At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

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.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

I had mixed feelings when I saw that the first episode of the second season of this anthology show would be directed by none other than Tobe Hooper. For one thing we all know how much raw potential he has but also how he tends to make some oddly disappointing directing decisions that leave his works sadly unfulfilled. And for another this is his second addition to Masters of Horror (one of the few true masters really featured)- and his first one was good. It was decent but not great. Seeing that this one was another collaboration between Matheson and Hooper had me pretty excited because the script for Dance of the Dead, Hooper's earlier episode also written by Matheson, was nice. I actually had higher expectations for this episode than I did Dance of the Dead- for the first four minutes. And then comes in that awful slow-mo hazy effect that he used so liberally in his other episode. Why he does things like this is beyond me but I immediately gave a great sigh and settled down, ready for another lukewarm serving from someone very adept and delivering below his potential. Which was actually a blessing in disguise because now I was open to being pleasantly surprised. This time around the cinematography had a warm ambiance reminiscent of TCM. It was set in Texas, so maybe that's just what Hooper does best.In fact, the atmosphere seems to be an element that's missing in a lot of his films and is really done justice here. The script was also tighter this time around- it probably did help that it was based on a short story rather than a Matheson original. I started off this review with criticism but honestly The Damned Thing is a gem among later Hooper works and a cut above most of the episodes of Masters of Horror.

Damned Thing, The (2006) *** (out of 4) The second season of Masters of Horror kicks off with Tobe Hooper's entry. I haven't viewed all of season one yet but so far Hooper's film has been the worst so I didn't have high hopes with this one. As a child, a Sheriff (Sean Patrick Flanery) witnessed his father turn crazy and kill his mother but he also saw the entire town go crazy with suicide and murder. Twenty-four years later he begins to feel the town is once again going crazy with strange murders and more suicides. I was pleasantly shocked to see how much I enjoyed this film. I enjoyed it so much that I don't have any problem in saying this is Hooper's best work since The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The film has some nice suspense and Hooper keeps the mystery going very well. There's some extremely graphic violence that actually works quite nice but the ending is just downright stupid and pulls the film down some.

Masters of Horror: The Damed Thing starts in the small American town of Cloverdale during 1981 where the evil 'thing' he set free a number of years earlier finds John Reddle (Brent Stait) & makes him kill his wife (Georgia Craig) & try to kill his young son Kevin (Ryan Drescher) before it rips him to pieces... Jump forward 'Twenty-Four Years Later' & Kevin is now the Sheriff of Cloverdale & is still haunted by what he witnessed all those years ago, usually Cloverdale is a quiet place to live but all of a sudden the murder, suicide & general mortality rate has alarmingly gone through the roof as the 'thing' that Kevin's father unleashed has come back to claim him & his family as well as anyone who gets in it's way...This Canadian American co-production was episode 1 from season 2 of the hit-and-miss Masters of Horror TV series, the second episode to be directed by Tobe Hooper after Dance of the Dead from season 1 I liked The Damned Thing & thought it was a hit. The script by Richard Christian Matheson was based on a short story by Ambrose Bierce & while some of it is a bit ambiguous that helps the overall mood & this one certainly delivers in the violence department. Of course it's not perfect, why didn't the damned thing just kill Kevin when it killed his father? Why does the damned thing seem to effect people in different ways & why do some seem immune to it's presence? I also thought there was a bit too much pointless 'personal angst' type stuff in regards to Kevin & what happened to him. These are minor issues though as I found myself enjoying this tale of supernatural forces. I would probably say it's a touch predictable & even at less than 60 minutes in length it seemed like there was some padding here, the character's aren't great but on a pure entertainment level The Damned Thing in my opinion is one of the better Masters of Horror episodes out there.Director Hooper does OK, there's not that many scares here & there's not much tension either but if your looking for gore then this is the one for you as there's plenty of it & it's pretty graphic. There's some bloody shotgun blasting including point blank into someone's stomach, someone is literally ripped open & their guts hang out all over the place, someone has a gun put in their mouth & their brains are blown out, there's a cool bit when Kevin tries to remove a car crash victim & they have been cut in half & someone commits suicide by hitting his own head with a hammer which is accompanied by fountains of spraying blood. There's even a CGI mud monster thing at the end which is wisely used sparingly, I've seen worse CGI computer effects but at the same time I've seen better.Technically this one is well made as usual for Masters of Horror but it's maybe a bit bland & a tad forgettable. The acting is pretty good although the material is a bit silly.The Damned Thing is a good Masters of Horror episode although it's one which seems to divide opinion but I don't care because I liked it & that's all that matters to me, definitely worth a watch for horror fans & a decent way to kick off season 2.

In season 1 of Masters of Horror, I really enjoyed John Landis episode (Deer Woman). It had great characters, mixed in with some comedy and a nice tongue in cheek plot. I warns;t to impressed with Tobe Hoopers first episode... but this one I really enjoyed...Sure when you boil it down the protagonist is a giant oil monster, but there's something really cool, about seeing normal be afraid for their loved ones, then lose their mind in a second, and try to kill them. It's somewhat reminiscent of George A. Romero's "The Crazies"........There were also two special treats in this movie, coming off a commercial break for beauty products (when I was watching this on TV) it went right into a scene where some guy takes a hammer to his own face.... Pretty Gory and entertaining.... Also seeing Ted Raimi as a Priest was entertaining as well