January 12, 2007: Ice-Ice-Cream, Babies
After a bit of a lukewarm start,
Masters of Horror has picked up significantly in this second half of season 2. I cannot wait for Stuart Gordon's interpretation of Poe's
The Black Cat next week. I have pretty high expectations for it, and the preview looked amazing!
This week's episode,
We All Scream For Ice Cream felt much like an episode of
Tales From the Crypt. It was creatively creepy, but not really as intense or groundbreaking as some of the other
Masters episodes. Director Tom Holland has a couple of my favorite classics on his resume, including
Child's Play and
Fright Night. It turns out, he also directed several episodes of [HBO's]
Tales From the Crypt, so I guess there's a good reason why
We All Scream... reminded me of
Tales From the Crypt.
In all honesty, I'm a bit ambivalent about this episode. It wasn't bad, it wasn't great, it was entertaining in a "made for TV" kind of way... it even felt a bit like an '80s horror film for reasons that I cannot pinpoint. I liked it, but I don't have a ton to say about it either.
One thing I did find myself feeling was sympathy for "Ch-Ch-Ch-Cheery" after seeing the circumstances that drove him to getting into the frozen voodoo doll business in the afterlife. I also found it an interesting gore device to witness the victims melting into piles of pastel goo, much like melted ice cream.
I would call this episode "Children of the High Fructose Corn Syrup." Creepy children getting revenge on their parents through an even creepier clown and sweet treats molded into icy voodoo dolls. I did love the ominous ice cream truck prowling the streets in the dark mist; that reminded me of something out of a Stephen King story. Finally, I did enjoy the metaphor of the episode: revenge is sweet
and a dish best served cold.
