Customer Reviews

Masters of Horror: The V Word

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

 

 

Two friends and video game geeks, Gary and Justin (Arjay Smith and Branden Nadon respectively) foolishly break into a mortuary late at night seeking cheap thrills only to come face to face with ...gulp...Michael Ironside who is creepy enough but in this case, he is portraying a ferocious, blood-thirsty vampire (are there any other kind?) who is in desperate need of a wet-nap. This bloody little film was directed by Ernest R. Dickerson and it delivers the gory goods but lacks any real surprises. It does deviate a bit from the usual vampire fare in that these blood-hounds do not simply bite to suck your blood, they pretty much have to rip your throat out to drink since they lack elongated fangs leaving a gooey, ghastly mess. This gives the talented make-up effects crew the opportunity to create some very convincing gore effects which should not disappoint. Another plus is having Michael Ironside as the head vampire. The man's menacing presence is perfectly suited for the genre and he turns in a rather amusing performance. In this day and age, as we're living under the shadow of the "Twilight" saga, "True Blood" and even "Buffy" and "Angel", it is refreshing indeed to finally see a vampire that conveys chills upon viewing and doesn't look like he leaped out of a GQ pictorial. The two young male leads are also good. Especially Nadon, whose character remains consistent and once bitten, tries desperately to fight off the infection that has consumed his friend.

Since vampire themed films have been done to death, (they are literally everywhere nowadays), there really is nothing left to convey. It has all been done before so this installment has very few to no surprises. However there is a lot of blood on display and this alone is reason enough to recommend it in my opinion. Why else would anyone be tuning in to a "Masters of Horror" episode anyways? For the plot? Maybe. The director? Maybe. The Oscar Caliber script? Performances? Cinematography? Score? Hardly. This show was made for us horror film fans and we have proven time after time that we are a forgiving bunch (well at least most of the time). If your film has little to no suspense, no genuine scares or logic there are other ways to make it up to your target audience. In this case, the well done gore effect saved the day. That along with Michael Ironside's repulsive looking vampire and some pretty cool atmosphere during the first quarter of the film raises this by-the-numbers but overall effective little nail-biter up a notch and it may be worth checking out, especially if you're an undiscriminating horror fan.

I can't bash the MOH series because regardless of how dumb they are I continue to check them out. I guess I am on a mission to find one that blows me away. I'm starting to think I may need to give up. The V Word was no exception to the typical MOH story. This one is a vampire story. It had it's moments, but nothing to rave about. There were times I wondered if I should shut if off or not, but I forged on and came up empty. I would say it's up to you to check it out but I wouldn't strongly recommend it.

I bought this on the Strength of Michael Ironside being in it.He is just so manic in his performances that he holds the viewer by dint of his own energy. The earliest example of Ironside that I know of is a USA network Half hour piece from the 1988 Episode (of some Obscure TV Series)by Ray Bradbury called "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl".If you can get a view of this, its not a great show by any means, but Ironside plays off Robert Vaughn so well that he generates his own heat and light right up to the denoument.
The V WORD is attempting to be innovative, so I assume thats why it has polarised views. I watched the show on DVD on a 5.1 sound system and the call of the night voices amongst many elements just touch the right view, and the right feel.
The DVD extras are a plus too.The commentary is a very good highlight, and shows how Mick Garris is viewing things and how the Director is approaching things. The FX are discussed, and shown in some of the extras, and for a low Budget TV show, the quality is very good. Whilst not as high in production Values as MILLENNIUM ( Seasons 1 and 3 being the most ideal), the V WORD holds a good place in quality production. Dickerson brings a fans delight to the fright, and I feel this works well on many levels.

As much as I loved Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight, I wouldn't call Ernest Dickerson a "master of horror". Then again, when you get right down to it, other than John Carpenter, Dario Argento, Takishi Miike, John Landis, Tobe Hooper (who is a shell of his former self), and maybe Lucky McKee (the guy's got talent), I wouldn't call many of the directors of Mick Garris' Masters of Horror series masters of the genre either. All that aside, The V Word is a pretty fun and bloody vampire tale, featuring the always great Michael Ironside as a powerful vamp discovered by two friends (Arjay Smith, Branden Nadon) who decide to break into a mortuary. The story, scripted by Garris himself, is actually pretty fun and Dickerson's direction is energetic and atmospheric as well. The gore effects from industry legends Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger are nicely done as well, and Ironside himself is a scene stealer. The only real downsides to The V Word is that while it is enjoyable, there isn't anything really special about it either. It's not very suspenseful, and is kind of slow moving in the beginning, but wraps up nicely in the end. All in all, The V Word is a solid episode of the second season of Masters of Horror, and while Ernest Dickerson is no master of the genre, he's not a novice to it either.

Besides "Cigarette Burns" and "On and Off a Road Mountain", I don't like most of the Masters of Horror Episodes. However, this vampire tale has an old fashion feel to it. The kind of which that comes out of a short story horror book collection. If you like that kind of stuff I'd at least rent it.

Season 2 of Masters of Horror was pretty bland, and unfortunately this one sits at the bottom of the barrel. Two teens break into a funeral home for some cheap scares, but end up finding a monster that's half zombie and half vampire. The boys are "bitten" (their throats are ripped out) and at least one of them tries to fight the infection.

