Masters of Horror 2

Season 1

Starz Entertainment

R4 Release

Masters of Horror has proved itself to be one of the more innovative mediums for the exploration of themes centered on the macabre, supernatural and the just plain chilling. It has been a major success on the Show Time Cable TV channel in the United States and continues to bring in a large audience. In Series One it was shown that great directors could work in an hour long format using a moderate budget to exceptional effect. Indeed, it could be argued, that the limits of time and budget provided a catalyst for creativity and innovation. While certainly special effects, violence and gore were still standard fare, as would be expected in any modern horror series, these had to be used with care and precision and hence the series provided some of the best “dark” cinema in some time.

Masters of Horror 2 Season 1 continues with some great tales which will have you on the edge of your seat. As with MOH 1, there is a strong relevance to many of the episodes, exploring current political and social concerns. It seems that as the United States has grown tired of conservative politics and the movement to the right (the same can be said here in Australia), that many directors have begun to explore themes with political, religious and social significance within the horror genre.

The first episode in this six DVD set is Family and is certainly a multi-layered tale. The atmosphere created in the first few minutes of the film as the camera glides through the street and into Harold’s home is that of domestic bliss and safe suburban living at its most banal. It is coupled with gospel music (used throughout the episode) to emphasize the stifling conservative and suburban mood. As the camera focuses in on Harold’s basement you realize all is not as it seems, he is stripping flesh from the bones of an old man! Harold seems strangely normal; friendly, amicable and interested in family and yet he has “replaced” his family with strangers he has picked off the street, killed, stripped off their flesh and turned into skeletons.

Soon a couple move in next door. They seem young and friendly but a little lost. They become friends with Harold after accidently running into his letterbox with their car after a few drinks in a local bar. They invite him to dinner and reflect on the death of their daughter from cancer some time before and discuss the fact that they are “starting again” in this new, family friendly township.

They, however, are not what they seem on the surface either, they too have a strangely dysfunctional family, they cannot move on and have another child until they have caught and punished the killer of their child and the plan they have to do this is brutal.

It seems their child did not die of cancer but was murdered; indeed, she was murdered by Harold and has become the “skeletal” daughter in his family.

As these two “families” collide there are lots of twists and turns and an exploration of the dark underbelly of “family values”. Indeed as David and Celia finally gain their revenge on Harold and celebrate the fact that they can now move on and have a family, you realize they have become what he is and everyone has been poisoned by revenge. Both families are indeed as violent and disturbed as each other. This is certainly a powerful and surprising episode and a great way to open the new series.

The Black Cat is a classic Edgar Allan Poe tale and it is marvelous to see it brought up to date by Stuart Gordon with Jeffrey Coombs superbly playing Poe. The story has been reworked by Gordon to bring in various aspects of Poe’s life and emphasize the thin line between genius and madness. The sparse use of special effects only highlights the violence and emphasizes the psychological nature of the tale and the strength of the plot. There have been many versions of The Black Cat and this is one of the most masterful to date. It is great to see a period piece within the MOH series, Coombs is made up perfectly to look like Poe and the sets really create the mood and environment of the time in which Poe lived superbly. It is certainly a change of pace from episode one but is an enjoyable and intelligent piece of horror cinema.

Dario Argento is considered by many to be “the” Master of Horror, Suspiria is still considered the very best horror film of all time and his various euro crime classics are still best sellers on DVD. I was intrigued to see what he would do in a 55 minute time span and what he produces is nothing short of breath-taking. Pelts certainly rackets up the violence and gore content from the episodes thus far; it is confronting, bloody and visceral. At times it is difficult to keep looking at the screen when people are placing their faces in raccoon traps, sewing their eyes and lips shut and skinning themselves!

The film has the trademark “look” of Argento with superb cinematography and a distinctive use of colour and texture, as well as a superb Claudio Simonetti “Goblin” like soundtrack.

The story is adapted from a F. Paul Wilson short story and is really an anti fur morality tale, though not in a didactic way but in the form of a horror genre tale. Two hicks are looking for the ultimate furs to sell and sneak onto a strange woman’s land to trap what seem to be a unique type of raccoon. The land itself has the ruins of an old temple on it with images of the animals on it; if that isn’t enough warning! At the same time we are introduced to a fur salesman (played admirably by Meatloaf), who is obsessed with attempting to turn a lesbian stripper straight. The juxtaposition throughout the film between the depersonalization of women and the commoditization of animals into fur is a reoccurring motif.

On one level this is a truly over the top horror tale, the pelts are of course cursed and whoever works on them are driven to do to themselves what they have done of the pelts. The results are not pretty to say the least. At the same time this tale have many levels of meaning and Argento is also exploring the way in which our modern society depersonalizes and reduces everything to flesh. The fur trader as a symbol of modern life not only uses animals as commodities but abuses his workers and sees woman as extensions of his own pleasure. Accordingly, Pelts is a fascinating story which is saturated with lust, violence and revenge and offers a highly original Argento Masters of Horror episode.

The Screwfly Solution by Joe Dante is a true cross genre tale which spans the divide between horror, science fiction and psychology. It begins with the discussion of the eradication of the Screwfly by Biologists Alan and Barney (Jason Priestley and Elliott Gould). They have returned from South America where they have saved many lives by devising a genetic solution to the Screwfly problem by modifying its reproduction cycle which causes the males to become confused and aggressive towards the female, resulting in the abandonment of reproduction and the eradication of the species.

