Incident On and Off a Mountain Road (2005)

To me, this movie is perfection.

So much average

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This episode seemed to take a rather reflexive look at horror, so that we see the results of a female protagonist who actually knows how to defend herself and is resourceful enough to actually take out the antagonist(s). After crashing into another car, Ellen finds herself being hunted by the local, serial killing ghoul. But instead of making the typical mistakes of women in horror films on the run from death, Ellen uses her defensive training that she learned from her obsessive and abusive husband, who lies dead in her trunk. The irony in the story lies in the fact that after Ellen uses her training to kill Bruce, she then gets pulled into a horrible situation requiring all her skills to survive. What's really great in the episode that made the whole thing worthwhile was that Ellen was able to leave Bruce's body at the home of the now dead psychopath, strung up on a crucifix like all of the ghoul's victims, washing Ellen's hands of the revenge she took on her husband. Quite nicely done.

Of the Master's of Horror shows I have seen this one is not all that good and not all that bad. Certainly not in the league of Cigarette Burns from John Carpenter, but what does one expect? The guy who did this one is not exactly a movie making machine with his best work coming in the Phantasm series with little else of note. Though I have heard a few good things from Bubba Ho Tep. This one is about a woman coming off a rather abusive relationship having a run in with a strange mountain man that one of those unfortunate enough to be caught by him calls Moonface. A game of cat and mouse ensues and though the film thinks it is being clever you should be able to figure out the twist at the end fairly easily. The killer in this film is your typical 80's slasher killer, the deformed man with a weapon and bad attitude. The heroine in this one is not so typical, though not all that surprising either, as like I said you should be able to deduce her secrets as you see glimpses of her former life in flashbacks. Also of note in this one is the guy who plays the Tall Man in the Phantasm movies having a bit of a small part in this film. Though all his menace is reduced and he is a bit of an idiot.

The Plot: Ellen is driving along the road, when she accidentally crashes. When she wakes up, she's not hurt. But the worst is yet to come. A disfigured slasher from off the road named Moonface attacks, forcing Ellen to run for her life. But that's when she remembers her husband, Bruce, and his lessons of surviving and trapping your attacker. Using those lessons, Ellen fights back and tries to stop the killer. If she can't do that, then she's going to meet a grisly end.The Film: Don Coscarelli's "Phantasm" is a very entertaining horror film, one that is filled with gore, tension, and scares. So, when I heard Coscarelli was going to direct the TV adaptation of Southern writer Joe R. Lansdale's "Incident On And Off A Mountain Road" for "Masters of Horror," I was intrigued. I was never quite a fan of the "Phantasm" sequels or "Bubba Ho-Tep," but Coscarelli's entry in the series is great fun all the way. "Incident On And Off A Mountain Road" is a surprisingly original slasher movie, with plenty of gore, a hip villain, and a sexy heroine. Bree Turner is very good as Ellen, with Ethan Embry("That Thing You Do")as Bruce, and John De Santis as Moonface. And Angus Scrimm, the infamous Tall Man of "Phantasm," has a terrific cameo here as a wacko dude from Moonface's lair.The Result: Original, bloody, and entertaining are the three words to describe "Masters of Horror: Incident On And Off A Mountain Road." Don Coscarelli is a great director, and hopefully, he will make more movies like this one. "Hell of a night...huh, Moonface?"

Incident On and Off a Mountain Road (2005) ** (out of 4) Don Coscarelli's entry in the Masters of Horror series has a woman wrecking on a mountain road and then being stalked by a maniac. This is only my second film in the Masters of Horror series but this thing here is way behind John Carpenter's Cigarette Burns. The MTV-style editing doesn't work, some of the CGI is quite poor and in the end we've seen this type of slasher way too many times. The director of the Phantasm series doesn't build any suspense but the performances are good. I didn't care for the twist ending either.