Pro-Life

John Carpenter doesn't quite reach the comeback high he got last year with Cigarette Burns, the first in his entries in the Masters of Horror series. But it's definitely a showcase for him to display his storytelling panache on a typically grisly and hell-bound tale. He gets to also mix a few elements from past pictures with something that almost borders on being formula for some horror directors following Rosemary's Baby. The story starts out with the kind of weird, religious ambiguity of They Live, as we're thrust into a story that has implications that really are, at least at the start, beyond our thinking. But then we enter in Assault on Precinct 13 mode, as the 'good guys' (err, the doctors who just want to keep Angelique, played by Cailtin Wachs) away from her crazed, God-abiding father Dwayne (Ron Perelman, always a pleasure to see in a role as un-relenting grim and hard-edged as this), which then turns into a gun-blazing blood-bath. And finally, we get the element of the Thing, which, of course, is a 'thing' that baffles everyone, except for the audience.

I'm sure that even if I didn't know the basic premise of Pro-Life, I would've figured it out anyway after the first five, ten minutes. Part of the opening ambiguity is a little random- that Angelique happens to be picked up after running through the woods by doctors working at a women's medical clinic- but from there on it is pretty thrilling work done, and pretty graphic. The make-up and special effects from Gregoy Nicotero's team, per usual, are top-notch, and being on the 'anything-goes-type' of cable channel doesn't hurt either. If anything it also provides Carpenter- via his writers- to have one of the most cringe-worthy scenes Carpenter's ever done, which is Perelman's own 'abortion' on a certain doctor as penance for something that happened to one of his kids. Some of this, too, is quite funny, mostly with the demon baby and the circumstances around it (i.e. when Angelique's water breaks, it ain't exactly water), plus the baby itself. Whether it's meant to be funny or not I can't say, but there's no mistaking that underneath some of this terrifying and harsh subject matter, is Carpenter making his own satirical jab at the abortion issue (and what side he really takes could be anyone's call, though the reverse of the title is what I'm leaning towards).

Unlike Cigarette Burns though, Pro-Life is not without its liabilities- some major ones in fact. One of those is Cody Carpenter's musical score, which in spots isn't bad but in its repetitive mode (over half an hour of a rhythmic beat that only stops at a certain point), and it detracts at time from the total potential of the true excitement; his father has proved to be much better at maintaining this kind of score for the material. And the ending, while not a total disaster, is very strange to me, and had me with a look on my face like 'uh, OK'. I suppose it ends up fitting into a kind of twisted catharsis for Angelique's situation, but even for the amount of disbelief needed it's a big leap to take. But all this aside, I was very glad I got to see one of the masters of modern horror having his fun with the material, and giving some good screen time for such Perelman, who it could be argued gets to steal his scenes however in such a style that works for the demented, voice-guided character.

Awful, uninventive, with b-movie special effects and even worse story.

Cigarette Burns was far superior, it had tension and atmosphere. this was just gore for the sake of gore held together by a lame unoriginal story, with awful special effects.

Season 2 of Masters has been very disappointing this time around, and Horrors are getting worse and worse.

I'm a big fan of John Carpenter which is why I was let down so Badly, there's many many more better stories out there.

If your a Carpenter fan, watch it purely so u can say you've seen it, but if your not, it's not worth the hour it takes to sit through it.

I'm surprised this episode is so devisive on the reviews, but then again Abortion has always been a hot-topic issue. I wish people would watch each episode on its own instead of focusing solely on who directed it and if it "lives up to" their prior movies. Yes this was made my John Carpernter, and yes you can pull out similarities to some of his other movies. But this episode should be viewed on its own, not as tribute or omage to his films.

That out of the way, I LOVED this episode. Given the very recent overturning of Roe V. Wade and the insuing fallout, this episode packs a lot of relevancy to today's America. It does a great job of showing the extreme of the pro-lifers. Ron Perlman does a fantastic job as the die-hard Bible-Beating Christian father who is devoutly against abortion. He comes off as both a protective daddy who won't let anyone touch his baby girl, but also fanaticle to the point his beliefs make him a danger to everyone around him. The entire time he claims to care about his daughter, yet clearly only cares about preserving the fetus inside her, something pro-lifers say all the time. They claim to care about the pregnant women, but really only want to ensure the fetus makes it to term even if the mom dies in labor or flat out doesn't want the pregnancy.

