Synopsis
Includes:
Masters of Horror: Dreams in the Witch-House (2005)
Masters of Horror: Cigarette Burns (2005)
Masters of Horror: Fair Haired Child (2006)
Masters of Horror: Dreams in the Witch-House
Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator, From Beyond) tackles the work of H.P. Lovecraft again for his episode of Showtime's Masters of Horror series, Dreams in the Witch-House. Ezra Godden, who starred in Gordon's Dagon, plays Walter, a grad student who, naturally, rents a room at a creepy old house. Bad signs abound, from the reclusive downstairs neighbor, Masurewicz (Campbell Lane), to the gruff, mean-spirited landlord, Dombrowski (Jay Brazeau). The room itself is kind of a hole. Then there's all that mysterious late-night pounding and chanting. But, hey, the rent's cheap. One night, Walter is awakened by screaming, and runs next door to find his attractive neighbor, Frances (Chelah Horsdal), and her little boy, Danny (David and Nicholas Racz), being terrorized by a large rat, which runs into a hole in the wall. When Walter goes to complain to the uncaring landlord, crazy old Masurewicz asks him if the rat had a human face! Things get even stranger. He has vivid dreams of a witch visiting him and seducing him, but the dreams leave real physical evidence behind. Walter, who is studying string theory, begins to suspect that there is a portal to another dimension within the building. Maybe old Masurewicz isn't so crazy after all. He seems to know all about the witch, and urges Walter to get out while he still can. But Walter suspects that the witch (with help from her familiar, that ugly rat), is after Danny's innocent blood, and, having developed a romantic attraction to Frances, he's determined to keep her and the boy safe. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi
Masters of Horror: Cigarette Burns
Directed by horror expert John Carpenter, Masters of Horror: Cigarette Burns concerns a man who makes his living hunting down films that are often thought lost. He sets off to find a legendary film titled "Le Fin Absolute du Monde," a movie that supposedly turned the one audience who saw it into a murderous mob. The man begins to fear for his life as he gets closer and closer to his goal. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
Masters of Horror: Fair Haired Child
A teenage misfit is kidnapped by a strange couple and forced into a basement with their curious 13-year-old son in director William Malone's (House on Haunted Hill) entry into the Masters of Horror series. Tara is an outcast who withdraws into her comfortable world of fantasy rather than deal with the harsh realities of high-school life. One day, while riding her bike home from school, Tara is struck by a van and knocked unconscious. When Tara awakens in what she believes to be a hospital, the nurse tending to her (Lori Petty) tells the girl that she was found miles away from home before launching into a series of increasingly intrusive questions. Upon discovering that she is not in a hospital but a remote and isolated home, Tara is locked in the basement with 13-year-old Johnny. Though kind and sensitive on the surface, Johnny harbors a dark secret. As the pair struggles to escape their dark prison while discovering the cryptic warnings about a "fair-haired child" scrawled on the basement walls, it soon becomes obvious that it was fate, not chance, that brought Tara and Johnny to this dark and terrifying place. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
