Customer Reviews

Masters of Horror - Right to Die

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Just what qualifies someone to be called a "Master" in the horror genre? That's a question I've asked several times in the two seasons of Showtime's "Masters of Horror" anthology series. Looking at their slate of directors, there are some obvious choices--but disappointingly the undisputed "Masters" haven't necessarily turned in the best episodes of this show. Rob Schmidt is, perhaps, one of the more dubious choices to fulfill a "Masters" criteria--his most notorious horror work is the film "Wrong Turn." And while I'm sure that film has its admirers, it is ultimately just another of countless derivations of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" complete with young couples isolated in the woods being stalked by hillbilly murderers.

"Right to Die," however, is not a bad entry in the "Masters of Horror" series. In fact, it's rather solid with an unexpected and appreciated cleverness. Martin Donovan, an indie film stalwart whose deadpan delivery I have always admired, stars as the film's protagonist. Existing in a troubled marriage, Donovan's situation goes from bad to worse as a horrible car accident puts his wife in a coma. Covered in burns, unrecognizable, and not able to live without technological intervention--the episode wrestles with whether or not Donovan should humanely let her die. Oh but there's one complication, his wife's spirit is restless. Every time her heart fails, but before she is revived, her gruesome specter is on the move seeking retribution on those that have wronged her in life.

I particularly liked the juxtaposition of the traditional horror story with the "Right to Die" political debate. That's what makes this episode unique, and there is genuine humor that is mined from this topic. The horror sequences are effective enough--if somewhat familiar. Borrowing elements from the tepid "What Lies Beneath," and even "Hellraiser," the scariness of this episode is far less inventive than the shrewd appropriation of the Right To Die controversy. But for an hour, you could do worse. The acting is solid, the effects are good--all in all, I found this to be a worthwhile episode. About 3 1/2 stars (for me, the most enjoyable episodes have only been 4 stars), this is better than you might expect from someone with such an undistinguished horror resume. KGHarris, 03/07.

She's the only reason (and that's reason enough) to watch this episode. Simply for the bathtub scene. Wow!

Honestly Episode is fairly good aside from her incredible performance. Other reviewers are missing something here.

"Right To Die" is an interesting and entertaining episode. Directed by Rob Schmidt, who is responsible for the suprisingly good horror movie "Wrong Turn", proves here he does have some skill. The episode doesn't try to deliver any major gore or scary suspense, but it does make you think about if someone is in a vegetative state or permanent coma, who decides if they have the right to die?

What saves this episode from being boring is the great acting from every character in the movie and the mystery that builds up towards the second half of the story about who is actually going to live and who is actually going to die.

first, to appreciate this film, you need to be a horror fan...

that being said, this tight 60 minute film (episode) involves a couple. The wife has just learned that hubby is having an affair. They argue about this in the car, and hubby gets distracted and runs the car off the road. He survives mostly without a scratch; however, she is badly burned as the car explodes into a fireball (I could insert a spoiler here, but won't). Afterwards, the wife lays bed-ridden and in need of a skin transplant within 12 hours or she'll die.

Without describing any more of the plot......the story is essentially a revenge tale about the dangers of adultery. There is a "right to die" issue, but this is just a sub-text to the larger theme of revenge.

There are some interesting super-natural elements in the film as well, and yes, lots of blood. Martin Donovan, Julia Benson, and Robin Sydney are just perfect in their roles, and Corbin Berson is very funny.

Well done...

Contains Spoilers

A manipulative twerp named Cliff (Martin Donovan) and his beautiful wife Abbey (Julia Anderson) have a massive car accident which leaves the wife severely burned from head to toe and in a coma. Cliff, with the advice of his conniving lawyer Ira (Corbin Bornsen), decides he would like to pull the plug on her and set in motion a law suit that will result in millions of dollars be given to her beneficiary. The victim's mother is adamant that her daughter be kept alive and sets up petitions. What develops is a tale of vengeance as the victimized woman's ghost leaves her body whenever she "flat lines", and takes revenge on those who have scorned her. Her spirit is transported back in to her body once she is artificially resuscitated and waits to seek revenge once again the minute her heart stops beating.

Directed by Rob Schmidt ("Wrong Turn"), "Right to Die" has got to be one of the most stomach churning episodes I have seen to date (I have yet to finish watching all of Season 2). The gore is excruciatingly explicit and the subject matter disturbing. The body count is not as high as one might expect but there is enough blood and burnt flesh on display to keep those gore-hounds in check and those not expecting such graphic scenes of human suffering, will be pleasantly surprised. The main reasons this episode got to me was because it displays two aspects of human anguish that really irk me. The director did not shy away from exploiting these scenes of torment and showcases them in all of their gory glory in gooey explicit detail. The make-up effects are well done as is the gore effects and the performances are up to standard particularly Donovan. Those who are expecting a sub standard entry from this particular director (since he hasn't really made a horror film worthy of praise although I did enjoy "Wrong Turn") may be surprised as this entry far exceeds many others in the series in sheer entertainment and ferocity. Even those directed by more respected genre directors come up short in comparison. "Right to Die" definitely requires you to suspend disbelief, even the scenes that do not involve the resentful ghost wreaking havoc amongst the living but this is a horror tale so suspend your disbelief already and just sit back and enjoy the scenery as sick and perverse as the scenery is. Yuck and totally recommended.

Rob Schmidt is far from being a Master of Horror, but the Wrong Turn director manages to turn in a decent enough Masters of Horror episode with Right to Die. Martin Donovan (The Quiet, Insomnia) stars as a cheating dentist, whose wife (Julia Anderson) is involved in a catastrophic car crash that leaves her with severe burns and in a coma. While he insists on the plug being pulled, her mother fights to keep her alive, which results in the wife's spirit taking vengeance on whoever she can get her hands on. Despite the leaps in logic and cavalcade of plot holes, Right to Die is a pretty decent episode of the horror anthology series, most notably thanks to Martin Donovan's manic performance and the superb gore effects work from KNB. Other than that though, there really isn't anything much else to admire about Right to Die. Considering the storyline, you'd figure that writer John Esposito would easily go for the political satire route, buthe doesn't, which leaves Right to Die kind of empty. Flaws aside though, Right to Die does manage to deliver the goods that horror fans look for, and in that respect alone, Right to Die works.

This was my favorite episode. It kept me on the edge of my seat. I love revenge stories and this was no exception. She wasn't the nicest person, however burns have got to be the most painful, debilitating injury of all and that guy deserved his comeuppance !!

This installment of Masters of Horror was pretty good but not great. I have to say the story was pretty interesting and slightly creepy at times. I would say it is definately worth checking out, but not worth buying.

It starts well only to slip right ahead. If I were you, I wouldn't waste my money. Or buy it at your own risk.

*contains spoilers*
the first 20 minutes are very slow, after that it picks up and becomes an engaging drama. at first i thought the twist at the end, which is actually a reveal of something that happened at the start, was dumb, but five minutes later what it actually meant hit me (that he wants to keep his wife alive so her ghost can't come after him) and now i think it's genius. i generally dislike twist endings because they contradict the previous story but this one does the exact opposite.