| Masters of Horror – Family |
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Average Rating: 0 (0 ratings) |
John Landis' Deer Woman from the first season of Masters of Horror had a real quirkiness to it that made it stand out. That's not to say that it was great, but it had a real uniqueness that made it different. Of course, this is fairly normal trait of Landis' horror works, which unfortunately doesn't include many titles. Landis is far better known for his comedies (Animal House, Blues Brothers, Three Amigos, etc.) than his horror works, which basically consist of An American Werewolf in London and Innocent Blood. That is, unless you also count his entry in Twilight Zone: The Movie and the Michael Jackson video Thriller. Both of the above films feature touches of Landis' humor as well and I think it is fair to label them both horror comedies. Despite his small resume in horror, anyone that wrote and directed An American Werewolf in London is more than welcome to be on Masters of Horror in my opinion.
Family had that same quirkiness as last year's Deer Woman. It had a real oddball sense of humor to it that could be rather playful and dark at the same time. However, I think the show would have been a better fit for a thirty-minute episode than an hour, since it started to drag a little about three-fourths the way through it. George Wendt did a decent job with his role, but his character started to feel more and more one-dimensional as the show went on. I'm not sure if Matt Keeslar was trying to play his role somewhat deadpan, but he came across as fairly robotic and a little lacking in the acting department.
I got a kick out of the few subtle kidney shots thrown by Landis early on by having the killer listening to Christian music with a framed photograph of Vice President Dick Cheney up on the wall, but his feistiness seemed to end there.
There is an interesting comparison to make about this episode and the series Dexter, but it requires some spoilers from both shows.
**Spoilers**
The twist at the end of the film redeemed it some in long run, but it was also a bit spoiled by similar sequences on Dexter. Actually, since most episodes of Dexter include a similar scene, I'll just use the first episode's sequence. Both shows featured scenes that had a killer being confined and forced to face what he had done before his own demise. In Dexter, the show dropped its dark humor and went to some extreme, shocking lengths. Dexter had dug up the children the killer had murdered and laid them out for the killer to see, while screaming, "Look at what you did!" In Family, the same scene focuses a little too much on supplying the shock of the tables being turned and seems impassive to the end result. I only note this because of the similarities and the fact that the Dexter scene actually shook me up a bit; while the scene in Family made me think the Crypt Keeper was about to come on and drop a one-liner.
**End Spoilers**
Like Deer Woman, Family was one of those episodes that I wanted to like, but I just never quite got there. From my standpoint, Masters of Horror is zero for two so far this season. However, with episodes by John Carpenter, Brad Anderson and Dario Argento coming up soon, I'm holding out hope.
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November 11, 2006, 12:55 am |
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