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February 2, 2007: ... And They Lived
Well, this is it — the last post for Masters of Horror Season 2. I still haven't read or heard whether or not there will be a Season 3, but I sure do hope so. As soon as I find out, I'll definitely post it here. I thought that Season 2 wound up being pretty damn good, with four episodes now filling some slots in my top 10 favorites:
1. "Fair-haired Child" (Season 1)
2. "The Black Cat" (Season 2)
3. "Pelts" (Season 2)
4. "Cigarette Burns" (Season 1)
5. "Right to Die" (Season 2)
6. "The Screwfly Solution" (Season 2)
7. "Imprint" (Season 1, aka "The Banned Episode")
8. "Dance of the Dead" (Season 1)
9. "Deer Woman" (Season 1)
10. "Dreams in the Witch-House" (Season 1)
As you can see, the final episode of this season, "Dream Cruise," didn't make it into my top favorites, but I also didn't find it to be a particularly bad episode. The story was interesting enough, even though it conjured up similar specters from other J-horror films like Ju-on: The Grudge and The Ring (Ringu). Some of it even reminded me of Open Water, and of course the "attack arm" reminded me of Evil Dead 2. (By the way, if you haven't seen Open Water yet, it is extremely frightening and I highly recommend it.)
The one thing that J-horror does well is create some really freaky ghosts that tend to burn their images permanently into my psyche. This ghost could have competed against Regan from The Exorcist and won. [Shivers] What I found to be particularly surprising in this episode was the benevolent twist, which reminded me a bit of The Sixth Sense or A Stir of Echoes. Sometimes, cynical and malevolent endings in horror get exhausting; it was a breath of fresh air to see that the characters not only survived the horror of what happened, but transcended decades-old fears after the experience. The ending of this final episode made it feel like the entire season has ended on a good note, almost like a sigh of relief: We watched, we screamed, we gasped, we survived. (We want more!)
To conclude this season, I would love to see your list of Masters of Horror favorites (it doesn't have to be 10, it can be any number) in the comments. And finally, thank you all for stopping by to read this spooky l'il section of TVGuide.com. I do hope we'll be here next year for a Season 3!
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Feb 4, 2007 8:36 PM
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I'll give you my top ten:
1 Imprint
2 Family
3 Deer Woman
4 Incident on and off Mountain Road
5 Pick Me Up
6 Fair Haired child
7 Dance of the Dead
8 Cigarette Burns
9 The Washingtonians
10 Right to Die
All in all, I didn't think this season was anywhere as good as last. I hope there is a season 3 and hopefully they can get some new directors in (As long as they don't drop John Landis).
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Feb 5, 2007 7:25 AM
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It'll take a while to figure out my top 10 [I imagine it'll be not entirely different from yours, but we'll see...], so I'll just say that your comments pretty much echo my feelings on Dream Cruise.
The happy ending struck me as being particularly refreshing only because of its context - J-horror isn't really known for such things. As a result, the idea that justice prevailed insofar as the survivors were the least guilty of the characters, was pretty cool.
The effects were daunting. I found the ghost of the murdered first wife to be as chilling as you say. J-horror certainly does excel in that respect.
Overall, I suspect this ep would probably be #11, or #12 for me.
Now I have to think about that top ten...
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Feb 5, 2007 4:30 PM
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>>I'll give you my top ten:
1 Imprint
2 Family
3 Deer Woman
4 Incident on and off Mountain Road
5 Pick Me Up
6 Fair Haired child
7 Dance of the Dead
8 Cigarette Burns
9 The Washingtonians
10 Right to Die
Posted by StupidGroundhog
Groundhog, did you wonder what all the fuss was about once you saw "Imprint?" I really still don't understand why it was banned... I found many of the other episodes to be waaay more extreme than "Imprint." I thought that "Imprint" was one of the most beautifully shot episodes, it had one of the most intriguing stories and a very shocking twist, but not because it was gory or extreme. I feel like MoH viewers really got the bad end of the deal on that.
I can't believe I forgot about "Pick Me Up!" That was one of my favorites, too! I would add that to my top 10 as a tie alongside "Deer Woman."
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Feb 14, 2007 11:36 AM
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