The Washingtonians (2007)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Redundant and unnecessary.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

This must be the episode with the most mixed emotions. For some the question is how it was possible to add a famous person into such a story. But hey, we are at this writing 6 years later and just look what happened, Abraham Lincoln was in trouble with vampires, and in another flick he had to fight zombies. Snow White came in trouble with monsters and I can go on and on.Seeing it now I rather enjoyed it but it wasn't one of the best episodes. The reason lays in the fact that the Washingtonians looked a bit ridiculous. The story itself was, again, rather simple. A man finds a letter behind a painting of George with supposedly was written by George stating that he was a cannibal. Once people from the town the man and his family just moved in do know he got the letter in comes the Washingtonians to get back the letter so history remains the same. But I had a few laughters here and there, when at the diner suddenly the family are looking at the people surrounding them eating spare ribs, but it looked like they were all eating people. And when they are talking to the 10 year old daughter they also looked like she was eatable. And the end surely delivers an inside joke with the new dollar bill.Maybe if I had seen it in 2007 I would have hate it too but nowadays things are changed and it was okay but not above average due the silly looks of the Washingtonians. They just looked so cheap.Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 1/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 1/5

I read the short story first and when I heard it was going to be a Masters of Horror, I was thrilled. Masters of Horror is the greatest show ever created. The Washingtonians was very well written and stayed pretty true to the story, except for the ending. The story's ending was very much a horror ending and I was highly disappointed that they made the movie's ending so corny. Other than that, I'd recommend this movie to any horror fan or Bentley Little fan. That being said, I'd like to say that I highly enjoyed the Thomas Jefferson scene. Very creative. Very gory. Extremely entertaining. A must-see for any horror fan. And I'd also recommend buying the book with this story in it. It's called The Collection.

The value of Peter Medak's master degree in horror is debatable, since he only just directed one terrific classic in the genre ("The Changeling") and one inferior but fun & gory sequel ("Species II"), but he nevertheless delivered a worthwhile addition to the series' second season. "The Washingtonians" has an original premise and a fairly large amount of suspenseful sequences, particularly during the first half hour when the outcome is still somewhat of a mystery. And unlike most other installments of this show, the concept has the courage to mildly provoke. The story revolves on George Washington being a bloodthirsty cannibal – even with a preference for the flesh of young children and virgins – and a small group of Virginian disciples are still practicing his murderous habits. Considering the first President of the United States is still (and always) seen as a genuine hero and founding father of the nation, "The Washingtonians" just might upset a handful of old-fashioned people here and there. Not too much, however, as the overall tone of the episode is as much blackly comical as it is creepy. In the basement of his recently deceased grandmother's house in Virginia, Mike Franks finds a note written by no other than George Washington himself. This could be a great historical discovery, wouldn't it be that the message is hugely disturbing and talks about the dismemberment & devouring of little children. When they hear about the note, the friendly old people in town promptly turn into hostile and menacing aggressors that won't hesitate to kill and eat Mike and his family in order to recover the note. "The Washingtonians" is adequately fast-paced and well directed. Highlight of the short film is unquestionably the scene in the local restaurant, where the elderly townsfolk outrageously & primitively munch large portions of red meat. Still, in a story revolving on cannibalism, I expected a bit more gore and slaughter. Johnathon Schaech is decent in the lead role, but the woman who played his wife Pam (the largely unknown Venus Terzo) impressed me a lot more. She's a talented beauty with a gorgeous rack. That might be an infantile and tasteless thing to say, but it's the truth.

Masters of Horror: The Washingtonians starts as Mike (co-writer Jonathon Schaech) & Pam Franks (Venus Terzo) along with their 10 year old daughter Amy (Julia Tortolano) drive to the house left to Frank by his recently deceased Grandmother, once there they start to explore their new home. Amy decides to look in the basement & discovers a large painting of George Washington the founder of the United States, upon closer inspection Mike finds a letter & a fork made of bone behind a tear in the canvas. The letter talks of Washington engaging in cannibalistic activities, Mike realises that if the letter turns out to be genuine then it could rewrite American history but so do a group of loons called Washingtonians who will do anything to get the letter back...This Canadian American co-production was episode 12 from season 2 of the generally hit-and-miss Masters of Horror TV series, directed by Peter Medak I actually thought The Washingtonians was a definite hit & I rather liked this darkly comic story despite it's largely negative reviews. The tongue-in-cheek script by Richard Chizmar & star Jonathon Schaech was based on a short story of the same name by Bentley Little & has a cool twisted central premise, the thought of George Washington being a cannibal & there being people who call themselves Washingtonians who still carry on the tradition is an interesting & perverse idea that I thought made for a very watchable & entertaining 60 odd minutes. However it's far from perfect, the tight time scale means it feels a bit rushed no more so than the frustrating ending because the episode was going really well as far as I was concerned & then all of a sudden everything just seemed to end abruptly without a satisfactory conclusion which is the only real criticism I have with The Washingtonians & I deify anyone to say The Washingtonians is a worse Masters of Horror episode than The Screwfly Solution with a straight face.Director Medak is yet another strange choice to direct a so-called Masters of Horror episode, apart from The Changeling (1981), a Tales from the Crypt episode called The New Arrival (1992) & Species II (1998) he hasn't exactly been prolific within the horror genre has he? He does fine here, there's not many scares but at least he keeps things moving & there's a nice atmosphere to this one especially the cool juxtaposition at the end when amidst all the splendour & opulence of The Washingtonians posh surroundings they indulge in very vulgar acts of cannibalism. As usual there's some top gore, there's a decapitation at the start & the expected various cannibal scenes including someone eating chunks of flesh from a severed foot, a huge tray with a chopped up body on it, there's intestine eating & plenty of blood splashed around.Techncially these Masters of Horror episodes are very well made & don't look like the cheap made-for-TV show's that they are in reality. The special effects are excellent as always & it has high production values. The acting was alright but the 10 year girl annoyed like a lot of child actors do.The Washingtonians seems to have a bad reputation which frankly I couldn't give a toss about because I liked it & that's all that matters to me & it's as simple & straight forward as that, I reckon it's well worth an hour of your life.