Directed by
John Landis
Cast:
George Wendt … Harold
John B. Scott … Grandpa
Meredith Monroe … Celia
Matt Keeslar … David
Haley Guiel … Sarah (as Hailey Guiel)
Kerry Sandomirsky … Jane
Nancy Whyte … Grandma
Emily Tennant … Teenage Blonde Girl
Emily Hope … Teenage Punk Girl
Aleita Northey … Teenage Sad Girl
Frances Flanagan … Housewife
Of all of the first season episodes of Showtime’s Horror anthology, Masters of Horror, it’s hard to think of one that was a bigger disappointment than John Landis’ “Deer Woman”. While Landis was able to mix in his signature style of laughs and thrills, the installment was hampered by mostly bad acting and a story that was very predictable, which seriously hurt being able to take the episode seriously. For his second entry in the series, “Family”, Landis seems to be on surer footing. With a clever script by Frailty scribe Brent Hanley, Landis gives us an episode with a dash of his usual humor, with plenty of entertainment to go around.
The story concerns a man named Harold (George Wendt), a bachelor in a small town community, who’s wonderful to his neighbors and seems like a really nice guy on the surface. He’s also a cold-blooded psychopath who interacts with dead people after he’s murdered them, Norman Bates-style. When we first see him, he’s pouring acid onto the body of an older man whose skeleton eventually takes the grandfather spot in his demented family of corpses that keep Harold company.
Wendt’s on top of his game here, as Harold is indeed evil, but you can also feel his loneliness. There’s an awkwardness in him when he’s around other people, which is probably the reason he was never able to start a real family and drove him to the isolation which makes him carry out his dastardly acts. There are odd scenes in the installment where we see the family from Harold’s point of view, all living and breathing, and happy that he freed them from their mundane lives. You can see the desperation and sadness in Wendt’s performance that even makes you sympathize with him a bit, despite what evil he does to these victims.
The bulk of the episode revolves around Harold trying to expand his family and add new neighbor Celia (Meredith Monroe) to his clan. Becoming more and more obsessed with her as the episode goes on, Harold sees an opportunity when her husband David (Matt Keeslar) goes missing. Luring Celia to his house, the last ten minutes of the story are full of twists and turns capping off a very enjoyable hour.
Landis and Screenwriter Brent Hanley nicely handle the construction of this episode, giving us just enough time with each of the characters, and supplying us with enough story turns to make the episode pretty exciting. Each does great work in developing these characters, showing us just enough to keep us both in the dark, but still very interested. The cinematography is actually more pronounced than Landis usually offers, which is an effective addition to his repertoire, helping to makes this installment that much more enjoyable.
While not the epic Horror experience of Takashi Miike’s “Imprint” or the creepfests that Dario Argento has offered in his entries, John Landis’ “Family” is a very good installment of this series, ranging around the quality of Lucky McKee’s episode, “Sick Girl”. With quality work turned in by all involved in this episode, “Family” shows the exact potential of what this series can offer, while not pushing the envelope of distaste too far. This is a wonderful step up for Landis, and hopefully we’ll see him again on this series soon.
The Video
“Family” looks fantastic on this disc, as the episode’s digital photography pops onscreen. The colors are all very bright and the image is crisp and clear throughout. The episode is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1
The Audio
The audio here is also very good, with Peter Bernstein’s score coming through very nicely. The audio balance with dialogue and soundtrack is also very good, with no problems heard in the episode’s running time. The Audio track is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Commentary, Featurettes, Trailers, Galleries, Bio
Audio Commentary by Screenwriter Brent Hanley – This is a pretty laid back audio track, with Hanley throwing in a lot of little bits as to where he got inspiration as he wrote the piece. He recommends a lot of Crime novels and old films, saying that taking in the works of other artists will help you just as much as going to film school.
Skin and Bones: The Making of Family – This Featurette goes about 15 minutes or so, and goes over various facets of this production, from story to effects. It’s fun to see Landis working behind the scenes, as he totally gets into whatever he’s doing at the time. He’s often jumping around or laughing, and it’s entertaining to see a man working with so much energy behind the camera.
Terror Tracks: Mastering the Family Score – Composer Peter Bernstein and Director John Landis show just how much work went into the episode’s score. Bernstein composed the score using computers and synthesizers, but it still is quite atmospheric and moody.
Trailers – You get a selection of trailers here for other Masters of Horror entries, as well as other Anchor Bay releases.
Director Bio
Still Gallery
Storyboards
