User reviews

i am one of the big fans of this would be cult series for horror fans.i believe that season 1 especially cigarette burns and imprint "wow" really good horror stuffs for the genre despite some disappointments during the first season.I hoped and desperately waited season 2 and wished it would be a decent start but it didn't damned thing not suits for the series and not a good start actually a bad one.Season 2 might be a downfall comparing season 1 but still masters of horror will and should continue to satisfy all the fans to miss serious and well-made horror stuffs for the TV and here a tip for whom not yet watch: please prepare yourself and watch this show you will like it.

Sean Patrick Flanery plays the sheriff in a small town. As a child he saw his father kill his mother and then be killed by a thing (never shown). He grows up in total fear of that thing coming back for him. It destroys his marriage...and then it seems it's come back for him...

That may sound sort of vague but you should see the movie! Good acting by everybody (especially Flanery) can not save this confusing, pointless tale. At the end a slew of impressive special effects are shoved in the audiences face...but it doesn't make any sense about what exactly is going on. Director Tobe Hooper has done worse but he's certainly done better. The only part that got to me is when we see a man attacking himself with a hammer! Confusing and dull.

So many movies Such small amounts of pleasure... Or perhaps the pleasure is just too spread out eh? Anywayzz; I really enjoy movies and shows like this one. They don't pretend to be anything more than what they are like a whole lot of flicks these days.(I don't trust trailers anymore, and no, not the kind with wheels). If you want reality i get it i really do, but i don't want reality when i sit down to watch a movie.(just me i guess) I just want to be entertained for a couple of hours, and to sort of remove myself for a bit eh. This flick let me do just that I AM HAPPY TO SAY! I enjoyed the actors and i liked the story which even made me giggle a few times as well!(shhh!) Here here, and jolly good shoooe, and all that! Enjoy your time at the movies!!(I did:-))

Based on a short story by the great Ambrose Bierce, Tobe Hooper's second contribution to the "Masters Of Horror" series, "The Damned Thing", is more solid and quite a bit better than Hooper's first episode, "Dance Of The Dead", but it is still far away from being one of the great episodes of this overall brilliant series. Tobe Hooper more than deserves the title as a 'Master Of Horror' for his 1974 masterpiece "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" alone, but his contributions to the MoH series are not quite as masterly as one could have hoped for. Still, although being one of the lesser episodes of the series, "The Damned Thing" has its qualities. Some good characters, a certain atmosphere and a storyline that is not nearly as messy as it was the case in "Dance Of The Dead" make the episode well worth watching.

In 1981, young Kevin Reddle has to experience his parents die a bloody death, after his father has been driven insane by a mysterious force in their little Texas hometown. 25 years later Kevin (Sean Patrick Flanery), who has a family himself now, has become sheriff of the little town, and is understandably still a bit paranoid due to the horrible incident in his childhood...

As stated above "The Damned Thing" is certainly not one of the best episodes of the great "Masters Of Horror" series, but it has its very eerie moments and delivers a certain amount of suspense. There are also some fun characters, such as the town's rather strange clergyman, Father Tulli played by Ted Raimi (Mr. 'Evil Dead' Sam Raimi's brother), or the naive Deputy, who plans to get famous with a cartoon character he keeps drawing. Some scenes have a great sense of black humor too, and the episode has its own atmosphere, but then, that's about it. The performances are OK, but not breathtaking and I've certainly seen great acting in some of the other MoH episodes. All things considered, "The Damned Thing" is an acceptable episode that will not leave people bored, but I would certainly recommend most of the other episodes over this. 6/10

Many argue that if Tobe Hooper ever had any magic touch going for him, he lost it. Some also argue, that even Poltergeist was mostly directed by the producer of the movie (Mr. Spielberg that is) and therefor Mr. Hooper never had "it". Whatever you think of him, he at least created some fine visuals for this episode.

And Mr. Flanery tries his best to convince us and get us into the story. A predictable one and also (and unfortunately) a very lame/tame one. While Style over substance is mostly used to describe something as negative, I think the style here adds quite a few point to the whole thing. At least, that's how I felt about it. I know, that most people are or will be disappointed by it.

