Customer Reviews

Masters of Horror: Pro-Life

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

John Carpenter returns to Showtime's "Masters of Horror" series with Season 2's offering "Pro-Life." As with most anthology series, the quality of any given episode and the reaction to it can be widely divergent. Carpenter's entry from last season, "Cigarette Burns," is one of its most divisive. It is regarded in some circles as the best the show had to offer and dismissed out of hand by others. I fell somewhere in between the debate ranking it in the middle/upper part of the pack.

Intriguingly enough, the Takeshi Miike episode banned from Season 1 involved a storyline revolving around abortions. "Pro-Life," as you might guess from the title, also has this as a major theme. But don't worry, this is no heavy handed diatribe--it's light and loose but still has some sting to its barbs. This is a brand of horror that I like to think of as "everything but the kitchen sink." It is a social satire and a commentary on pro-life extremists--but it also throws in a grisly birth, a massive gun fight, torture, a insectile creature with a baby head, a chasm to an alternate world, and what appears to be the devil himself. In other words, I pretty much loved it! Easily one of the more entertaining episodes, no one will confuse this with great art--but it's a whole lot of fun.

The action gets going when a doctor from a local abortion clinic almost runs down a young girl fleeing from an unknown pursuer. Taking her into the hospital to make sure she's all right, she confesses to being pregnant. She thinks God has brought her here to get an abortion. Her father ends up at the front gate demanding her return, he is a pro-life activist who has had previous run-ins with this establishment. What follows include a revelation about the unnatural origins of the fetus, a supernaturally fast pregnancy cycle, and a battle for the father to save his unborn grandchild.

There is lots of humor in "Pro-Life," plenty of gore, and some crazy creatures. Ron Perlman and Caitlin Wachs are particularly effective as the pregnant girl and her father. For sheer loony entertainment value, this gets high marks for me. KGHarris, 12/06.

Okay, so I've seen quite a few episode's of Master's Of Horror and to tell you the truth 95% are not that great. But I really liked this one, I don't know what it is about it but I liked it. I see alot of folk's didn't care for it but hey, everyone is different. Anyhow a young girl get's inpregnanted by a demon and goes to have an abortion while in the meantime her father and brother's think it's a child from god and try to force her to keep it. Of course she trie's anyway's because she know's the truth about it but her crazy father chase's her to the clinic, which by the way is like a small fortress. So she get's in and her father get angry and from there insue's gun battle's, demon babie's, torture and the one thing I didn't like......the ending. If you must know about it, the girl has the baby which is like a spider/baby, the demon which imprenanted her show's up and just when you think thing's are gonna get better it doesn't. You see the demon baby get's killed but yet the demon does nothin about it and walk's off like a sad kid who lost his or her dog. Maybe they ran out of time and that's the best they could do being that there only hour long episode's but damn, you could've done better than that. I guess that's what you'd expect from John Carpenter who has made a few garbage movie's in his time........but, beside's the ending it was a good little movie, whether you like it or not is up to you, oh and by the way I would give it 3 and 1/2 stars not four.

"Pro-Life" of the Masters of Horror series... Oh dear, how much can be said about this one. The story focuses on a teenage girl being taken to an abortion clinic, demanding she have her baby aborted. Why is she in such a hurry, you ask? Well, because the father of her baby is a demon, or perhaps Satan. It's never stated if the father is the Devil or just a demon, but you get to see the "father", so you be the judge. Anyway, the main obstacle for this girl is that HER father (played excellently by Ron Perlman) is pro-life, and a very serious christian. Well, the demon speaks to the father, telling him to "protect the baby", which he assumes is God telling him. So, he and his three sons break into the abortion clinic and start shooting everything that moves, which is apparently what God would want. The climax of the episode is the the Demon/Satan emerging from Hell into the abortion clinic to retrieve his son. I reccomend this for Carpenter fans, and fans of Ron Perlman. I don't reccomend this for anyone who leans strongly toward pro choice OR anti abortion, because well, this film won't change your mind, and will probably just offend you. So you've been warned

Abortion is one of the most divisive issues in the United States, and kudos to John Carpenter for tackling it head-on. I have read reviews on various message boards objecting to "Masters of Horror" episodes with a political point of view (esp. Joe Dante's "Honecoming"). What is art if not an expression of the artist's viewpoint? "Pro-Life" is filled with irony: in instilling "pro-life" values in his sons and in carrying them out himself, {SPOILERS!} Dwayne Burcell is actually promoting pro-death values as he turns his sons into killers and carries out cold-blooded murder in the name of his beliefs. It is Angelique, who demands the abortion, who actually carries out God's will. Her father and brainwashed brothers take innocent lives in quite gory and shocking scenes. Network TV series have traditionally tried to present both sides of controversial issues. That is not art, but playing it safe. "Masters" doesn't play safe. BTW, I own a fur coat but loved Argento's "Pelts."

