Simply A Masterpiece

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

When a Script writer has nothing -- and, I mean, NUH-thing -- to actually write -- and, I mean, NO ideas whatsoever -- he reverts to what he knows best: aggressively foulmouthed dialogue or porn or some combination thereof. Giving moral offense acts as a substitute for writing a story. The Writer opts in the pornographic direction in this one. A couple of guys are stealing people's blood for some reason. (Who cares?) Robert Englund plays some character who runs a club where: . . . men are seen kissing men (oh, my); . . . women are exposing their breasts (uh, huh); . . . and, black leather and deafening electronica are everywhere. Carnies are everywhere. Apparently, it is THEY who inherit the earth after WWIII or whatever. So, we should all start learning how to appreciate fiery baton- twirling. Drug use, "blow jobs," and -- oh, yeah -- some bit of an idea about people getting "zombiefied." Morally offensive. Stupid. A piece of junk. Don't bother.

Here we go with another episode of Season 1, this time the number 3 and the volume 11 of the Region 4 DVDs, Dance of the Dead. As you know, Tobe Hooper directed The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Poltergeist and this time he gives us a decent episode but unfortunately nothing more.The story takes place after the World War III and we have in Peggy (Jessica Lowndes) our protagonist. We know since the beginning that she, and her mother Kate (Marilyn Norry), is still suffering the dead of both her father and her sister but also both suffers the consequences of Blizz. Unfortunately the story focuses more in the typical relation between a teenage and his/her parents so with Peggy's new friends she is going to experience new things and is very conventional this part of the episode since it is just the classic awake of a teenage going against the authority and wanting to have new "experiences". The bar where the new "friends" of Peggy hang out has its main show in the dance of the dead and has in The M.C. (cool performance of Robert Fred Krueger Englund) its leader. Of course all of this are kind of the reflection of that post-war time and of course the best thing of this episode is its final part when you realize about the new "job" of Peggy's sister and why she has that "job". When you realize about the real story of Kate with her other daughter Anna, you will think something like "damn this episode could have been much better with the same basic story" and in the end, what dance?Then and finally, Tobe Hooper's first contribution to Masters of Horror is good to see just once but is also the weakest episode of the ones that I have seen that are only 6 (all from Season 1).

Apparently the Rapture has taken place, and only the soulless are left to inhabit the Earth.Robert Englund is really creepy as the MC of a horror show not to be believed. It is especially horrific for Peggy (Jessica Lowndes), who is attracted to Jak (Jonathan Tucker) and goes to the show with him.What she sees is beyond the most unspeakable horror, but, even, more, the shock she next receives is beyond belief.Director Tobe Hooper, and writers Mick Garris and Richard Matheson (Duel, I Am Legend) give us a tale that is about the closest vision of Hell that I can imagine.

"Wow," with a capital W-O-W.After reading the near-unanimous venomous sentiments being spat in the direction of Tobe Hooper's "Masters of Horror" episode, 'Dance of the Dead,' I had the lowest of low expectations. Additionally, I don't consider myself much of a fan of Hooper's oeuvre--save for "Texas Chainsaw" and the "Toolbox Murders" remake, his career has been sketchy, with projects often falling victim to studio meddling and financial troubles.And at first, I thought it was just my low expectations that made 'Dance of the Dead' stand out...but as it progressed, I realized that Hooper had just made a damn good episode. What 'Dance' achieves that most of the other shows have been missing is a personalization of madness and horror. The 'monsters' are not rubber-suited creatures or knife-wielding slashers, but unassuming tropes pulled from everyday life: most prominently, parental loss of control and the corruption of youth. Bio-terrorism, drug use, lurid sex, hypocrisy, nihilism, and the exploitation of the dead also pop up.The notion of 'messages' underlying the horror are bound to throw up a red flag for some, but Richard Christian Matheson's adaptation of his father's short story is ingeniously executed by Hooper, who employs jittery framing and whiplash edits to produce a visceral experience (I've never seen a film simulate a drug high as well as 'Dance of the Dead') that, instead of dulling the social commentary, heightens it in a way that only really becomes apparent once the episode ends. Comparatively, Joe Dante's 'Homecoming' failed because it bypassed horror and hammered us with its message, whereas Hooper strikes an effective balance between the two.There are so many subtle surprises in 'Dance of the Dead' that it's best to keep the plot synopsis brief: In a post-apocalyptic landscape, Peggy (Jessica Lowndes) lives under the watchful eye of her mother, and makes eyes with Jak (Jonathan Tucker), a sensitive rebel who runs blood to the emcee (a wonderfully sleazoid Robert Englund) of a local fetish club where the dead get up and do the titular deed.For all the negative notices 'Dance of the Dead' has received, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Hooper has created a short film that is as creepy, hopeless, and frightening as it is moving and deceptively intelligent. A true dark horse in the "Masters of Horror" series, highly recommended.