Some horror directors seem to become associated with a particular writer's work during their careers. Maybe they feel a certain affinity with an author, or understand and admire their work to such a degree that they are compelled to bring it to the screen. Two good examples of this are Stuart Gordon's fascination with the works of H.P. Lovecraft and Mick Garris' various adaptations of Stephen King material.

I'd like to add another pair to that list, if I may: Don Coscarelli and Joe R. Lansdale. Okay, I'll admit that Incident On and Off a Mountain Road is only the second of Coscarelli's Lansdale projects, but he continues to demonstrate a marvelous appreciation of the source material. Here Coscarelli expands and refines the original short story into an excellent 60 minutes of horror. Just as with Bubba Ho-tep, Coscarelli appears to be completely comfortable when adapting Lansdale and the end result is a polished, effective piece of work by any standard.

On paper, Don Coscarelli's offering to the Masters of Horror could sound a little clichéd - A woman crashes her car on a dark night, and is stalked through the woods by a twisted serial killer - but Incident has two significant elements which serve to elevate it beyond tired cliché. The first of these is the slick inter-cutting of present day action with flashback sequences, which depict the heart-warming "girl meets boy, boy turns out to be survivalist, boy trains girl" tale of central character Ellen's marriage. The second is almost certainly the most significant — the serial killer isn't really important.

Which is almost a shame. Moonface (it's never made clear if there's any Enid Blyton connection) is a brilliantly designed antagonist, with just as much iconic potential as Jason or Freddy. Despite what must have been a great temptation, Incident doesn't concern itself with a backstory for Moonface, and resists the urge to turn him into some kind of anti-hero. John DeSantis is (literally) hugely impressive as the character, and performs everything asked of him with a convincing amount of menace.

The first half of the film is essentially one long chase sequence, in which Ellen sets traps for Moonface and tries to evade capture. Inevitably, our pale-faced friend imprisons her in his spooky cabin alongside Buddy, played by Coscarelli stalwart Angus Scrimm. Even though Buddy exists largely as a force of exposition, Scrimm turns in such a wonderfully entertaining performance that he never feels tacked on. The character is so different from his Tall Man persona that, for fans of the Phantasm series, his presence here is worth the price of admission alone.

It's while she's held captive that Ellen (and therefore, of course, the viewer) witnesses the film's most horrific sequence - a gloriously staged feast of optical-horror that will have all but the most battle hardened gore-hounds squirming in discomfort. Fans of Fulci's fascination with the eyes will not be disappointed here as the scene is very reminiscent of his work. Light and sound are both used to great effect to produce what could prove to be one of the series' most memorable sequences. As with many of the most effective horror set pieces - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre's meat hook scene immediately springs to mind - it's often what's left to the viewer's imagination that's most disturbing.

The film's transitions between Ellen's past life and present situation are implemented with superb timing, and reveal an equally compelling story. Bree Turner is rarely off screen, but is always convincing. She moves brilliantly, managing to convincingly portray her character's athleticism and survival skills. And she isn't exactly difficult to look at. Considering her status as a relative unknown, it's impressive that she authoritatively carries the film to its conclusion, and I can't help but think that we'll see more of her.

Ethan Embry plays Ellen's survivalist husband Bruce in a similarly convincing fashion. Despite the character's transition from lovable hubby to something entirely less pleasant, Embry is never wide of the mark. There's an intensity about the performance that, as with Turner, is far more authoritative than you'd expect based on his past work.

Incident's greatest success is it's ability to wrong-foot the viewer, and play with their preconceptions. Throughout, you're never entirely sure where it's going, and the relevance of the flashbacks, Moonface, and Buddy aren't immediately apparent. Coscarelli proves here that he's able to convincingly produce action sequences, and I'd like to see him create more like this. It's always amazed me that he's as (relatively) little known as he is; the recently rumoured big-budget Phantasm revival would likely have made him significantly better known, but this may well have come at the cost of some of his creativity and individuality. Perhaps it's for the better that it's not going to happen then.

Maybe one day we'll see a Coscarelli directed adaptation of the great Lansdale novel The Drive-In? In fact, why haven't we had more Lansdale adaptations in general? Perhaps I should just settle for the upcoming Bubba Nosferatu? Be that as it may, Incident is truly a showcase for the talents of three masters of horror: Joe Lansdale, Angus Scrimm, and Don Coscarelli.

THE DVD