MASTERS OF HORROR SEASON ONE FIRST 3 EPISODES

MASTERS OF HORROR SEASON ONE FIRST 3 EPISODES
By Ken Leicht

It seems like such an obvious idea that I’m surprised nobody came up with it sooner. A new horror anthology staffed by some of the biggest names in the last 30 years of horror cinema. It was probably an easy sell as all the big names would make the network feel safe putting it on the air. And horror is also so deliciously cheap as well. Especially when big names are willing to do it mostly for what seems like the fun of it as opposed to a big payday. Not that many of these directors are having many big paydays lately anyway (No disrespect intended but the sad truth is if the studio had to choose between John Landis and Brett Rattner, you know which way they would go).

When you put all the names together on paper, it looks quite exciting: John Landis, Tobe Hooper, Dario Argento etc. But when you actually look at the episodes…well let’s see shall we…

1.)”Incident On and Off a Mountain Road” – A young woman driving on a dark mountain road has an accident. When she comes to, she finds herself face to face with a white skinned maniac who drags her off to his house of horrors. Unfortunately for the villain, our little heroine is more than prepared for battle.

2.)”Dreams in the Witch House. Dir. Stuart Gordon – A young boarder moves into a creepy house and soon starts having very vivid dreams about a witch. Or are they dreams? Soon he’s getting it on with said witch and having pentagrams carved into his back. But does he flee the scene? NOOOOOO!

3.) Dance of the Dead-Written by Richard Christian Matheson based on a story by his father Richard Matheson. In the near, post-apocalyptic future, a bored young girl working in her mom’s diner is lured away by a young man to the red light district where the entertainment is the Dance of the Dead. Soon the girl discovers how literal that title is and that her mom has a dirty little secret involving it. Directed by Tobe Hooper.

While I liked the premises and was somewhat entertained by the episodes so far, none of them really blew me away. Stylistically they all seem the same. Unless you’d read the credits, the no real way to tell who directed what without really looking closely. Then you see Coscarelli’s visuals, Stuart Gordon’s love for Lovecraft and Tobe Hooper’s politics.

Everything has that boring studio-style shot in Canada look as well…which isn’t fatal but frankly I was expecting more style. I was expecting more…well that says it right there. I was expecting more from “The Masters of Horror.” While it’s kind of fun so far, it has yet to come up with any brilliant entries that really stand out for the ages. I guess if it’s a contest, there’s no winner so far except maybe for KNB who do their usual bang up job on the monster make-up.

I’ll definitely continue to tune in because sooner or later, with all the “masters” here, there’s bound to be a “master”-piece, if you will. It just hasn’t shown up yet.