Inside we've posted our third review from this year's Masters of Horror: Season 2 (all reviews), which airs every Friday on Showtime. Inside you'll find Tex Massacre's review of "The V Word", which was directed by Ernest Dickerson and written by Mick Garris. The vampire film reveals the punishment visited upon two teenage boys who make the very poor decision to break into a mortuary. Michael Ironside stars.
The V Word (MoH 2.3)
Reviewed By: Tex Massacre
5/10 or 2 1/2 Skulls
“Do you want to see a dead body”
Leave it to Masters of Horror creator Mick Garris to wink his trained eye to Stephen King—a man whose life’s work has given existence to Garris’ own career. In this latest episode of the Showtime original series, Director Ernest Dickerson (TALES FROM THE CRYPT: DEMON NIGHT) takes on Garris’ original story, THE V WORD.
The V in question is for Vampire. The Undead. Bloodsuckers. Children of the Night—what beautiful music they make. Dickerson and Garris’ film collaboration is littered with these kind of grand phrases—the goal— to take the viewer directly into a pop culture vortex. By opening the film with a pair of friends (Arjay Smith and Branden Nadon) busting each other balls and rocking the X-box 360, we are supposed to get a feel for youth culture, inundated with violence and peppered with am “in-crowd” language derived of outtakes from Entertainment Tonight. Garris is trying too hard here.
Once the back-and-forth has passed on, Nadon decides that he and Smith should head down to the local morgue and get a closer look at the recently deceased body of a local bully. They surmise that—best bet—it’ll make them appreciate their own pathetic lives a bit more next time the shit hits the fan. Well, they got one thing right, when this night is over they’ll appreciate life all right—they’ll appreciate it with a voracious appetite.
Like I said before, the V is for Vampire and these two boys are about to have a run in with just that very creature (Michael Ironside). This is the part of the episode that Dickerson does so well, you can very nearly taste the blood on the screen. Unfortunately, this is also the proverbial climax of the story, and it’s only 30 minutes in. What comes next feels like a second rate version of GINGER SNAPS IV: THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES, as Nadon discovers how to deal with his newfound lust for a banquet of blood. It’s also at this stage where Ironside and Smith become virtually useless and the whole film veers from taunt suspense to tiresome melodrama.
THE V WORD had a lot going for it, and with the exception of some seriously forced dialogue in the first 6 or 7 minutes, Dickerson had a nearly flawless film going for him—hammering the suspense at every interval. But a sudden twist wiped the whole slate clean and sent the last half of the film to the bottom of the proverbial barrel. With some glaring plot holes arriving just past the half way point and no cliché left unturned, the final 30 minutes virtually sink what once promised to be a brilliant episode of MoH.
One step forward and ten steps back. After finally giving us a great episode last week, its followed up with this steaming pile of monkey crap. I cant fault the director or the actors, the script was just terrible. And how sad is it that this hack writing comes from the creator of the series? pathetic. Like the reviewer said, the beginning was decent (kind of "goosebumps"ish, but still decent), and then it seemed like the rest of the show was being made up as they were filming. There was no plot, no structure, and no logic in the story after they encountered the "V". This episode, as most of the MOH have, make uwe boll's movies seem entertaining
I felt like it was a adult episode of Are "You Afraid of The Dark."
The film wasn't too bad.. I recognized 2 actors..
Jodelle Ferland from "Silent Hill" played her part well.
Arjay Smith, I recognized.. he was on classic nick's show "The Journey of Allen Strange." Maybe that’s why it felt like a "You Afraid of The Dark" episode.
I never understood the biggest plot hole in the film.. Why was Justin backing off from feeding? None of his actions where answered.. would of been great if they where.
I think that The V word is the best episode of the series yet... I didn't reconise the actors in the episode but thought that the acting was really good for the series. The biggest suprise for me was Justin played by Branden Nadon. I havent seem him before but was extremely impressed. As for the begining middle and end of the episode I liked the way it was done, somthing diffrent, and a huge change for horror films.
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Leave it to Masters of Horror creator Mick Garris to wink his trained eye to Stephen King—a man whose life’s work has given existence to Garris’ own career. In this latest episode of the Showtime original series, Director Ernest Dickerson (TALES FROM THE CRYPT: DEMON NIGHT) takes on Garris’ original story, THE V WORD.
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