Masters Of Horror: The Damned Thing/Sounds
Like…/The Washingtonian
(DVD-Video/Anchor Bay)
Picture:
C+/B-/B- Sound: B- Extras: C-/B-/B- Episodes: C-/B-/B-
We have
made no secret of our unhappiness with the cable Horror anthology series Masters Of Horror, but three different
installments now out on DVD show that maybe the pretension and low standards of
package deals finally might be breaking away.
Not that we are optimistic that this will hold, but the three definitely
show what is wrong with the series and what could go well with the right risks,
effort and ambition can produce.
Tobe
Hooper’s The Damned Thing is the
epitome of everything that is wrong with the series, stuck in bad 1980s mode
over-impressed with makeup effects and other gore than has no solid storyline
(id monster comes to life and kills from spirit world and haunts/destroys
family; a tired cliché beyond belief) showing Hooper has not been able to find
anything new to say for decades since his Invaders
From Mars remake. That is
unfortunate, as this wastes Sean Patrick Flanery, the cast and a Richard
Christian Matheson teleplay that could have worked with a different approach.
Brad
Anderson’s Sounds Like… is a solid
entry by the director of The Machinist
and the interesting, too often Session 8,
about a father, husband and supervisor at a software company’s customer service
department (Chris Bauer in an impressive performance) who quality checks hundreds
of phone calls a day. His world is
shattered when his son dies and as a bizarre side effect, he starts to develop
super-hearing, which goes from manageable to a nightmare. It also parallels the increased pain he is
feeling form the loss of the boy he so loved.
Anderson and his teleplay (based on Mike O’Driscoll’s story) is skillfully
handled and is the kind of heart and soul tale this series has been
embarrassingly missing. It is graphic,
yet suspenseful, dark, yet has a payoff that some might actually miss.
Then we
have the great Peter Medak with The
Washingtonians, the best social and political satire in any TV series since
before The X Files sold its fans
down the river by abruptly abandoning their conspiracy web. A good father/husband (Johnathon Schaech)
takes his family to a nice old neighborhood and discovers a rare letter that
just may have been penned by George Washington.
At first, one of the townspeople he (mistakenly, as it turns out) tells
wants it, then he, his wife and emotionally damaged daughter start to become
the target of threats and intimidation, including men on horseback with
powdered wigs and more wackiness.
To say
more would ruin it, but it is by far the best episode two painful seasons have
turned out. The series needs hire more
talented directors not as known to slasher fans if it is going to have any
legacy worth speaking of. Hope we see
more good shows like the later two.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 looks good on all the shows, except Hooper’s
which looks too tampered with, has more motion blur than it should and is just
not too memorably shot. The Dolby
Digital 5.1 and 2.0 mixes on all titles are more lively and similar in
fidelity, something the usually poorer shows have tried to rely on to save
themselves. However, when the shows do
work, the sound can be a plus as two of these demonstrate. Extras on all three include director
commentary tracks (with Medak and Schaech, who co-wrote the show, being the
best), DVD-ROM script reproductions and making of featurettes. Thing
adds a piece about making the monster, Sounds
adds stills & a sound effects piece and Washingtonians adds bloopers and a make-up effects featurette.
- Nicholas Sheffo
