Masters of Horror: Series 01 (2006)

Masters of Horror: Series 01 (2006) [Complete]

Dirs: Various (See Below) | Episodes: 13 (Total), 55 minutes each, approx.

Mick Garris, filmmaker, friend and critic of horror cinema assembled thirteen of the genre's most celebrated directors together for the first series of Masters of Horror. Each director was given one episode. The results aren't always what you'd probably expect, given each person's previous filmic history, but there's an occasional gem to be found amongst the mostly uneven murkiness.

You can find some very brief thoughts below the cut. The listed order reflects the UK Region 2 DVD editions. The US Region 1 running order is different. The UK versions were split into two parts per series, which is four box sets in total. NA also got a full series box (Vols 01 + 02).

Series 01, Vol 01 begins with 01. Cigarette Burns by Dir. John Carpenter, who's one of my favourite directors and the sole reason I was intrigued by the MoH series to begin with. It's occasionally interesting because it stars Udo Kier, who's usually fun to watch, but mostly it was disappointing and uncharacteristic of the director's work. Music comes courtesy of his son Cody and quite often feels like a modern interpretation of the classic Carpenter + Howarth sound.

02. Dreams in the Witch House. Dir. Stuart Gordon is no stranger to adapting the works of Howard Phillps Lovecraft into film. Dreams is from a Lovecraft short of the same name. I've not read it in a very long time, but I'm certain H.P. didn't have a laptop in his. It tries hard to create tension, but the story is predictable and throwaway. 

03. Incident On and Off a Mountain Road. Dir. Don Coscarelli. The Phantasm director's episode will likely appeal more to 'torture-porn' horror fans than it did to me. It's a well-constructed split narrative that feels like it began life as a Texas Chainsaw clone, but it didn't do anything that long-time fans of the genre won't have seen multiple times before.

04. Chocolate. Dir. Mick Garris. A contribution by the series creator. It too is interesting in how it's presented (it's told in flashback) but it's the weakest of the seven stories. Garris also served as producer on all of the others, so maybe he was too busy to script anything interesting.

05. Sick Girl. Dir. Lucky McKee's piece stars Angela Bettis. It plays around with conventions, and even when drifting into other genres it never loses sight of its goal. It's horror comedy fun from beginning to end, and is by far the best damn episode of the entire first volume.

06. Deer Woman. Dir. John Landis is known for injecting a large dose of black humour into his works, and his MoH entry is no exception. The story is plain ridiculous and goes nowhere but it's funny and the ever-reliable Brian Benben keeps it from becoming too much of a parody.

07. Homecoming. Dir. Joe Dante. It seems as if every horror anthology needs some zombies, sadly, so Dante brings them. It's referential to Romero, naturally, and uses the undead as a vehicle for some kind of socio-political commentary, but it's as dull as flannel undies.

There's a wealth of extras included clocking in at over 21 hours. Alongside the usual making of features, each director except Landis and Dante provide their own commentary track.

Series 01, Vol 02 contains the final six episodes of the first series. It begins with 08. Jenifer by Dir. Dario Argento. Adapted from a ten-page comic book story by Bruce Jones, who started in horror comics before moving to Marvel, etc. It's about attraction, repulsion and the lengths some people will go to in order to sate their obsessions - or escape from them.

09. Dance of the Dead. Dir. Tobe Hooper's offering is adapted from a short story by Richard Matheson, and it stars horror icon Robert Englund. That's sure to be good, right? Nope. The fast editing and 'edgy' in-camera effects rob it of any promise it could've held.

10. Imprint. Dir. Takashi Miike. What the fuck, Miike? It's the Japanese auteur doing what he does best, which is to obliterate the lines of good taste. It contains some genuinely chilling imagery. It's also sadistic and will be deeply disturbing for some viewers. But it loses some credibility for not having the Japanese parts spoken in actual Japanese.

11. Pick Me Up. Dir. Larry Cohen's is adapted from a short story by David Schow. It features a hitch-hiker, a trucker, and a slew of murder victims. Some nice camera movements punctuate the boredom, but mostly it's vapid. I really struggled to make it to the end of this one.

12. Fair Haired Child. Dir. William Malone. An attempt to subvert the 'trapped in a basement' nightmare scenario by adding some reasoning to the whole affair. It could've worked well in written form, but onscreen it's another boring one, aside from an occasional surreal flashback.

13. Haeckel's Tale. Dir. John McNaughton. Adapted from a Clive Barker short, it's, as the name suggests, the tale of a man named Haeckel, whose interests include science and necromancy. It doesn't try to reinvent the genre, but instead finds a different way of presenting it. It would've been great if not for the painfully disappointing ending.

Like the previous box, it's the quality of the extras included — over 16 hours this time — that help Series One: Volume 02 feel better than it actually is.