"Masters of Horror" The V Word (2006)

Director:

Ernest R. Dickerson

Writers:

Mick Garris (creator)
Mick Garris (written by)

TV Series:

"Masters of Horror" (2005)

Original Air Date:

10 November 2006 (Season 2, Episode 3)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

Two curious teenage boys break into an old mortuary looking for thrills, only to find themselves stalked by a former teacher who is a very real vampire looking to increase the ranks of the undead.

Plot Keywords:

Vampire | Mortuary | Blood | Self Sacrifice | Burning Man

Cast

Arjay Smith	...	Kerry
Branden Nadon	...	Justin
Jodelle Ferland	...	Lisa
Lynda Boyd	...	Carolyn
Michael Ironside	...	Mr. Chaney
Keith D. Humphrey	...	David (as Keith Humphrey)
Terry D. Stevens	...	Passenger (as Terry Stevens)

Runtime:

59 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

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

Company:

Starz Productions

Trivia:

The game played at the beginning is Doom 3.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The game played at the beginning is Doom 3. Kerry claims he had 50,000 points and infinite blood supply, but Doom 3 has no scoring and players have only a supply of health, ammunition and armor.

Movie Connections:

References Night of the Living Dead (1968)

1-Hour Video game Commercial Disguised As MoH Episode

Generally speaking, I am a huge fan of the great "Masters Of Horror" series, but one has to say that the individual episodes differ immensely in quality. While some episodes, such as Dario Argento's "Pelts" or Takashi Miike's "Imprint" are utterly brilliant, some other episodes are pure entertainment, and some episodes, such as Mick Garris' "Chocolate" or Tobe Hooper's "Dance Of The Dead" were, as far as I am considered quite disappointing. "The V-Word" directed by Ernest K. Dickerson (I wonder what qualifies him as a 'Master Of Horror' anyway), however, is by far the worst episode of this otherwise great Horror anthology. Not only is the story ridiculous and the suspense almost nonexistent, even worse, this quite poor attempt of an MoH episode was so obviously made to advertise a Video game, which the main protagonists not only play all the time, but about which everybody talks about throughout the episode. The performances are also quite poor, the only true reason not to skip this episode is the great Michael Ironside, who at least gives this thing a little bit of eeriness.

I won't bother to describe the plot, since it it so thin that even a short description would mean writing a spoiler. "The V-Word" is watchable for Michael Ironside, but otherwise it's a waste of time. Watch ANY other MoH-episode before giving this a try.