Ok, I am SERIOUSLY never watching anything made by Dario Argento ever again. It's total crap, in my opinion. This post is here for me to rant out my frustration at wasting a good hour of my life watching something (why did I? no one made me watch it =_=") I don't know if anyone's actually going to be interested in this, since I don't know many people who enjoy horror films.
Some of you might find this post totally confusing so I'm going to explain it a bit. I've recently been watching Masters of Horror, a TV series with 2 seasons of 13 episodes each, each episode directed by a different director of horror films, a "master" (some directed more than one but that's beside the point). Dario Argento is an Italian director of horror films but I haven't seen any of his films before this episode, mainly because I heard they were based more on nudity and gore than plot. By the way, the MoH episodes aren't connected, they're random stories.
I'm currently at episode 5 of MoH and I have mixed opinions. The intro seems promising (watch at your own risk, it's a little disturbing here and there). The plot outlines seem promising. Why does it end up poor? I must say I watched episode 1 with my friend Nico and wasn't too impressed. It's said that the beginning is important; in this case, it failed. I thought the first episode would be more fit as a "first horror" (first one you watch in your life!), rather than the beginning of such a promising series.
Then came the second episode, which pleasantly surprised me (at least more than the first one did). I really like someone on the IMDb boards' statement: "is there a MoH episode without nudity?" Haven't seen one yet! Anyway, I was lookign forward to it because I've heard a lot about H.P. Lovecraft but haven't had a chance to read any of his writings. It was mildly entertaining though I could predict some of the moments. The ending was a nice twist when it could have failed, rendering the whole thing ok.
The third episode is my favorite one up to this point. Maybe because it's got Robert Englund in it? (he played Freddy Krueger in the A Nightmare on Elm Street series) Maybe ^^ He was quite convincing in his role and the atmosphere of the episode was eerie. Finally I felt the series was going somewhere! Still one of the most creepy things I've seen, judging solely by the plot and the execution. Recommended to see at the beginning instead of the first episode.
Then came the catastrophe, the fourth episode! This one's directed by Argento. I had seen it before but remembered only small bits (goes to show how good it was...) so I decided to watch it again just for the fun of it. Jenifer, the "girl" was ugly as Hell, but that didn't bother me too much. What bothered me a LOT was seeing her eat a cat -yes, she ate a cat...- and then kiss the guy in main role @_@ Barf bag, please!! Ugly girl? Check. Lots of sex scenes with said ugly girl? Check. Unimaginative plot? Check. Predictable ending? Check. WTF moments? Check.
This episode really put me off and I am seriously thinking about not watching any more of MoH. Come on, anyone can make a lousy horror film -just throw in a cliche killer, some booby blondes (no offense to the smart blondes), some stereotypical characters, a hot guy, a never-working cellphone, a crappy car which breaks down in the middle of the forest (at night) and you've got your standard horror film. Don't believe me? Check out . It's got a 2.5/10 rating from 312 people and it came out in 2005 - I was feeling generous the day I voted and gave it a 2.
In the end, I can't say what I feel exactly, I'll give it one more chance. Maybe John Carpenter will save some of these cheap ideas. If not, the case is closed. Anyway, thank you for reading this (if you have). You don't have to leave a comment if you don't want to or this subject doesn't interest you. One more advice: if a horror movie is bad enough, it becomes comedy. Jenifer (fourth episode) is neither a horror nor a comedy. It's just too bad. Hope you have a great day and feel free to share your opinions on this subject or horror films in general ^_^
