TVSquad

I really, really wish I had time to keep up with my Killer Blog from CyberSpace column over on Cinematical, but lately there's been so much TV to watch that I haven't been able to make time to sit down and brush up on some of my B-Movie faves. If only they were just an hour long, then I'd get my horror flick fix. Well, lucky me when, opening my mailbox last night, there was a preview DVD for tonight's premiere episode of Showtime's Masters of Horror. Don't read on if you'd like to remain unspoiled.

Tonight's episode, titled 'Incident on and off Mountain Road' was directed by Don Coscarelli, who's best known for bringing us the Phantasm movies that scared the bejeezus out of me as a kid. There is a definite Phantasm-like feel to parts of this short, in particular the huge silver-skinned bald guy with metal teeth, Moonface, played by John De Santis (Lurch from The New Aadams Family movie). It seems Coscarelli has a thing for using towering juggernaughts as monsters, and when these guys are who's hunting down smallish girls like Bree Turner's Ellen, you can see why it's effective.

The story starts off with Ellen getting into a car accident on, presumably, Mountain Road, after she nearly hits an abandoned car. She leaves her own car after awakening from being knocked out, and then things go from bad to worse as she unexpectedly meets up with the towering form of Moonface. After some fun scenes of Ellen being chased through the woods by her attacker, and her sometimes getting the upper hand over him, she happens upon his "house". The scenes at Moonface's digs strike resemblances of The Hills Have Eyes, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and even Nothing But Trouble. So yes, the house is a freakshow, though the landscape is quite spectacularly put together.

This episode of the series takes an interesting turn in making you think you know what'll happen next, but things don't at all turn out that way. The only tip off to the viewer is that, once you think the girl will get the upper hand and take down the bad guy, you glance at the clock and see that there's over a half hour left to the movie. Of course, you realize there's no way things are over just yet.

Interspersed within the movie are flashbacks to lessons Ellen learned (or tried to learn) from her boyfriend and then abusive husband Bruce (Ethan Embrey), which work quite effectively in explaining the decisions Ellen makes to get the upper hand on Moonface.

My only criticism of the movie was the gore special effects, which at times seemed rather cheesy. Some hardcore horror fans may also be disappointed at some of the gore that's held back from the viewer, though the sound effects worked well to at least keep me squirming in my seat. These episodes don't play out as cheaply made movies like Tales From the Crypt did, and instead have a more movie-like feel to them that works.

Masters of Horror starts its 13-episode run tonight at 10 P.M. on Showtime, airing every Friday night thereafter. Other directors to be featured include Stewart Gordon (Re-Animator), Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Dario Argento (Suspiria), Mick Garris (The Stand), Joe Dante (The Howling), John Landis (An American Werewolf in London), John Carpenter (Halloween), William Malone (House on Haunted Hill), John McNaughton (Wild Things), Takashi Miike (Audition), Larry Cohen (It's Alive) and Lucky McKee (The Woods). I'm not sure I'd put some of those people in as "masters" of horror, and I'd like to see others listed instead, but I guess I'll have to keep tuning in to see if they still have the chops.

Quote of the episode: "Hell of a night, huh Moonface?"