Bella (Linda Darlow), a close friend to both of them and an outspoken feminist and specialist health investigator, is called to Jacksonville Florida to investigate an outbreak of mass murder with some 1100 women dead and the number rising. It seems hundreds of men are killing their wives, daughters and even random females in extreme and brutal attacks. A fundamentalist religious cult called Sons of Adam claims responsibility stating that they're carrying out God's will. As Alan and Barney investigate what is occurring they find this is happening across the globe and follows a disease vector and hence the religious fervor is a symptom rather than a cause, but nobody wants to listen. The military are too caught up in their own limited paradigm (driving by male machismo) and hence the disease and violence quickly spreads. Everyone seems to want to blame the perceived enemy (Islamic extremists, cultists, spies etc) instead of trying to understand what is really happening.

This unsettling exploration of religion, sexuality and gender is quite powerful. For many years it has been thought that religious fundamentalism (perhaps even all religion) has a biological basis in sexual suppression. Indeed this theory can be traced right back to the early psychoanalytical theories of Sigmund Freud. Dante creatively takes this further to suggest a bio terrorist agent which distorts the male hormonal pattern to confuse sexuality and aggression and causes men to attack and kill women hence decimating the species. While this science fiction motif is carried through to the climax when we come to understand that a female alien species has engineered the virus to cleanse earth of mankind, much like Alan and Barney did with the Screwfly, it is also used as an allegory to explore gender, sexuality, violence against women, religious fundamentalism and related issues.

This is an audacious production with some confronting and powerful scenes, the “set pieces” will certainly make you sit up and take notice, the image of the priest wandering through the hospital Bible in one hand and scalpel in the other slitting women’s throats is not easily forgotten!

This is a thought provoking and daring episode which offers a superb cross genre horror/science fiction film with lots of subtexts and meanings.

Right to Die offers some fascinating twists on the euthanasia debate. As the film begins it seems to be a fairly straight forward tale of a terrible car accident, a wife left badly burned and a husband’s difficult decision. But this is Masters of Horror, so clearly there is something else in play ! Slowly we come to appreciate the complexity of the situation as we learn of Cliff’s infidelity, Abby’s family money and the fact that her airbag did not work and hence a large compensation may be payable. Many of the characters are not as they seem, Abby’s mother while sounding high minded seems to be simply protecting her family wealth and the lawyer has dollars in his eyes.

As Cliff and Abby’s mother battle it out as to whether she should be kept alive, strange things begin to occur, every time Abby “flat lines” her soul is set free and is able to wreck havoc on the living, especially Cliff. Cliff now realizes he must keep her alive at all costs, since if she dies she will become an avenging spirit, since, as we come to realize near the end, Cliff was the one who burnt her alive.

The twists and turns in the tale are impressive and it is an intriguing plot which plays with our expectations, while others may want to keep Abby alive for religious reasons, Cliff’s anti-euthanasia stance is for his own protection. The climax of the film is notably grisly as he skins the young assistant with whom he had an affair in the vain hope her skin will save Abby’s life, but alas, she has already died and is waiting at home for him - his torment has just begun.

Pro Life is an impressive climax to this season of Masters of Horror. It’s basic premise is that if we accept the Pro-Life argument and the child should be protected at all costs, even if the result of rape, what would happen if a child was fathered by a demon! This may seem like a silly idea to the atheists and secularists among us, but since most pro-lifers are religious in orientation it is a fascinating “thought” experiment to undertake and Carpenter takes it to some amazing extremes.

The presentation of this tale is harrowing, Ron Perlman is terrifying as the religious extremist Dwayne with violence constantly brooding under the surface. When it does erupt it is ferocious and horrifying and destroys his family as well as himself and many others. The scene when he takes revenge on the clinic owner is truly shocking and suggests just how far extremism can take someone and its ramifications on all those who come in contact with it. The family who come into the clinic for an abortion with the domineering and abusive father seems to emphasize that it is not just extremists who abuse their wives and children, but that it can occur in any family.

The strange parallel between Dwayne trying to save his daughter and the demon returning to claim his child is thought provoking and while there is a sense that a distorted form of compassion drives them both the violence and intensity of the tale makes it clear the below the surface of the supposed pro life sentiments are feelings of patriarchy and ownership. While some have seen the final moment of sadness when the demon regains his child’s body as a reluctance to make a final stand on what is a strong political issue. However, I think that if you consider the episode as a whole, it is so intense in its portrayal of religious extremists that Carpenter’s opinions are abundantly clear from early on.

Masters of Horror 2 Season 1 is a superb exploration of “dark cinema”. It crosses genre boundaries and gives us suspense, horror, science fiction, psychological terror and a lot more. Rather than simply allowing “horror” to exist in a world of fantasy, it explores current issues and social concerns with little concern for political correctness, in many ways it is a series which walks where angels fear to tread!

Masters of Horror 2 Season 1 is graphic and intense and uses special effects to its advantage, sure there is a lot of gore and violence but it is in context and not gratuitous. Each MOH episode offers intelligent plots, thought provoking ideas and great scares. Each DVD is also packed with interesting extras to explore.

This is a must have horror series.