTV's Fear
This article contains a list of dares performed in the show MTV's Fear. Not all the episodes are yet listed here, but the ones listed here show a complete list of dares in the show.-West Virginia State Penitentiary:Pilot EpisodeFirst Aired: September 10, 2000...
.
Locations
The locations shown in the show usually had their name changed to protect their location from vandals and show fanatics. However, some of the places allowed their name to be used, and some of the fans of the show used the InternetInternet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
to piece together potential matches for the locations used in the show. The locations used in the show were:
Season 1
- Episode 1 – West Virginia State PenitentiaryWest Virginia State PenitentiaryThe West Virginia State Penitentiary is a retired, gothic style prison located in Moundsville, West Virginia. It operated from 1876 to 1995. Currently, the site is maintained as a tourist attraction and training facility.-Design:...
- Episode 2 – St. Agnes Hospital for the Chronically Ill* (Real Location: Fairfield State HospitalFairfield State HospitalFairfield State Hospital was a psychiatric hospital in Newtown, Connecticut, which operated from 1931 until 1995. At its peak the hospital housed over 4,000 patients. The entire facility was owned and operated by the State of Connecticut Department of Mental Health...
, Connecticut) - Episode 3 – Duggan Brothers Cement FactoryDuggan Brothers Cement FactoryAn episode of the hit reality TV series FEAR on MTV-Cast:Cast on this episode included:Jason Dinant, Abi Huff, Amanda, Paul, Mike Prophete, Liz Pantear, Carla Baron.-Dares:Cast and Colors: Abi, 22 years old, Los Angeles, CA...
* (Real Location: Ideal Cement Company, 6411 Ideal Cement Rd., Castle Hayne, North CarolinaCastle Hayne, North CarolinaCastle Hayne is a census-designated place in New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,116 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area....
) - Episode 4 – Hopkins Military Academy* (Real Location: Augusta Military AcademyAugusta Military AcademyThe Augusta Military Academy was a secondary education military academy in Fort Defiance, Augusta County, Virginia, USA. The school was established in 1865 by Confederate Veteran Charles Roller as the Augusta Male Academy and formally became a military academy in 1880. It combined classical studies...
, Virginia) - Episode 5 – Camp Spirit Lake* (Real Location: Camp NoBeBoSco, Hardwick Township, New JerseyHardwick Township, New Jersey-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 1,464 people, 502 households, and 410 families residing in the township. The population density was 40.1 people per square mile . There were 530 housing units at an average density of 14.5 per square mile...
) - Episode 6 – Buck Hill InnBuck Hill Falls, PennsylvaniaBuck Hill Falls is a private resort community in the Pocono Mountains of Northeastern Pennsylvania.The settlement was founded in 1901 as a Quaker retreat by a group of Friends from Philadelphia, including Charles F...
- Episode 7 – Eastern State PenitentiaryEastern State PenitentiaryThe Eastern State Penitentiary is a former American prison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located on 2027 Fairmount Avenue between Corinthian Avenue and North 22nd Street in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia and was operational from 1829 until 1971...
- Episode 8 –
- Episode 9 – Fort Gaines
- Episode 10 – La Guerre Plantation* (Real Location: Desert Plantation, Louisiana)
Season 2
- Episode 1 – Mina Dos Estrellas: Pt.1
- Episode 2 – Mina Dos Estrellas: Pt.2
- Episode 3 – Hacienda Tabi
- Episode 4 – Ki Sugar Mill*
- Episode 5 – Serenity Lake Sanitorium* (Real location King Edward Sanatorium in Padova City, Tranquille, British Columbia., Canada)
- Episode 6 – Boettger Brewery* (Real Location: Lemp Brewery, St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
)
(* denotes locations where names are not the actual names of the location)
Music
The hard rockHard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
band Godsmack
Godsmack
Godsmack is an American heavy metal band from Lawrence, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The band is composed of founder, frontman and songwriter Sully Erna, guitarist Tony Rombola, bassist Robbie Merrill, and drummer Shannon Larkin...
's song "Voodoo
Voodoo (song)
"Voodoo", written by lead singer Sully Erna, is a single by heavy metal band Godsmack from their self-titled album Godsmack.The song "Voodoo" was best known for its use in the MTV television program Fear.-Music video:...
" was used as the theme song. For much of the second season, the song "First Day of Nowhere" by Sinisstar was used in the end credits.
Influence
- Psychic Carla Baron appeared in all of the original episodes (except for the 2 pilot specials - West Virginia State Penitentiary + St. Agnes Hospital.) Carla Baron went on to a very prolific television career - starring in her own reality series, "Haunting Evidence" for TruTV (formally Court TV) as a genuine psychic profiler on cold case crime scenes. Carla Baron has also appeared in multiple other television programs since MTV's FEAR as a gifted psychic/ medium/ psychic profiler - "Psychic Detectives" (Court TV pilot), "Dead Famous" (Biography Channel), ABC Primetime (still airing in syndication on WE Channel), and most recently "MysteryQuest" (History Channel) and "Psychic Hollywood: The Search For Truth" (E! Entertainment).
- The storytelling and camera techniques which Kunert and Manes innovated for this series became the basis for their film Voices of IraqVoices of IraqVoices of Iraq is a 2004 documentary film about Iraq, created by distributing cameras to the subjects of a film, thus enabling subjects to film themselves...
. - The show has been recreated in almost every aspect in VH1VH1VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
's Celebrity Paranormal ProjectCelebrity Paranormal ProjectCelebrity Paranormal Project is a paranormal reality television series that originally aired from October 22, 2006 to November 1, 2007 on VH1. The show is currently on hiatus, so it is unknown if VH1 will re-air the show and begin with a second season...
.
See also
- Celebrity Paranormal ProjectCelebrity Paranormal ProjectCelebrity Paranormal Project is a paranormal reality television series that originally aired from October 22, 2006 to November 1, 2007 on VH1. The show is currently on hiatus, so it is unknown if VH1 will re-air the show and begin with a second season...
- Dares of MTV's FearDares of MTV's FearThis article contains a list of dares performed in the show MTV's Fear. Not all the episodes are yet listed here, but the ones listed here show a complete list of dares in the show.-West Virginia State Penitentiary:Pilot EpisodeFirst Aired: September 10, 2000...
- Eric ManesEric ManesEric Manes is a writer and producer in the film and television industry. As a producer, Manes made the groundbreaking documentary Voices of Iraq.-Biography:...
- Martin KunertMartin KunertMartin Kunert is a founding partner of Booya Studios and a feature film and television writer, director and producer. In 2004, Kunert conceived and directed the critically acclaimed documentary Voices of Iraq, made by sending 150 DV cameras to Iraqis to film their own lives...
- George VerschoorGeorge VerschoorGeorge Verschoor is a showrunner, director and writer known primarily for producing unscripted/reality series for television, such as The Real World.-Career :...
- MTVMTVMTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
- Paranormal televisionParanormal televisionParanormal television is a genre of popular reality television programming. Its scope comprises purportedly factual investigations of paranormal phenomena, rather than fictional representations found in such shows as The Ghosts of Motley Hall and Ghostbusters, or cartoon/children's series such as...