The third episode of Masters of Horror, Dance of the Dead, is based on a short story by Richard Matheson, adapted by his son Richard Christian Matheson, and directed by Tobe Hooper. It is set in an alternate timeline future where the world has been ravaged by World War III, and biological weapon strikes by these strikes called "Bliss". (Hilariously, timeline wise, this takes place in 2018, and woo boy is that a surreal idea) The death toll is rising, with some cities entirely being wiped out. The story follows Peggy (Jessica Lowndes, in her acting debut!) whose friends were killed by Blizzard at her seventh birthday party, and Jak (the always electric Jonathan Tucker) a biker and drug addict.
This is the weirdest story of the show so far since it doesn't neatly fall into a sub-genre, and isn't necessarily horrific. It's something of a family drama and a romance. As such, there isn't a whole lot of forward momentum driving the episode forward. What's worse is that there's this annoying editing trick that they keep implementing that speeds up the footage for a couple of seconds, and cuts all over the place. Once again, I am reminded of the "mid-2000s"ness of it all. The film does pick up significantly about halfway through when they get to the Doom Room.
The Doom Room, a heavy metal bar with an MC played by Robert Englund. It's a really inventive space, where most of the unnerving ideas are presented, and obviously Englund is a joy to watch as he hams it up like a beast. It is a nihilistic piece of science fiction horror that is more disturbing in theory than it is in execution. Still, there is a twist at the end that genuinely turned my stomach with the implications of it, and the whole idea of the drug that re-animates the corpses is an unsettling concept.
It didn't fully work for me, but it's never bad to watch Jonathan Tucker work, and there is at least one sequence of true horror.
This is the weirdest story of the show so far since it doesn't neatly fall into a sub-genre, and isn't necessarily horrific. It's something of a family drama and a romance. As such, there isn't a whole lot of forward momentum driving the episode forward. What's worse is that there's this annoying editing trick that they keep implementing that speeds up the footage for a couple of seconds, and cuts all over the place. Once again, I am reminded of the "mid-2000s"ness of it all. The film does pick up significantly about halfway through when they get to the Doom Room.
The Doom Room, a heavy metal bar with an MC played by Robert Englund. It's a really inventive space, where most of the unnerving ideas are presented, and obviously Englund is a joy to watch as he hams it up like a beast. It is a nihilistic piece of science fiction horror that is more disturbing in theory than it is in execution. Still, there is a twist at the end that genuinely turned my stomach with the implications of it, and the whole idea of the drug that re-animates the corpses is an unsettling concept.
It didn't fully work for me, but it's never bad to watch Jonathan Tucker work, and there is at least one sequence of true horror.