Friday, October 30, 2009

Masters of Horror S2 02: Family (2006)

Some part of me has always wanted to see George Wendt perform the role of a schizophrenic serial killer who creates a delusional family for himself out of his victims' skeletons. Thanks to John Landis and the Masters of Horror, this part of me has been fully satisfied.

***NEIGHBORLY SPOILERS***

Family makes up for the lackluster Damned Thing with the tale of Harold, the lonely o/c serial killer who lives out his sicks dreams in suburbia. Harold painstakingly prepares his family members for their new roles. After stalking and murdering them, he uses a tub of acid to strip the bones of all their blood and tissue, then boils and cleans them, wires them into a semblance of completion and dresses them. When a new family member is needed? Done. But sometimes, you have to replace someone...and the arrival of two new neighbors, Celia (Meredith Monroe) and David (Matt Keeslar), concurs with his growing problems with imaginary wife Jane. Harold begins his relationship with the pair after an accident...

I've said enough already, but trust me when I say that you want to watch this one, it's a lot of fun and you'll be laughing your own skin off. George Wendt (Cheers) plays the subdued yet strangely menacing Harold, in what is probably the best Masters of Horror casting move since Michael Moriarty's 'Wheeler' in the 1st season episode Pick Me Up. This guys is fucked, and has his routine down very well. The new neighbors perform adequately the role of a troubled couple, and when the twist arrives, well...they perform more than adequately :) Also, props for making Harold a fan of Christian music radio.

Family is the kind of funny suburban horror comedy that will probably appeal to fans of a film like The Burbs, but really, anyone can enjoy this, as long as you have a taste for ghoulish humor and serial killers. You definitely don't want this version of Norm Peterson living in your neighborhood!

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

No comments: