The Masters of Horror Series has been pretty good so far, and while I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing most of the Second season DVD’s so far, I knew I was bound to find one that didn’t go over so well with me. That’s the case with Right to Die. It was just one of those episodes where the plot was not really what I expected it to be and I found myself already knowing what the out come of this episode would be.
Right to Die is about a dentist whom is driving with his wife though the mountain side, when there car collides with a fallen tree in the road. The man’s wife is sent flying though the windshield, although she appears to be alright, when her husband gets out of the car he notices that gas from the engine is pooling around her and dripping on her head. The car then goes up in flames and his wife is consumed within the fire. he then wakes up in the hospital only to find out that his wife is still alive but in very bad shape. about 99% of her body is burned, her face is charred and she is barely alive. However we soon find out that in a variety of flash back scenes that the dentist has not been so committed to his wife and has been cheating on her with his assistant. But where the horror element of this film comes in is that the wife keeps dying in the hospital and every time she does her spirit comes and get revenge on those who have done her wrong. But the medical staff in the hospital keeps reviving her. The film goes back in forth between the morals of taking someone off of life support or not. There is some political satire in a side plot which includes a pending court case in which the dentist’s wife mother is trying to get the rights to her daughter’s life, so that the cheating doctor won’t be able to inherit her fortune.
Here’s the deal, I thought that the script for this film was all over the place, and it seemed to me that the writer was torn on writing a film about moral values than he was about introducing the horror element to it. While I respect any horror film that introduces the element of moral values or social problems, there needs to be a balance between the two. In this film I felt like it was more stressed on the issue(s) and that the rest of the story took a back seat.
The acting was OK, I’m not going to say it was great. It seems at times that some of the actors were slipping with their lines and that they didn’t care much to take the time to learn them. I also didn’t buy Corbin Bernsen as the sneaky lawyer Ira. For some reason I could not see him in that part. The only part that really seemed to jump out at me was that of Trish played by Robin Sndney. Even though her part was of a bubbly tramp, she still held her own and managed to win over. I will however go on record as saying that I think the best overall thing about this entire film was Rob Schmidt’s directing. While I didn’t think that the acting was anything great, I still think the overall way the movie was put together and the shots used by the director worked well.
In terms of special effects and production value; the make-up effects in the film were very, very good. Especially the burned body of Abby. Aside from that we basically got a lot of fires effects and some blood here and there. We also get a sliced up body and a cooler full of skin. The overall production value was alight. I felt that at times the film looked almost fake; and well I hate to say it but a bad Sci-fi Channel movie.
Overall, I did not really get into this film as much as I would of liked too. It was one of those movie where the character didn’t interest me at all, and I never had any feeling toward any of them. In fact if they all dropped dead in this film or lived on I wouldn’t have cared either way. I felt the script never really took a focus on what it wanted to accomplish and that the only thing that helped the film was the directing and the decent effects. Overall I think it’s the weakest entry to season two of Masters of Horror that I’ve seen so far.
– 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
