Dreams in the Witch-House
It's really great to see Stuart Gordon return to working with Lovecraft in this fairly liberal adaptation of the classic short story. The episode is strong on surrealism and sheer evil craziness, but it could be more faithful to the original story, which relied more on nameless dread than freakish villains. Gordon's reliance on the 'freakshow factor' detracts from the stronger supernatural underpinnings of the story. It's still well worth watching, but it's more Gordon than it is Lovecraft. It also features some excellent music by the incredibly underrated Richard Band. 8/10.
Dance of the Dead
This is somewhat predictable, but very well written and acted generic Richard Matheson post-apocalyptic horror. It's Omega Man goes clubbing under the direction of Tobe Hooper of Texas Chainsaw Massacre fame. Hooper has done much more interesting work, but he proves that he's still a director who can pace action extremely well. Matheson's original story has been adapted for the screen by his son Richard Christian Matheson, whose been responsible for writing some really weak TV scripts, but does a decent job here. The real strength of this episode for me was the acting. Relative unknowns take seriously one-dimensional roles and manage to make something memorable out of them, especially the main female lead and the guy who convinces her to go to Richard Englund's creepy nightclub are excellent. No names because I can't find a full cast list, but they do a great job, and Englund is always good. 7/10.
Jenifer
This episode is directed by legendary Italian director Dario Argento who is known for the visceral and often extremely gory nature of his films like Opera and Suspiria. This episode doesn't fail to live up to his reputation. Of all of the entries in this series it is the one which I found most disturbing on a truly fundamental level. No spoilers, but the combination of gruesome death and sexual compulsion in what is basically a very simple story is extremely troubling and presented very effectively. Interestingly, the script was written by Steven Weber (Wings, The Shining) who also plays the lead. 9/10.
Chocolate
This is directed by Mick Garris who is best known for directing the TV miniseries of Stephen King's The Stand and several other less successful movies based on King works. He's also also the creator and producer of the Masters of Horror series, for which he deserves some credit. Although this story was written by Garris it comes across just like one of King's less imaginative short stories made into a film. It's another tale of sexual obsession and horror, but not nearly as effective as Argento's effort. Henry Thomas is good in the lead, but it lacks much spark or the kind of unique directorial vision that almost all the other entries in the series really showcase. 6/10.
Article comments
1 - Chris Beaumont
Showtime announced that they will not be airing the Miike episode. It will make its debut on DVD next Fall.
2 - Dave Nalle
Wow, when did they make that announcement? Any idea what they''re going to air instead? Considering the extreme nature of some of the episodes they've already aired I can't imagine that it's just the level of violence.
Dave