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I haven't been keeping up on this Masters of Horror series.  Mostly because I don't get that channel.  When I saw somebody had filmed Joe R. Lansdale's "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road", I had to check it out.

Backstory!  I had known Lansdale's name for a while, mostly because I am a comics freak.  Lansdale's comics had never really impressed me too much.  He did a new Jonah Hex thing and another, God of Knives or some such.  Never really pulled my triggers.  One day, I saw a copy of one of his books, BAD MOJO, at the library and picked it up.  Very pleasantly surprised.  Lansdale has an absolute grasp of characters and plot, and this guy is dark as hell.  Something about that East Texas voice, and just a mordant understanding of humanity.

I quickly burned through a lot of his work.  He has since written some amazing novels, most of them set in East Texas which directly confront all the difficult themes first hand.  Plus his short stories which are absolutely amazing.  His story, "Mister Weed-Eater" is one of the cruelest things I've ever read.  I cannot recommend this author highly enough.

So Don Coscarelli, the man who made PHANTASM and another Lansdale adaptation, BUBBA HO-TEP, put together a shorter film of "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road".  The original story is hard-boiled writing.  From the extras on the DVD, I learned Lansdale wrote the thing in two days to fill out some work he was doing.  This story, which is great, is his simple draftsmanship.  Seriously, go to your local library and pick up his books.

Don Coscarelli, Joe R. Lansdale, and hey what the hell, Angus Scrimm.  Another thing that pushed it over the edge for me was a leading role by Bree Turner.  Bree Turner is an actress I've always had one of those "actress crushes" on, so it was interesting to see her in a role where she didn't play some sort of snotty girl.  It's a convocation of talent that pretty much said, "Mofo (not my real name), you have to watch this film."

The movie's good.  It wasn't great, but it was pretty entertaining.  There's flourishes here and there which seems a bit too much horror-movie-esque.  They don't quite work.  And I hate to say this, but I did not like the character Scrimm played.  It's a solid film, but I don't think it will light anybody's fireworks.

But get the DVD!  The extras are pretty good.  There are interviews with Coscarelli and the people he's worked with over the years.  I had no idea he did THE BEASTMASTER.  Then there's the commentary by Coscarelli and Lansdale.

I give the movie 3 out of 5 stars, but all the extras caused me to bump it up to a 4.  I might just have to watch all the rest of these MASTERS OF HORROR things.

INCIDENT ON AND OFF A MOUNTAIN ROAD, I recommend checking it out.  And for God's sake, pick up some Lansdale.  That guy is good.

I've seen the entire first season of "Masters of Horror", and it's a mixed bag. "Incident..." is easily among the top three episodes, together with John Carpenter's "Cigarette Burns" and Lucky McKee's "Sick Girl".

It's one of my favourite episodes as well. Loved the atmosphere of genuine horror and dread, and the editing, with those flashbacks, was clever. I hope Coscarelli is getting more exposure now, because after this and "Bubba-Ho-Tep" he seems to be on his prime again.

I still haven't seen any of the 'Masters Of Horror', but what I do know is that a lot of people either really love the series or absolutely hate it. And Anchor Bay is only releasing it as a season set for R2. Argh.

But about Coscarelli - I've seen nearly everything of his - I even have Survival Quest on VHS. Kenny & Co. turned out to be such an awesome little film, but I wonder if Jim, The World's Greatest (where Angus Scrimm plays Gregory Harrison's dad) is even watchable.