Torino Film Festival - Wrap Up: Masters of Horror

Last years Torino Film Festival screened six episodes of the first season of the Masters of Horror, creating quite a buzz (especially the Joe Dante and John Carpenter episodes were well received). As told by Mick Garris before the screening, that was one of the main reasons to produce a second season and to have a part of it screened at this years festival. The episodes that were shown, included Landis, Dante, Carpenter, Argento, Anderson and Garris. Let me say just this: if you weren't satisfied with the first season (like myself, only Carpenter, Dante and Miike made memorable efforts) stay away from the new one. I don’t want spoil too much, but here is a short look at the new episodes (the synopsisis are taken from the Masters of Horror Official Website).

Masters of Horror: PELTS (Dario Argento)
SYNOPSIS:
Fur Trader Jake Feldman (MEATLOAF) knows that you can't make a coat without breaking a few animals' necks. In his pursuit to make the perfect fur coat to win over a woman, Feldman steels supernatural raccoon pelts that violently turn against those that covet them. The skin trade gets a whole new twist in this Giallo-style adaption of a F. Paul Wilson's short story. JOHN SAXON also stars.

Dario Argento hasn't done a good movie in over 20 years (the last one being Opera). Jennifer, his episode from the first season was slightly better then his last shitty outputs (anyone Sleepless and The Card Player?), but that's not saying much. The same thing goes for Pelts. Argento, once a first class visual stylist has lost it completley. Pelts is a silly Gorfest (and we're talking here about heavy splatterscenes every five minutes) without any style or tension, but with lots of tits thrown in. Period. The problem is, it's that kind of gore that has nothing disturbing or shocking, but is just there to get the gorehounds cheering and all that naked flesh doesn't help that much either. If that's enough for you, you shoud see it. Besides that, the great John Saxon is always a pleasure to watch. One of the better episodes shown during the festival and that says it all.

Masters of Horror: THE SCREWFLY SOLUTION (Joe Dante)
SYNOPSIS:
Based on the short story by Raccoona Sheldon, a deadly virus infects the nation, transforming men into psychotic killers who attack every woman that crosse stheir paths. A suburban housewife and her teenage daughter embark on a treacherous journey to survive, but how can they protect themselves from an entire gender gone mad? JASON PRIESTLEY and ELLIOT GOULD star.

Without any doubt, this is the best of the six screened episodes, but it's far from great. Like in Homecoming, the basic idea of an apocalypse of a special kind is awesome and the first 30 minutes are really good. But then Dante focuses the story on one single character and throws everything away, transforming The Screwfly Solution in some sort of tv-pilot (think of shows like Invasion), including a pretty lame ending. What a shame, cause the political subtext is intelligent and there are some really funny moments.

Masters of Horror: VALERIE ON THE STAIRS (Mick Garris)
SYNOPSIS:
At a commune for aspiring novelists, Rob Hanisee (Tyron Leitso) discovers that there are fates worse than literary anonymity when he is visited by a strange apparition. Beautiful, naked and covered with supernatural ooze, Valerie might be the muse that Rob always searched for or the manifestation of a much darker force. Blood and death follow Rob across the tenuous line between life and art. CHRISTOPHER Llyod also stars in this adaptation of the Clive Barker's original screen story.

Mick Garris is a nice and friendly guy, who deeply loves horror movies. His only problem is that he can't direct them. I mean, have you ever seen one of his Stephen King based tv movies? If not, don't even think about it, cause they suck big time. After adapting one of his own stories for last years Chocolate, Valerie on the stairs is based on an original Clive Barker Script. Sounds interesting? Not really, cause you have seen the same story about a million times. Garris has no own visual style and absolutely no sense of how using shock moments, timing or anything else. Below average. Look Critters 2 again, instead, at least that was fun.

Masters of Horror: FAMILY (John Landis)
SYNOPSIS:
The Fullers (Meredith Monroe and Mat Keeslar), a young married couple move to a new town and discovers that their neighbor, Harold Thompson (George Wendt), is not what he seems. He putters away at his hobbies; however, his passion is anything but innocent. The Fullers will soon know what evil lurks in the depth of suburban basements.

Like everybody knows, Landis is a funny guy and his episode shows it clearly. The only problem is that the basic idea of Family runs out after 20 minutes. Basically it's a Psycho-like story which centers around a guy (George Wendt, the unforgotten Norm Petersen from Cheers), who from the outside seems a normal and friendly person living in a dream-like middleclass suburb, but turns out to be a psychopathic assassin. As i said, after you get the clue of what is happening, the story loses its grip completely till the final twist, which is nice, but dosen't change the general impression of the episode. Family is good for a laugh or two, but nothing more. Average.

Masters of Horror: PRO-LIFE (John Carpenter)
SYNOPSIS
A near-accident on an isolated mountain road lands young Angelique (CAITLIN WACHS) in a nearby women's health clinic. As her fervently anti-abortion father Dwayne (RON PERLMAN) and his well-armed three sons attempt to 'liberate' Angelique, she discovers that the only thing more dangerous than her would-be saviors is the demonic seed growing within her. MARK FEURSTEIN and EMMANUELLE VAUGIER also star.

Cigarette Burns was (at least for me) one of the few great episodes from the first Masters of Horror Season. For Pro-Life, Carpenter has reunited with the same writers (Drew McWeeney and Scott Swan) and puts out something that resembles a sort of "Best of". Elements and citations from The Thing, Assault on Precinct 13, Prince of Darkness and Christine are nicley integrated in the episode, but what really sucks is the obvious ProAbortion Message. Don't get me wrong, i'm ok with abortion, but when the message comes like this ... oh boy, that hurts. Be prepared for a big, big letdown.

Masters of Horror: Sounds Like (Brad Anderson)
SYNOPSIS:
Quality control supervisor Larry Pearce (CHRIS BAUER) spends his days monitoiring the nuances of his tech support staff's telephone conversations ... listening in his life. However, when grieve over his son's death leads to a supernaturally heightened sense of sound, Larry is forced to take violent action to silence the horrific cacophony in his head. Its 'The Tell-Tale Heart' meets 'The Conversation' in this tale of psychological terror based on Mike O'Driscoll's short story. LAURA MARGOLIS also stars.

Brad Anderson is an interesting filmamker. Speaking for myself, i consider Session 9 a remarkable movie and The Machinist, far from perfect, had some good stuff in it too. Anderson (one of the new additions to the second series) builds his stories usually around characters affected by mental illness and the same thing goes for Sounds Like. Let me say just this: It's exhausting and not in the good way. I was counting the seconds. Terrible.

In conclusion, the episodes were really disappointing. Ok, they are made just for tv, but with those big names involved i expected something more.
The biggest problem of the whole Masters of Horror Series is probably the length of the single episodes. Half an hour, like the good old Tales from the Crypt would be more appropriate.

The Dude abides ...