Unless you've been living under a rock, or working the third shift at your job, you know by now that Showtime's provocative series MASTERS OF HORROR is the brainchild of creator/writer/producer/director Mick Garris (STORM OF THE CENTURY, THE SHINING, THE STAND). Known as one of the better adapters of Stephen King material, Garris conceived the idea by way of a series of bi-monthly dinners he attended with some close friends and colleagues, who also happened to be many of the famous (or infamous) horror/fantasy directors who make significant contributions to the series. Made mostly in Vancouver on ten-day shooting schedules with limited budgets, each director tackles a particular piece of material in the style they are most famous for with horror and fantasy fans worldwide.
I can only base my reviews on the installments I have seen, so here's my take on each one, not necessarily in order of broadcast:
INCIDENT ON AND OFF A MOUNTAIN ROAD. Directed by Don Coscarelli (PHANTASM); written by Coscarelli and Stephen Romano, based on the story by Joe Lansdale; starring Bree Turner, Ethan Embry, Angus Scrimm and John de Santis as 'Moonface.' Given that it has an interesting premise, (victim of spousal abuse by a psycho-survivalist matches wits with a deranged serial killer), I've heard that this wasn't one of Joe's best, and with the hit-and-miss style in which Coscarelli seems to have shot it, I would tend to agree. It's good to see the likable Embry playing an absolute bastard, and Ms. Turner is great in the classic Marilyn Burns-style heroine role. Yet much like the hit TV series LOST, the flashbacks (between the two of them) are much more engaging than the main focus of the story, which is all about Turner's struggle to survive in the killer's lair. And as fun as it is to see Angus Scrimm reunited with his old PHANTASM buddy, his presence is criminally wasted here. Good action sequences (no surprise there) and helped by Coscarelli's strong visual sense, but it's mostly worth ** out of four stars.
DANCE OF THE DEAD. Directed by Tobe Hooper ('SALEM'S LOT); written by Richard Christian Matheson, based on Richard Matheson's short story; starring Jonathan Tucker and Robert Englund as the MC. Tobe does what he's best at: innocence lost meets evil and depravity incarnate and triumphs...or makes said moral and spiritual compromise in order TO triumph. In a post-apocalyptic, plague-ridden world that makes any place Mad Max has been seem like Club Med, patrons of a club where Goth-meets-grunge in the Ninth Circle of Hell, are entertained by the chemically-fueled gyrations of briefly reanimated corpses as the main spectator sport. In the midst of this unholy mess is the story of a sweet, innocent young thang who meets a bad biker boy, (the monumentally talented Tucker), in a 'Romeo-and-Juliet'-esque tale with a very dark twist, which puts a whole new spin on the concept of 'family values'. As the MC of the "Dead Can Dance" dive which is the story's central focus, Englund gets the tour-de-force performance, natch, doing what he does best. In this case, he might even be a little more unsettling than the alter-ego he's best known for, Freddy Krueger. Filmed in a jittery, dreamlike style that merges experimental art film with rapid-fire MTV editing, (think E. Elias Merhige meets the Brothers Quay), it's a whole different style for the CHAINSAW MASSACRE director. For me, this had a better, more "Twilight Zone"-ish ending than INCIDENT, so some may find it more accessible, if not as grounded in realism as Hooper's earlier work. This gets **1/2 out of four.
JENIFER. Directed by Dario Argento (SUSPIRIA); written by Steven Weber, based on the original graphic story by Bruce Jones and Berni Wrightson; starring Steven Weber, Beau Starr and introducing Carrie Anne Fleming as JENIFER. The master of Italian gialli, Dario Argento, works his macabre magic with almost surgical skill with this one, bringing to life a tale so twisted that it sears itself into your memory with the same intensity as the original story upon which it's based. Writer/actor Steven Weber, (so good in Mick Garris' reworked version of THE SHINING) stars as world-weary cop Frank Spivey, whose life and sanity are destroyed by a fateful encounter with a young girl. Frank interrupts what appears to be a murder-in-progress: a crazed maniac wielding a meat cleaver over a bound, helplessly cowering figure. But even after Frank fatally shoots the man and frees the girl, all is not what it seems. Frank has just met "Jenifer," which is the only word the dying man can utter with his last breath. Jenifer is a mute, graced with a body that would shame the Venus de Milo. But the problem with her speech is horrifyingly clear, as the poor girl also has a unnaturally deformed face that would stop a clock...especially if that clock is BIG BEN. Confused by his simultaneous feelings of repulsion and sympathy, Frank takes the girl into his house, once he discovers that she is homeless. But at the core of his compassion, which his wife and son understandably don't share at all, is something compelling, disturbing and powerful that he can't deny, explain or resist...He has fallen under Jenifer's insidious spell, and as she systematically destroys his will, his sanity and finally his life, he discovers that she is one siren/succubus whose appetite for the flesh is not limited merely to rounds of mind-blowing sex, in horrifically erotic sequences that will make you cringe and yet leave you unable to avert your eyes at what's on-screen...Weber does some of his best acting ever as Frank makes the constantly shifting transitions from sympathy, to lust, to revulsion, to self-loathing, to outrage and back again. *** out of 4. (To Be Continued.)
