"Masters of Horror" The Damned Thing (2006)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Tobe Hooper

Writers:

Mick Garris (creator)
Richard Christian Matheson (teleplay)

TV Series:

"Masters of Horror" (2005)

Original Air Date:

27 October 2006 (Season 2, Episode 1)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

The Damned Thing, directed by Tobe Hooper, inspired by Ambrose Bierce's classic short-story and written by Richard Christian Matheson...

Plot Keywords:

Mad Priest | Female Doctor | Shot In The Stomach | Narrator | Husband Wife Relationship

Cast

Sean Patrick Flanery	...	Sheriff Kevin Reddle
Marisa Coughlan	...	Dina
Brendan Fletcher	...	Deputy Strauss
Alex Ferris	...	Mikey Reddle
Brent Stait	...	John Reddle
Georgia Craig	...	Jodi Reddle
Ryan Drescher	...	Young Kevin
Andrew McIlroy	...	Joe Litton
Tracy Waterhouse	...	Dr. Cohen
Ted Raimi	...	Father Tulli
Alexandra Carter	...	Charity
Clint Carleton	...	Gabe Green
Ted Friend	...	Lenny
Ocean Hellman	...	Mary
Eileen Barrett	...	Janet

Runtime:

57 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:TV-MA | Australia:MA (2007) | Italy:VM14 | Germany:18

Filming Locations:

British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Starz Productions

Movie Connections:

References Plane Crazy (1928)

Some Damned Thing Haunts Texas Hicksville

Based on a short story by the great Ambrose Bierce, Tobe Hooper's second contribution to the "Masters Of Horror" series, "The Damned Thing", is more solid and quite a bit better than Hooper's first episode, "Dance Of The Dead", but it is still far away from being one of the great episodes of this overall brilliant series. Tobe Hooper more than deserves the title as a 'Master Of Horror' for his 1974 masterpiece "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" alone, but his contributions to the MoH series are not quite as masterly as one could have hoped for. Still, although being one of the lesser episodes of the series, "The Damned Thing" has its qualities. Some good characters, a certain atmosphere and a storyline that is not nearly as messy as it was the case in "Dance Of The Dead" make the episode well worth watching.

In 1981, young Kevin Reddle has to experience his parents die a bloody death, after his father has been driven insane by a mysterious force in their little Texas hometown. 25 years later Kevin (Sean Patrick Flanery), who has a family himself now, has become sheriff of the little town, and is understandably still a bit paranoid due to the horrible incident in his childhood...

As stated above "The Damned Thing" is certainly not one of the best episodes of the great "Masters Of Horror" series, but it has its very eerie moments and delivers a certain amount of suspense. There are also some fun characters, such as the town's rather strange clergyman, Father Tulli played by Ted Raimi (Mr. 'Evil Dead' Sam Raimi's brother), or the naive Deputy, who plans to get famous with a cartoon character he keeps drawing. Some scenes have a great sense of black humor too, and the episode has its own atmosphere, but then, that's about it. The performances are OK, but not breathtaking and I've certainly seen great acting in some of the other MoH episodes. All things considered, "The Damned Thing" is an acceptable episode that will not leave people bored, but I would certainly recommend most of the other episodes over this. 6/10