John Landis is at it again, making a horror film with such a wacky story, that you just can’t help but get a kick out of his dark sense of humor. Family is his second contribution to The Masters of Horror Series; and just like Deer Women the movie has a dark yet comedic feel to it.
Family is about a bachelor named Harold Thompson who lives in the middle of suburbia. The neighborhood is perfect, and the homes are all beautiful within the community and well maintained. However Harold has a dark secret. He’s actually a serial killer that is actually building himself the perfect family. During the day he seeks out his victims, old women, young women and so on. He then takes his victims corpses back to his house where in his basement he strips the flesh off their bones then takes their skeletons, puts them back together and dresses them up in clothes to make the perfect family. He them positions them throughout the house and role plays with them. In his mind they are real, his real family they talk to him and everything. However when a young couple moves into the house next door. Harold quickly befriends the couple and falls in love with the young women. This now sends him into a whirl of insanity, and he quickly want to take her as his new mock wife. However it’s going to be harder than expected. And the conclusion of the film ends with a great and unsuspecting ending.
The script for this film, no matter how over the top it comes off is actually quite entertaining. I particularly loved how well the character were written, and how we really were able to get into the mind of Harold Thompson. It’s a very well developed character driven plot that I really enjoyed.
The acting is really good as well. It’s so weird seeing George Wendt playing such a dark character. I mean who can picture Norm from Cheers going home after his shift as a post office manager and happy hour. To go out and kill people during the day and make them his family at night. Yeah, I know that would make a cool off shoot of a plot for the character, but they are two different character none the less. Just I’ll always see George Wendt as Norm, and seeing him as a serial killer who loathes the perfect family just made the film that much humorous for me. George Wendt did a great job as Harold, it really took this role and ran with it. And did so effectively. The rest of the cast was good, but Wendt stole the show with his performance.
The effects are pretty good in this film, especially the opening scene where Harold pours acid right over a corpse in a bath tub in his basement and the flesh peels off in layers right down to the bone. There are a few other effects in the film that are mainly a few cuts, bumps blood and bruises. But all the make-up and CGI looks top notch in this film. The production values is simple, yet effective. There is a great use of colors which help give the film that feel of a perfect suburban neighborhood.
Overall, this episode of Masters of Horror is a pretty good one. It’s a fresh original story that made me feel uncomfortable at times with the scenes that involved Harrods mock daughter, and made me chuckle at some of the insanity that the character was experiencing. But it’s a fun flick to watch and well worth adding to your evergrowing collection of Masters of Horror DVD’s.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
