A TV Marathon With Masters of Horror

     I came down with the flu a couple of days ago so I've been bedridden ever since.  I missed two days of work and somehow managed to talk my wife's parents into watching the little guy while I get better.  So besides shivering with fever, eating vitamin C, and generally tripping my ass off with NyQuil, I've had nothing better to do with my time for two days than to begin a TV marathon.  What was the show of my choice?  None other than Masters of Horror.  The terrifically terrible Showtime horror anthology that aired between four and five years ago.  Created by Mick Garris, the idea was to bring together the world's best horror film directors and have them each direct an episode or two.  Kind of like mini horror films that only run an hour instead of an hour and a half.  The result... well.  The result was admittedly less than brilliant.  Don't get me wrong.  One of the key ingredients to a great horror film is cheese.  And like real cheese, it takes time to age and mature and become delicious.  Perhaps I began eating this cheese too soon. 

     No.  I take that back.  I love Masters of Horror.  I could sit here and go on about how corny and stupid it is but I could go on even longer about how awesome it is.

     Maybe I'm just getting old.  (See previous post.)  But if I see something that was shot on video, anything that was shot on video, it makes me want to puke.  I hate video.  If you can't afford to shoot on film, then just don't do it in the first place.  Shoot 8mm if you have to but just don't make a film on video.  Even if it is an accepted fact that it is not meant to be good.  Masters of Horror was shot on video. 

     Now here's the funny part.  I really didn't care that much for once.  Because Masters of Horror achieved everything that it set out to achieve.  It was entertaining, corny, dark and at times, yes, slightly frightening.  But only if viewed by a thirteen year old girl.  And that's why it scored big points with me.  It took itself just seriously enough to insight that small bit of fear and fun with only a hint of tongue in cheek.  Unlike it's non-associated predecessor Tales From the Crypt, it did away with the unapologetic crypt humor of the Crypt Keeper.  There are no retarded cackles here.  But at the same time, it's not as if anyone of these "masters of horror" had set out to win an Academy award.  It is what it is and if you don't like the flavor then stop eating it.  If you haven't seen any episodes of Masters of Horror, then I highly recommend that you do.  They are available to either instantly stream or rent through the mail from Netflix.