Unless you're one of those lucky souls that dwell in the temperate Sunbelt region or sunny, literally-so-hot-it's-on-fire-California, you've probably noticed that it's unbearably freezing out there. So freezing, that if you were trudging the unforgiving Philadelphia sidewalks (like myself) for more than ten minutes today, you're probably shape-shifting into a flesh-gobbling Wendigo with a thirst for blood and a penchant for righting wrongs. But, in the latest episode of Fear Itself, airing for FREE on FEARnet starting Thursday, December 11th, it takes our main character, Grady, about ten days in the snow-covered mountains for him to make the transformation from loving father and husband to a cannibalistic creature feasting on the flesh of every unfortunate soul in sight!

Fortunately, you're probably sitting warm in your desk chair right now, with your CPU tower nicely warming your feet, and a hot cup of coffee steaming in front of you, so you won't be reverting to cannibalism any time soon. You can, however, live vicariously through the Wendigo in this week's episode of Fear Itself, "Skin and Bones", directed by Larry Fessenden and starring Doug Jones and Molly Hagan. We talked to all three about the episode, the monster and their ever-changing characters! Read on after the jump to find out what they had to say…

Larry Fessenden
This episode is called "Skin and Bones", and it's about a city guy who has this beautiful extravagant ranch, and he goes missing for ten days. His brother, his wife and two kids are waiting for him to return, and he does. And that's when the trouble begins. He's a changed man – that's the set up of the story. Things go terribly wrong with the family dynamic, which has a deep secret. It unfolds and it's quite great.

The Wendigo is a mythological creature of a northern or northeastern Indian tribe. The Wendigo is a creature that is always hungry. It's really a metaphor for life out of balance. Often when someone is lost in the wilderness and they have to resort to cannibalism, they are possessed by the Wendigo spirit. They wreak havoc and are cannibalistic. I love the myth because it speaks about a world out of balance, which I think speaks to the current state of the world.

Often it's accompanied by a ferocious rage. It becomes a good way to talk about rage and anger which are potent emotions. Finally, it looks different. It's depicted in different ways. In my original Wendigo with antlers, and you see that it's like a deer man, a ferocious deer man. But here, it's more just a guy who is possessed. It's sometimes like an abominable snowman. It's a shape shifter.

Doug Jones
This episode, “Skin and Bones”, is about a wealthy ranch owner, Grady Edlund, myself, who has been missing for ten days in the mountains somewhere, running some horses with some other people. At the top of the show he returns home but when he gets back he's lost about sixty lbs of weight – hence the name, “Skin and Bones”, and hence them getting me to play the guy. Grady comes back and not only has he lost sixty lbs, they notice that there's a lot not right with him. As the story unfolds, you'll find some surprises with what he encountered when he was in the mountains. He might have been possessed with a little something that came home with him. We get to see what that little something does to the family when he gets back home. I didn't know what a Wendigo was until I was working on this episode of Fear Itself. Larry Fessenden, the director of this episode, directed a movie called Wendigo and has another film, out now on DVD, called The Last Winter, which has a Wendigo in it. From what I understand, it's a mythological spirit that, in this particular instance, takes on a cannibalistic trait. I think it's a spirit that can dwell in a person who feels a sense of injustice. If someone has been wronged, the Wendigo spirit can take on their personality and do vengeance for their sense of injustice. That's how I'm interpreting it anyways. I'm sure there are many lures and many mythologies about the Wendigo, but that's sort of what we're playing here.

Molly Hagan
He's [Grady] much changed, but I feel like part of this must have been in him in order for the Wendigo to get in him, so it's horrifying seeing a side of someone you've never seen before. He's radically changed – not just his looks, but everything is radically changed. At the end, Doug Jones is terrifying. He doesn't need all the make-up on. He's a great actor and he's scaring the living hell out of me.