'Freakylinks' falls short of 'Blair Witch' hype

By Jennifer Umaña
Daily Forty-Niner

Just a few minutes into the premiere episode of "Freakylinks" viewers are guaranteed to get the willies.

Not because of the wacky stuff that the characters are investigating, but from the portrayal of the main character's twin brother.

"Freakylinks" attempts to spook the viewers with "turn-around-and-something-that-wasn't-there-before-is-now-standing-right-in-front-of-you" kind of scenes. It works at some points, but the effect
eventually wears off.

The show is the brainchild of the creators of "The Blair Witch Project," the movie that was a smash hit last summer. The movie was a breakthrough on the big screen in the way that it was filmed entirely in black and white using a handheld camera. The shakiness of the camera caused waves of motion sickness across the country.

The main character, Derek Barnes, portrayed by Ethan Embry of "Can't Hardly Wait" fame, runs a Web site at freakylinks.com that investigates strange and unusual events. He took over the Web site, formerly named Occultresearch.com, after his twin brother Adam committed suicide two years ago. Adam (also portrayed by Ethan Embry, "That Thing You Do") is introduced through flashbacks.

Derek is a surfer dude with hair that looks like he just simply ran his hands through it when he came out of the shower. Adam looks like he has spent hours combing his hair to make sure that not one single strand is out of place.

Derek has that cute boy-next-door look. Adam, on the other hand, looks like that boy from across the street that your mom would never let you play with.

Surely, this was not meant to be the freakiest part of the show.

"Freakylinks" also utilizes a handheld camera, but this one is digital and in color. It also is used only in a handful of scenes, so there is no need to break out the barf bag, at least not for the first episode.

It turns out in this first episode that maybe Adam is not really dead. But if he is not dead, then what really happened the night of his suicide? This is what Derek is determined to find out.

Tune in to the same channel that brought you the freaky "X-Files" and the even freakier "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?" to find out what the freak this show is really all about.

"Freakylinks" premieres this Friday at 9 p.m. on Channel 11. If you can't hardly wait that long, link up to it now at Freakylinks.com