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MASTERS OF HORROR SEASON TWO:
It’s weird how THE V WORD, one of the first episodes of Season Two of MASTERS OF HORROR, would be the last episode released on DVD. Directed by Ernest Dickerson of the very underrated TALES FROM THE CRYPT PRESENTS: DEMON KNIGHT and starring Michael Ironside, THE V WORD is an interesting entry in the series, as two video game junkies decide to sneak into a morturary to look at a dead body, only to find that a vampire has been feasting on the dead, and makes them his next snack. Teenagers Justin (Branden Nadon) and Kerry (Arjay Smith) are just two video game geeks looking for excitement. When they learn of a classmate passing away and being put to rest in the local mortuary, they decide to sneak in and view the body. Once there, they encounter the owner, the (yawn) aptly named Mr. Chaney (Michael Ironside) who turns out to be a vampire. From there, the story takes a very interesting turn involving the three which lead to some unexpected results. I saw this when it first aired on Showtime, and for the first time, I have to say I was very impressed with the digital effects done in this film, especially involving no doubt the most graphic vampire neck bite ever seen on film. The effects are exceedingly gory and very well done by the KNB team, who work their magic again with the team of Leslie and Sarah Graham representing the popular effects group. They really shine here and provide the best moments in THE V WORD. Another delight is Michael Ironside, long one of my favorite actors and genre favorites, who plays the evil Mr. Chaney with pure venomous flair. He’s not on screen for long and the film suffers without him, but when he is on screen, he is magnetic. The rest of the cast are also good, particularly the teenage leads who provide an authentic look at teen angst mixed in with curiosity that changes in the second half of the film when they come to realize their potential (without spoiling it). Young actress Jodelle Ferland (of SILENT HILL) has a moment of terror as Justin’s younger sister, who falls prey to Mr. Chaney’s hand. At only 13 years of age, young Ferland is already a genre veteran with roles in TIDELAND, THEY, and THE MESSENGERS and one wonders if she is preparing to be a scream queen in a few years. The script by Mick Garris has its flaws, but overall I think is one of his better efforts, although the first act of the script is very slowly paced. His screenplay is on the DVD and is worth a read to see the transition made by Dickerson to make the film. In addition, the bonus features as usual for a MASTERS OF HORROR disc provide the goods, with two nice documentaries including one on the "bite" mentioned above. Ernest Dickerson, who started out as Spike Lee’s cinematographer, is a very accomplished director as his films are always beautifully shot regardless of how ugly the stories may be (and I mean that in tone, not quality of the story). He has always shown an appreciation of horror, and his status in directing an episode of the series is justified. The surprise here is that Dickerson, who usually gets right into the action of his films, allows time for character development, which was unexpected. However, if this was a feature film, it would’ve worked better. Being that this had a run time of just under an hour, it needed to get to its conflict sooner, resulting in some horror fans going to tune out early looking for some blood. This is a tough call, because while I applaud Dickerson’s decision on allowing his characters to grow, I don’t feel it was needed for this film. In all, The MASTERS OF HORROR series as a whole has been an overall enjoyable one for fans, pure fans, of horror, and THE V WORD is a dependable film that isn’t amongst the best of the series, but offers some fine moments. Add a maggot if you’re a Michael Ironside fan and pick up this DVD to complete your set of the series, as once it is moved to NBC, who knows if we’ll see anything like this on the medium again (one would hope FEAR ITSELF would be presented on DVD in uncut form. Paging Mr. Garris!) MASTERS OF HORROR: THE V WORD: 3 Out Of 5 Maggots
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