Too much of everything

A different way of telling a story

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Wow. Honestly, I don't think I've ever seen a story told this poorly since I was introduced to Uwe Boll. Not only does this story start off like a serious Frankenstein rip-off, but then moves into extreme b-movie ideas like a zombie orgy and the director doesn't seem to notice. Everything in the movie is played completely seriously. Evil Dead has about the same level of ridiculous situations, but that movie embraced what it was doing and made jokes and had fun with it. This movie does the same thing but thinks the audience is dumb enough to take it seriously. That and the classic "period on a budget" look that plagues most low-budget period pieces is fully obvious here. Super strong fire-lights with exaggerated flickering and moonlight simulated obviously by lights just-off camera as opposed to using larger lights further away which hides them better.Avoid if you are intelligent enough to read.

Nasty piece of business from director John McNaughton has atheist scientist Ernst Haeckel(Derek Cecil)finding out that his father is gravely ill, and as he is returning to his home runs into a couple who have had dealings with a man he knows from his past..a necromancer named Montesquino(Jon Polito)who can bring the dead back to life. There's a catch, however, and that is the dead remain in their same condition..and thirst for flesh as all zombies apparently always do.The couple Haeckel meets on his journey home is an old man named Wolfram(Tom McBeath)and his lovely, very young wife, Elise(Leela Savasta, who has an incredible body). Elise has need of the necromancer as her love and devotion is to one man..her dead husband! So here is Haeckel in amongst all this madness ceaselessly trying to find out how to send the dead back to their graves, but understanding futilely that there is no way.This yucky MOH offering has some wild sex scenes between Elise,who really lets go and makes the sexual love-making with a corpse erotic in the disgusting sense. There is gut-munching for zombie fans and even a homage to FRANKENSTEIN thanks to an inspired Mick Garris teleplay. Garris uses a narrative device from an old female necromancer telling some poor sad soul(who has returned from his beloved wife's funeral and wishes her resurrected)this tale of what Haeckel experienced. There's an ending only a horror fan could love..it is indeed a unique twist to cap it off.I'm not real fond of the idea showing sex with corpses, but there is a built in audience for this sort of thing. McNaughton relies on some mediocre filler scenes designed to make a person jump(such as a dead pederast hanging from a noose or a stones falling from a hole in the wall housing rats)which take away from the overall story. This shows signs of a mini-film having to work through a plot rather quickly instead of giving it the proper development it really does need.

Masters of Horror: John McNaughton: Haeckel's Tale: 7 out of 10: Can one justify seeing a rather pedestrian one hour episode simply because a gorgeous woman has one of the most bizarre and erotic sex scenes near the films "climax"? I'm certainly going to try.First the pedestrian stuff. This is an historical horror movie, all horse drawn carriages and talk of electricity. It's nice for a change of pace and is well done here.The films main character is that old chestnut "a man of science". He is trying to replicate Victor Frankenstein's experiments and is instead setting corpses on fire. The movie takes a very unexpected turn as he is summoned to his dying father and precedes on a leisurely peregrination kind of like that the gay character takes in As Good As It Gets.On his jaunt he runs into a Necromancer that raise people from the dead for a fee who is very well played by Coen favorite Jon Polito (A cheap talented Danny DeVito). Man of science is curious but disparages the hocus pocus mystical explanation of the necromancers skills.The movie continues to meander much like the main character until he ends up at the house of a weird old man and his too young and beautiful wife. This is where my patience with the film paid off.Leela Savasta made such an impression on me I immediately want to see the rest of her films… both of them. Heck I want to buy an office block in Vancouver. (She sells Canadian real estate as well as acting and modeling). Yes I turned from bemused viewer to gushing fan boy almost immediately.So in conclusion movie is decent albeit slow and Savasta will make a man leave his wife and travel a continent and buy a small affordable Canadian strip mall. Or at the very least see that new Black Christmas remake.

Having directed the one classic horror milestone "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" apparently was enough to include John McNaughton in the whole Masters of Horror project. This was originally meant to become George A. 'father of all zombie movies' Romero's episode, but McNaughton does a great job and the opening credits still refer to Romero as being some kind of inspiration source. That's cool. And it only gets better, as the writer of "Haeckel's Tale" is no less than Clive Barker; creator of such brilliant genre efforts like "Hellraiser" and "Candyman". So, is this really one the best entries of the entire first season? Well it's not in the top 3 but, yes, it is another very solid and worthwhile horror adventure with a neat Gothic atmosphere and a handful of genuine shocks. The script lacks a bit of structure and continuity but overall it's compelling and refers to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein quite often. The mini-movie opens with a little wraparound story about a young man that requests the help of an elderly witch to bring back his beloved bride from the dead. The witch wants to help him but warns him about the dangers of necromancy by telling the tale of Ernst Heackel... He was a talented and obnoxious young scientist, on his way home to visit his ill father, until he made acquaintance with a bizarre couple in the woods. Raising the dead was an important part of their lives every night and that had terrible consequences for Mr. Haeckel. This tale is a strange combination of stylish Gothic thrills, morbid science, Fulci-esquire zombie splatter and sleazy sex scenes. The film is occasionally scary, but at other times very humorous and truly eccentric. For a good half hour, you have no real idea where the story is going! It initially looks like Haeckel is another amateur-Frankenstein and his obsession with science will drive him one step too far, but then suddenly he becomes the victim in a dark world of black magic and the occult. The make-up effects are terrific and especially the supportive characters of the film are highly memorable. Notably the always-reliable Jon Polito and the breathtaking young actress Leela Savasta. Another very recommended Masters of Horror episode.