Summary
“Scared Stiff (Oregon) Part 1” capably sets up another well-made classic (and silly) horror story.
This recap of 50 States of Fright episode 7, “Scared Stiff (Oregon) Part 1”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
So it seems this series is quite proudly mining the stories of folklore and urban legend, as each new one appears, you feel you may have heard it somewhere before. That’s not so bad, as the show is not trying to dress this up as anything else.
So the subject matter here in 50 States of Fright Episode 7 is taxidermy, and a local practitioner is presented with a piece of roadkill by a careless motorist. He proclaims he cannot do anything with it and the driver says he will take it elsewhere, but ego gets in the way and he changes his mind and says he will take a look at it when he can.
The driver leaves, and in a screen split scene, perhaps another Creepshow homage, our expert stuffer starts his work on the mystery carcass.
When the job is done, it looks like he has discovered a Sasquatch, and when his door is knocked on, he opens it to find the driver of the car in a terrible state of anxiety.
“Scared Stiff (Oregon) Part 1” once again delivers the set up to the story in a convincing manner. We are shown the nature of our taxidermist and his opinion of others in this neck of the woods, and we are presented with a mystery that deserves to be explored.
The stuffed sasquatch looks great, even if it’s smaller than expected, and the dark and dense color palate adds atmosphere. For me, this is another well made, and silly, example of classic horror stories that does exactly what this sort of thing is meant to do.
