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Post by slayrrr666 on Sept 30, 2006 11:41:36 GMT -5
My view exactly. Not that good, but it's not exactly the worst one on their either. RIght on with my thoughts.
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Post by Fenril on Oct 2, 2006 13:38:36 GMT -5
...They have FINALLY started releasing these in Mexico. And not all episodes just yet, and they are being released in a very random order. Still...
So far I managed to rent the following episodes:
- Cigarrette burns. Carpenter's episode... Okay riff, but it felt like a toned-down version of his own movie "In the mouth of madness" (whick I love), and the only part that actually scared me was
***SPOILER***
The first "cigarrette burn" onscreen, if you have seen the episode you know what I mean
***SPOILER END***
other than that, it felt rather amateurish for so veteran a director. Still, some fun over-the-top gore scenes and a couple neat genre references.
- Sick girl. Lucky Mckee's episode. Very fun (and funny episode), gotta love those quirky but lovable characters and the light-hearted message against homophobia. Sure loved that freaky-ass arachnid (or whatever it was supposed to be), too.
- Jenifer. Dario Argento's... very Argento, but Argento of the latter years (Two evil eyes, Phantom of the opera, Sleepless, etc.), that is by turns stilysh (the fly in the first scene, the first glimpse of Jenifer's eyes, etc) and downright kitsch (the woman fainting after seeing herself in the mirror). The story was beyond predictable, especially the ending, but it remained entertaining throughout. And I love the fact that
***SPOILER***
We never learn anything at all about Jenifer or even if that's her real name.
***SPOILER END***
I'll try to pick up "Imprint", "Deer woman" and "Incident on and off a mountain road" next, since the premise for all of them sounds pretty intriguing. And Deer woman is by John Landis's whose quirky mix of comedy and horror I just love (I'm asuming it's on the same vein as "Sick girl" in that respect).
So far I think it's a fun series. Not really that scary and very silly and over the top, but such a nice guilty indulgence.
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Post by LivingDeadGirl on Oct 3, 2006 16:08:02 GMT -5
- Sick girl. Lucky Mckee's episode. Very fun (and funny episode), I think that's what I didn't enjoy about it...I was laughing more than I was being creeped out. I like a little humor with my horror, but it just didn't balance right for me. And the only thing that creeped me out were the bugs...  And Deer woman is by John Landis's whose quirky mix of comedy and horror I just love (I'm asuming it's on the same vein as "Sick girl" in that respect). In the same vein, but much more well done, IMO. |
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Post by slayrrr666 on Oct 3, 2006 16:22:02 GMT -5
I'd say so, too. Deer Woman is one of the best ones, while I wasn't too impressed with McKee's much.
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Post by Fenril on Oct 3, 2006 20:57:46 GMT -5
Sounds like I'll definitely enjoy "Deer woman", then  . Also looking forward to "Imprint", since Miike is seldom anything less than outrageous. On the other hand, are "Dance of the dead" and "Fair-haired child" worth renting? Because they sure don't sound too good, based on the synopsis in the back of the DVD box. |
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Post by Bartwald on Oct 4, 2006 3:18:30 GMT -5
Dance Of The Dead is the weakest of the bunch - boring, pretentious and not horror at all. Fair-Haired Child is better but still not one of the Most Recommended in the series.
Looking forward to hearing your opinion on Imprint.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Oct 4, 2006 10:07:09 GMT -5
Right on, Bart. The only one worse than Hooper's was Haeckel's Tale, which the above description of boring, pretentious and not horror at all could also apply. Englund is the only reason why I like it more, but why torture yourself with crap when something fun is also availiable.
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Post by Fenril on Oct 6, 2006 23:02:45 GMT -5
Caught two more episodes:
- Deer Woman. John Landis'... Yep, another horror / comedy hybrid, through this one leans much more towards horror --plus, the humor is different. In Sick Girl it's mostly situational humor (such as the people running out of the restaurant), where here it's on a more satirical vein, including those "dream sequences". My sole complaint with this episode is that I felt the ending was a little too abrupt and I would have liked to hear just a bit more of the Deer Woman legend. Still, very good casting and direction. And the woman playing the title character was simply amazing!
- Imprint. Takashi Miike's... WOW. I have to start with this: even through this was produced by an american company and it's spoken in english, it is NOT an American work, its 100% (okay, 98%) Asian.
That is, everything in it follows oriental aesthetics: the rythm of the character's dialogues, the combination of beautiful backgrounds and raw human violence (without even the stilization that European Horror often employs), the perpetual coexistence of the supernatural and the "real", the horribly twisting storyline, the ending completely open to interpretation... everything about "Imprint" is Japanese Horror.
The story is deceptively simple at first and appears to be grounded, like many other MoH episodes, in gory violence (through here we have a long torture scene that would have made the Marquis de Sade proud and that is seriously the most disturbing thing I've seen in this series so far), but just as things appear to be drawing towards a logical conclusion, the viewer is assaulted with a series of plot twists until we can no longer tell what really happened.
...By the end, I guess there could be at least three explanations of what happened:
***MAJOR SPOILERS****
1. The woman with blue hair is yet another of those kami (supernatural beings) that often plague japanese horror tales and that can manipulate their victim's perception of reality. She has taken prey of the reporter and has completely destroyed his sense of reality.
2. The reporter did indeed kill his sister back in USA and now he has killed Komomo. He was insane from the get-go.
3. The reporter is dead from the start and is now trapped in Jigoku, the Budhist version of Hell --Large bodies of water are through to be the gateway to the oriental otherworld, and the episode starts with him and other "lost souls" crossing a lake infested with petrified corpses...
***SPOILER END****
...Or maybe none of them are entirely correct.
