T Y I loved MTVs Fear. I don't care if it was real or not. And I don't care if it ripped off the Blair Witch Project. For some reason after 9-11, my interest in things that had previously scared me began to grow, from roller coasters to scary movies. Sadly the "scary movie" as such is in terrible shape. If I see one more ghost that can't rest until it's murder is solved, I'm going to strangle it myself. But MTVs Fear always gave me the chills. They found atmospheric locations with legitimately creepy vibes and proceed to creep the kids out who played the game. Ostensibly there was no cameraman or crew except the players of the game. (Each participant wore a helmet that filmed both what they were viewing and their reaction to it.) The episode where the girl goes to the children's ward of a hospital and a ball moves across the floor in a "U" shaped path scared the crap out of me. After some episodes I would walk around my place and turn every light on. Soooo creepy.

Hugh Brandon This show was absolutely terrific. Each episode would find six intrepid teenagers or twenty-somethings transported to an undisclosed and purportedly haunted location. Once there they would be assigned a series of "dares" to be accomplished as they moved towards a cash reward. With atmospheric lighting and camera work the locations seemed even spookier than they already were. The finest single episode of this great and lamented series was a trip into an abandoned mine in Mexico where all six competitors bailed on the first try and three of the six departed in fear on the second try. The place was fearsome even through the television screen. Far scarier than eating a plate full of worms or soaking in a vat of fat on that similarly named show that is still going strong on another network. This show's cancellation is just more proof that MTV hasn't got a clue what to do with quality programming other than to get rid of it so as not to show up their mindless spring break drivel.

culwin Contestants get paid $5000 to do "dares" like sitting in a room full of crickets, sitting in a dark room alone for 2 hours, or performing an "exorcism" (splashing holy water around and reading a latin phrase). The funny thing is that people actually get so scared by these simple tasks and the ghost stories that MTV and their "psychic experts" cook up, some of them actually abandon the cash and quit. Of course nothing supernatural has ever actually happened on the show, except for the contestants psyching themselves out. Somehow it is entertaining... funny though, not scary.

RunningFromSatan I love to be scared, as millions do. I heard many people talk about this show at school, so I asked what it was about. Unfortunately, someone spoiled the whole thing for me when it was first aired, so that may have lowered the scare value for me a little bit. The other day, though, I was looking through the MTV site and saw an encore presentation of the premiere would be airing last Friday. Anyway, sitting down to watch this show, I knew what to expect, but I didn't know how it would be laid out. Let me tell you, it was very scary, especially at 9 PM!A group of high school / college-age students go to, in the first episode, a supposedly haunted prison in where they have to complete dares. The first dare is the team members have to spend 15 minutes, complete silence, in a "hot spot", or where psychics and experts in the paranormal have picked out the most active supernatural sites. The only means of communication on their journeys is by radio, which is prohibited during their 15 minutes of silence. In later dares, they must go back there with EMF (electro-magnetic field) detectors and night-vision goggles to detect any strange going-ons that the human senses could otherwise not pick out. In the end, if all dares are completed, they are paid $3,000 each. If someone turns back or does not complete their dare, that person is paid nothing and need to leave the next day.**MINOR SPOILERS BELOW**That was the basics, but looking into the actual show, it gets pretty scary. In the navigation room, there are videos of interviews with former inmates, psychics, and supernatural experts that give horrifying backstories. These, I think, add to at least half the fear. For example, the scariest place is a small cell called "The Hole", where an inmate would stay, naked, in darkness, with limited amounts of food, and they would go insane. The character who gets faced with this dare, Derek, is probably the character that gets put through the most. I will not tell how, but I felt his pain throughout his experience, as well as others. The most memorable moment is Ryan in the cell with the tarp over the chair. I would've freaked out in that way, and screamed like that, as well. And don't think it stops there, because all the other places are equally scary, as well. :P **END SPOILERS**The other scary thing about it is that, a la BWP, it's not what you see directly, it's what your imagination places in the spot of the unknown. What's creating that sound? What's making that stupid EMF detector go crazy? What's creating the wind? People with imagination will get a great ride.I also do feel that this was authenic, as well. As one reviewer mentioned, setting up most of these things would have to be perfect in almost every sense, because all events are being captured by sound, video, EMF detectors, night-vision goggles, and most important of all, the actual people. I think the people would have noticed if someone were to do these things to them and said something about it. A lot of people think this is a hoax like BWP, but look how many people believed it was real even after the actors and news reports confirmed it was fake! But this is not the case with this show, because I think it is totally authentic.In the wake of the actors' strike that may halt shows like ER, Friends, and the box office, reality shows will take over. I see a great future for this show if that does happen, and I can't wait for the next team to get scared in St. Agnes Hospital on October 27. 10/10