Sharkflei
Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.
SeeQuant
Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction
Hayleigh Joseph
This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.
Nick Duguay
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.
BaronBl00d
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.
Witchfinder General 666
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
filmbforever
I enjoyed this MOH episode (although it was not the season opener in Oz). I believe the whole oil / Texas / Iraq / madness embodied by a demon connection could have made a good horror feature - not for the obvious reasons but for what made this episode so watchable. That is, the people who are responsible and those who subsequently benefit are held accountable - fair or not. Good to see Tobe Hooper plugging away as I always like his work (Dance of the Dead on MOH season one was excellent). Hooper appears to be much more an actor's director than a "horror guy". See his fantastic Salem's Lot miniseries and you will get the picture. Cheers!