An angry Ron Perlman armed with a gun is definitely one of the scariest images Masters of Horror has put on screen thus far, and it was a masterstroke for the series to land him for an episode. Unfortunately "Pro-Life," about a teenage girl seeking an abortion to rid herself of a baby conceived by demonic rape, starts out strong but falls into silliness by the story's end. There's some topical social commentary here about abortion clinics and the pro-life debate, but all that gets tossed out the window the moment the demon in the rubber suit shows up. I don't know how deliberately campy John Carpenter wanted to take the final act, but it's disappointing given the forty minutes of strong buildup prior.

Worth a rental to see Ron Perlman's performance, but Pro-Life feels like a missed chance to do something more with the horror genre.

I really enjoyed "Pro-life" and some of the gory deaths had me laughing. Whilst the subject matter is controversial, I feel this film was not propaganda (as the paranoid christians who have "reviewed" the film has said) but a good story of an interesting guy "Ron Perlman" who happens to be a religious nutter!

The irony of being "pro-life" as he is will not be lost on you. Great performance by Ron Perlman, he sure is ugly to look at but makes an imposing figure.

Well put together and vastly entertaining horror.

Pro-Life is a horror movie about a girl who is raped by the devil and wants an abortion. The catch is, she has an uber-right-wing Christian pro-life father who, once he finds out his daughter is in the abortion clinic, does anything and everything to get her out. This movie deals with a very touchy subject. It definitely has a pro-choice slant, as it portrays the father character as a completely psychotic idiot who shoots and kills anyone in his way throughout the entire film.

Pro-Life is not for everyone. Real-life pro-life supporters will be outraged, while only a small number of pro-choicers will be too disgusted by the subject matter to enjoy this story. That being said, I enjoyed it, but I can totally see other peoples' points of view and how they may feel about the subject matter. I have to say, though, that compared to some of the other Masters of Horror series, this one IS one of the best as far as story, effects, gore, and direction are concerned.

The movie is presented in anamorphic widescreen 1.78:1 and looks great. As with all the MOH series, there are tons of extras on this disc that make it a great buy for a small price.

If this sounds like a movie that you will not be offended by, go ahead and buy it! I liked it a lot. If you think the subject matter may be too much for you...steer clear. That's all I can say!

A 15 year old girl gets impregnated by the devil when he comes up from underground one lazy summer night and pulls her down into hell for some rough sex. One morning while running in the woods she is nearly hit by a car whose two occupants happen to be on their way to work at the local women's clinic. They take her in to see if she is okay from the accident and then find out that she is with child. Soon the clinic is invaded by her father a God fearing, gun loving, and abortion hating madman played by Ron Perlman. He is not the only problem as they soon find out that the child's father may in fact be the devil himself. The staff and other patients at the hospital are caught in the middle of a deadly war between the two dads. The violence and special effects in this movie are very gross and very graphic. The spider baby is especially gross to look at and when the devil finally appears his scaly body and horns are a bit much. Either way this film sucks it doesn't look or have any of the fun you expect from a Carpenter film. To say that Ron Perlman gives the best performance isn't saying much as the actress playing his daughter is terrible and the doctors barely keep a straight face saying their lines. Carpenter says in the making of that he considers the Perlman character a hero I certainly would not go that far. He tries to legitimize this film by telling the tale of a deeply religious man who has brainwashed his kids into blindly following him on a mission to save his daughter their sister by killing innocent people and then at the end after so many people have lost their lives raising the question if it was as God had wished it or if he had been listening to the wrong God. God or not nothing can save this film.

This may be THE worst movie I have ever seen. I had expected it to be bad but at least funny...it is not entertaining at all. You know it's a pathetic movie when you keep checking the time to see "is this piece of crap almost over?"-please don't waste your time or money with this garbage. I have nothing positive to say about this film, and don't want to waste any more time on it.

I have always been excited about Carpenter's work ever since I was a kid watching The Thing for the first time. Pro - Life seems to have missed the mark a bit. There are a few moments where you can have fun with his stlye - one example - using the long lens to introduce the very creepy van. Other than that, it is fun to hear his son's excellent score (which sounds alot like Carpenter himself - which Robert Rodrigez used this exact scoring style in Planet Terror!) which is perfect for the film. I wish Carpenter would go back into feature film before he is done. Short forms are fun (Cigarette Burns was very good) but, feature films are where we see him shine!