One thing is for sure: As this is a Masters of Horror episode, this means, you don't have to watch a 90 minute movie. It's not even an hour long. If you are willing to spend that much time on this, try to enjoy it as much as possible ... if not for the story, then at least for the gore and visuals on hand

This episode of Masters of Horror has some excellent aspects and some rather dubious ones as well. Now, I am not one of those Hooper haters. I actually think much of his work - mostly early am afraid - is quite good - and some even amazing. He definitely has talent. But this episode's faults are mostly with the script not the direction. Hooper got me interested early and the performances were all very adequate - some a bit over-the-top undoubtedly. The story concerns a man who as a child witnessed some inexplicable force taking over his father and "making" him execute the boy's mother and try to kill the boy. Thirty Years later the force rises again and haunts the boy and the town - as we discover that the force not only had changed the boy's father but also caused the townsfolk to go mad and on a killing spree. Well, things go fairly fluidly until the last fifteen minutes or so where all hell breaks looses both figuratively and literally. I like the way Hooper shot the scenes, but the story dissolves really at the end into one big "What just happened?".Sean Patrick Flannery does a good job in the lead and Sam Raimi's brother Ted gives an overblown yet fun performance as a local priest. Although Hooper shows he still has touches, he needs to find better material to work his craft with.

The Damned Thing is probably the third or fourth best Masters of Horror episode. Last seasons "Cigarette Burns" still holds the top spot out of the 14 episodes. The Damned Thing was very well made, and featured an excellent performance by Sean Patrick Flanery, but it was Ted Raimi who stoled the show. This episode also has a very disturbing and chilling scene, that was more brutal than anything in last seasons shows. The ending was a bit off, and is likely to divide viewers. This show has plenty of gore, weirdness and intensity to hold your attention for an hour. Any fan of Tobe Hooper, the director, will be very pleased with the results. This is Hooper at his "Poltergeist" best.

A young boy named Kevin Reddle sees his father go berserk and kill his mother and is then mauled and disemboweled himself. Years later, Kevin is the town sheriff and when similar incidents start happening around town, he must piece together the mystery before the evil consumes the town.

Like season one's "Dance of the Dead" this is a story directed by Tobe Hooper and written by Richard Christian Matheson, adapted from a classic horror story (though this time from Ambrose Bierce rather than from Matheson's father). And also like season one, it is the least critically acclaimed episode in the season.

I haven't read the Bierce story, but the elements here should be familiar: a town consumed by evil, an evil that returns every 24 years (not unlike Stephen King's 30 years from "It") and a son who must deal with his father's legacy. Some variations from other stories you may have seen, but the general idea remains unchanged. Even Sean Patrick Flannery (Kevin Reddle) reminds me of Nathan Fillion from "Slither" in his sheriff uniform.

Where this episode shines is in the gore. While perhaps not as gory as "Jenifer", we have a man who smashes his own face with a hammer, a car accident victim with no legs and a man get visibly disemboweled before our eyes (not unlike what happened to Judas Iscariot probably).

The acting is also decent. Flannery is respectable, the local reporter is well-casted, and Marisa Coughlan makes for a good female lead. (Viewers will recognize Coughlan as the female lead from either "Super Troopers" or "Freddy Got Fingered" -- this film is not as funny as either of them.) Really standing out is Ted Raimi as Father Tulli, in one of his bigger roles (and a much better one than in "Skinner" with Ricki Lake).

Where the film fails, though, is the lack of a plot. In the first ten or fifteen minutes I thought I was watching a great film, but it fell deeper and deeper down the ranks as it went. By no means will I give away the ending, but I think it will leave you about as unsatisfied as you can possibly be. It is the only ending of a "Masters of Horror" episode I have really despised.

I cannot say you need to watch this film. I would be hard pressed to say it is better or worse than "The Fair-Haired Child" or "Pick Me Up" (my two least favorites), but I can say this: Tobe Hooper is proving to the world over and over again that whatever magic he had, he lost a long time ago.

Ah, what can I say? I was rooting for Tobe Hooper, as a longtime fan of the man's work, to hit one out of the park this time around, since his episode "THE DAMNED THING" opens Season Two of MOH. Last season, his entry, "DANCE OF THE DEAD" had its sketchy moments, yet still (at least for me) managed to compel me to stick with it...with a lot of motivation coming from Robert Englund's bravura performance as the "M.C."

I'm sorry to say that this time around, Tobe and writer Richard Christian Matheson fall far short of the mark. And I think a lot of the problem comes from the source material. It's a commendable ambition to attempt to adapt material as classic and timeless as the stories of a well-known author like Ambrose Bierce, but the chilling terror from his stories lies in the brevity and the strong imagery they evoke.

