Review by: J.R
Date: 22nd May 2008
Director William Malone has a grand history in horror. As a teen, he made short horror films and
taught himself how to make monster masks, which led to a job sculpting for the Don Post Mask
Studios, which eventually led to directing his own films.
Malone is probably best known for his remake of the Vincent Price film House on Haunted Hill,
but he has a long history of directing and writing for both TV and film. His entry of the Masters of
Horror, Mick Garris' made for cable television creation, was written by Matt Greenberg, who wrote
Halloween H20 and Reign of Fire.
The Fair Haired Child tells the tale of Tara (Lindsey Pulsipher), a schoolgirl social outcast who is
kidnapped one afternoon by disturbed musician Anton (William Samples) and his wife, Judith (Lori
Petty). They cast her into their basement, but for what purpose? In the basement, Tara finds a
young man named Johnny (Jesse Haddock) who's hanging by his neck, and she saves him from
dying by strangulation. The pair investigate the basement to find abandoned school bags
belonging to other teens, many many bloodstains and warnings from others to beware the fair
haired child but what, or WHO, is the fair haired child?
I liked this MOH movie, but as with most of the MOH episodes, even though it is sold as a 'movie',
it, on occasion, feels like an average episode of a TV show. I am not sure if this is due to a
smaller than cinematic budget, or even if some of the acting just doesn't quite cut it, but the
directors are supposed to be the stars of this series, and Malone sure shows his chops with this
one, as it looks great.
As usual with the Masters of Horror disc, the extras are great!
The featurettes include interviews with director William Malone, and actors Lori Petty, Jesse
Haddock, Lindsey Pulsipher and William Samples. There's also a behind the scenes look at the film,
and my favourite piece: The Face of Fear: William Malone, a documentary about Malone as told by
some of his contemporaries including actor Jeffrey Combs, horror legend Bob Burns,
cinematographer Christian Selbaldt and screenwriter Matt Greenberg.
The extras also include a short look at a film Malone made when he was 13 years old; trailers for
all the individual Masters of Horror discs Anchor Bay have released (except for Haeckel's Tale and
Imprint); a stills gallery; a text biography for William Malone; an interesting commentary by
Malone and Greenberg, which looks behind some of the machinations of the production of the film;
and trailers for other Anchor Bay releases: Room 6, The Masters of Horror series, Demon
Hunter and The Tooth Fairy.
It should also be mentioned that there are two DVD-Rom features: the script for Fair Haired
Child in .pdf form and a screensaver.
The packaging of these region 1 releases also have a collectable trading card depicting each of
the Masters of Horror themselves, this one obviously being William Malone.
As usual, Anchor Bay Entertainment has excelled in the production of this disc. The sound and
picture are great, and the line up of extras make for a complete package.
Date: 22nd May 2008
Director William Malone has a grand history in horror. As a teen, he made short horror films and
taught himself how to make monster masks, which led to a job sculpting for the Don Post Mask
Studios, which eventually led to directing his own films.
Malone is probably best known for his remake of the Vincent Price film House on Haunted Hill,
but he has a long history of directing and writing for both TV and film. His entry of the Masters of
Horror, Mick Garris' made for cable television creation, was written by Matt Greenberg, who wrote
Halloween H20 and Reign of Fire.
The Fair Haired Child tells the tale of Tara (Lindsey Pulsipher), a schoolgirl social outcast who is
kidnapped one afternoon by disturbed musician Anton (William Samples) and his wife, Judith (Lori
Petty). They cast her into their basement, but for what purpose? In the basement, Tara finds a
young man named Johnny (Jesse Haddock) who's hanging by his neck, and she saves him from
dying by strangulation. The pair investigate the basement to find abandoned school bags
belonging to other teens, many many bloodstains and warnings from others to beware the fair
haired child but what, or WHO, is the fair haired child?
I liked this MOH movie, but as with most of the MOH episodes, even though it is sold as a 'movie',
it, on occasion, feels like an average episode of a TV show. I am not sure if this is due to a
smaller than cinematic budget, or even if some of the acting just doesn't quite cut it, but the
directors are supposed to be the stars of this series, and Malone sure shows his chops with this
one, as it looks great.
As usual with the Masters of Horror disc, the extras are great!
The featurettes include interviews with director William Malone, and actors Lori Petty, Jesse
Haddock, Lindsey Pulsipher and William Samples. There's also a behind the scenes look at the film,
and my favourite piece: The Face of Fear: William Malone, a documentary about Malone as told by
some of his contemporaries including actor Jeffrey Combs, horror legend Bob Burns,
cinematographer Christian Selbaldt and screenwriter Matt Greenberg.
The extras also include a short look at a film Malone made when he was 13 years old; trailers for
all the individual Masters of Horror discs Anchor Bay have released (except for Haeckel's Tale and
Imprint); a stills gallery; a text biography for William Malone; an interesting commentary by
Malone and Greenberg, which looks behind some of the machinations of the production of the film;
and trailers for other Anchor Bay releases: Room 6, The Masters of Horror series, Demon
Hunter and The Tooth Fairy.
It should also be mentioned that there are two DVD-Rom features: the script for Fair Haired
Child in .pdf form and a screensaver.
The packaging of these region 1 releases also have a collectable trading card depicting each of
the Masters of Horror themselves, this one obviously being William Malone.
As usual, Anchor Bay Entertainment has excelled in the production of this disc. The sound and
picture are great, and the line up of extras make for a complete package.
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Masters Of Horror: The Fair Haired Child
DVD/APPROX. 60 MINS/2006/USA UNRATED
DVD/APPROX. 60 MINS/2006/USA UNRATED
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