Masters of Horror

When I saw "Cigarette Burns" it felt as though I was watching a great horror feature film.

This was definitely the best "Masters of Horror" episode. Just when I thought John Carpenter had "lost his eye" for the genre. This one is a classic.

I was totally creep-ed out by this one. The story was very involving and Udo Kier was fantastic as usual.

Thanks to Showtime for keeping this series going. I hope that it continues on with new episodes later this year. They've done a great job in getting the best horror directors and writers for the series.

I find that "Masters of horror" is a good continuation of the style of independent short horror stories that was the trademark of "Tales of the crypt" (among others). They share many similarities, one of which is the very irregular overall quality, with some remarkable episodes that are scary fun to watch many times, and others that are simply embarrassing to watch as episodes of a show that is supposed to bring you the best of horror by many film-makers who earned a reputation in this genre; but still, most have some redeeming quality, be it the irresistible campiness, a good story (though badly developed), or decent acting. There were few episodes which I personally found boring (having said this, I would advise anyone to stay away from "Chocolate").

Some episodes feel a little too long, while others ("Deer woman", remarkably) would have benefited from a good quarter of an hour more of running time. Most have at least some gore, many have varying degrees of dark humor, and there's a good amount of sexy contents, too. What stands out most and links this show to the aforementioned "Tales from the crypt" is that most episodes have this underlying feeling of poetic justice and that the "bad guys" get what they deserve, which is quite refreshing.

Saw Homecoming two weeks ago in Torino (Italy). Mastepiece of political horror, sharp satire, antiwar manifesto and critic to the cynical political engineering of the actual White House. It was the European premiere and Joe Dante got a ten minutes standing ovation. The movie is linked to previous pieces like The Second Civil War and Small Soldiers, and the glance at actual US politics is not optimistic. Still, he has space for witty humor. Shot in Vancouver in only ten days, with a micro budget, excellent actors and Rob Picardo (the best) it is one example of how vision, intelligence and wit can provide more than a mega budget for an empty blockbuster. With committed liberal and brilliant filmmakers like Joe Dante there is still hope.

Okay, so I'm a Lovecraft freak, so what? There's lots of us out there....lurking. Okay, I'll add the Clive Barker episode, too (Haekler's Tale). Well, I personally thought that one was really Lovecraftian, too. Okay, first, Dreams in the Witch House. Not too bad. Pretty typical Stuart Gordon (particularly with changing most of the story). The main character, Ezra Godden seems to be able to hold his own in the acting arena, so I imagine die-hard Combs fans won't die outright. It worked. Since that was such a short story, it all fit into the alloted episode time, without leaving out too much. Overall, it was a pretty good adaption, so all you Lovecraft fans won't be disappointed.

Now, Onto Haekler's Tale. The HPL influence is really strong in some modern writer's material. This is no exception to the rule. The setting was done really well, and the mood, nice and evil.

It's to bad this series was canceled. It was very good for a horror series and there was plenty of good episodes.

It's too bad so many people prefer "Loser TV" (aka reality shows). Get a life, losers! TV is to entertain people, not point and laugh at the misfortune of others. I don't know about the rest of you out there, but I for one and very sick of seeing the EXACT SAME THING with different names clogging up channel after channel.

And, yes, this is relevant. Good shows get canceled, because everyone seems to want 5 different versions of American Idol.

A friend of mine bought vol 1 of season one and I thought: Hmm, maybe this is something like modern Tales From The Crypt or maybe a modern version of Tales From The Darkside so I decided to see one episode, which was Cigarette Burns. Before I borrowed it, my friend said it contained scenes of extreme gore so I thought it would be another ordinary splatter, but I was so wrong. It turned out to be the scariest thing I have ever seen... The violent and gory scenes weren't scary, but the small clips from the movie: "La Fin Absolude de Monde" scared me to death. I can honestly tell you that Cigarette Burns is John Carpenters finest work.