I can only base my reviews on the installments I have seen, so here's my take on each one, not necessarily in order of broadcast:
INCIDENT ON AND OFF A MOUNTAIN ROAD. Directed by Don Coscarelli (PHANTASM); written by Coscarelli and Stephen Romano, based on the story by Joe Lansdale; starring Bree Turner, Ethan Embry, Angus Scrimm and John de Santis as 'Moonface.' Given that it has an interesting premise, (victim of spousal abuse by a psycho-survivalist matches wits with a deranged serial killer), I've heard that this wasn't one of Joe's best, and with the hit-and-miss style in which Coscarelli seems to have shot it, I would tend to agree. It's good to see the likable Embry playing an absolute bastard, and Ms. Turner is great in the classic Marilyn Burns-style heroine role. Yet much like the hit TV series LOST, the flashbacks (between the two of them) are much more engaging than the main focus of the story, which is all about Turner's struggle to survive in the killer's lair. And as fun as it is to see Angus Scrimm reunited with his old PHANTASM buddy, his presence is criminally wasted here. Good action sequences (no surprise there) and helped by Coscarelli's strong visual sense, but it's mostly worth ** out of four stars.
DANCE OF THE DEAD. Directed by Tobe Hooper ('SALEM'S LOT); written by Richard Christian Matheson, based on Richard Matheson's short story; starring Jonathan Tucker and Robert Englund as the MC. Tobe does what he's best at: innocence lost meets evil and depravity incarnate and triumphs...or makes said moral and spiritual compromise in order TO triumph. In a post-apocalyptic, plague-ridden world that makes any place Mad Max has been seem like Club Med, patrons of a club where Goth-meets-grunge in the Ninth Circle of Hell, are entertained by the chemically-fueled gyrations of briefly reanimated corpses as the main spectator sport. In the midst of this unholy mess is the story of a sweet, innocent young thang who meets a bad biker boy, (the monumentally talented Tucker), in a 'Romeo-and-Juliet'-esque tale with a very dark twist, which puts a whole new spin on the concept of 'family values'. As the MC of the "Dead Can Dance" dive which is the story's central focus, Englund gets the tour-de-force performance, natch, doing what he does best. In this case, he might even be a little more unsettling than the alter-ego he's best known for, Freddy Krueger. Filmed in a jittery, dreamlike style that merges experimental art film with rapid-fire MTV editing, (think E. Elias Merhige meets the Brothers Quay), it's a whole different style for the CHAINSAW MASSACRE director. For me, this had a better, more "Twilight Zone"-ish ending than INCIDENT, so some may find it more accessible, if not as grounded in realism as Hooper's earlier work. This gets **1/2 out of four.
JENIFER. Directed by Dario Argento (SUSPIRIA); written by Steven Weber, based on the original graphic story by Bruce Jones and Berni Wrightson; starring Steven Weber, Beau Starr and introducing Carrie Anne Fleming as JENIFER. The master of Italian gialli, Dario Argento, works his macabre magic with almost surgical skill with this one, bringing to life a tale so twisted that it sears itself into your memory with the same intensity as the original story upon which it's based. Writer/actor Steven Weber, (so good in Mick Garris' reworked version of THE SHINING) stars as world-weary cop Frank Spivey, whose life and sanity are destroyed by a fateful encounter with a young girl. Frank interrupts what appears to be a murder-in-progress: a crazed maniac wielding a meat cleaver over a bound, helplessly cowering figure. But even after Frank fatally shoots the man and frees the girl, all is not what it seems. Frank has just met "Jenifer," which is the only word the dying man can utter with his last breath. Jenifer is a mute, graced with a body that would shame the Venus de Milo. But the problem with her speech is horrifyingly clear, as the poor girl also has a unnaturally deformed face that would stop a clock...especially if that clock is BIG BEN. Confused by his simultaneous feelings of repulsion and sympathy, Frank takes the girl into his house, once he discovers that she is homeless. But at the core of his compassion, which his wife and son understandably don't share at all, is something compelling, disturbing and powerful that he can't deny, explain or resist...He has fallen under Jenifer's insidious spell, and as she systematically destroys his will, his sanity and finally his life, he discovers that she is one siren/succubus whose appetite for the flesh is not limited merely to rounds of mind-blowing sex, in horrifically erotic sequences that will make you cringe and yet leave you unable to avert your eyes at what's on-screen...Weber does some of his best acting ever as Frank makes the constantly shifting transitions from sympathy, to lust, to revulsion, to self-loathing, to outrage and back again. *** out of 4. (To Be Continued.)