Set basically in the past, via a series of journal-like entries, the original story would've proved problematic to adapt on a limited budget, so I can understand why Matheson brings the scenario into modern times. But given that there's only an hour to tell the tale, no matter what you do with it, there's just not enough time to do the kind of set-up that Hooper has done in the past...getting us all comfy with the characters and their relationships, so that our concern for their welfare magnifies the horror of their grisly fates that much more. Sorry to say that I sensed none of that going on here at all.

The other signature Hooper touches are here: the oppressive sense of oncoming doom, the extreme gore (although it's more literal than psychological here, which dilutes a lot of the shock value), and an atypical ending to the story. But Sean Patrick Flanery, who is usually pretty good, underplays the lead character almost to the point of being catatonic, while the supporting players are all stock characters, (except for Ted Raimi, whose priest seems to be a complete loon from the get-go, so his later rampage comes as no surprise to the audience whatsoever.)

Just like there are certain songs that some singers should never attempt, there are some contemporary American authors whose work shouldn't be adapted by some writers or directors. I wish Tobe and Richard better luck on their next endeavor, since this one really didn't work.

(Honestly...maybe Don Coscarelli should've tried this one, while Hooper and Matheson could've been given a Joe Lansdale story to tackle. Now THAT might hold some great possibilities...)

In season 1 of Masters of Horror, I really enjoyed John Landis episode (Deer Woman). It had great characters, mixed in with some comedy and a nice tongue in cheek plot. I warns;t to impressed with Tobe Hoopers first episode... but this one I really enjoyed...

Sure when you boil it down the protagonist is a giant oil monster, but there's something really cool, about seeing normal be afraid for their loved ones, then lose their mind in a second, and try to kill them. It's somewhat reminiscent of George A. Romero's "The Crazies"...

.....There were also two special treats in this movie, coming off a commercial break for beauty products (when I was watching this on TV) it went right into a scene where some guy takes a hammer to his own face.... Pretty Gory and entertaining.... Also seeing Ted Raimi as a Priest was entertaining as well

As is the case with most second-season "Masters of Horror" episodes, 'The Damned Thing' is simply a downgrade in all departments: a poorly structured, generally ineffective tale suffering from a muddled plot, one-dimensional characters, and effects that come off as absurd in their own exaggeration (the ep opens with an overblown disembowelment and only gets sillier from there). The actors are done no favors by Richard Christian Matheson's script (a loose adaptation of an obscure story by Ambrose Bierce), which stitches together disparate moments of somber exposition and hyperactive bloodletting in a story that never really comes together: in 1981, Kevin Reddle witnessed his father go on a rampage, murdering his mother in cold blood on his birthday; 24 years later (and now a lawman played by Sean Patrick Flanery), a vague, possessive evil rises up to transform the residents of his sleepy Texas town into bloodthirsty maniacs. While Matheson seems to be making a social comment on man's reliance on fossil fuel turning civil society to pandemonium (echoes of Katrina and the Iraq quagmire), his method couldn't be less subtle. Also problematic is Flanery's portrayal of Reddle--mumble-mouthed and listless, his performance borders on sleepwalking, and a cliché-ridden voice-over does nothing to help us sympathize with him (especially when he unconvincingly heads into Jack Nicholson territory in the last reel). With so much working against 'The Damned Thing' my middle-ground rating comes from Hooper's direction: while 'Dance of the Dead' (his season one entry) combined the horrific and sleazy with pathos and social insight, the director weaved it into a dazzling barrage of nightmarish imagery through his spastic technique; similarly, 'The Damned Thing' shows him operating well within his limited resources--even if the other elements aren't up to snuff, Hooper knows when to shake the camera, and when to keep it perfectly still. But that alone really isn't enough to warrant repeat viewings.

The Damned Thing is the opener of season two of Masters Of Horrors. And let it be Tobe Hooper who directs. Two good things but once this episode was over I only could conclude that Tobe has lost it years ago and that CGI doesn't always work.

Although we do have a few nice gruesome scene's it just doesn't work because the story itself is a bit of a laughter. I don't have any problems with the underworld or the supernatural, I could even stand a Mummy made by sand but here a demon made by oil was a bit too laughable.

It starts rather strong with young Kevin seeing his father going berserk and killing his mother. Kevin runs away but the father is after him only to shoot him but when Kevin hides in a tree his father is disemboweled by an unseen thing. That part was rather good and on the edge of pure gore but then we move 24 years further with a grown up Kevin (Sean Patrick Flannery). From there on the story falls into a lot of talking but still we do have a few nice scene's like a woman with no legs in a car accident and one guy going bonkers with a hammer on himself. But how further you watch The Damned Thing how deeper it sinks story wise.

