Saturday 23 September 2017

Masters of Horror Season 2 Part 4

From http://thescope.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/blackcat.jpg

The Black Cat (2007)
Director: Stuart Gordon
Screenplay: Stuart Gordon and Dennis Paoli
Based on the short story by Edgar Allen Poe
Cast: Jeffrey Combs as Edgar Allan Poe; Elyse Levesque as Virginia Poe
A Night of A Thousand Horror (Movies) #23

The Black Cat, Stuart Gordon's second turn at helming a Masters of Horror episode, is a little disappointing considering its reputation as one of the best of the second season. It's an episode whose main draw is arguably one of the best performances of the entire two season run, where Jeffery Combs steps out of Herby West's shoes in the Re-Animator series, and knocks out a credible flesh and blood version of who Edgar Allen Poe could've been. As someone who holds biopics the lowest of all cinema genre, scrapping even below the barrel in quality in spite of their large budgets, the swerve that this is both an adaptation of one of Poe's most famous stories but also encompasses biopic details of the author's life is pretty inspired, bucking the trend of all the other episodes and standing out in tone completely. The issue is entirely that, even under an hour, it could've taken more of a risk than it eventually did.

The story of The Black Cat, a parable on the dangers of alcoholism which went on to become one of Poe's most iconic stories, where a black cat is a personification of guilt and a wall is built to hide something, is done by Stuart Gordon here with Poe himself as the central figure using autobiographic details. His marriage to a younger cousin (Elyse Levesque), played here at the point of succumbing to consumption. With Poe a known author but in significant money troubles, with writer's block and a crippling alcoholism, all of which in this version of his life leading to a nightmarish delirium the moment he lashes out at their pet black cat. The strengths of the episode is sustained by how idiosyncratic to the others. A gothic chamber piece which has the right melancholic vibe for what is. One that, despite its moments of gore, is actually a drama masquerading as a horror story an played as such. It's entirely the Jeffrey Combs show as he is the centre carrying the weight of the entire episode on his shoulders. His performance does bring up the question, like so many of these horror personalities, why he never got more roles in and out the genre.

The issue is that, outside his performance, it's a solidly done drama but could've done more. Not necessarily drastic rewritings of the material but just a change in little pieces of dialogue, tidying and expanding the structure of the plot further for more risk, evoking more the bleakness of Poe's literature. This is especially the case as this plays with reality being up to question to an entirely clichéd ending, leaving an interesting episode on a sour. It dampens The Black Cat somewhat especially as its meant to be the crown jewel of the season.

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Valerie on the Stairs (2006)
Director: Mick Garris
Screenplay: Mick Garris
Based on a short story by Clive Barker
Cast: Tyron Leitso as Rob Hanisey; Nicola Lipman as Nancy Bloom; Jonathan Watton as Bruce Sweetland; Christopher Lloyd as Everett Neely; Christine Barrie as Anna; Clare Grant as Valerie; Suki Kaiser as Patricia Dunbar; Tony Todd as The Beast
A Night of a Thousand Horror (Shows) #24

In a series which has been pretty strong, Garris' second episode for the two series is in an awkward position out of its control. Chocolate (2005) was not a great episode, with a great multi-sexual edge underused but rewarding, but in a first season full of major directors failing badly it was a higher quality entry. Here, it's in the same level of quality, Garris' reputation as a director never particularly high, but the general quality of the episodes around it was more consistent, where even a dark horse like Rob Schmidt's episode stood out more, Valerie on the Stairs was kicked down the episode rankings significantly. The problem is really how long Garris' episode takes to set up a premise. The idea of every idea a writer had, especially those never published to book and lost in memory, gaining form is intriguing. Here wannabe author Rob Hanisey (Tyron Leitso) moves into a motel where unpublished writers like him can live, for even their entire lives, until they publish a book and then have to leave. The potential material from this, of desperation mixed with weird (potential) hallucinations, is intriguing as a beautiful woman named Valerie (Clare Grant) keeps appearing to Rob. As does a horned demon (Tony Todd under heavy prosthetics) who keeps dragging Valerie off.

It has stuff to like. Christopher Lloyd appearing in these grotty horror stories does jar against the childhood image of him as Doc Brown, but even in Piranha 3D (2010), there's this wonderful picture I have of him that's completely eroded the Back from the Future memories completely from the mind, that of an older character actor who can appear in these films and can, like here, play a foul mouthed cynic with aplomb. As an author who has actually published before, and is hiding that fact so he doesn't kicked out of the motel, he's an unused resource that the episode could've lingered on more. As is the environment of aging, failing authors doomed to never getting published which immediately gains sympathy from me as one of those delusions individuals trying to write too, eccentrics who could've had more screen time even in a limited time frame for the episode. And Tony Todd is always worth seeing even in elaborate and ridiculous prosthetics. The problem is that its take all the episode to get to the really interesting story. Where its revealed the episode is a meta commentary on stories entirely in a subjected reality, with one of the strongest last minute endings of the season wasted on an episode that should've expanded the last ten minutes to the entire fifty minutes length beforehand. Garris as a director, as with Chocolate, sadly tends to drown his best ideas in ridiculous amounts of padding. (Which is why I don't like The Stand (1994) for example). Here the problem, where the episodes before in season 2 have been better in quality, stands out more to a detriment.

From https://earlymorninghorrorreviews.files.wordpress.com/2016/02
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