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Masters of Horror - Don Coscarelli - Incident on and off a Mountain Road

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Although it was the first episode of MASTERS OF HORROR to air on Showtime when the series debuted in October 2005, director Don Coscarelli's "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" is the fourth series segment to be released on DVD. And it is also one of the best of the series thus far (series one has ended, but the show is expected to continue for at least one more season). Longtime genre fans will recognize the name Coscarelli, of course, as he is the writer/director of the classic horror flick PHANTASM (1979) and its sequels, director and co-writer of the sword-and-sorcery fantasy THE BEASTMASTER (1982), and the writer/director of the more contemporary horror-comedy cult favorite BUBBA HO-TEP (2002).

An adaptation of the short story by genre author Joe R. Lansdale--who also wrote the story on which BUBBA HO-TEP was based--"Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" is an interesting, fresh take on the girl-chased-through-the-woods slasher-type flick, one with a very wry twist at the end. It stars cute actress Bree Turner (some genre fans my recognize her from 2005's JEKYLL + HYDE) as Ellen, a young woman who has an auto accident late one night while driving through the rural mountains of Oregon. After crawling from the wreckage and trying to assess the damage, Ellen quickly finds herself pursued by a hulking mountain-dwelling madman (John De Santis, familiar to horror fans from his role as Lurch in the short-lived late-1990s TV series THE NEW ADDAMS FAMILY). But Ellen is no ordinary damsel in distress. Through occasional flashbacks, it is revealed that her ex-husband was an obsessive survivalist and that he forced her to participate in his training sessions. And as a result, Ellen has a few tricks up her sleeve that just may help her outwit her brutish pursuer and survive the night.

As is, Lansdale's original story rises way above the cliche of its slasher roots, but the script by Coscarelli and his co-writer, Stephen Romano, ratchet it up even higher by adding some elements only hinted at by Lansdale. This enables Coscarelli, as director, to create a 60-minute visual ride that is dense with layers of thrills, suspense, and shocks that lesser directors would have trouble fitting into a two-hour flick. Of course, he is helped by the outstanding acting abilities of Turner, whose talent allows her to convincingly vacillate between vulnerability and strength, as well as the intense performance from Ethan Embry (who plays Ellen's ex-husband in flashback sequences) and the skills and menacing presence of De Santis. Even Coscarelli's old friend Angus Scrimm--who became a genre icon playing the Tall Man in the classic PHANTASM series--makes a delightfully quirky appearance.

The DVD edition of "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" offers a pristine digital transfer of the filmic series episode in anamorphic widescreen at its original aspect ratio of 1.77:1. And as is almost always the case with discs from the cool folks at Anchor Bay, the DVD is chockful with bonus features. This one has TWO commentaries--one featuring writer/director Coscarelli and co-writer Romano (moderated by Anchor Bay's Perry Martin); the other with Coscarelli and author Joe R. Lansdale--an interview with Coscarelli; a documentary on Coscarelli's genre career; a special-effects featurette (hidden in an "Easter egg"); and lots more! It's well worth amazon.com's reasonable price of admission.

All in all, "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" is a top-notch entry in Mick Garris' MASTERS OF HORROR series, and it leaves no doubt as to why Don Coscarelli was one of the first directors chosen to participate. But even apart from the series and despite its short runtime of 60 minutes, the episode itself easily stands alone as a masterpiece of horror film, and it is sure to become a genre classic. So even those rare horror fans not impressed by the overall TV series should seriously consider adding this flick to their collections.

John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, Dario Argento, Joe Dante, Don Coscarelli, Takashi Miike. These are but some of the powerhouse names in horror that were enlisted to direct episodes of "Masters of Horror", a 13-episode series that debuted last fall on the Showtime network. Comparisons to other TV horror anthologies such as Tales from the Crypt, Twilight Zone and Friday the 13th were inevitably made but "Masters" decidedly differs from those in several aspects as there is no host, no commercials and little trace of humor/camp. No, Masters of Horror is a no-holds barred hardcore horror anthology that gives full creative freedom to its directors, many of them names that have been known to not pull any punches whatsoever.

What I particularly like about the show is that there is no guiding voice, or TV producer, telling the director how things should be. Each episode has the director's own personal stamp on it, to give us the feeling that "This is not a masters of horror episode, it's a Dario Argento movie, or a Takashi Miike movie, etc." The result of this creative freedom and unique concept is an anthology where every episode feels uniquely distinct from one another.

The third episode of Masters to be released on DVD is "Incident on and off a mountain road", directed by Don Coscarelli. Coscarelli has become a cult name in horror almost exclusively based on the success of his "Phantasm" series that consists of the original 1979 classic and its three decent sequels. Outside of Phantasm he hadn't made much worth mentioning until, that is, in 2002 with the release of Bubba Ho-tep, a wacky uncategorizable film based on a Joe R. Lansdale short story. So successful was Bubba Ho-tep that a sequel (with Lansdale again in the writing chair) is currently in production and Coscarelli has directed this episode of Masters that is also based on a Lansdale short out of the author's "High Cotton" anthology. After being known almost exclusively for the Phantasm movies, Coscarelli's adaptations of Lansdale stories has breathed new life into his career.

