my thoughts on.... 'The Masters of Horror' series

i can honestly say that the 'Masters of Horror' series, in theory, sounds good on paper.... however, i've found the execution to be less than stellar.... but i decided to give it another shot and i cleared some time from my movie watching schedule to watch 5 episodes in a row to see if maybe i was just too quick to judge.... or perhaps i just watched the wrong episodes in the series.... either way, i figured i owed the actors and directors i loved a 2nd shot.... i mean this is a popular series.... i must just be missing something, right....?

the premise of the series is to have the premire horror directors of our time direct 1 hour episodes of this show.... basically mini movies that are made for cable television.... so they don't pull any punches.... they have the premire special effects guys and fairly big named actors.... it puts all of the elements together of a good horror film and condenses it into each episode.... some work better than other.... but that's to be expected with any television show.... you can't always have an emmy nominated episode every time.... right....?

below are my individual reviews for each of the episodes i watched....

the first up was 'Family'.... directed by John Landis, director of 'An American Werewolf in London'.... a classic in it's own right.... this is the first time i've seen a Masters of Horror episode that i got wrapped up in the story.... it was actually intriguing.... the characters were well thought out and the story was interesting.... i never would have thought of George Wendt as a serial killer, but he seemed to pull it off quite well.... granted, you have to take a bit of a leap of faith, but that's part of the fun of it all.... and the couple next door play off of him quite well.... as he's quite the creepy guy....

the basic story is that George Wendt is finding members of his "family" to kill and bleach their skeletons so that he has a wife, a child, a grandmother and a grandfather.... in his mind they interact with him and he believes that he's the head of his own little family.... however each member is not related, but rather picked out of a crowd and killed for their potential place in his family unit.... soon neighbors move in next door and and befriend him.... and gradually George becomes enamored with the wife of the neighbor and wants her to be his new wife.... things get interesting from there and i won't give away the ending.... but i would recommend this episode as a 3 out of 5 star installment.... it won't win an emmy, but it's darn fun to watch....

next up was 'Cigarette Burns' directed by John Carpenter the director of 'Halloween'.... and who doesn't find that movie to be a classic in the slasher genre....? this was another example of the Masters of Horror series suprising me.... this movie got my interest from the start.... it stars Norman Reedus and Udo Keir.... they both suit their character types beautifully and they drive the story along at a strong pace.... the movie itself doesn't have a really strong horror element until the end, but it has it's share of blood and guts.... John Carpenter proves again why he's one of our premire horror directors of the last few decades....

the basic story is that Norman Reedus is a theater owner who can get rare films for collectors and owns his own theater.... Udo Keir is a private collector who is in search of a rare film that drives it's audience to kill each other or themselves.... he's made it his lifes work to track the film down and view it.... he's collected as many souveniers as he can from the film.... but with it only ever having one screening ever, it's rare to find anything related to the film.... so he hires Norman to track the film down for him.... and what happens from that point forward needs to be seen to be understood.... needless to say it doesn't disappoint.... i give this another 3 out of 5 stars.... it feels a bit episodic, but it had the potential to be strong enough to carry a full hour and a half of screen time....

being a fan of the movie 'Phantasm' and 'Bubba Ho-Tep', it was a no brainer to watch Don Coscarelli's installment called 'Incident On and Off a Mountain Road'.... there weren't any big names in it other than Angus Scrimm. (the Tall Man from the 'Phantasm' movies).... but that didn't matter.... this little slice of inbred slasher goodness was good besides any big names.... it's suitable creepy and does in one hour what a lot of slashers don't do in a full hour and a half.... this was well worth the time invested in it for what it's worth....

as far as plot goes.... a woman ends up in a mountain area being chased by a killer known as 'Moonface'.... who not only is after her, but is after another woman who's ended up in the same situation.... the only difference is that our heroine is married to a survivalist nut who taught her how to survive in the wilderness and to protect herself from attackers.... the chase is on and eventually it ends up at the killers home where we meet an extremely eccentric Angus Scrimm, who steals the show.... as usual, i won't give away the ending, but it's a solid 3 out of 5 star installment and it should be watched if you're going to take time to enjoy the Masters of Horror series.... next up on the hit parade is a little flick from Mr. Tobe Hooper the director of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'.... it stars a darkly cheesy Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) as a club owner of an odd little club in a postapocilyptic future.... the story itself is not 100% original as far as the dark future is concerned.... but what happens at the club is.... Tobe does a great job creating a solid pace to the movie and something that's very entertaining....

in the near future, the world is a desolate place filled with rampant crime and very little to look forward to.... a young girl meets up with a band of hooligans and ends up on a night on the town with them.... they eventually end up at a club where Robert Englund has a unique sideshow.... the build up is strong until you finally get the payoff in which he introduces the fact that he has the undead as dancers in his show.... they're shocked by a cattle prodder and twitch around the stage to he whoops and hollars of the crowd.... there's a twist to the end that you have to see to understand, but it's a decent storyline that doesn't really let down with the ending.... another 3 out of 5 star review for this movie.... it's not great, but it's worth the effort....
from director Joe Dante 'The Howling' comes an interesting take on the end of the world scenario.... starring Jason Priestly and Elliot Gould we find ourselves in a bizarre new world and a disturbing one on many levels.... it begs the question of how might we end up dying off as the human race.... and after seeing so many end of the world movies, zombie movies, etc.... this has a whole new take on an old theme.... it's very well written and kept me on the edge of my seat.... i do have to complain a bit about the ending.... it was a bit weak and left me feeling a bit cold to the entire entry.... but as a whole the piece was one of the better in the Masters of Horror series so far....

the plot revolves around a disease that's spreading across the male population where it's causing their sex drive and drive to violence to be confused.... so much so that they're killing off the female population in mass numbers.... gradually it comes down to basically the last woman on earth fighting for her life.... but the entire time while they're searching for a cure, before the doctors themselves become infected, we have no idea where it came from or how it started.... was it some kind of biological warfare....? some strand of virus that mutated....? it's just a big mystery....? i don't want to give away the ending, but i have to admit it brought this down to a 3 out of 5 stars because i really felt off about the finale.... it's still a great horror story.... but not one that will hold up well over time....

there is more to come in the Masters of Horror series of reviews, as i am working my way through all of them that are OnDemand on Netflix.... i would encourage you to consider them as bite size horror snacks.... something to pass by a short period of time when you just down have the full amount of time to invest in a movie.... or to get the most bang for your buck in an evening, watching these makes you feel like you've seen 6 movies in the time it would have taken to watch 2 or 3.... i hope you enjoy them.... and don't forget to leave the light on....