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« Masters of Horror
November 3, 2006: Masters of Horror's Family Matter
The quiet, suburban Wisconsin neighborhood of John Landis' Masters of Horror entry, Family, looks much like Desperate Housewives' notoriously perfect Wisteria Lane. Sure, Wisteria Lane continues to experience its own share of scandal, mayhem and murder. But if George Wendt's character Harold compared notes with Wisteria Lane's latest diabolical resident Orson Hodge [Kyle MacLachlan], I believe that even Orson would get a chill down his spine. Or... maybe he'd just wish that "he'd thought of that." Yes, I think that Orson would find a mentor in Harold. He certainly would respect Harold's excellence in homemaking, gardening and cleanliness as well as his devotion to family values — especially the value of hiding the evidence. (Bree Hodge really needs to watch this episode!)
If I were to recommend a Masters of Horror episode to entry-level horror fiends or to my squeamish friends, it would be Family. Yes, there's a bit of gore, but nothing (I mean, nothing) compared to last week's entry. As I suspected, John Landis focused more on the sense of irony, black humor and mystery. He also spent considerable time revealing the inner workings that motivate the outer doings of Harold. At one point, I found myself feeling sorry for the guy — until the twist ending. I didn't see that one coming, but HHH (horror-hound-husband) did. He always does.
As I've lurked around in various horror communities after last Friday's MoH premiere, the consensus on The Damned Thing was about 50/50 love/hate. The one thing everybody loved from last week was "hammer time," and the one thing that many hated was the ending. If they didn't hate the ending, they at least felt greatly dissatisfied with the abruptness of it. Well, we didn't get any huge gore surprises in Family, but I do believe that this ending will make up for any dissatisfaction with last week's. At first I'd started to feel that all of Harold's music selections were irony overkill, until the twist.... As I watched Harold become karma's bitch, it was the first time ever (and last time) that old-time gospel music put a wicked smile on my face.
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Nov 4, 2006 12:56 AM
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I enjoyed the show, but saw the ending coming a mile away.
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Nov 4, 2006 2:47 PM
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Did anyone else notice during the ER scene a voice was heard "Paging Dr. House. Paging Dr. Fine". Not sure if Dr. Fine was a reference to anything but the House reference made me laugh
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Nov 6, 2006 10:21 AM
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I enjoyed the show, but saw the ending coming a mile away. Posted by Gandalf47
I'm really bad at not seeing things from a mile away! I guess I get really wrapped up in stories and don't "think ahead." On the few occasions that I do see a twist coming a mile away, it's probably a really obvious twist that just about anyone can figure out. 
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Nov 6, 2006 11:09 AM
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Did anyone else notice during the ER scene a voice was heard "Paging Dr. House. Paging Dr. Fine". Not sure if Dr. Fine was a reference to anything but the House reference made me laugh
Posted by StupidGroundhog
HHH noticed that, but he said it was, "Paging Dr. Howard; Paging Dr. Fine." Apparently, that's a Three Stooges reference. I love the Stooges, but that joke was lost on me. I either never saw that sketch, or last saw it when I was five.
Now, had it been "Paging Dr. House," I would have totally gotten that one. [Love that show too]!
Another bit of trivia is that when the cartoon says, "See you next Wednesday!" That's a constant in-joke that Mr. Landis puts in all of his projects... hmm... I need to go back and watch Deer Woman from Season One and see if I can find it.
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Nov 6, 2006 11:16 AM
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I looked for the see you next Wednesday reference but missed it. Thanks for letting me know where to find it, i'll have to check it out again tonight.
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Nov 6, 2006 11:19 AM
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OMG! There is a Master's of Horror water cooler, I mean TV Show Commentary. Thank You Jeannine!!
Okay, even though I knew that something was up with the married couple I did not expect to find out that George Wendt's "daughter" was actually the real daughter that they had lost. That was a nice twist.
However, I did not like the way it ended. Both of their hands covered in blood, the husband saying he could probably keep him alive for 10 to 12 days or hours (I don't even remember), and then the closing shot of George Wendt's bloody face but all we can see is his bulging terrified eyes.
What did they do to him?!?! I couldn't believe it ended like that and this was my only gripe with the whole episode just like last week.
I even enjoyed seeing Andy (sorry, don't feel like going to IMDB right now) from Dawson's Creek playing a different type of role. She was sinister like her character in the movie "New Best Friend".
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Nov 6, 2006 12:10 PM
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Oh, and kudos to George Wendt's performance in a dark role. He definitely succeded in creeping me out.
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Nov 6, 2006 12:12 PM
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The Paging Dr. Fine reference is definitely the Three Stooges. It's from the short "Men In Black", where the Stooges are doctors running around a hospital. Repeatedly throughout the episode, you hear a nurses' voice saying "Paging Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard", and the Stooges go crazy trying to get to their next destination. Very funny stuff.
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Nov 6, 2006 12:17 PM
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I am a writer, and there is a beginning, a middle, and an end. Sometimes, usually in the middle, a writer telegraphs the end. It may be subtle, it may be obvious.
The best stories with the best twists at the end are the ones you can't see coming - and it takes some skill to misdirect the reader/viewer in another direction.
I still liked the story, and George Wendt felt kinda like Randy Quaid in "Parents".
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Nov 7, 2006 11:46 AM
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>>I am a writer, and there is a beginning, a middle, and an end. Sometimes, usually in the middle, a writer telegraphs the end. It may be subtle, it may be obvious.
The best stories with the best twists at the end are the ones you can't see coming - and it takes some skill to misdirect the reader/viewer in another direction. Posted by Gandalf47
Even though I'm a writer, I'm really bad at not seeing the telegraph most of the time. That may be because I'm also a performer and have an active imagination, so I get "lost" in stories really easily. My analytical side often turns itself off . HHH is a writer, and also very analytical, so it's no wonder that he always catches the twist. I can probably count on one hand the number of twists he didn't see coming.
It's a good thing I'm not a fiction writer because I probably wouldn't be too skilled at working in the really clever twists.
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Nov 8, 2006 11:01 AM
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>>OMG! There is a Master's of Horror water cooler, I mean TV Show Commentary. Thank You Jeannine!! Posted by blueree
Believe me, the pleasure is all mine. Thanks for coming here to talk about such a great show!
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Nov 8, 2006 11:07 AM
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>>I looked for the see you next Wednesday reference but missed it. Thanks for letting me know where to find it, i'll have to check it out again tonight. Posted by StupidGroundhog
Happy to help! I love discovering "in jokes." They were all over the place in last year's Deer Woman. Loads of references to the American Werewolf movies; but I need to go back to that one and find "see you next Wednesday!"
A fun inside joke in Joe Dante's zombie MoH, Homecoming [don't know if any of you caught this last year], is that one of the tombstones in the graveyard is engraved with the name "George A. Romero."
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Nov 8, 2006 11:13 AM
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So I went home and told my Hubby that there was a "see you next wednesday" in Family and he argued with me until I found it. tee hee.
I looked for the "see you next wednesday" in last year's Deer Woman too but couldn't find it. I did love the American Werewolf references though. John Landis' episodes have been some of the best on this show. Hope he does one every year.
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Nov 8, 2006 11:29 AM
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"See you next Wednesday":
Someone says it in the horror movie that Michael Jackson is watching in the "Thriller" video.
It's on a poster on the wall of JLCurtis's bedroon in "Trading Places"
and a Subway poster in "Coming to America"
It's on the marque at the movie theater at the end of "American Werewolf In London"
I have not found a reference in "Animal House" or "The Blues Brothers"
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Nov 9, 2006 12:27 PM
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