The story is weak and loses any sense of pacing or tension about halfway through, ending more like a cheesy episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Mick Garris, creator of the series he may be, seems to be one of the weaker talents in the Masters of Horror chain. His script draws from cliched horror staples and gives characters obligatory development moments (father issues, climactic re-affirmation of friendships). Cult favourite Michael Ironside hams it up as the lead zombie-vampire and you kinda wish he'd landed in a better episode. From offerings like this you'd never know why these are the "Masters" of Horror. Save your money.

For those who do not have the dvd and only seen this on Showtime, I can clear up some of your complaints about this episode.

In the director/writer commentary, a major story issue was revealed. When this story was being developed the two teens (nowhere in this episode was it stated that they were in college) were originally young boys between the ages 8-13. That was changed due to how much work and overtime this episoe required and child labor laws would have made that impossible to do with kids.

This was suppose to be a story about two boys that were pretty much geeks (or in Arjay Smith's character, Kerry, case a white geek dipped in chocolate). To a certain point that worked and didn't work. It took liberty with some of the things vampires do and rewrote the one thing they did-bite people. Instead they just rip necks and leave a open gap that doesn't heal or keep water down.

It should have focused more on Kerry since it was implied that he came from a worst home life than Justin. While Kerry was forced to accept becoming a vampire, Justin fought it to the very end. Ironside was the comic relief and the "father" figure that both boys lacked.

The ending flat out screams a sequel or a crossover with Angel, Buffy, Blade the Vampire Hunter, Morbius or Dracula.

This is an inventive vampire story. Not too much blood and guts. An entertaining hour of television.

The V-Word would probably rate as my least favorite of the Masters of Horror. Overall it wasn't terrible I personally thought as a whole the series was fairly good. There were some that were better than others, but there were none that I hated and The V-Word, while not bad it just suffers from being too clichéd. Sometimes despite being clichéd the movie can work well and other times it can fall flat.

The screenplay by Mick Garris was overall kind of lacking. It just suffers from too many clichés. The V-Word is pretty much your standard vampire tale and your standard horror movie. The characters really aren't all that interesting and lack any depth. Nothing the characters say is really all that interesting. Mick Garris isn't a bad filmmaker; he can craft an enjoyable, but average movie. But let's face it he isn't going to go down as one of the greats. But here his script just really lacks.

Director Ernest Dickerson made his feature film debut with the excellent movie Juice, but to horror fans he's best known for Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight and Bones. While the latter wasn't very good, Demon Knight was a cool little flick mostly thanks to the fun performance from Billy Zane. Some people though questioned Ernest Dickerson directing and while I understand that, but how many filmmakers involved with this series were actually masters of horror?

Only a handful of the filmmakers were actually worthy of that title. Most of the filmmakers really only had one or two horror flicks and others may have worked on a few, but never really made an impact and than there are the other filmmakers best known for their work outside the genre. There were some great Iconic directors involved, but the masters of horror title really is just a gimmick to sell the product. Like Garris, Ernest Dickerson won't go down as one of the all time greats, but he can make an enjoyable movie and quite honestly at the end of the day isn't that all that really matters?

Ernest Dickerson doesn't do a bad job, but his scenes do lack suspense and tension. All the blame can't be placed on him. The script really wasn't all that good and Dickerson does the best he can. The scene set in the funeral home was fairly well done, but the main problem is it's just too drawn out. It has a good build up, but just goes on too long and by the time the scares kick in it's lost some of its edge. But overall the funeral home scene was well done, but it sort of goes downhill after that.

Ernest Dickerson does the best he can, but again the script was lacking and when you don't care about the characters it's kind of hard to take in the suspense. Dickerson manages to keep The V-Word from totally sinking, but when all was said and done it just doesn't work as well as it could have. By no means was The V-Word terrible, but it just never fully works.

The actors were fairly decent, with Michael Ironside being the stand-out. Ironside is clearly having fun, but his character really never has anything interesting too say. His character Mr. Chaney isn't very scary or creepy, but Ironside gives it his all and delivers a fun performance.

In closing, The V-Word does have its moments, but when all is said and done it's rather forgettable. Despite running at just under and hour it does seem to drag. The V-Word serves as a decent time killer, but in the end it ends up being an average entry in the masters of horror series.

This edition of the MOH series follows two college students who decide to go into a mortuary late one night to see the body (any body really) of a dead bully. Instead what they get is more then they can chew when Micheal Ironside wakes and attacks one, but lets the other one escape.

When both meet, the other boy is semi turned into a vampire and then turns his friend into one too. Thus starting their reign of terror - but both have a conscience and decided to due in the one that made them both.

I really enjoyed this edition of the MOH series, it reminded me of a tales from the crypt episode (Not too surprising considering the director is the one who directed 'Tales from the crypt: Demon Knight') but it had amusing one liners and the atmosphere was great! I don't want to ruin any of this for you - so I'll stop with the plot development.

IF you are looking for a fun, atmospheric, creepy and yet entertaining vampire movie then this might be for you. Granted its not as scary as some of its other counterparts, but its sure entertaining and a fun movie to watch.