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Such is the world of Dance Of The Dead, the newest release in the much applauded series “Masters Of Horror” from Showtime and Anchor Bay. Directed by Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Toolbox Murders), this installment is based, like so many of the other entries in this macabre mini-movie run, on a Richard Matheson story which was reworked by his son. The name Matheson sends shivers of glee through the spines of so many horror fanatics, but in truth, the adaptations of these stories are always HIGHLY hit or miss. Dance Of The Dead is a hit...offering terror, shock and a seriously disturbing tale on a number of levels. The evilness of humanity, the deception of those we trust, the decay of moral defaults in an advancing (declining?) world and just our plain old fascination with the macabre...all of these things are explored in great detail here; stripping away the shiny veneer that so many horror films paint over their true intentions. There are no clean cut heroes here, there are no identifiable monsters; even the villainous can have virtue and even stark innocence hides corruption and despair. Peggy (Jessica Lowndes) is perhaps the last of the “good” kids, in a war-torn future that has most of the world’s youth frolicking in drugs, crime and depravation which comes in a myriad of flavors. She works in a struggling dining establishment with her mother, where they both listen to apocalyptic news reports of a dying planet and where they both dream fitfully of her seventh birthday party which fell under the natural attack of The Blizz. As the “future” of her family, she is hovered over and dominated with protection by her mother...a woman who bears emotional scars all her own. Robert England (Nightmare On Elm Street) is the delectably deviant and sleazily sinister MC at The Doom Room; a club in a Sodom and Gomorrah-ish town where those with any dark desires can see them fulfilled. In the case of MC’s facility, the specialty is “LUPpies”, entertainment from the reanimated corpses of Blizz victims. LUP, or lifeless undeath phenomenon, is all the rage in this diseased town of miscreants...but to get these corpses to do their thing, MC needs a little something special... Jak (Jonathan Tucker, Texas Chainsaw Massacre {2003}), is a “blood runner”, a criminal with a conscious who steals from the innocent survivors the one thing that they have left in this world of any worth...their life’s blood. But when his path crosses that of Peggy, everyone’s business goes for a loop; and secrets are revealed all around that will bring even more devastation to an already destroyed existence. I must admit that after the first ten minutes or so, I was ready to stop watching. The format of a one hour movie requires quite a bit of information to be passed to the viewer in a very short amount of time, and as a result I was getting a little tired of the good girl Peggy and domineering mother routine. Combine that with the fact that the troubled youth in the film are so over the top that you can scarcely keep from laughing out loud at their antics and I was getting that itchy “fast forward” finger. But in a matter of moments and with one pivotal scene involving a dumpster, some gas cans and a van full of “pretty damn close to dead, but not quite there yet” naked corpses, I was reclaimed. From that moment on, the film takes a turn towards the gutter and never looks back. More spitting in peoples faces then I can ever remember seeing in one film, oral sex from a reanimated corpse, the skin melting off a backyard full of little girls and enough human ugliness to condemn us all to an eternity of hell...yeah...I’d say that Dance Of The Dead definitely got a whole lot better! Like Matheson’s on screen translations, director Tobe Hooper’s work is also a long list of on-again off-again hits and misses. There is no question that Hooper was born to make films...growing up in Texas and living in hotels run by his parents, his “babysitter was the local movie theatres”, where he spent his days watching at least three movies a day. His take on the horror genre is spot on and during his included interview on this disc he compares it to humor in the sense that “when a joke is told, you can’t help but laugh” and when we see something scary we can’t help but squirm. Says Hooper, we all “need to scream because of the pressures of our time”; it is apparent that this is a man who understands the audience for which he makes pictures. Texas Chainsaw Massacre was of course groundbreaking, and anyone who doesn’t see that despite its aging it was one of the most influential horror masteries of our time obviously hasn’t done their homework. But since Poltergeist, Hoopers works have been very dodgy. Seeing here that he has tapped into that part of himself that can really get it done is pleasure enough, but having it coincide with a great translation of Matheson’s work is a rare and special treat. To properly give credit where credit is due, however, it is imperative to make special note of Robert Englund’s creepy MC. Not since Freddy Kreugar has Englund had a character which caused me to bat an eye, although there have been plenty of attempts to recapture the magic of that scarred child murderer. But in Dance Of The Dead, the maniacal MC is a fantastic outlet for Roberts easy slide into menacing depravity. His monologues are amazing on their own, but seeing the MC fondle the yet-to-be-animated corpses in a sickly sensual way really cements the character as a memorable one to say the least! Hooper has certainly come a long way since his documentary of Peter, Paul and Mary, and even since those atrocious days of filming Texas Chainsaw. This entry into the Masters Of Horror proves that the series is often aptly named, and that we can never be quite sure of what to expect. Of note is the fact that this is easily classified as a “zombie” film, and that for Hooper’s first foray into the genre it is surprisingly original and inventive (yes, I KNOW there are comparisons to Day Of The Dead...shh). You could do yourself a great disservice by not checking this one out. Sleazy, corrupted, graphic and disturbing...some would say this is why we all love this genre. Seeing a great comeback for the series after the release of the horrifyingly lame Homecoming makes me want to do a dance...the Dance Of The Dead perhaps! -aaron-
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