Masters Of Horror – Season One (2005/Anchor Bay/Starz DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: B- Episodes: C
Pulling
together all the episodes from the very long first season of the overrated Masters Of Horror series, Anchor Bay
has nicely boxed the unlucky 13 episodes in a fancy box (with the DVDs in
paperboard sleeves) and we had previously suffered through most of them, as the
links to most of the episodes below will show.
Nevertheless, the show was popular enough to continue and what few we did
not cover, we’ll offer brief descriptions of:
Chocolate (Mick Garris)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3828/Masters+of+Horror+-+Don+Coscarelli
Cigarette Burns (John Carpenter)
Potentially
amusing tale of projectionist looking for rare film print that can drive
audiences in madness is too self-amused to work, even with Udo Kier’s presence,
stretching out Carpenter’s long dry spell.
Dance Of The Dead (Tobe Hooper)
Post-apocalyptic
setting throws more zombies at us, this time adapted by Richard Christian
Matheson from his father’s Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, Night Stalker)
original story. That should make it one
of the best entries in this set, but Hooper tries to turn it into another hip
Music Video-styled mess and the source material is trashed. So are we the viewers.
Deer Woman (John Landis)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3915/Masters+Of+Horror+-+John+Landis
Dreams In The Witch-House (Stuart Gordon)
Potential
interesting tale from the director of the ever-formidable Re-Animator (reviewed elsewhere on this site) about a young man
haunted by supernatural images when he moves into a classy New England rental,
but we have seen this done better in Brian Clemens’ British series Thriller.
The Fair-Haired Child (William Malone)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4781/Masters+Of+Horror:+The+Fair-Haired
Haeckel’s Tale (James McNaughton)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4641/Masters+Of+Horror+–+Clive+Barker
Homecoming (Joe Dante)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3950/Masters+Of+Horror:+Joe+Dante
Imprint (Takashi Miike)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4767/Imprint+(Masters+of+Horror+-+Takas
Incident On & Off A Mountain
Road (Don
Coscarelli)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3828/Masters+of+Horror+-+Don+Coscarelli
Jenifer (Dario Argento)
An
average at best dark comedy (adapted from a comic book) about the title woman
who is about to be killed by one man, when she is saved by another (Stephen
Webber) until he discovers what is wrong with her to begin with. She goes from seductress to semi-succubus,
while the script just languishes.
Pick Me Up (Larry Cohen)
The most
underrated director on this list, as well as one of the most talented and who
is still having hits, involves two serial killers and a hitchhiker caught in
the middle. With out a doubt, it is the
only episode here worthy of all the hype and is so good in comparison, it feels
like it comes from another series. Fairuza
Balk and Michael Moriarty star.
Sick Girl (Lucky McKee)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3915/Masters+Of+Horror+-+John+Landis
All are
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 images from HD shoots and in most cases,
softer than they should be. Exceptions
are noted in other reviews. The Dolby
Digital 5.1 mixes are usually better than the 2.0 Stereo ones, but some duds
still exist. They all have the same
cloned extras, from commentaries, to featurettes, to interviews and DVD-ROM
features. A Bonus DVD exclusive to this
set adds Garris interviews with John Boorman (for Zardoz) and Steven Spielberg (for Close Encounters) in old archival video footage, DGA Panel
discussion and Masters Of Horror Dinner Discussion, which is more imaginative
than what most of the discs offer here on their own.
If you
want to see the series at its best, we instead recommend The Washingtonians and Sounds
Like… as covered in this review instead:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6088/Masters+Of+Horror
- Nicholas Sheffo
