I've been around a long time. You know, like the Highlander.
I was fresh out of high school and in my first year at my first college when Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories premiered on NBC. It had that trademark Spielberg sense of wonder and pretty successfully related the quality of a good story to mid-80's audiences who happily fed on movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. It also showcased the talents of some fine directors such as Clint Eastwood, Bob Clark, Joe Dante, Martin Scorsese, and Robert Zemeckis. My younger brother and I were faithful viewers of the series, and had particular episodes we really loved. The one episode among many that stuck out for years in our churning minds was the hilarious misunderstanding of "Mummy Daddy," written by Earl Pomearantz and directed by William Dear (Harry and The Hendersons).
Harold (Tom Harrison) is an actor in full mummy regalia, the feature creature in a film being made in a dark Southern swamp. His director (Bronson Pinchot) pampers him, but only because he's asked the poor actor to remain in costume, which restricts his speech and causes him to walk stiffly. Harold suddenly gets word that his wife is in labor at a nearby hospital, so he races off to be at her side.
The thing is, he forgets he's still decked out as an undead pharaoh.
It might sound unusual for a mummy to be a part of the Southern bayou, but a local legend there tells of a traveling circus that visited the area with an evil, real un-life mummy called Ra Amin Ka. As Harold hurtles towards the hospital, he loses his way and has a run-in with some trigger-happy locals. Being pursued, he meets up with a kind old blind man, who brushes up against him and, horrified, mistakes him for Ra Amin Ka. Stumbling into his back room, the old man awakens the real Ra Amin Ka, who sets out after poor Harold.
After a quick but truly classic "battle" with the real mummy, Harold is captured and nearly hanged before he finally reaches the hospital. Reunited with his unfazed wife, Harold gives the dumbstruck rednecks the stink-eye as he dotes on his new baby. Back on the movie set, the director is excited that Harold seems to have returned. But we know it's Ra Amin Ka, even as they begin to remove the bandages...
The episode has so many little moments: Harold freezing in a ridiculous pose to avoid being seen, the rednecks' lack of reasoning skills, the wonderful near-martial-arts battle Harold has with Ra Amin Ka. Harrison is the real star of this episode (or "chapter"). With limited facial expressions and speech, he conveys everything through mumbles and as much mobility as his makeup will allow. He sounds exasperated, frustrated, angry, scared, and ultimately happy throughout his misadventure. A fantastic performance by Harrison, and let's not forget the locals featuring Brion James (Blade Runner and Fifth Element), Tracey Walter (of a million different movies and TV shows), and soon-to-be Seinfeld actors Larry Hankin (the raisin-stealing actor who plays Kramer in the doomed pilot Jerry and George write) and the late Len Lesser (Uncle Leo).
It's, as they say, a rollicking good time. Light-hearted fun based on a classic movie monster with a twist. Amazing Stories was a staple of my heady 80's years, a little piece of Spielberg's express train of 80's movie magic on the small screen.
And it's available on Netflix instant. So there you go. Start watching, post-haste. Just have some good, old-fashioned fun.
I must admit: I'm not that big of a fan of most reality shows. They used to be interesting, like The Real World when it first started out. Occasionally, there are still some that might catch my eye. I'm sure through law of averages that at least a few will slip through that really aren't that bad - hell, there are a million of these shows anyway. In the glut of these things, there are bound to be some OK to decent ones. But for me, they're mostly not my cup of tea. Pretty soon, the most mundane events will have drama-soaked reality shows: "next week, on Watching Paint Dry." And don't get me started on the "famous for being famous" shows.
You know what these programs really need?
Zombies.
Lots and lots of zombies.
Thank you, my dear United Kingdom, for granting my wish. In 2008, Britain's E4 channel aired a five-episode miniseries called Dead Set, and despite the glut of zombie media these days (yes, the irony of my own statements is not lost on me), it offered a hyperkinetic, no-holds-barred take on the living dead genre. These are zombies of the "spry" variety, sporting characteristics such as colorless eyes and low, dog-like growls. We can debate the pros and cons of fast and slow zombies all day long, but for me, it's a moot point. The story is what I want to click, to strike chords with me. Dead Set definitely struck a chord.
Why the reality show reference? The whole setting for Dead Set is the Big Brother UK house (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) on a night when one of the contestants is being evicted. There are blatant nods to the nature of modern reality shows and how rabid the fans are. You know it's coming: Big Brother fans in the live audience + a fast-acting zombie plague = wacky fun.
