City of Dreams

The latest wrinkle in new media has an old name: radio. Scifi.com's Seeing Ear Theatre is offering original audio programs, including this 13-episode series by s-f scribe J. Michael Straczynski. The opening 32-min. story has little suspense, since its title (The Damned Are Playing at Godzilla's Tonight) is also its punch line. Steve Buscemi gives the lead character--a racist rock-club owner--his familiar sleazy-loser clamminess. But City of Dreams will have to improve to hold even a flickering candle to old cathode-tube chillers like Suspense and Lights Out. We miss the creaky-floor sound effects and the eerie melodies of the theremin. And how can you, the listener, be really scared if you're not in bed in the dark but staring at your PC desktop as it clicks off the episode's seconds like a time bomb in reverse?

--R.C.