Main cast: Tom Bateman (Wilkes), Rebecca Rittenhouse (Maggie), Aurora Perrineau (Dorothy), David Hull (Alan), Ray Santiago (Jack), Harvey Guillen (Nick), and Max Adler (Officer Freervis)
Director: Paul Davis

I have reservations about Into the Dark, which is produced by Jason Blum and friends, mostly because each episode is over an hour long, and most of the output from Blumhouse Productions had been crap jump-scare nonsense typical of “modern” horror today. Still, the season opener The Body blows out of water the entire two seasons of Creepshow, so perhaps I shouldn’t be too hasty in wanting to run for the hills.

In this one, Wilkes is an efficient assassin that loves to wax lyrical about how humanity sucks and other crap because that’s what cool people do these days. He has just assassinated someone famous and powerful on Halloween, and his job is to leave the body open for a media circus to erupt—all at the behest of his mysterious client. Because he is so cool, he just drags the wrapped-up body openly behind him, as people will assume that it’s just a prop for his outfit, and dump it into the back of his vehicle. Easy, right?

Well, not quite. He finds the wheels of his vehicle slashed, and he reluctantly accepts a ride from three idiots Alan, Nick, and Dorothy. Those three drag him to drug dealer and self-proclaimed cool dude Jack’s party, where Wilkes meets Maggie. He really wants to leave as he has only four hours to finish his job and get paid, but the fun is only beginning for everyone involved in this zany episode.

Now, Tom Bateman makes an excellent amoral killer, from his looks to his posture to his delivery, and it’s previous obvious that everything about his character is designed to be so-ooo cool. Unfortunately, this also works against the character, as there is this trying too hard feel to the character. The lines poor Mr Bateman has to deliver tend to be clunky and resemble Tumblr-tier ranting of an angst-filled teen far more than what is likely to be originally intended. Yet, the whole thing still manages to work, thanks to the actor doing a pretty good job as what seems like the only sober person in an episode full of crazies.

The same trying too hard feel extends to the rest of the characters. Nonetheless, the delivery and the timing of otherwise cringe-inducing lines by the actors make the otherwise clunky comedy work very well.

The real problem with this one is that it was originally a 17-minute short film by the same director and screenwriters. Sure, that one won some awards, and the folks behind this show think that this is good reason enough to extend this film into this almost 90-minute episode. Unfortunately, supersizing the original short film merely means having quite the large amount of filler scenes in here. As amusing as some of these scenes may be, the episode should have easily lost much of its middle and be better for it.

Also, that “twist” ending makes me do an eye roll, because I’m to believe that a badly wounded person can somehow perform that stunt without expiring from blood loss or exhaustion or maybe both halfway through.

At any rate, The Body isn’t a perfect season opener by a long shot. Nonetheless, the solid performance by the cast elevates an otherwise “Look, ma, am I edgy or what?” script and makes this episode far more entertaining than expected. I’ve had more fun watching this one than I did with the entire two seasons of Creepshow, so I’m already looking forward to the rest of this show. Let’s hope it won’t let me down, as my heart has been bruised enough already.