Buy This DVD Now By Clicking On The Icon Below!
Buy This DVD Now By Clicking On The Icon
Below!
Title:
Masters Of Horror: Homecoming
Region:
One
Genre:
Horror Satire
Stars:
Jon Tenney, Robert Picardo, and Thea Gill
Writer:
Sam Hamm
Based
On The Short Story “Death And Suffrage” By: Dale Bailey
Director:
Joe Dante
Created
By: Mick Garris
Executive
Producers: Steve Brown, Morris
Berger, John W. Hyde, Mick Garris, and Keith Addis
Feature
length: 59 minutes
Extras:
Audio Commentary By Writer Sam Hamm, Interview With Joe Dante, Interviews With Jon
Tenney, Robert Picardo, and Thea Gill, Script To Screen Featurette, Behind The
Scenes Featurettes, Fantasy Film Festival: Mick Garris Interviews Joe Dante,
Trailers, Still Gallery, Joe Dante Bio.
DVD-ROM
Extras: Screenplay, “Death And Suffrage” Short Story By Dale Bailey, Screen
Saver
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Closed Captions
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 8
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Television Broadcast: 2005/DVD Release: 2006
Home
Video Distributor: Anchor Bay Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Arguably
one of the best episodes from the Showtime horror anthology series Masters Of
Horror, “Homecoming” features the re-animated bodies of recently killed
in action soldiers returning to life not to feed on the living, but to find
peace by voting in the 2008 Presidential election. Directed by Joe Dante from a
teleplay by Sam Hamm based on a short story by Dale Bailey, the film manages to
pack in a lot of satire and action that one could imagine might take place if
somehow something like this occurred. It is a very obvious comment on our
current political situation as it relates to issues Michael Moore built an
entire documentary around in Fahrenheit 911, with the soldiers not upset
because they died in a war because they are patriotic and love their country.
The zombie soldiers feel as though the country they fought for under the current
administration mislead them so they have returned in a sense to have their
voices heard by voting that administration out of office and end the war. When
the time comes to put our democratic system to the test, the country and its
leadership confront the face of hell.
Jon
Tenney (The Closer), Thea Gill (Queer As Folk), and Joe Dante veteran actor
Robert Picardo, perhaps best known to many for his role in Star Trek: Voyager
as the holographic emergency medical program or Doctor, appear in the episode
and all give good performances without getting too over the top, at least not
until the end comes for Thea Gill, but by then it seems appropriate. Having
recently reviewed TNT’s Nightmares & Dreamscapes From The Short Stories
By Stephen King, I found it interesting to compare how a basic cable and
satellite network and a premium subscription cable and satellite network handle
the dramatization of short fiction of the macabre. Granted it is unfair to
compare an anthology based on one world famous writer’s prose to an anthology
series that focuses more so on giving legendary genre filmmakers the chance to
strut their stuff uncensored on television, but on a general level with this
episode in particular anyway, there is proof that horror can say things about
our society the same way science fiction does and can do so in inventive ways.
It was also nice to see an episode that wasn’t really gory at all. Any
violence that happens that we normally associate with zombie horror is never
graphically illustrated. In fact I’m not exactly sure how the soldiers fight
back since the film is not about that sort of thing. The ending is haunting and
memorable and if it was not an episode of Masters Of Horror, I could
imagine this entry in the series in earlier Showtime genre anthologies like The
New Outer Limits despite the fact there are no science fiction elements to
the story. As it is, the episode “Homecoming” has become quite acclaimed in
it’s own right, frequently screened in festivals abroad as noted on the
collectable card with biographical notes on Joe Dante that is included within
the DVD keep case along with a cardboard collectable insert with a painting of
an image inspired by “Homecoming” on one side and scene selection
information on the other.
There
are onscreen biographical notes on Joe Dante as well that can be accessed on the
DVD along with hours of bonus materials that include behind the scenes
featurettes “The Dead Come Marching” (24:07) and “Working With A Master:
Joe Dante” (22:30), which features newly recorded interviews with Roger Corman,
Kevin McCarthy, Dee Wallace Stone, Robert Picardo, and Corey Feldman. There is
also a more traditional behind the scenes making of featurette (8:43) as well as
one set recorded interviews with Actors Jon Tenney (12:19), Robert Picardo
(10:36), and Actress Thea Gill (10:23) and a detailed comparison of the script
pages with audio from the film, video from the production, and the actual
completed scene for several segments of the episode (31:46). There is a spoiler
warning before many of these featurettes so do not view the extra value
materials until you watched the episode. There’s also an informative episode
length audio commentary with Writer Sam Hamm as well as a vintage videotape
interview featuring Mick Garris, Joe Dante, Paul Bartel, and Barbara Steele
(10:23) discussing Piranha, a still gallery and 11 trailers for other
episodes of Masters Of Horror that can be accessed individually or as one
reel (18:48) along with a reel of other titles available on DVD from Anchor Bay
Entertainment that include a general trailer for the Masters Of Horror
anthology series, Room 6, Demon Hunter, and The Tooth Fairy
(6:50).
The
episode itself is presented in a clear (1.77:1) aspect ratio enhanced for 16 by
9 televisions with a choice of either English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
or English Dolby Surround Sound and English Closed Captions for the hearing
impaired. DVD-ROM users will have access to a screensaver as well as the short
story and screenplay in PDF format. I was a little disappointed that in order to
view the script and story, certain files have to be downloaded into one’s PC.
You even need some form of Internet confirmation to use the screensaver, which
itself is just a bunch of clips from the episode. I was hoping for an animated
image of the closing scene from the “Homecoming.”
The interactive menus are easy to navigate and well rendered. If you
missed it on Showtime, Masters
Of Horror: “Homecoming”
is well worth checking out now that it is available on DVD-Video courtesy of
Anchor Bay Entertainment at retailers on and offline.
©
Copyright 2006 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
Return To The Complete Masters Of Horror Season One On DVD Review Page
Buy This DVD Now By Clicking On The Icon
Below!