This, frankly, is what I admire most about Oriental fiction in general, that unlike most of its occidental counterparts, rarely offers clear-cut conclusions, and the viewers must always figure things out for themselves.
In sort, Great episode, I was pleasantly surprised by it.
So, which episodes shoud I see next?
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Post by Bartwald on Oct 7, 2006 12:10:21 GMT -5
Watch Larry Cohen's and Don Coscarelli's - good stuff!
About Imprint: I also liked its atmosphere, unpredictability and shock factor; but by the end I felt that there's actually TOO MUCH of everything here. As for the interpretations - yeah, I also thought about #1 and #2 as equally possible.
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Post by Fenril on Oct 13, 2006 20:39:29 GMT -5
Watch Larry Cohen's and Don Coscarelli's - good stuff! Sadly, "Incident" was rented out. I was going to pick out "Homecoming", but my friend who went renting with he insisted that we pick "Chocolate" instead. Turns out she's actually a fan of Mick Garris (or, more accurately, a fan of "The stand"), if you can believe it. So we ended watching: - Chocolate. Okay thriller, with a pretty original concept as the driving plot device. Not that scary and the ending I felt needed more punch, but overall it was okay. ... I certainly enjoyed it a lot more than "Sleepwalkers"... BTW, even through it's on the opening credits I hadn't noticed that Garris is actually the creator of this show as well as one of the main producers, which I guess explains why he's on the group. - Pick me up. Larry Cohen's... I'm kind of thorn up about this one. On one hand, it's very intriguing most of the way and it has some excellent dialogue and character interactions, not to mention one seriously creative use of a dead snake. On the other hand, this managed to be at once predictable and unbelieavable, especially the ending. About Imprint: I also liked its atmosphere, unpredictability and shock factor; but by the end I felt that there's actually TOO MUCH of everything here. True, but you have to admit that getting so much of it all in just one hour is pretty impressive. |
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Post by LivingDeadGirl on Oct 18, 2006 19:44:12 GMT -5
Just finished watching Homecoming. I liked this one, not too much outright horror, but gives you something to think about.
1. Coscarelli
2. Landis
3. Garris
4. Dante
5. Gordon
6. Carpenter
7. McKee
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Post by Bartwald on Oct 20, 2006 14:25:24 GMT -5
Right on, Bart. The only one worse than Hooper's was Haeckel's Tale, which the above description of boring, pretentious and not horror at all could also apply. Englund is the only reason why I like it more, but why torture yourself with crap when something fun is also availiable. Looks like we almost agree. These are definitely the two worst episodes of Season 1 - it's just that I slightly prefer Haeckel's Tale over Dance, as it sports better horror atmosphere (though it is still NOT scary at all). Having watched Haeckel's Tale, here's my final rating of MoH Season 1: 1. Argento - 9/10 2. Coscarelli - 8/10 3. Carpenter - 7/10 4. McKee - 7/10 5. Cohen - 7/10 6. Landis - 7/10 7. Gordon - 7/10 8. Malone - 6/10 9. Miike - 5/10 10. Dante - 4/10 11. Garris - 4/10 12. McNaughton - 3/10 13. Hooper - 2/10 |
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Post by Fenril on Nov 3, 2006 16:44:54 GMT -5
Finally watched:
- Fair-haired child. William Malone's episode... okay thriller, much like "Chocolate"... definitive filler episode, but at least it was pretty entertaining troughout, much better than I was expecting from the cover.
- Dance of the dead. Worst of the lot, indeed, further proof that Tobe Hooper's a true hit-and-miss director. The very best scenes (the children's party and the corpse giving head) are more bizarre than scary... In sort, everything Bart said about it: slow, boring, (very, very) pretentious and not horror at all.
- Homecoming. Joe Dante, through I swear it was directed by Michael Moore --that is, it's very funny and thought-provoking, but it's also very silly and pretentious at times. Even so, this was one of my favorite episodes, as the dark humor was spot-on, and the premise is pretty clever to say the least.
- Incident on and off a mountain road. Don Coscarelli's episode. Pretty good, fast-paced and with a nice soundtrack. Like "Pick me up" it's very hard to believe at times, but remains entertaining throughout. I think I liked the flashbacks much better than the "present" storyline --the husband was a far more complex and interesting character than the "moonface" killer.
Overall I thought it was an okay series, through nowhere as good as some critics (mainly, the Fangoria magazine) make it out to be. Most episodes are gorier (or just plain more graphic) than scarier, thus fun to watch but easy to forget, IMHO.
I usually prefer moody, atmospheric horror tales, but in this one my favorite episodes were the funnier ones (Sick girl, Deer woman, Homecoming), then the most outlandish (Imprint, Jenifer), then all the others in various degrees of quality (from Cigarrette burns to Chocolate, best to worst) and finally Dance of the Dead, so pathetic it's in a cathegory all its own.
I still haven't seen "Dreams in the witch-house" and "Haeckel's tale", but I guess those can wait...
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Post by Bartwald on Nov 3, 2006 16:49:23 GMT -5
Dreams In The Witch-House is actually pretty good. Haeckel can definitely wait, though. - Homecoming. Joe Dante, through I swear it was directed by Michael Moore... Ha, ha - what I thought, too! And I'm glad we agree on the quality of Dance Of The Dead. |
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Post by Phoenix on Nov 3, 2006 18:56:01 GMT -5
I just watched my first Masters of Horror episode. I've been reading and keeping up with most of the thread, so I saw Incident On & Off A Mountain Road (Cosarelli).
Good stuff! Don't mess with a tough woman was the theme.
Next up, John Carpenter's, then Landis (via Netflix).
It is very annoying they split these DVDs up! I'd rather just kind of veg out and watch several episodes at once.
I love how you guys rank them though.
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