There are worst-case scenarios in filmmaking that one never considers. Either they're too preposterous (somebody builds a gigantic King Kong robot and ends up using Rick Baker in a monkey suit for the majority of the film) or they require a monetary investment that would hopefully prevent hiring deeply untalented craftsmen (I refer not to actors, directors, or writers -- poor examples of these are possible at any budget level). Take The Garden, for instance. While not the richest production (it's produced by Stephen J. Cannell, who's attempting to make a name for himself in the medium-low budget horror world), it certainly has enough money to shoot on film and with a responsible amount of CGI. The script is a good idea saddled with poor execution, and Don Michael Paul's direction doesn't even have the benefit of a good idea. The most apparent flaw in the film, however, is that the sound effects editor is crazy.(read more...)

Where Child's Play successfully used tightly wound, slowly released tension to assist an otherwise outlandish premise, Child's Play 2 is content to trim some of its predecessor's cinematic fat and get right to the point (of the butcher knife, of course). I suppose that's because if you buy the idea of a killer doll once, you'll buy it again: little-to-no explanation required. As with other slasher sequels, Chucky's second outing doesn’t approach the depth of the first film, but unlike others of its ilk, this demented dollhouse offers numerous pleasures within its celluloid walls.
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What is a ghost? A tragedy condemned to repeat itself time and again? An instant of pain, perhaps. Something dead which still seems to be alive. An emotion suspended in time. Like a blurred photograph. Like an insect trapped in amber.

Those words begin The Devil's Backbone (TDB), and unlike most conventional ghost stories that seek only to frighten, those words and the film itself force us to think long and hard about the definition of ghosts and their purpose in our lives. Carried by the poignancy of that luminous voice-over, those words and TDB breathed new life into the classic ghost story.(read more...)

Credits above are only for personnel unique to this episode. For credits relating to "Masters of Horror" as a whole, see the Masters of Horror review gateway.(read more...)