Review by: zer0hal0
Date: 22nd May 2008
Ellen (Bree Turner) is driving down a country road late one night, fiddling with the radio, when all
of a sudden she hits a parked car. Getting out to investigate, she sees a blood trail leading off to
the side of the road and down an embankment. Looking down the embankment Ellen sees a large
figure moving around. It turns out to be one big and ugly lookin’ serial killer called Moonface
(whose chin rivals Bruce Campbell’s!).
Spotting Ellen, Moonface gives chase through the forest, but Ellen isn't just some weak-ass
screaming girl. Through flashbacks, we learn that her husband Bruce (Ethan Embry) is one of
those survivalist nuts who taught Ellen everything she needs to know about making booby traps,
weaponry and self defense. She certainly gives old Moonface a run for his money until he out-
smarts her, scares the shit out of her and she promptly faints…
She awakens in the basement of Moonface’s cabin, which is full dismembered body parts, torture
devices and his only other living victim, a senile old coot named Buddy (Angus Scrimm), though we
are never fully sure if he is a six pack short of a slab or not..
We learn from Buddy that Moonface believes the world is an evil place and the eyes are what see
the evil, so any victim he kills he places on a work bench and takes out their eyes with a drill
press! He doesn’t kill Ellen straight away, preferring to handcuff her to a pole where she can
watch him take care of his previous victim, before she makes her escape and has a fully
overblown fight scene with Moonface in his cabin. Overblown in the fact that how can such a
petite little woman kick a bloody 2 meter plus tall man with so much force he flies halfway across
a room and through a window?
That is the only problem I found with Incident…, incidentally the first episode of the series to be
screened. Nothing like kicking it off on a high note, as Incident… is personally my 3rd favorite of
the series, beaten only by Larry Cohen’s Pick Me Up and John Landis Deer Woman.
For the first time in his career Coscarelli delivers a straight-out horror film, without elements of
Sci-Fi (Phantasm) or black comedy (Bubba Ho-tep) and is more than capable of keeping it
running without any cross genre interference. That said, there are a lot of subtle changes to the
tried & trusted slasher-sounding story to keep it edgy. And don’t forget the ending sequence…
Coscarelli has also added some really cool atmospheric sections, particular the “graveyard” out
front of Moonface's cabin. Here all his victims are hung in a crucified pose with strands of light
from the moon coming through holes in the rotting corpses' empty eye sockets.
For the first episode of the series, Coscarelli set the bar pretty high for all other episodes that
followed. In my opinion, only a handful was able to live up to that bar (Note: I have only seen 10
of the 13 episodes so this may change).
For a good introduction to the series grab either this or Larry Cohen’s Pick Me Up. As good as
Deer Woman is, it’s more of a black comedy and not really a good representation of the series as
a whole.
Date: 22nd May 2008
Ellen (Bree Turner) is driving down a country road late one night, fiddling with the radio, when all
of a sudden she hits a parked car. Getting out to investigate, she sees a blood trail leading off to
the side of the road and down an embankment. Looking down the embankment Ellen sees a large
figure moving around. It turns out to be one big and ugly lookin’ serial killer called Moonface
(whose chin rivals Bruce Campbell’s!).
Spotting Ellen, Moonface gives chase through the forest, but Ellen isn't just some weak-ass
screaming girl. Through flashbacks, we learn that her husband Bruce (Ethan Embry) is one of
those survivalist nuts who taught Ellen everything she needs to know about making booby traps,
weaponry and self defense. She certainly gives old Moonface a run for his money until he out-
smarts her, scares the shit out of her and she promptly faints…
She awakens in the basement of Moonface’s cabin, which is full dismembered body parts, torture
devices and his only other living victim, a senile old coot named Buddy (Angus Scrimm), though we
are never fully sure if he is a six pack short of a slab or not..
We learn from Buddy that Moonface believes the world is an evil place and the eyes are what see
the evil, so any victim he kills he places on a work bench and takes out their eyes with a drill
press! He doesn’t kill Ellen straight away, preferring to handcuff her to a pole where she can
watch him take care of his previous victim, before she makes her escape and has a fully
overblown fight scene with Moonface in his cabin. Overblown in the fact that how can such a
petite little woman kick a bloody 2 meter plus tall man with so much force he flies halfway across
a room and through a window?
That is the only problem I found with Incident…, incidentally the first episode of the series to be
screened. Nothing like kicking it off on a high note, as Incident… is personally my 3rd favorite of
the series, beaten only by Larry Cohen’s Pick Me Up and John Landis Deer Woman.
For the first time in his career Coscarelli delivers a straight-out horror film, without elements of
Sci-Fi (Phantasm) or black comedy (Bubba Ho-tep) and is more than capable of keeping it
running without any cross genre interference. That said, there are a lot of subtle changes to the
tried & trusted slasher-sounding story to keep it edgy. And don’t forget the ending sequence…
Coscarelli has also added some really cool atmospheric sections, particular the “graveyard” out
front of Moonface's cabin. Here all his victims are hung in a crucified pose with strands of light
from the moon coming through holes in the rotting corpses' empty eye sockets.
For the first episode of the series, Coscarelli set the bar pretty high for all other episodes that
followed. In my opinion, only a handful was able to live up to that bar (Note: I have only seen 10
of the 13 episodes so this may change).
For a good introduction to the series grab either this or Larry Cohen’s Pick Me Up. As good as
Deer Woman is, it’s more of a black comedy and not really a good representation of the series as
a whole.
| “Their wildest dreams are your worst nightmares” |
|
| |||||
|
Masters Of Horror: Incident On And Off A Mountain Road
DVD/APPROX. 51 MINS/2006/USA UNRATED
DVD/APPROX. 51 MINS/2006/USA UNRATED
| Search Movie Database: |
8.5
| All written material © 2006 to Present DVD Resurrections. This website is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Opinions expressed in these pages are solely those of the DVD Resurrections. No copyright infringement is intended or implied. |