Masters of Horror Season 2 Collectible Skull
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Showtime's Masters of Horror is no more, but it lives on as a ghost of itself on NBC's currently-running weekly series, Fear Itself. But fear not! You can relive the first-run terror on DVD, as seen through the black orbs of a sculpted skull.
The bony boxed-set, released by Anchor Bay / Starz, is so compact it's hard to believe at first that so many discs can all fit inside, but they do, quite neatly. It's an interesting idea, and the decorative packaging will fit nicely atop most DVD shelving innovations, whether they stack up in a line or revolve horizontally.
The 13 Masters of Horror Season Two episodes, are presented alphabetically, by director:
- Brad Anderson's Sounds Like
- Dario Argento's Pelts
- John Carpenter's Pro-Life
- Joe Dante’s The Screwfly Solution
- Ernest Dickerson’s The V Word
- Mick Garris's Valerie on the Stairs
- Stuart Gordon's The Black Cat
- Tobe Hooper's The Damned Thing
- Tom Holland's We All Scream for Ice Cream
- John Landis's Family
- Peter Medak's The Washingtonians
- Rob Schmidt's Right to Die
- Norio Tsuruta's Dream Cruise
My favorite? It's Pelts. PeTA should be pleased with the underlying message, as Pelts is the cautionary tale of a fur coat that begins on the backs of its original owners, a family of magical raccoons, and ends in the despair and death of those who dared to covet their fantastic fur.
For it:
- A close return to director's Dario Argento's signature style
- A great anti-fur storyline, showing adorable real raccoons (but not in the violent scenes)
- Good acting by Meat Loaf Aday
- Excellent special effects by KNB
- Superb, evocative score by Claudio Spinetti goes hand-in-glove with Attila Szalay's lush cinematography
Against it:
- It's grand guignol, but mostly without the teasing suspense
- Lacks character development
- I liked it, but some viewers may not warm to the black humor
- Uneven acting by the female lead
As I watched this episode, I took a ton of notes and thought about how I'd praise the actors and the story without giving away too much… but I decided that's really too fine a line to walk. The less you know, the better.
Pelts was definitely my favorite episode of Season Two, and ranks pretty high on my entire Masters of Horror list. Admirers of Argento, wearers of wool, and grand guignol geeks unite!
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson