Dreams in the Witch-House

Masters Of Horror is a series that I've very much been looking forward to seeing. An anthology series devised by filmmaker Mick Garris, it has been produced by Showtime and each episode showcases the talents of some of the world's most reknowned horror directors. I have only seen a few episodes but can vouch that this series pulls no punches, and features some of the most gruesome scenes I've witnessed. My concern was that since the filmmakers have been given carte blanche (it's pay tv so they can essentially do what they want), that stories would fall by the wayside and give way to just buckets of gore. I'm happy to report that is not the case (for the most part).

Stuart Gordon's episode, Dreams In The Witch House, continues his life-long fascination with H.P. Lovecraft, which began with one of my favorite movies, Re-Animator and continued on through From Beyond and Dagon. One of the problems that this series has, is it's low budget origins. This is apparent in Gordon's episode, but he manages to overcome it with the dramatics and performances.

Indeed, Gordon for the most part downplays the gore, but ups the horror and distress of involving a baby in a story. Some of the moments are extremely upsetting (I wouldn't recommend new mothers watch this) without with the gross gross. There's an incredible sexuality to the film also, which is apparent in much of Gordon's work.

Ezra Godden and Chelah Horsdal both give compelling, grounded performances and are surrounded by solid supporting players.

Technically, the DVD is a peach with strong colors and an all encompassing surround mix.

Dreams, Darkness and Damnation: Stuart Gordon interview (21m) provides a nice overview of Gordon's career from the Organic Theater Co. onwards, highlighting his sympathetic and humourous old school style of filmmaking.

Working With A Master (24m) is another nice overview of Gordon, this time from those who know him. His wife (and actress) Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Re-Animator producer Brian Yuzna, Re-Animator actors Barbara Crampton (yay!, see below) and Jeffrey Combs, Ezra Godden (from this and Dagon), Ken Foree (From Beyond) all talk about the genteel Gordon and his dark imagination from Re-Animator, Dolls, From Beyond, Castle Freak and Dagon.


On Set With Chelah Horsdel (7m) is an on-set interview with this lovely actress. She has a decent cv, but nothing substantial and I am hoping she gets some meatier roles on the basis of this.

Behind The Scenes (7m) is what it says it is. Cutest moment is when Gordon starts to recite Talking Heads lyrics: "This is not my beautiful wife, this is not..."

SFX: Meet Brown Jenkin (5m) is more behind the scenes as Howard Berger (the B in KNB) talks about building the little rat-man. Nice to see Berger out and about - we normally see Greg Nicotero (the N in KNB) doing the interviews. BTW, the K in KNB is Robert Kurtzman.

PS. Gordon will be returning for season 2, but instead of Lovecraft, he'll be taking on Poe with The Black Cat.