Woodyanders
Shy high school misfit Tara (an excellent and endearing performance by the pretty Lindsay Pulsipher) gets abducted by a sinister couple and locked in the basement of their large remote mansion with strange mute boy Johnny (an impressive pantomime portrayal by Jesse Haddock). Tara learns that resolute cellist Judith (a fine Lori Petty) and her nerdy pianist husband Anton (a splendidly antsy turn by William Samples) made a pact with a powerful demonic force to sacrifice twelve children to a vicious beast in order to bring their dead son back to life. Director William Malone, working from an intriguing and original script by Matt Greenberg, does an expert job of creating and maintaining a supremely eerie and unnerving atmosphere and milks plenty of nerve-rattling tension from the dusty claustrophobic cellar setting. Moreover, Malone puts a welcome and refreshing emphasis on sustaining a spooky and unsettling dark fairytale-style mood throughout while downplaying the gore. Better still, the story even makes a profound and poignant statement on the extremes people are willing to go to in the name of love; while Judith and Anton are undeniably quite ruthless in the lengths they resort to resurrect their son, they still elicit the viewer's sympathy just the same. The acting is uniformly first-rate, with Petty a stand-out in a rare full-blown wicked role. The freaky and grotesque skeletal beast makes for a genuinely scary monster. The surprise twist ending likewise packs a punch. Brian Pearson's stunning cinematography offers a few striking stylistic flourishes which includes an especially inspired use of black and white for several flashback scenes. Nicholas Pike's shuddery score does the shivery trick. A very solid and satisfying entry.
MARIO GAUCI
Frankly, I had left this and SICK GIRL for last from the first "Masters Of Horror" series (though I missed out on Tobe Hooper's DANCE OF THE DEAD) because, not being the work of renowned directors, I did not expect much from them. However, both proved surprisingly rewarding more so, in fact, than some entries by respected (and long-standing) genre exponents! Anyway, while the plot here is not exactly novel a middle-aged couple make a pact with the devil to revive their beloved teenage son, the price being the life of 12 others to be carried out over a period of so many years on the occasion of their son's birthday. The initial sequence, revealing the heroine to be out-of-touch with both peers and family, was perhaps unnecessary, but I can see how it accentuated her subsequent feeling of loneliness and her attachment to the mysterious boy she encounters attempting to commit suicide! in the basement of the remote country-house to which the girl has been abducted. The back-story of the pact (with typically henpecked and doubtful male but a dedicated and ruthless female, given a masculine look to boot by her short-cropped hair) is depicted via a few stylized scenes; the appearance (and movement) of the monster in which the boy transforms in order to fulfill it, then, comes off as appropriately creepy. The overall tone of the episode is quite grim, but it manages to hold one's interest throughout eventually contriving an ironic yet strangely moving denouement.
Claudio Carvalho
The virgin teenager Tara (Lindsey Pulsipher) is outcast in school and neglected by her mother. While riding her bike back home from school, she is drugged, kidnapped and brought to an isolated mansion by the insane pianist Anton (William Samples). His cellist wife Judith (Lori Petty) lures Tara to obtain personal information, and then they lock her in the basement where she meets their son Johnny (Jesse Haddock) trying to commit suicide. Tara discovers that the creepy couple lost their son drowned in a lake twelve years ago, and have made a pact with a demon to bring him back to life. The price would be the sacrifice of twelve teenagers, and Tara is the last one."The Fair Haired Child" is another good episode of "Masters of Horror". The story is original, with a surprising twist in the end and very well acted and directed. Lori Petty is unrecognizable, with a creepy appearance of a deranged woman and the unknown and gorgeous Lindsey Pulsipher recalled me Emilie de Ravin, the Claire Littleton of "Lost". My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Pacto com o Demônio" ("Pact with the Demon")
Poe-17
I love the "Masters of Horror" series and the opportunity it creates for experimental "little movies" for we who love horror and for the directors in question. This series has spawned several complaints about the "Masters" in the title. Maybe they could have chosen a better word for the world's retentive but in a society riddled with hype, I took the "Masters" with a grain of salt. I'd like to see a series of "Unknowns". I like the way different directors bring different nuances (and wild opposites)to the idea of a horror film.Which brings me to "Fair Haired Child". I know IMDb has lifted this one above the 5.0 middle but, you know what ... it didn't work for me. I couldn't get in the saddle. I loathed "Fear.Com" because it wasted an opportunity, I own "House on Haunted Hill" because of ... the house, not the tale. For tale, I also own the original B&W. I don't mean to pound Malone because I genuinely believe something is stirring there and maybe his "Parasomnia" will let it loose. I felt "FHC" tried to insert "art" into the movie. Horror films can go "art" but it is a syncronicity or "aftermath". Do the horror first. Time and audience (not critics)will determine if a horror film made the "art" level. It's a wobbly distinction at best. Trying to force it into a film is nearly a warranty that it ain't gonna happen. It's an afterward, not a strategy. Unless, of course, you genuinely are a "master" of horror. There aren't many. After riding the clichéd story to the revelation of the FHC, I said aloud "Oh, &*^%" because it was just a tremendous letdown. So, so buildup and way the wrong direction for FHC. All the above with a very pedestrian wrap up ... I wanted to but just couldn't.
AD
