Absolutely Fantastic

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

I had mixed feelings when I saw that the first episode of the second season of this anthology show would be directed by none other than Tobe Hooper. For one thing we all know how much raw potential he has but also how he tends to make some oddly disappointing directing decisions that leave his works sadly unfulfilled. And for another this is his second addition to Masters of Horror (one of the few true masters really featured)- and his first one was good. It was decent but not great. Seeing that this one was another collaboration between Matheson and Hooper had me pretty excited because the script for Dance of the Dead, Hooper's earlier episode also written by Matheson, was nice. I actually had higher expectations for this episode than I did Dance of the Dead- for the first four minutes. And then comes in that awful slow-mo hazy effect that he used so liberally in his other episode. Why he does things like this is beyond me but I immediately gave a great sigh and settled down, ready for another lukewarm serving from someone very adept and delivering below his potential. Which was actually a blessing in disguise because now I was open to being pleasantly surprised. This time around the cinematography had a warm ambiance reminiscent of TCM. It was set in Texas, so maybe that's just what Hooper does best.In fact, the atmosphere seems to be an element that's missing in a lot of his films and is really done justice here. The script was also tighter this time around- it probably did help that it was based on a short story rather than a Matheson original. I started off this review with criticism but honestly The Damned Thing is a gem among later Hooper works and a cut above most of the episodes of Masters of Horror.

Damned Thing, The (2006) *** (out of 4) The second season of Masters of Horror kicks off with Tobe Hooper's entry. I haven't viewed all of season one yet but so far Hooper's film has been the worst so I didn't have high hopes with this one. As a child, a Sheriff (Sean Patrick Flanery) witnessed his father turn crazy and kill his mother but he also saw the entire town go crazy with suicide and murder. Twenty-four years later he begins to feel the town is once again going crazy with strange murders and more suicides. I was pleasantly shocked to see how much I enjoyed this film. I enjoyed it so much that I don't have any problem in saying this is Hooper's best work since The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The film has some nice suspense and Hooper keeps the mystery going very well. There's some extremely graphic violence that actually works quite nice but the ending is just downright stupid and pulls the film down some.

I enjoyed this MOH episode (although it was not the season opener in Oz). I believe the whole oil / Texas / Iraq / madness embodied by a demon connection could have made a good horror feature - not for the obvious reasons but for what made this episode so watchable. That is, the people who are responsible and those who subsequently benefit are held accountable - fair or not. Good to see Tobe Hooper plugging away as I always like his work (Dance of the Dead on MOH season one was excellent). Hooper appears to be much more an actor's director than a "horror guy". See his fantastic Salem's Lot miniseries and you will get the picture. Cheers!

I've read other reviews that claim that Tobe Hooper's The Damned Thing is the best of the series to date and I'd have to agree. Not since last season's John Carpenter directed entry Cigarette Burns has there been an episode this well made. Hooper is in his finest form since the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Maybe that's due to the location of this film being the lonestar state as well. Whatever it is, the mojo is back people! Everything about this episode is superb. From the extremely literary script by Richard Christian Matheson adapted from a short story by Ambrose Bierce to the cinematography to the cast. and what a cast it is! Marisa Coughlan as the spunky ex wife does a fine job. Ted Raimi breaks from form as a priest who succumbs to the madness and delivers the finest performance of his career to date. And then there's lead actor Sean Patrick Flanery. Hands down this is Flanery's film. He owns this role and the film that goes with it. I have never seen him deliver a performance like this. I was glued to the screen every second he was on camera. What a kick off to the second season. If every episode is this well done, season two will be a definite step up from the first season.