It's eviction night on Big Brother UK, and airheaded Pippa (Kathleen McDermott) is about to take the elimination walk outside with the massive cheering crowds and an interview with host Davina (Davina McCall as herself). The show itself is in danger of being bumped for news of riots breaking out all over England, riots that include people attacking one another. Producer Patrick (Andy Nyman), a vain, mean-spirited fellow, cares only about stirring things up in the house and resulting ratings. Production runner Kelly (Jaime Winstone) juggles her job, her real boyfriend Riq (Riz Ahmed), and flirtations from a co-worker. In the house itself are a wide variety of personalities: sassy Angel (Chizzy Akudolu), ladies' man Marky (Warren Brown), sexpot Veronica (Beth Cordingly), lonely older man Joplin (Kevin Eldon), peacemaker Space (Adam Deacon), and wildly flamboyant Grayson (Raj Ghatak).
They have no clue what's about to happen when the show employees who drive Pippa's mother to the festivities come across a bloody accident scene. When they finally arrive at the show in what I thought was a wonderfully-filmed scene, all hell breaks loose in one of the best "zombies overrunning a location" scenes I've viewed in a while. After that initial "ka-pow!" the survivors try to assess the situation, but humans being humans, that isn't as easy or as comforting as it sounds.
Patrick and Pippa are trapped together in the green room, and that often-discussed point about bathroom privileges when stranded during a zombie apocalypse are addressed. While Patrick is often played for dark laughs, he's truly a vile individual. Riq and another survivor on the outside, Alex (Liz May Brice), discover that the feed of Big Brother is still being broadcast. Riq sees Kelly and sets out on a quest to save her. In the house, the contestants don't even know what's happened until Kelly arrives. Angel's bitten and quarantined to the greenhouse with her best friend Grayson, a male nurse, tending to her. Joplin has eyes for Veronica, despite being much older and nicknamed "Gollum" for his appearance. Veronica usually sleeps with Marky, but all bets are off now.
Much like an episode of Big Brother, alliances form and trust breaks down. All the while, outside the house and the gates, the living dead gather. One brilliant scene catches them hurrying down a sloped street to gather at the gates, much like they did when alive. Things really come to a head when the disagreements between Kelly and Patrick take a turn for the tragic and everything just crumbles down around everyone. As usual, I won't spoil certain moments, including the ending, but let's just say it doesn't end well for a lot of people. For you symbolism fans, the last shot of the entire series is of an average zombie standing in front of a store TV, staring blankly at what happens on the screen.
Dead Set was good, bleak fun. If you're looking for laughs or an inspired ending with characters looking off hopefully into the sunset, you've come to the wrong place. Everything and everyone is fraying at the edges, dark and desperate. The acting is tremendous with spots of urgency and frustration and a very loose grip on reality. For me, the two standouts were Andy Nyman as Patrick and Jaime Winstone as Kelly. Not to diminish the others, but those two really stood out as intense characters with whom you could relate. Yeah, Patrick was a sociopathic boor, but everything he did fit in his character. He wanted out, and he didn't care who he had to roll over to get there. Kelly struggled with an old boyfriend, a new crush, a jealous manager, a jerk of a boss, as well as several frustrating wannabe celebrities all swirling around in a fast-paced zombie apocalypse. And she ended up becoming a leader on top of all that.
There were some sweet nods to past zombie classics with the phrase "They're coming to get you, Barbara" uttered at one point, and paraphrasing of the great line in Dawn of the Dead about "this place being important to them." One character even dies much in the same way Rhodes does in Day of the Dead, yelling defiantly at the creatures eating him. Not to mention, there were some standout scenes that really hit home: the car full of freshly-turned zombies arriving at the house, the frantic overrunning of the studio, the horde of zombies converging on the fence, and the dark ending where you just say, "Aw, no."
Dead Set might not be easy to find in the United States. IFC showed the episodes around Halloween, and I caught them on IFC's on-demand channel, where they were available for a very short time. Amazon has each episode on pay-per-view here. It's worth the close to $10 you'd have to pay for the whole series ($1.99 per episode).
Over at a WGON Helicopter favorite, The Horror Digest, my good friend Andre discussed a recent poll by Filmclub regarding the most powerful moments in cinema. I fully agree with her that these polls and "official lists" and their ilk shouldn't be considered definitive and the ultimate authority on what is or isn't. One person's powerful moment may be another person's groaner, and vice versa. To me, it's much more interesting to see a variety of lists, as was done with Andre's original Top 10 Willie-Inducing Moments challenge - there are plenty of enlightening "I didn't think about that one" realizations upon seeing others' lists (see mine here). I had originally compiled some of these as an article I was outlining about moments in film that have made me say, "there's something in my eye."
With that in mind, I'm going to expand it and present a few of what I consider powerful moments in film (and TV). Some might be horror, some might not be. The movies or shows you enjoy should move you in some way, and although I focus on the scary parts of the whole beast in this blog, this article will include the funny and sad as well as the scary. You might agree with some of them, and there might be some at which you roll your eyes. That's fine. It's my list.
