“Hell of a night”
Anchor Bay Entertainment continues its Masters of Horror series with Incident - Don Coscarelli’s contribution to the collection. The film’s plot revolves around a girl and the horror that she encounters on and off of a mountain road.
If you’re not aware Masters of Horror is a Showtime series from producer/director Mick Garris that gives hand picked genre filmmakers the opportunity to make an hour long film. They’re given a ten day shooting schedule(!) to produce their film. So far John Carpenter and Stuart Gordon’s contributions have been put on DVD by Anchor Bay. Since this format is almost like a TV series, it’s disappointing that a series set was not produced, but some will enjoy the single disc releasing schedule since it allows them to pick and choose which Masters they want to purchase.
The problem is that the other car’s driver is being dragged by a pale, enormous, chrome toothed, knife wielding psychopath (who we later find out is called Moonface, John DeSantis). A chase begins - where Ellen puts the survivalist skills taught to her by her husband to good use. Eventually, she’s chased by to Moonface’s cabin which looks like Texas Chainsaw Massacre by way of Hills Have Eyes.
Moonface leaps into the picture
She’s knocked unconscious, has another flashback, and finds herself handcuffed to a post in the basement. She finds out that she’s down there with a crazy old man named Buddy (Angus Scrimm) - who only wants to have a sing along. Moonface appears and we find out that he has certain hobbies that the local optometrist may not approve of and he practices it on the girl from the other car (Heather Feeney).
I’ll not go into anymore of the plot, but let you find out what is going on for yourself. Coscarelli puts some assumptions on their heads by the end of the feature. I enjoyed his contribution and liked the twist in the tale. Bree Turner provides a good performance. John DeSantis only has to look menacing - which he doesn’t have to strain to do since he looks about 7 foot tall and towers over everyone. Angus Scrimm (looking the short man next to DeSantis) is always good to see, but this is a bit of a different role for him as the crazy old man - and never does he say “booooooooooy!”
Incident is presented in widescreen (1.77:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Anchor Bay again packs in the special features. There are two audio commentaries. The first is from director Don Coscarelli, writer Stephen Romano, and DVD producer Perry Martin. The second is from director Don Coscarelli and author Joe R. Lansdale. Both are very informative, but I really enjoyed the Coscarelli/Lansdale commentary.
However, my favorite part of these discs is the featurettes, which (instead of focusing on this specific film) serve as career retrospectives for each Master. The first is 24 minutes and called “Predators and Prey.” It is a solo talk by Coscarelli where he discusses his life, filmic influences, and his movies (horror and non-horror).
The second is 20 minutes and is called “Working with a Master: Don Coscarelli.” It has interviews with actor Angus Scrimm, Paul Pepperman (producer of Phantasm and the Beastmaster), actor Reggie Bannister, actor Marc Singer (the Beastmaster himself), actress Bree Turner, and author Joe R. Lansdale.
Do You Know Any Songs
There are some interesting facts here - such as Coscarelli wanted to film an adaptation of Something Wicked This Way Comes and found out from Ray Bradbury that somebody else had bought the rights. He then decided to write his own “children in peril” take and Phantasm was born. There are also 6 minutes of behind the scenes footage, 5 minute interview with John DeSantis, 4 minute interview with Ethan Embry, still gallery, and trailers for the other Masters. DVD-ROM features include the script as a PDF and a screensaver.
A good contribution to the series and Coscarelli comes across as such a good guy it would be hard to hate his contribution. Definitely worth taking a look if you’re a fan of the series or Coscarelli.
Masters of Horror - Don Coscarelli - Incident on and off a Mountain Road is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD’s database for more information.
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