It's again the effects that really saves this done by Berger and Nicotero. Maybe I shouldn't blame Tobe for the bad script but I can blame him for the use of CGI at the end.

For the opener of season two it already shows that season one was magnificent and that it isn't that easy to follow up such a series, but of course there are exceptions in season two. But this one, it was indeed a damned thing.

Gore 1,5/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

Much like many other commentators, I am a Bierce fan and was very much excited to see one of his stories put to film. Alas, like so many others who have abused the great early horror writers, Tobe Hooper and friends were unable to even approach the greatness of Bierce and his short story. In fact, the script had so little connection with Bierce's mini-masterpiece that I would have to say the creators of this film are guilty of name-dropping to sell the show. Perhaps what started out as an honest attempt to adapt the story somehow went wrong in the screenplay writing (which is mediocre at best, but has next to no connection with the original story) and they had no choice but see it through. That however is giving them the benefit of the doubt and then some.

So about half way through the film, I realized my hope of seeing a Bierce story on screen was not to be and I had to un-suspend and then re-suspend my disbelief in order to wince through the rest of the movie. And I mean literally, I was wincing due to the pervasive flashy strobe light effects and the jittery jump shots that left me wondering if they were in the middle of a caffeine bender or if they edited it that way on purpose. Seriously, I felt at times as though I was watching a documentary about raves. The film did have some good moments, though few and far between. It's a decent little production if you factor in that they only had 10 days to film it, and if you aren't expected a film based on an Ambrose Bierce short story of the same name.

Opening episode of the second season has an interesting premise, the atmosphere of mystery and tension gradually rise promising an excellent horror film, and then collapse into one of the dumbest things I've ever seen. Within the genre, it might be able to pass with a five out of ten, but the ending is unforgivable. Instead of some sort of resolution, an unexpected twist or anything meaningful, the film ends as an episode of the regular TV series. At the most exciting moment movie stops and closing credits begin, and to see how the story ends you have to wait for the next episode. Only this is not a regular show and there won't be the next episode. Idiocy.

3/10

First off, this episode has nothing at all to do with frightening and quite good the Ambrose Bierce story except the title. That said, this short movie was excellent all in its own right. The acting - both that of the stars and of the secondary characters - contributed to the horror, the script - that of an unknown and unresistable force affecting the town - was well paced and full of action and suspense. The direction kept the story moving well to a bit of a frustrating and foreseeable conclusion - to me the only real drawback of the story was this inevitability.

On the whole, this was an excellent story and I recommend any horror fan to give it a try.

I had mixed feelings when I saw that the first episode of the second season of this anthology show would be directed by none other than Tobe Hooper. For one thing we all know how much raw potential he has but also how he tends to make some oddly disappointing directing decisions that leave his works sadly unfulfilled. And for another this is his second addition to Masters of Horror (one of the few true masters really featured)- and his first one was good. It was decent but not great. Seeing that this one was another collaboration between Matheson and Hooper had me pretty excited because the script for Dance of the Dead, Hooper's earlier episode also written by Matheson, was nice. I actually had higher expectations for this episode than I did Dance of the Dead- for the first four minutes. And then comes in that awful slow-mo hazy effect that he used so liberally in his other episode. Why he does things like this is beyond me but I immediately gave a great sigh and settled down, ready for another lukewarm serving from someone very adept and delivering below his potential. Which was actually a blessing in disguise because now I was open to being pleasantly surprised. This time around the cinematography had a warm ambiance reminiscent of TCM. It was set in Texas, so maybe that's just what Hooper does best.In fact, the atmosphere seems to be an element that's missing in a lot of his films and is really done justice here. The script was also tighter this time around- it probably did help that it was based on a short story rather than a Matheson original. I started off this review with criticism but honestly The Damned Thing is a gem among later Hooper works and a cut above most of the episodes of Masters of Horror.

I can't believe MOH chose to open their second season with this stinker. Seriously, I've seen better horror films on Youtube. I have to assume the previous glowing review it got was from someone involved with the show. Maybe Tobe Hooper himself.

Bad acting. Bad directing. Bad story. Random characters that come out of nowhere just in time to be killed. No real plot to speak of, and an ending that seems tacked on from a completely different story. Plus a lot of voice-over exposition from the main character - never a good sign.

Hopefully the episodes will get better from now on. Frankly, I don't see how it could get worse.