Story: A woman driving alone on an isolated stretch of a mountainous road crashes her car while taking her eyes off the road to switch radio stations. Things go from bad to worse when she ends up being chased around by a mutant-faced maniac ("Moonface") wielding a huge knife. While being chased by Moonface, we see flashbacks of the woman's near-past relationship with an ex-boyfriend, a soldier who would teach her survival techniques. The woman is able to use the survival techniques learned from the boyfriend to set up booby traps and clever escape routes to elude Moonface, who perhaps got a little more than he bargained for with this would-be victim.

This is only my third Masters episode that I've watched (the other two being Cigarette Burns and Dreams in the Witch House) and it's definitely the best so far. In fact, I'd be very surprised if any subsequent episode of Masters that I watch would be as good as this one. Simply put, it is a classic. While other episodes of Masters seem to go for the "weird" factor in horror with different degrees of pacing, this one goes for the throat with a non-stop unrelenting pace. This is fast-paced suspense on a par with Dean Koontz novels, thrown in with horrific macabre touches based around the lair of Moonface, who is truly evil incarnate. The flashbacks work surprisingly well and do little to slow the pace. The locales are absolutely stunning, as the chase leads us through forests and creeks under the moonlit night. Filmed near Vancouver, those familiar with the area will get a kick out of the scene filmed on the Capilano suspension bridge. All this plus a very neat twist at the end make this a truly memorable episode. Someone should look into licensing ALL the stories from High Cotton for Coscarelli to adapt. The horror world would be a better place for it.

Of the four "Masters of Horror" DVDs I've seen so far, "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road is easily the best, blowing past Mick Garris' entry and narrowly edging out John Carpenter's and Stuart Gordon's stories. First, "Incident" skillfully delivers the kind of expected thrills one looks for in a horror film (in this case, we get a monstrous killing machine chasing a young woman through the woods) but then throws in, equally skillfully, a few "all is not as it seems" elements and some welcome depth, subtlety, and complexity in the characterizations. It all adds up to a great hour or so of gritty entertainment.

The extras in this DVD series continue to be top notch. Contrary to Amazon's description, "Incident" actually includes TWO commentaries, one by director/writer Don Coscarelli and co-writer Stephen Romano and one by Mr. Coscarelli and Joe R. Lansdale, who wrote the original short story that was adapted into the "Incident" film. In fact, listening to how much Mr. Coscarelli and Mr. Romano regard Joe Lansdale's stories on the first commentary track and then hearing from the fascinating Mr. Lansdale himself on the second commentary track made me go to the book section of Amazon to order a paperback copy of "High Cotton: Selected Short Stories of Joe R. Lansdale". The book contains the original 16-page short story "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" (which for years Mr. Coscarelli wanted to adapt) and several other stories. I'm really looking forward to getting it.

By the way, that's the other great thing about these "Masters of Horror" DVDs: they constantly talk up, and make you want to seek out, other films by the featured creator or "Master of Horror" in question, and they also make sure to tell you about the literary sources (H.P. Lovecraft, Joe R. Lansdale, etc.) of some of these short films, in the event you want to check out the original stories.

In any event, if you haven't checked out one of these "Masters of Horror" DVDs yet, you can't go wrong with this one. In terms of both the movie and the extras, this is the best of the lot so far.

Directed by Don Coscarelli (the man responsible for the gut-wrenching "Phantasm" films and the brilliantly quirky "Bubba Ho-tep"), "Incident" was a fine start to Showtime's promising (but spotty) "Masters of Horror" series.

The beautiful Bree Turner has spent most of her career playing snobby sorority girls and providing attractive scenery to relatively benign movies and T.V. shows. She takes the helm here as Ellen, a woman who wrecks her car late at night while driving through the mountains. Her problems, of course, turn out to be larger than a dented fender. Namely, she must square off with Moonface, a creature who is far deadlier than his name implies.

Ellen, refreshingly, is not your typical horror movie Damsel In Distress. She proves herself to be a worthy (and entertaining) foe to the disturbing creature who stalks her through the rocky woods, a pleasant change of pace from the women who stumble on broken heels, make ludicrous decisions, and prefer screaming to thinking.

In a series of well-placed flashbacks, Coscarelli gives us glimpses of her education in survival, taking place at the hands of her too-eager boyfriend/husband, Bruce. Played by Ethan Embry (who hasn't made much of himself since his "Can't Hardly Wait" days), Bruce is a convincing character, but it's hard to imagine how his slightly off-putting insistence managed to snag a smart and capable lady like Ellen.

No matter. Coscarelli leaves explanations aside, avoiding unnecessary details. What's really important is the tooth-and-nail present. Coscarelli uses standard horror film elements to mold together something decidedly unique and satisfying. It's not particularly ground-breaking, nor is it without its flaws (the flashbacks, while important, sap the story of some of its tension), but it is a comforting bit of entertainment, especially for Fright Fans who are afraid that the genre is in danger of dying a slow and boring death.

This one was my favorite so far, I've seen four and this is the best. Some great (and intensely scary) chase scenes and Angus Scrim the beloved "Tall Man" from Phantasm is in it too!

