DVD Review Masters of Horror Season 2

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Masters of Horror Season 2 with Skull Head Box
© Anchor Bay Entertainment

Mania Grade: B+
DVD: Masters of Horror Season 2 Set
Rating: Unrated
Starring: Sean Patrick Flanery, Michael Ironside, Ron Perlman, Meat Loaf, Jason Priestley, Christopher Lloyd, Corbin Bernsen, William Forsythe, Jeffrey Combs, Johnathon Schaech
Written By: Mick Garris (creator)
Directed By: Tobe Hooper, John Landis, Brad Anderson, John Carpenter, Dario Argento, Joe Dante, Mick Garris, Rob Schmidt, Tom Holland, Stuart Gordon, Peter Medak, Norio Tsuruta
Distributor: Anchor Bay Home Entertainment
Original Year of Release: 2008
Extras: Commentaries, Documentaries and Trailers per disc

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DVD Review of Masters of Horror Season 2

By: Robert T. Trate
Review Date: Thursday, August 14, 2008

Masters of Horror Season 2 is an incredible collection of some of the genre’s best directors, writers and actors. Anchor Bay has released this complete collection in a box fitting of the twisted minds inside. The thirteen episodes range from slapstick, to gut wrenching, to some of the most horrifying moments ever captured on film. Make no doubt about it, Masters of Horror always goes right for the throat.

To review a season of stand alone episodes one immediately goes into what is recognizable. Directors such Tobe Hooper and John Carpenter fall into that category. Actors such Ron Perlman and Christopher Lloyd are genre favorites. With that in mind a decision was made to pick one episode by director, one by the writer, pick one blindly from the head (the skull box) and watch one episode that reunites a director and an actor.

“The Damned Thing” directed by Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and starring Sean Patrick Flanery (Boondock Saints) was the blind pick from the skull. Flanery plays Sheriff Kevin Reddle, who as a young boy he witnessed his loving father turn on him and kill his mother with a shot gun. Before Reddle’s father finds him he hears him scream “They found me!” Reddle’s father is then torn in half by some unknown terror. Twenty-four years later Reddle is the town’s sheriff with a wife and son of his own. They have their problems, mostly stemming from Reddle’s over protectiveness and caution, but after what he went through as a child it is understandable.

The episode at the beginning screams of Bill Paxton’s Frailty. Is Flanery’s character crazy or did his father see something that he couldn’t? Reddle begins to piece clues together from previous occurrences that plagued another town. It is only after bizarre suicides begin to happen that Reddle starts to see a pattern. There is one moment approximately eighteen minutes from the beginning that surpasses the horror that Reddle witnessed as a child. It has to be the most horrific moment in the whole box set and one worth seeing to be believed.

Many of Tobe Hooper’s film work flounders in character development and story. Often the compensation for the audience is additional gore. The time constraints of television force Hooper to develop the characters quickly and scare the crap out of the audience in his manner. “The Damned Thing” is worthy of being a part of the Masters of Horror collection and perhaps the best thing Hooper has done in a long time.

“The Black Cat” reunites The Re-Animator’s Stuart Gordon (director) with Jeffery Combs (actor). Combs plays Edgar Allen Poe at a time in Poe’s life when he was struggling. Poetry comes very easily to Poe but it is stories in the vein of a Tell Tale Heart that all the publishers want to buy. Poe’s young wife Virginia (Elyse Levesque) is ill, causing a constant distraction for Poe who is unable to write. Poe begins to take out his frustration on their pets. With each cruel act he begins to find the inspiration he needs. However, each act of cruelty suddenly changes back to the moment before it happened. For Poe the line between reality and fiction is becoming blurred.

This is the best blend of storytelling a horror fan could ask for with Stuart Gordon’s directing Jeffery Comb’s acting and a great gothic figure in the middle. Poe’s grip on reality wavers from time to time so there are horrific moments that he actually does commit. One is never sure when the reality of the episode and the fantasy of it are happening. Gordon keeps the audience guessing up to the final moments. “The Black Cat” is a great episode and a must see for any fan of Poe and his work.

“Valerie on the Stairs” is directed by Mick Garris (The Stand) and is based on an original Clive Barker screen story. It stars Tyron Leitso (Wonderfalls) and character actor extraordinaire Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future). Leitso plays Rob Hanisey, a writer who has just been accepted into the Highburger House, a home for unpublished writers. Hanisey is eager to forget the outside world and concentrate on his writing. All is good and well until Hanisey sees Valerie (Clare Grant). Enamored with her beauty Hanisey reaches out for her but she is pulled away. Hearing her cry for help, Hanisey tries to save her but keeps losing her. Is she real? The boundaries of Hanisey’s world are pushed to the extreme when he discovers that Valerie is the product of other writers’ imaginations.

Since this work is based on a Clive Baker screenplay the ending will be far more horrific than the scares and blood that run rampant at the Highburger House. Leitso is perfect as the do right hero but it is Lloyd that steals the show as a burned out writer. The decision will be made by the audience who the bigger monster is, the monsters in the story or the writers who made their dark thoughts a reality.

John Carpenter’s “Pro-Life” is the director pick of the box set. Carpenter’s early work on Halloween, The Thing, The Fog, and Escape from New York established him as a Master of Horror. As of late, his work on such films as Ghost’s of Mars and John Carpenter’s Vampires have marked a downward spiral for the director.

A young girl (Caitlin Wachs) is in an abortion clinic desperately wanting an abortion of a pregnancy that has come to full term in one week. She tells the doctors that it is a demon’s baby. Her father (Ron Perlman) is a well known advocate for Pro-Life and discovers his daughter is in the clinic. Along with his three sons they go to get her out. Emmanuelle Vaugier and Mark Feuerstein who play a doctor and nurse are hardly on screen when it matters, which is a shame because they are the best actors in the episode. They have several shock and gore moments to scream at but when they are needed (as in bringing the acting level up) they hide in another room.

Perlman is willing to sacrifice his own sons, their future, and their souls to save his daughter and her baby. Perlman, who is usually brilliant on screen, is dull and stereotypical in this performance. After his daughter’s baby is born and it’s father arrives Perlman’s character struggles with how God mislead him. This is not the real struggle that should have happened. Perlman’s character should have struggled with whether to kill the child or not. It would have given his character the dilemma of choosing life or death for this child.

The budget for this episode seemed practically non existent. Understandable for non episodic television, but in relation to other episodes this looked like an “After School Special”. With this being John Carpenter, the man who shot Halloween on a budget of $300,000 one would think the most would be made out of every penny. The new born creature looked as if it was made from a rubber doll and some Alaskan crab legs. Carpenter then reveals the creature that rapped the young girl in what is undoubtedly the worst rubber suit of all time. It is a shame because there were so many places to go with this Pro-Life/ Pro-Choice plot and Carpenter did nothing with it.

The problem with horror is that it is often an uneven bag of tricks. What is scary to some is not to others. The Masters of Horror Season 2 box set is incredible collection of directors, writers and actors worth diving into. The price is reasonable considering most single disc episodes from the show average around fifteen dollars. For the duds like John Carpenter’s “Pro-life” the likes of “The Black Cat” and “The Damned Thing” more than make up for it.

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