Wednesday, January 10, 2007
"Theories In Chaos:
A Second Dose Of Horror"
by
William Blake Vogel III
The first season of MASTERS OF HORROR was a mixed bodybag of greatness and garbage. "Incident On And Off A Mountain Road" by Don Coscarelli (BUBBA HO-TEP, PHANTASM) was visually beautiful as well as a sharp tale of terror. John Landis (AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, INNOCENT BLOOD) executed smartly the twisted, funny, and brilliant "Deer Woman." And "Fair Haired Child" by William Malone (HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, FEARDOTCOM) was equally dark and radiant.
John Carpenter (HALLOWEEN, VAMPIRES, THE FOG, et al.) pulled-off the solid cinematic chiller with "Cigarette Burns." "Pick Me Up" by Larry Cohen (Q) was entertaining, as well as was John McNaughton's twisted adaptation of Clive Barker's "Haeckel's Tale." And Stuart Gordon's adaptation of H.P. ovecraft's "Dreams
In The Witch House" is some of his best work.
Sadly, Joe Dante's over-hyped zombie opus "Homecoming" is a heavy-handed left-wing propaganda piece that lacks depth, besides being boring. Sure, the Left Coast loved it, but only because it played to their biases. This one is as tedious as it pointless.
Again, with more of the slow and the pointless. This can also be said for the episodes directed by Tobe Hooper, Lucky McKee, Dario Argento, and Mick Garris. (Lucky McKee--"lucky" is right, I don't know how he gets to keep putting out this crap.)
January 2007: we're halfway through season two, and it is a bleak return for the Masters Of Horror so far. Tobe Hooper's telling of Ambrose Bierce's "The Damned Thing" was a good start. Mick Garris does better this time around with "Valerie On The Stairs."
Rob Schmidt's "Right To Die" and John Carpenter's "Pro-Life" were both pretty good, regardless of the silly political polemics. "The V Word" by Ernest Dickerson was okay, he's done better. "Pelts" by Dario Argento had its moments, but the whole cursed magical racoon skins thing was lame.
I hate to pick-on Joe Dante, I'm sorry, but "The Screwfly Solution" was just dumb. His early stuff was great, but lately he has just sucked.
Brad Anderson's "Sounds Like" and John Landis' "Family" were less than extraordinary. So far, the best I can say about this season is at least Rob Zombie wasn't involved....
Copyright 2007 A.D.
posted by W.B. Vogel III at 12:37 PM
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