trashgang Based on a story of H.P. Lovecraft you know that this isn't going to be a normal entry in the series and indeed it doesn't. Common, a rat with a human face that's not the normal stuff you expect from Masters Of Horrors. But it's so typical Lovecraft that you don't have any trouble seeing the rat's face.I can't really say that this was a straight horror, it's more a supernatural thing. When Walter Gilman (Ezra Godden) rents the cheapest room to finish his final rapport for school he's hearing noises from behind the wall. rats of course because his female neighbour once screamed it out when a rat was running in her kitchen. By closing up the hole they all think things were back to normal but it wasn't. After noticing that his room has some kind of dimensional portal things go wrong and a baby needs to be sacrificed. Guess who's baby that is going to be?This episode needs it from the atmosphere created and not the gore or horror. And it worked out fine. When the witch appears it gives an uneasy feeling because she goes full frontal. A good entry in the series for the lovers of Lovecraft.Gore 1/5 Nudity 1/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

BA_Harrison Reanimator, From Beyond, Castle Freak, Dagon: if there's any director who genuinely strives to do justice to the twisted supernatural work of H.P.Lovecraft, it's Stuart Gordon, whose film adaptations of the great writer's work have displayed considerable skill, visual flair and imagination (if you haven't seen Castle Freak or Dagon yet, you're missing out!). Dreams in The Witch House, Gordon's first Master of Horrors episode, is further proof (as if any was needed) that the man sure knows his stuff when it comes strange alternate dimensions, ancient evil creatures, and general Gothic creepiness.Lovecraft's short story, about an ancient evil witch who crosses space and time to possess grad student Walter Gilman, offers plenty of opportunity for freakiness including an evil rat familiar with a human face, strange dream sequences, gratuitous hot witch sex, a central character descending slowly into madness and even ritualistic infanticide—just the kind of material that Gordon does best. All of this is realised with lashings of atmosphere, a touch of gruesome gore, some unapologetic nastiness, plus a spot of welcome nudity from curvaceous hottie Chelah Horsdal as Gilman's MILF of a neighbour, making Dreams in the Witch House a fabulously frightful way to spend an hour of your time.

RainDogJr The idea of releasing each episode of Masters of Horror as a feature film on DVD is genius for the business but absolutely annoying for us, or at least for me. I have seen only 5 episodes of Season 1 since I usually find something else when I am at the DVD/Music store and I always think something like this: well those Masters of Horror DVDs are always there and maybe this movie wont be there the next time.I recently watched Dagon (2001) and it was my introduction to Stuart Gordon and since I really liked it and I can't find Re-Animator I decided to buy this DVD, the volume 2 of Masters of Horror. Like Dagon and Re-Animator, Dreams in the Witch-House is based upon a story, in this case a short story by H.P. Lovecraft and like Dagon is a pretty good film, in this case a short film.Ezra Godden (also protagonist of Dagon, by the way) is Walter Gilman, a student who rents a room in order to can finish his thesis. There he meets his neighbor Frances Elwood (Chelah Horsdal) and her baby son Danny. In a similar situation of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Walter starts to have bizarre dreams, actually nightmares, about one of the ugliest rats ever which are very lively and like in A Nightmare… when he is awake he has the marks of those nightmares. Of course that is not a coincidence and soon he will realize that he is just the key connection of a ritual that needs the sacrifice of Danny.All the episode is quite good and you will be entertaining during the first part but the climax is way better with the terrific scene of Walter fighting against a witch and a rat to save a baby. But even he really tried, he failed and the conclusion is also great, expected, since who will believe his bloody experiences in order to save Danny, but great and leaves that final detail of how old was that f*cking ritual and the final appearance of that -ugly as f*ck- rat.To end, this was a terrific episode yet not my favourite of the few ones that I have seen but it delivers a fine hour and on a personal level, this was the second positive time with a work of Stuart Gordon. So if you ask me get first the DVD of Carpenter's episode, second the DVD of Miike's episode and later this one.

Woodyanders University student Walter Gilman (an extremely affable portrayal by Ezra Godden) rents a seedy room cheap in a rundown old boarding house. Walter discovers that the gateway to another dimension exists in his room. Walter has frightening visions of ghoulish ratman hybrid Brown Jenkin (a marvelously grotesque Yevgen Voronin) and falls under the sinister spell of evil witch Keziah Mason (a deliciously wicked Susanna Uchatius). Director Stuart Gordon, who also co-wrote the intelligent and engrossing script with longtime collaborator Dennis Paoli (said script is based on an H.P. Lovecraft short story), does his usual aces job with creating and sustaining an eerie and mysterious atmosphere that becomes more increasingly creepy and nightmarish as the story heads toward its positively horrific climax. Better still, Gordon gives the whole grisly affair a dark, brooding, no-holds-barred tough and grimly serious tone that stays true to itself to the literal bitter end. Godden's intense and excellent acting in the lead really holds everything together; he receives fine support from ravishing redhead Chelah Horsdal as nice struggling single mother Frances Elwood, Jay Brazeau as cranky landlord Mr. Dombrowski, and Campbell Lane as the helpful, regretful elderly tenant Masurewicz. Jon Joffin's slick cinematography, Richard Band's exquisitely lush'n'spooky score, and the supremely gruesome make-up f/x are all on the money solid and effective. Well worth a watch.