The episode also does a great job of juxtaposition. The father is obsessed with preserving life, yet has no qualms over murdering the abortion clinic staff. This too is something we often see in the pro-life side, as they obsess over preserving the life of the fetus, yet will attack abortion clinincs and staff, with today some conservatives calling for the death penalty for abortion doctors or women that seek an abortion. The father also claims he is doing this for his daughter to save her, yet it becomes more and more clear he's only concerned with esuring that the fetus is born and even is accepeting of the idea that his his daughter may die during labor as long as the fetus survives. Then the father feels he is doing his god's work by protecting the fetus, even though it is established early on that his daughter was raped by a demon and is bearing the AntiChrist. Would god really want that fetus to come to term?

The effects are great becuase they are practical. Watching the daughter's pregnant belly rapidly grow looks real enough, as opposed today where cheap CGI would be used making it look cartoonish or even comical. The fetus that eventually comes out is horrifying, truly worhty of being called a demonic spawn.

However as other's have pointed out, there are some flaws in the script. The Father claims he wants to enter quietly without bloodshed, and has his son scale the property fence to sneak in, only to just start shooting everyone shortly after. Then when they get inside, instead of rescuing his daughter, the father and sons take everyone hostage and start killing/torturing the abortion staff. So the script does get a little side tracked in its effort to buy time for the daughter. There is also some silly/cringe dialogue that also detracts from the story a bit. Most notably, one of the abortion nurses says it's shameful when a different dad (random side family gets trapped during Perlman's assualt) raises his hand to his "pregant daughter." That made me laugh hearing that from the nurse who was 5 minutes away terminating said daughter's pregnancy. Would the nurse no longer think it shameful once she completed the abortion lol?

Becuase of these small factors, I'm giving this 8/10 instead of a perfect score, but man did I love this episode.

John Carpenter's Pro-Life is a film that will draw out plenty of conversation among fans and non fans alike. The subject matter is abortion and the right to life. In it, a 15 year old girl finds herself raped and impregnated by a demon. One week later she is ready to give birth and so she heads to an abortion clinic to have the pregnancy terminated before the demon child can be born. Once inside ,however, matters get complicated as her father and brothers storm the clinic in an attempt to not let her go through with the abortion. The father believes he hears the voice of god telling him that the baby must live. Pro-Life is a nasty little thriller that borrows from Carpenter's remake of The Thing. While the demon baby is a bit rubbery for my liking, the full fledged demon suit is very nice. There's also some extremely effective gunshot wounds that are among the best I've ever seen. All in all a thought provoking and excellent episode. A welcome return to form along with Sounds Like after the dismal Family and V Word.

Look I went into this with low expectations given things I've read within the internet community ... but I'll be damned if this isn't one of the more fun and MOH episodes. It is however the type you have to make sacrifices for. You have to switch of your logic and be willing to overlook some plot holes and cover your ears for the occasionally poorly delivered line- but man, this is definitely a Carpenter film. It has his trademarks all over it, more so than Cigarette Burns. This has the look, the sound, the gloss and grime of a carpenter movie. I love it because it has all the basic elements of other films of his and is basically an awkward cut and paste best of assembler, but what the hey! its a ball. It is funny, with a nice score (although I can understand why some may have issues with it), features some great effects (one of which is genuinely urn-nerving, towards the end- a combination of practical and CGI- trust me, you will know it when you see it) and with some nice acting from 60percent of the cast. Perlman is great, just as he was in Desperation- with another juicy scenery chewing role.

In terms of expectation, don't go into this with another Cigarette Burns in mind. Think of it this way:

Cigarette Burns = Halloween Pro-Life= The Fog, Prince of Darkness, Village of the Damned

Have some fun, the message is nicely done and is at times quite disturbing, so be warned. A mess, but an entertaining mess at that.