Masters Of Horror - Series 1

Customer Reviews:

A darker collection than the first box set.......2008-02-28

Like the first box set this starts off with two good stories, the first one Jenifer is a brilliant piece of work by Italian master Dario Argento based on an old comic story.
Tobe Hooper dircted the second tale "Dance of the Dead" which like Homecoming from the first volume has the dead coming back to life after a war, this time after a biological attack on civilians. It centres on a club where the dead are used to entertain. This episode also has a lot of deliberate quick fire scene changes and flashes that almost make you dizzy as you watch it.
Imprint by Japanese director Takashi Miike was just too disturbing a tale with graphic torture scenes that were a little over the top for my liking so I fast forwarded past them. It is an interesting idea though it just needs toning down a notch or two. Fans of the director may love it but it certainly would not entice me to seek out any of his other movies.
Larry Cohen's "Pick Me Up" is a return to form with suggested torture as Fairuza Balk just gets caught up in a contest between two serial killers, this one has a truly dark, but fitting finale.
Fair Haired Child is another great tale where a couple wanting to bring their dead son back to life kidnap children to bring him back by using witchcraft, it has a nice twist at the end.
The closer Haeckel's Tale, based on a short story by Clive Barker is a reasonable enough tale to end on and is the most erotic oriented episode in this collection, a little reminiscent in parts of Dellamorte Dellamore (Cemetery Man). It's no masterpiece but then again most of the other tales here are overshadowed by Jenifer anyway.
On the whole this is a more solid collection than the first volume, Takashi Miike's tale did spoil it somewhat for me and that is one episode that will not have many repeat viewings, this is purely my personal opinion.
Once again the extras are plentiful with lots of interviews and behind the scenes shorts that offers great value for money.

More solid stuff.......2007-07-05

This is my review of the 2nd box set of Masters of Horror Season 1, which has received a lot of overly harsh (in my opinion) criticism, but which stands up pretty well - especially as a TV series. I wouldn't necessarily call most of it frightening, but it has its moments and is an interesting curio.

JENIFER (Dario Argento)
Another strong piece which ups the gore factor (already high from the first box set). Argento goes as far as he can in the gruesome stakes and breaks a few taboos (murder of children, etc). The story is an odd gem based on a comic book about a murderous cannibal woman with a beautiful body but the face of a monster. The make-up effects here are excellent as is the wordless performance by Carrie Anne Fleming. The supporting cast aren't always so hot (and there are a few clunky lines in the script), but then no more than other episodes. Plus argento isn't directing in his native language, and he cares more about the visuals than anything else. Still, it's one episode that pushes the envelope further than most, and despite being less flamboyant stylistically than many would expect from Argento, there's enough to make you squirm - guys, if you really want to squirm, check out the deleted scenes to see what was edited out!

DANCE OF THE DEAD (Tobe Hooper)
This post-apocalyptic vision of the future sees a nice girl meet a bad boy and fall in love. She wants to see more of the world than her protective mother wishes, but when she accompanies her new beau to underground club The Doom Room, she sees more than she expected... This episode isn't bad, and Hooper tries out some experimental techniques, but the club is yet another "grumpy kids in leather and make-up listening to dodgy metal" scene that Hollywood would have you believe is menacing. Really it looks like they should all be drinking cider and smoking in the bike sheds pouting. Plus Robert Englund camps it up onstage too much as the MC - he's a lot more menacing when he's being less OTT. The background for the story is intriguing (the biological weapon; old folk mugged for their blood), but the blurb in the packaging gives far too much away, so don't read it before you watch the DVD!

HAECKEL'S TALE (John McNaughton)
This is the one clunker of this set. It starts out promisingly, but slowly slides into silly camp. Again it breaks taboos, but it just doesn't gel as a narrative, taking too long to get going. In this historical tale, a doctor wishes to find a way to raise the dead. He discovers a dark side to necromancy when he meets a strange couple living next to a graveyard. I soon got bored with this episode, then annoyed as it got sillier and sillier.

FAIR HEADED CHILD (William Malone)
This was a stand-out for me, and genuinely creepy in places. A girl is kidnapped and thrown into a cellar by a strange couple. Her only companion is a mute boy with a dark secret. She finds creepy hints of her intended fate ("Get away before it wakes up" carved into the wall), and when the monster of this episode does turn up it really is unsettling. A gem.

PICK ME UP (Larry Cohen)
Two serial killers meet on the lonely road, having between them decimated the passengers on a broken-down bus. The hitcher and the lorry driver engage in a duel, the prize being the only survivor, tough girl Fairuza Balk. This jet black comedy is clever and pretty nasty in places, putting the viewer through their paces. It also boasts a killer twist.

IMPRINT (Takashi Miike)
The most talked-about episode, this wasn't even shown on US TV. Easy to see why. Miike is no stranger to controversy, and this elegantly shot tale features scenes of torture more graphic than many horror films. It is also beautiful to look at - though narratively it is all over the place, and Billy Drago's acting began to grate with me after a bit. It is still a startling, daring and challenging piece of film though.

As with the first set, there are plenty of extras and behind-the-scenes featurettes. And the presentation is lavish, with each disc getting its own synopsis and "front cover". Highly recommended for fans of the genre.

Good selection of unusual short horror films.......2007-03-29

There are six short films here, all of which are made for American TV. As television, all six are fairly commendable being as they are quite unusual and origional. The series is like of a horror version of 'the twilight zone' with gore and shares many of the flaws and triumphs of that series. The films are often fairly violent and disturbing as far as mainstream TV goes (imprint has dreadfull scenes of torture). If you are familiar with the work of the directors involved in this project then you may be either pleasantly suprised by the appearance of familiar themes and ideas from previous work or dissapointed by the lack of a more cinematic style. Some of the directors seem to benefit from the constraints of this medium (Argento is kept nicely under control!) while others seemed to me to be more limited by it (Mc Naughton's film is dreadfull, in a bad way). All things considered, if you are a horror fan you really should watch these films.

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