I wish they didn't match this up with "Chocolate" on the double feature dvd. "Incident" has some rape and a bit of tit. And a menacing story.

This is the freshest, most taut and most satisfying thriller I have seen in a long time. Perfectly paced, well-performed (bravo, Bree Turner) and with an insidious twist to boot, this dvd belongs on the shelf of any true fan of the genre.

Unlike such horror anthologies before it like Tales From the Crypt, Showtime's Masters of Horror, created by Mick Garris (best known for bringing many Stephen King tales to TV) offers no-holds barred horror from some of the best names in the business. In this first episode of the series, Don Coscarelli (Phantasm, Bubba Ho-Tep) once again adapts a Joe R. Lansdale story. Incident On and Off a Mountain Road involves a resourceful young woman (Bree Turner) with a shady past turns the tables on the monstrous killer stalking her in the woods, with bloody results. The acting is good (Ethan Embry turns in a surprisingly intense role in flashback sequences) and the gore and makeup effects are top notch (what else would you expect from Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger?). Though it rarely goes beyond it's slasher roots, the story is engaging, and Coscarelli keeps piling on the suspense, and Angus Scrimm, better known as the Tallman from Phantasm, even makes an appearance. All in all, Incident On and Off a Mountain Road is a great beginning to Masters of Horror, and it's easily one of the best in the series so far.

Don Coscarelli was one of the horror directors invited by Mick Garris to participate and create a full hour episode for the new Showtime horror anthology series, Masters of Horror. Coscarelli accepted and his contribution to the horror anthology series was a telefilm adaptation of Joe R. Lansdale's short story of the same name: "Incident on and off a Mountain Road." After watching this Coscarelli installment, I would say that he's succeeded in adapting another one of Lansdale's tales (Bubba Ho-Tep being the other).

"Incident on and off a Mountain Road" has the typical backwoods, mutant slasher-killer hunting down your typical babe-in-the-woods female whose only fault was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Right from the beginning Coscarelli's episode already shows that things might be abit different from your typical slasher story with the immediate memory flashback by the female lead (gamely and beautifully played by the cute-as-a-button Bree Turner). The flashbacks happen throughout the film as Ellen (Turner) remembers the things she learned on how to survive when faced by imminent danger in a strange landscape. For some the sudden break from the high-tension of the chase between the killer, aptly named Moonface, and Ellen might be abit jarring, but the flashbacks do help add backstory to what would have been just a run-of-the-mill slasher tale. The backstory pretty much shows the viewer that Ellen is, or was, married to someone named Bruce (played with deadly seriousness by Ethan Embry) whose obsession with all things survivalist pulled Ellen into the lifestyle of learning how to survive. The flashbacks also show how a perfect marriage and partnership slowly turned abusive in more ways than one. This change of pace in the film makes us root for Ellen to survive her encounter with Moonface as we've invested quite abit in her well-being.

I won't say that the film has nothing thrilling to it. When the flashbacks end and we're brought back to Ellen and her current situation things pick up once more. Moonface (played by John De Santis) brings to mind past boogeymen like Leatherface, Jason, and your typical inbred, mountain-men like those in forgettable films like Wrong Turn. He's in the story just to act as the immediate focus for Ellen's baptism of fire, so to speak. He's an unknown entity whose only purpose was to terrorize Ellen and all who gets in his way. He's abit like a force of nature that one either accepts and deals with accordingly or get run over if one in its way. Ellen does the latter and to satisfying result. Coscarelli long-time collaborator Angus Scrimm makes an appearance as Buddy, an old man devoid of sanity after being left in Moonface's care for an undetermined lenght of time. His character brings out feelings of pity, detestation and finally acceptance. Ellen's actions towards Buddy in the end of the film shows that she's accepted his role in all that's happened and feels pity and acceptance to treat the old man the only way she could.

People always thought Coscarelli was of the gore-type of horror director, but they'd be wrong to assume that. Throughout all the Phantasm films and up to Bubba Ho-Tep, Coscarelli didn't use much gore in his films. He instead relied to feelings of tension and dread followed up by a sudden shocking scene to the system. In this Masters of Horror episode, we get to see Coscarelli dabble in the magic of gore. He doesn't go to the level that Carpenter did in Cigarette Burns, but the scene with Moonface and his industrial drill was very Fulci-esque. Even with his dabbling with gore sequences, Coscarelli errs on the side of less is more. But the gore that we do see was done by none other than the gore-effects masters from KNB EFX.

All in all, Coscarelli's "Incident on and off a Mountain Road" was a fresh new take on an old staple of the horror genre. I would actually label this episode more of a survival story than one of horror, but to each their own. This episode was the second I've seen on dvd and I have to say it's much better than Carpenter's. It bodes well for the rest I've yet to see.

This movie is one of the best of the masters of horror series, it takes the horror chase movie and put a different twist to it. The herorine Ellen while being stalked by the madman moonface, she has flashbacks of survival tips she gets from her husband and it also shows how her marraige unravels all leading to an excellent twist at the end. This would have made a great feature film.