(2007)
Dir - Rob Schmidt
Overall: MEH
The comedic through-line runs rather murky as well as bloody in Right to Die, the only Masters of Horror entry from Rob Schmidt, (Wrong Turn, Crime and Punishment in Suburbia). Focusing around Martin Donovan's softly mumbling, increasingly unlikable protagonist and beginning with a patented "They are going to crash aren't they?" car scene, it quickly presents itself as an EC Comics comeuppance tale. While it is sexy and gory at frequent instances, the story seems more ripe for humor which it does not indulge in nearly enough. A good job is done in making the victim's demises wholly justifiable as Julia Anderson's supernaturally-willed vengeance has its way with them, but for once, a more over the top approach would seem more justifiable. Instead it is just mediocre, only coming close to delivering on its more silly than ominous premise.
(2007)
Dir - Tom Holland
Overall: MEH
The simple "boogeyman out for vengeance" premise in Tom Holland's We All Scream for Ice Cream is a bit too goofy to merit its often straight-faced presentation. Based on John Farris' story You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream, the dialog is full of eyeball rolling groaners, particularly from William Forsythe's typically hammy Buster the clown. For any supernaturally-charged, murderous villain to be formidable, they need to pull off a couple of gooey and violent kills and thankfully this is the case here. While the schlock is appreciated and wholly necessary, the tone is a bit dull and ill-fittingly serious in other areas. The material deserving more ridiculousness than what it brings then, it is only partially successful because of this.
(2007)
Dir - Stuart Gordon
Overall: GOOD
A great number of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations have come and gone in the wake of horror cinema being invented and Stuart Gordon's semi-version of The Black Cat is unique in that it is not an adaptation at all. Instead, it stars a heavily made-up and rather unrecognizable Jeffrey Combs as Poe himself, the film then dipping its toes both into biopic and psychological horror all at once. While Combs' performance is particularly strong, the occasionally confused and monotonous script by Gordon and Dennis Paoli suffers a bit. That said, there are some fun nods to a few of the author's famous works as well as some nice gross-out gore to further compliment things. It gets by enough as a clever homage, a wonderful showcase for Combs, and a nice penultimate entry for Gordon to almost go out on.
(2007)
Dir - Peter Medak
Overall: MEH
Unintentional (and some intentional) goofiness ultimately undermines (or makes better) Peter Medak's The Washingtonians, an adaptation of Bentley Little's short story of the same name. The premise is so absurd that it becomes impossible to make it creepy, try as everyone involved does. Camped-up performances by a horde of cannibals dressed in powdered wigs, white make-up, and Revolutionary War attire dumping expository dialog for the audience's convenience and lines like "Tastes like chicken", "Don't touch them! Eat ME you sons a bitches!", and "They ALL like...virgin...meat" provide both chuckles and eye-ball rolling in equal measures. Things mostly suffer when Medak tries to create more chilling moments as the comedic aspects work far better when heavily leaned into. Pretty ridiculous stuff.
(2007)
Dir - Norio Tsuruta
Overall: MEH
The final episode of Masters of Horror unfortunately ends with a mangled full-length film, Norio Tsuruta's Dream Cruise which was condensed from its initial ninety-minute running to just under an hour for air on Showtime. It seems rushed right from the get-go, diving head on into multiple, rather lame nightmare sequences one after the other. Filmed in Japan with a mostly Japanese cast speaking in English, the heavy accents oddly are not limited to the locals; Canadian-born New Zealand actor Daniel Gillies' inconsistent Bronx slips also become quite comical after awhile. Regardless of the dialect, the performances and dialog are rather poor and with the arbitrary supernatural moments failing to provide much effective atmosphere, it is rather a dud all around.
No comments:
Post a Comment