Hmh.

[torrain_circles]

So. Over the weekend, I've watched three or four Masters of Horror episodes. Generally, I would have to say "meh" (although it does occur to me that "I was married to a crazed survivalist" is an excellent WoD excuse to pick up Brawl, Melee, and Firearms without being a crazed survivalist yourself).

But overall, sadly, "meh". I confess to being especially disappointed with the "Pick Me Up" adaptation; Schow's story was a brutal little stab wound, and the movie was flatter than warm rootbeer.

Then I sat down and watched the "Blink" episode of Doctor Who.

Oh god so pleasantly creepy.

Comments

[orrin.livejournal.com]

So, which episodes did you watch, besides, obviously "Pick Me Up" and "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road?" My reaction to the series was mostly meh from the half-dozen or so episodes I watched, with "Pick Me Up" being easily the worst among them. I did like "Cigarette Burns" a fair bit, though.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

"Chocolate" (emotionally flat, which is the kiss of death in a story about an emotional shell being swept away by feeling) and "Homecoming" (which was kind of funny, actually, but I went to it wanting horror/creep, not just an Ann Coulter riff. Mind you, my moodiness on current events might be affecting my take on it).

I've also seen "Cigarette Burns" (had its moments--the mutilated angel is startlingly up-front), "Deer Woman" (popcorn but fun, and the partner suddenly realizing what he's brought home is cool), and "Jenifer" (moment with the cat was flinchworthy; the B&W comic is not really more *plausible*, but comes across as more chilling--I think the art creates a faintly dreamy remove).

"Fair-Haired Child" (like "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road") was predictable and meh. I cannot comment on the predictability of "Dance of the Dead" and "Dreams in the Witch House", given my familiarity with the stories, but neither of them really grabbed me, and the climactic ending scenes in each felt very forced.

"Pick Me Up". Oh god. What the hell was Fairuza Balk's character even *there* for? I mean, I liked the way they fleshed out the hitcher, and the trucker's dialogue was great. But the damn movie was so chopped up and dragged so hard that even that couldn't keep me interested. And the climactic ending scene just kind of took the whole episode and jumped on it with both feet.

[orrin.livejournal.com]

Wow, looks like you've seen more than me, and we pretty much agreed on most of those. The only one I saw that wasn't on that list was "Haeckl's Tale" (I am sure I misspelled that), which was all right and probably worth watching for the crazy zombie orgy if nothing else, but the ending was pretty lame.

[drjamez.livejournal.com]

"Blink" is one of the best episodes of the new Doctor Who I've seen. It was very, as you said, pleasantly creepy. A good thing, finally. ;-)

- James -