So much average

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Getting a box set of Masters of Horror from a very kind DVD seller as a birthday gift,I was thrilled to find that it contained auteur film maker Dario Argento's first ep for the show.Trying to find the second ep,I was disappointed to being only able to find it getting sold for silly money on eBay. Talking to a family friend about Region 1 DVDs that he has recently picked up,I was taken aback to find out that he had somehow got hold of Argento's second ep at a good price,which led to me at last putting on the coat.The plot:Desperate to have sex with a stripper called, Shanna,fur trader Jake Feldman finds himself constantly getting pushed back in the chair.Working as suppliers to Feldman, Jeb Jameson and his son go onto mystic private land and kill raccoon.Getting set to give Feldman the beautiful raccoon fur in order for him to make Shanna,the Jameson's peel away the raccoon's,and unwittingly undress a deadly curse.View on the film:Sowing up his debut writing credit,the screenplay by Matt Venne adapts an F. Paul Wilson short story into reflecting leather which pulls one of Argento's major themes to its extreme edge.Since his first offering,Argento has made his main characters connection to animals one that become more entwined with each passing title.Dressing this theme, Venne makes the link to animals one that has taken a very dark turn,as every attempt someone makes to get close to the coat,leads to the animals/nature getting their revenge.Stripping Jake Feldman as a loner in the strip club,director Dario Argento & cinematographer Attila Szalay give the tale an underlying Film Noir atmosphere,as claws of low hanging shadows burn above the screen,peeling away at the skin Feldman lives in.Limited in doing any overly stylish camera moves,Argento lets the style run deep red in extravagant gore scenes.Backed by an icy score from Claudio Simonetti, Argento slices the screen in practical effects gore which allow Argento to linger on the ghoulish acts,until the blood- drenched effects and Feldman are snapped by an Argento "pop." Taking a role first offered to Dario's daughter Asis, Ellen Ewusie gives a good performance as Shanna,whose raunchy kick Ewusie makes sure is too hot to handle for Feldman. Flying out of the screen like a bat out of hell, Meat Loaf gives a wonderful performance as Feldman,thanks to Loaf knotting Feldman's burnt out loner with a bloody new dress sense.

Dario Argento truly seems to "Get It" when it comes to horror. As in "Jenifer", Argento knows how to get under (or through) a viewer's skin, and "Pelts" is no exception. I sit through horror films on an almost daily basis, yet I find myself squirming more then sitting when I watch Argento's extremely graphic stories of utter gore and chaos. The tale is an odd one, combining greed, lust and absurdness to great effect and featuring a very well acted Meat Loaf as the main protagonist. Of course, it's always good to see an old favorite, as John Saxon delivers a stellar performance as well. I stand in awe of Argento's ability to constantly turn out over the top, disturbingly beautiful and horrific works, but I certainly will not question his integrity. As far as "Masters Of Horror" is concerned, he has proved himself a true "Master"... "Pelts" is definitely one of the top three episodes of the series... Well done.

So far this is one of my least favorite episodes of the Masters of Horror series. The premise is crystal clear by the 15-minute mark, and yet the film goes on for another 45 minutes.The idea is simple enough: a trapper scores some very special raccoon pelts. The skins come alive and one by one, everyone who deals with them is compelled to grotesque suicide. There's no suspense, just some over-the-top gore. It reminded me a bit of "The Omen II", which was just a sequence of grisly deaths without any real plot.Nice to see John Saxon in a brief appearance, but while this isn't exactly a train wreck, the story really has nowhere to go.

Dario Argento is my all-time favourite director. PHENOMENA, TENEBRE, INFERNO and SUSPIRIA all rank on my top 20 horror films of all-time, and I own all of his films available in Australia. So when I viewed his very disappointing Masters of Horror entry JENIFER, I decided not to expect much from PELTS. Thankfully, my low expectations were more than met with this frantic and exciting Masters of Horror episode, restoring my faith in the series after JENIFER, HAECKEL'S TALE, DANCE OF THE DEAD and the abysmal CHOCOLATE bombed out and ruined the credibility IMPRINT, CIGARETTE BURNS and SICK GIRL had built.PELTS follows a slimy, bitter fur trader (Meat Loaf) who is hopelessly in love with a lesbian stripper (Ellen Ewusie). When a sadistic poacher (John Saxon, one of the main reasons I saw this) sells him some mesmerising raccoon pelts, his obsession turns to them and he decides the only way to win the object of his affection is to make her the ultimate coat. But obsession can turn to insanity...PELTS is moral-heavy, but if you ignore those themes it is a simple supernatural revenge film, with a twist. PELTS is gory, fast paced, creepy, unnerving and occasionally hilarious, and the film has an Argento vibe all over it. The acting is fair, but I do think the masters of Horror episodes are too focused on people obsessing.Overall a solid entry to the series and to the horror genre on a whole. 7/10.