MASTERS OF HORROR (THE HOMECOMING)

Okay, I am sure you have an opinion as to President Bush’s handling of the war, the questions surrounding Iraq’s possession of WMDs and the, as of today, more than 2,000 lives that have been lost in the war.  Thankfully, we live in a free country and there are numerous venues where one can vent his or her frustration:  Dailykos.com, the New York Times Op Ed and Masters of Horror???  In HOMECOMING, director Joe Dante, takes us right down that road with an adaptation of a short story by Dale Baley in which the audience is cast into an eerily similar situation to the present day debacle:  The President has led the country into a war based on false WMD information and the vote for his reelection is less than three weeks away.

The two main characters are Jane Cleaver, a constitutional scholar and David Murch, a former presidential speechwriter.  The two met on one of those talking head shows that you would see on MSNBC or Fox News.  Jane is a ball-busting cynic who wears a leather mini-skirt and scares away the men, while David has a Clinton-like way of expressing credible emotion.  While on the show, David expresses his wish that the fallen soldiers could return and have a chance to voice their feelings on the war.  Well, David should have put his foot in his mouth at that moment because he gets his wish…

In the coolest scene by far, a living soldier is about to close the silo holding the latest batch of fallen soldiers, when all of a sudden, casket-by-casket, zombie soldiers emerge from their resting place.  There isn’t really any serious violence throughout the movie as these zombies have come for a noble cause:  to vote against the president in the election.  In fact, once a zombie casts his vote against the President, having satisfied his reason for returning from the dead, he immediately falls dead to the ground.  If this idea sounds silly, that’s because it is.  And even though the zombie ranks are only about a hundred strong, the undead appear on television at voting rallies, and directly question the president why they died in vain and why he lied about the war – Pretty heavy stuff for a horror film, right?  These emotional acts sway the polls and on poll night, the media indicates an early lead for the challenger.  Sound familiar? 

Things inevitably parallel what happened in real life and after the mildly satisfying ending, I realized that I had probably just watched the worst of the Masters of Horror episodes (worse than Jenifer).  The themes were much too heavy handed and better left to other venues, unless executed with precision and definitely not to the detriment of gore, sex and blood.  ABSOLUTEHORROR.com strives to view and review the horror movies that are so bad that they are entertaining.  We lifted this requirement for the Masters of Horror series and much to our delight; most of them are actually well made, entertaining horror movies.  HOMECOMING, however, was neither a well made, nor an entertaining movie, which explains my rating.   

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RATING:  * (out of four)

Comments

[Dan]

I agree, but disagree. It was a lame episode. But I have no problem with horror taking on political issues. I also have no problem with being pissed off about the Iraq War.

The problem of this episode wasn't the political stuff, it was the lack of good horror. It kept cutting away before we could see gore? What was the point? The zombies should have come back and ripped the heads off of the neo-con Republicans, but instead they just voted and died. That was lame.

Still, there is a place for political commentary in horror.

[Opening Kill]

I think a horror film talking about politics needs to be held to a high bar and should be more thought-provoking. Think of it as the difference between the Geena Davis president television show and The West Wing. One is clearly dumbed down and doesn't know what it's talking about, while the other is well researched and a smart show. This movie dealt with current issues the way that the Geena Davis show does. Plus, it lacked almost all of the crucial elements for a good horror movie.

[385-horror]

Semi-offtopic comment. I just watched Masters of Horror #4 and #5. Jennifer was much better than I expected, I had that sick feeling while watching portions of this episode. Episode 5 aka Chocolate was very dissapointing. It was quite boring all the way and I expected it to have a strong ending, but it was rather plain...

[KenH]

"The zombies should have come back and ripped the heads off of the neo-con Republicans, but instead they just voted and died. That was lame."

Can't you Liberals say ANYTHING without HATEING people who have oppinions that are diffrent from your's? Where's that "tolerance and diversity" stuff you people supposedly love?

PS: "Ghost Votes" are illegal.

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HA! Ken H.! asking a liberal for "tolerance and diversity"! You make me laugh! You might as well ask a liberal to respect free speech. Good one.

[Andres]

Why do you say jenifer and Fair Hair Child suck???

Homecoming is CLEARLY the worst episode: a retarded zombie movie for the mentally-challenged liberals.(a.k.a "all of them)
War is what the right wing loves, right? so I'm guessing the 130 million people communism killed is a mistake ¬¬
Also they mixed kinky sex and blue words with conservativism, which is practically the opposite (too much sexual restrictions). And yeahhh, if I'm a soldier fighting for my country and my enemy kills me...I took revenge against the country I sweared to protect. Blehhh

This episode is as retarded as the zombie voters.

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