Daddy Dearest

The new season of Masters of Horror on Showtime has gotten off to a very promising start, what with serial murder (Family), vampires (The V Word) and the odd noise of eyeballs squishing around under closed lids (Sounds Like...). I had enjoyed last season's Cigarette Burns and was curious to see what John Carpenter would bring to the table this time. Last night I had my answer, a little tale of medical terror called Pro-Life. Was it as good as Cigarette Burns? Well...yes and no.

One morning, doctors on their way to work at a women's clinic swerve and barely avoid hitting a troubled young woman. Fearing for her safety, they take her to the clinic to ensure that she is okay. Shortly after arrival, however, the clinic is visited by an insane pro-lifer, who also happens to be the young woman's father. To make things worse, the "young woman" is only fifteen years old, and she happens to be pregnant...with something that isn't human, and may be demonic in nature.

Carpenter is using the extremely overdone "Rosemary's Baby" concept, albeit to exploit a rather touchy issue in modern society. On the one hand, if you've seen one disgusting birth scene, you've just about seen them all (that wont stop me from watching, however). On the other hand, a good 75% of the actual horror comes from real life violence, caused by the militant "pro-lifers" (Including one scene that would make any male viewer cringe in fear). Unfortunately, whatever tension is built up at the beginning and middle parts gets cut down at the end, when the baby's father comes to claim his offspring. Whereas an unseen, or at least partly seen apparition would have been appropriate, we see all of what looks no more convincing than a 50's low budget horror flick (basically a guy in a suit). The ending makes no sense, and the viewer cringes as what was turning out to be a smooth and scary ride ends in an unimprssive train wreck. My score: 3 out of 5.