Brilliant and touching

Boring, long, and too preachy.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

When a Script writer has nothing -- and, I mean, NUH-thing -- to actually write -- and, I mean, NO ideas whatsoever -- he reverts to what he knows best: aggressively foulmouthed dialogue or porn or some combination thereof. Giving moral offense acts as a substitute for writing a story. The Writer opts in the pornographic direction in this one. A couple of guys are stealing people's blood for some reason. (Who cares?) Robert Englund plays some character who runs a club where: . . . men are seen kissing men (oh, my); . . . women are exposing their breasts (uh, huh); . . . and, black leather and deafening electronica are everywhere. Carnies are everywhere. Apparently, it is THEY who inherit the earth after WWIII or whatever. So, we should all start learning how to appreciate fiery baton- twirling. Drug use, "blow jobs," and -- oh, yeah -- some bit of an idea about people getting "zombiefied." Morally offensive. Stupid. A piece of junk. Don't bother.

Interesting entry in the 'Masters of Horror' series is well acted, appropriately disturbing, and does the best it can at creating a dystopian future on a budget. If you're like this viewer and haven't read the source material, this adaptation does intrigue you as to where it's going. Why would rebel youth be out to drain the blood from senior citizens? Why are those dead bodies being piled into a garbage bin and immolated? Ultimately, this does have something to say about human nature in the face of adversity, and work its way towards a time honoured twist of just desserts. The frenzied editing and camera-work is merely distracting most of the time; it's unfortunate that has become common in modern fright fare. The music is largely discordant and does a fine job of disorienting the audience. Director Tobe Hooper indeed may have had an uneven career ever since his breakthrough classic "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre", but he actually does a pretty good job with this tale, scripted by Richard Christian Matheson from a story by his legendary father Richard Matheson.Jessica Lowndes stars as Peggy, a teenager living with an overprotective mother, Kate (Marilyn Norry) and working in her diner. A catastrophic event dubbed "The Blizz" has either killed or scarred many humans, and the younger generation are now running amok. One of the bad kids, Jak (Jonathan Tucker), is more sensitive than most and catches Peggy's eye. She sneaks out one night to be with him and goes to the club that he and his pals frequent. This is a decadent place where heavy metal is played and where women are made to "dance" in a rather creepy way. It's ruled by a grinning MC played to the hilt by the great Robert Englund, with whom Hooper had worked on "Eaten Alive" and "The Mangler".The big reveal near the end and the eventual comeuppance do make this intense tale worth sitting through. Until then, Hooper lets the acting carry the story along. Lowndes is appealing in the lead role, and Tucker does a creditable job as well. The atmosphere is pretty heavy and in general this *is* a decently entertaining episode if not among the more well regarded ones of 'Masters of Horror'.Seven out of 10.

Not one of the more rewarding "MOH" entries and actually among the least enjoyable, given the gloomy post-atomic setting and generally repellent detail. Robert "Freddy Kreuger" Englund appears as a nightclub M.C. in which the titular 'jive' (showcasing zombies being sadistically prodded on-stage with electrical charges!) is the chief attraction; he would virtually reprise the character in ZOMBIE STRIPPERS! (2008) – albeit played for laughs, having turned from reptilian to cowardly. Also involved is a band of young scavengers who supply the blood (extracted from 'donors' picked at random off the streets!) required for the bodies' revivification and a teenage girl who has led a sheltered life after her father and sister fell victim to the 'plague' – the latter, in fact, 'turns up' at the hellish spot…ultimately revealed to have been a junkie sold to Englund by her own mother!

Tobe Hooper certainly deserves his reputation as a 'Master Of Horror', especially for his masterpiece, "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" of 1974, but also for a few other films, such as "Eaten Alive" (1977) and "Salem's Lot" (1979), that certainly couldn't come up to the brilliance of TCM, but definitely were interesting Horror films. His first contribution to the "Masters Of Horror" series, the third Episode, "Dance Of The Dead", however, turned out to be a minor disappointment. The episode is certainly not entirely bad, it has some atmosphere and is very creepy at times, but it simply lacks an adequate structure of storytelling.The story, which takes place in a post-apocalyptic America, sometime in the near future when the majority of Americans have died in a terrible war, and the anarchistic conditions only allow the strong to survive. One of the most popular gathering points for the drug addicted youths who rule the streets, is the macabre 'Doom-Room' hosted by an eerie creep named 'The M.C.' (Horror icon Robert Englund). 16-year-old Peggy (Jessica Lowndes) runs a little restaurant with her protective mother (Marilyn Norry). Peggy is fascinated when a young hoodlum named Jak (Jonathan Tucker) shows up in the restaurant with his no-good friends one day...The movie has some good moments, Robert Englund is creepy as hell and Jessica Lowndes as well as Marilyn Norry deliver good performances. I couldn't ignore the fact, however, that director Hooper was obviously more interested to make the episode look as 'cooool' as possible, and focused on effects and visuals rather than on telling the story, which makes the episode look like a 1-hour video clip. Over all I was disappointed with "Dance Of The Dead", although I admit it was macabre and entertaining at times and has some qualities. 5/10