Episode 2: Bad Wolf Down / The Finger
Directors: Greg Nicotero, Rob Schrab
Writers: Rob Schrab, David J. Schow
Stars: David A MacDonald, Callan Wilson, Kid Cudi
Run Time: 43 Minutes
As fortune teller comes to read the Creep’s palm. he laughs maniacally. Credits roll.
Synopsis: Bad Wolf Down
It’s World War II, and the Americans are fighting the Germans in a forest. There’s a sign posted “Danger” with the head of a wolf. They hole up in a former jail, and something bad had already happened there.
The German commandant finds that his son has been killed by these Americans, and he vows revenge. They shoot s girl in the jail cell, and when they go in to help her, she doesn’t want them in the cell. They get locked in the cell with her. They watch the woman’s bullet would heal nearly instantly. She locked herself in the cage because she’s cursed; she’s a werewolf.
The Nazi commander shows up and demands their surrender, but they are still locked in the jail. They get the girl to bite them all before she dies. The sun goes down and the moon rises. Then the Nazis come inside at just the wrong time…
Commentary
They found an amazingly simple and cost-effective way to show the werewolf transformations that I can honestly say I have never seen before, but it works perfectly here in this context.
Jeffrey Combs is mostly wasted here, but at least they are still showing us that they have a casting budget. The story here was fine, but “Dog Soldiers” did it better.
Synopsis: The Finger
Clark Wilson collects found objects. He finds a strange-looking finger in the garbage. He cab’t figure out what kind of animal it came from. When he spills his beer on it, the finger absorbs it all.
The next morning, the finger is missing. He finds it on the other side of the house, and it’s grown into two fingers and part of a hand. It’s clearly not dead. Soon, he’s got a whole arm.
A little while later, it breaks out of his freezer and out the window. That night, it comes back and hides in his freezer again. It’s covered in blood and he finds a heart.
Police come to the door. They explain that Clark’s ex-wife was brutally murdered. The creature walks through the kitchen and goes out the window again. It’s a cross between a xenomorph alien and a dinosaur. He calls it Bob.
He cleans up Bob and starts taking care of it. Bob likes soap operas and popcorn. Bob also likes to kill the people who annoy Clark…
Commentary
Bob’s leg twitches and he purrs when he’s asleep. Whatever Bob is, they paid a lot of attention to creature detail.
DJ Qualls carries this story, as he usually steals the show in whatever he’s in. Again, this second story was better than the first because it was more unpredictable.