Showtime’s Masters of Horror series has brought a lot of talent to its anthology, some whom I hear the name and immediately say to myself, “Yes, indeed a master of horror.” There have been some others where it is a bit questionable. Brad Anderson directed one of Aaron’s favorite films, Session 9, a movie that I have myself seen and indeed found it appeal. Anderson’s only other credit in the world of horror, though in this case it’s more of the thriller, is The Machinist, and with only two real horror based titles under his belt, master of horror may not be a title that he’s worthy of holding yet.

Anderson’s offer, Sounds Like, is a short that could have been great and does have some redeeming moments, but certainly isn’t perfect. Sounds Like introduces us to Larry Pearce (Chris Bauer), a supervisor at a software company where he constantly monitors the phone calls of his co-workers for quality control. Larry has some problems however though, and he recently lost his son, his wife Brenda (Laura Margolis) seems to constantly be talking and nagging to some degree, his boss has suggested that he see the company psychiatrist, and the worst thing of all is that he can hear sounds at a supernatural level causing him a great deal of discomfort on a number of levels. If only he could find a way to silence these voices, his life might be just a little better.

Sounds Like first reminded me a another story that was quite similar, at least in concept, and that is none other than Edgar Allen Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart, but there is another anthology series that Sounds Like seems to have borrowed heavily from. The Twilight Zone has a classic episode, “Sounds and Silences” which has the same idea behind it. But Sounds Like doesn’t feel like it belongs in horror, and it’s just on the fringes of being considered a thriller.

There is nothing that I found to be truly frightening or horrific here. Sounds Like instead just portrays Larry as a man who is trying his best to deal with his life issues as well as his newfound problem which is leading to bigger problems. Hearing sounds at a heightened level, to me at least, seems like more of an annoyance, not something that will become a “horror short of the week” type of scenario.

Sounds Like isn’t a complete let down however, and the Chris Bauer really pulls off the character and makes him believable and someone that we can feel sympathy for on some level. There are some great visual elements that are used to further illustrate what Larry is going through and show those little things that we might take for granted and how they are leading to a huge level of frustration. Breathing, tapping your feet on the floor, the use of a highlighter; all of these become incredibly noisy, beyond the normal scope, and are pushing Larry into a world of insanity that only he can be a real part of. The trouble is that Larry doesn’t become a character that we can really identify with, nor can we really feel sympathetic to him. Instead he’s just merely a somewhat colorful personality that we can watch fro afar, but by the end of the episode, his fate really isn’t one that is neither shocking nor horrific. It’s almost expected as a matter of fact and loses and touches of shock that may have been intended.

The first season of Masters of Horror came with a number of bonus features on each and every DVD, and rare was the time when we would see one come over for review that didn’t have a great number of bonus features. The second season however seems to be a little less spectacular in the way it has been presented. Sounds Like isn’t without extra material, but not to the same degree that has been seen in the past. The episode includes commentary with Brad Anderson, and finding the directors give more insight on the episodes has become an expected treat. There are two, short behind-the-scenes features, a photo gallery, and then the screenplay which can be accessed via a DVD-ROM, but there’s not much more than this. However, Sounds Like also isn’t quite like the other episodes in the series because, as stated, I don’t see this as being a true horror piece and instead just barely passable as a thriller.

Sounds Like ranks at the bottom of my list in terms of what episodes of Master of Horror I would watch, but like with any television series, cable or otherwise, every episode can’t be top notch. Sounds Like really did have potential, but it is a potential that is sadly wasted and feels just like it’s a rehash of anthology episodes form the past and as far as “master of horror”, Anderson has quite a long road to travel before he or anyone else can truly make that claim.

-mike-