In no particular order:
LOST "The End" final scene
OK, let me nip this in the bud right now: I'm not going to open this up to arguments over whether or not the finale "sucked." I'm aware of how some people thought the ending wasn't right. I'm not one of them. I thought it was the very definition of a perfect ending. I'm not posting this to start an argument, but rather to show my feelings on it in terms of powerful moments.
Now, why this scene? There are several during that last episode that kick me right in the gut, but the final scene, after everything's tied together, gets me every time.
--AVAST! YE SPOILERS LAY AHEAD!--
To sum up - because recounting the entire mythology of the series would take forever - heroic Dr. Jack Shepherd has been mortally wounded, despite winning his battle with an ancient evil force on the island and saving the world. We discover that the "sideways world" paralleling the present world is actually a sort of "heavenly waiting room" where this tight group of people would gather before moving on. Cutting between his true reunion with those he most loved and his final moments in actual life, the series comes full circle as Jack finds and collapses in the very spot he woke up in the first episode. It's already hard watching Jack slowly die, but when Vincent runs out of the woods as he did in the first show, his appearance and Jack's smile are perfect. But when Vincent lays next to Jack - the final demonstration of no one ever really going it alone on the show - something somehow gets in my eye. Top that with Jack's triumphant final smile as he sees the remaining survivors escape in a repaired plane, and try not to feel something. I mean, have you no soul?
There were plenty of great moments like this all through the entire series, but that would be an entirely different blog altogether for another day.
Gladiator - Commodus pretty much poops his pants
You know the moment: Maximus, once a mighty Roman Army general, is betrayed and left for dead by the conniving Commodus. Maximus fights his way back to Rome through sheer badassery. Impressed by this mysterious gladiator, Commodus demands to meet him, and this reveal causes the "awwwwww, crap" expression to spread across his face:
I've seen this movie a million times, I've practically worn out the Hans Zimmer score, and this moment still makes me want to say, "in your face, Commodus!"
Dawn of the Dead (1978) - Roger's last wishes
It's no secret that the original Dawn of the Dead is my favorite horror movie, and among my favorite movies, no matter what the genre. To say it's influential is a gross understatement. While there are many scenes that give me chills, this scene sums up the sadness of Roger's inevitable death and zombification. The tough Peter - who only had met Roger just before their escape from Philadelphia - visibly cracks a little under the stress and emotion of a comrade and friend weakly crying out his final wishes.
Doctor Who "Doomsday" - The Doctor and Rose are forced to part
I came into Doctor Who late, but absolutely devoured all the recent episodes since the series was revived in 2005. It goes without saying that of the three outstanding actors they've had play The Doctor in that time, David Tennant is the favorite (not to take away from Christopher Eccleston and Matt Smith). The chemistry between Tennant and former pop singer Billie Piper as Rose Tyler was undeniable. So when it came time for Piper to move on, the character of Rose wasn't killed off, but left stranded in a parallel dimension as a result with a battle between The Doctor, Torchwood, and two of the Doctor's worst enemies, the Daleks and the Cybermen. Rose and The Doctor had fallen in love, but had never admitted it until...
Schindler's List - "I could have done more."
Schindler's List is simply a masterpiece, a real cinematic piece of art about a real and very dark time in our world's history. Among the many great performances in that movie was that of Liam Neeson as the titular Oskar Schindler, a wealthy German who lost faith in the Nazi Party and saw the value of human life in his Jewish workers. Every name he put on a list would be spared the concentration camps, a mission to which he became dedicated. When the war ends, he realizes he should leave the country, but even more devastating is his belief that he could have saved one, two, many more lives by sacrificing as much as he could. His knee-buckling revelation and the workers' rush to support him gets me every single time.
Dragons Forever - the "who needs wires" end fight scene
Although I've let myself slip in recent years, Hong Kong action films were often my genre of choice, especially in the 90's. Now, I was always a huge Jackie Chan fan. I saw Cannonball Run in the theaters as a kid, and that was my first exposure to his wildly acrobatic martial arts style. Some time later, I saw The Big Brawl, a very Americanzied version of that style. I had little idea this guy had a superstar career besides what my then-limited resources could uncover. After seeing a documentary on Hong Kong films sometime around 1992, I was able to obtain a copy of Dragons Forever, starring Chan with his childhood buddies Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. What I saw floored me. Gave me chills. Made me want to get up and try to avoid pulling a hamstring imitating the insane action on the TV screen. Hard-hitting, acrobatic, and mind-boggling - just three adjectives I can use to describe it all. Watching Chan battle kickboxing champion Benny "The Jet" Urquidez in that final scene simply blew me away, and there is nothing like the string of tremendous films these guys made during the 80's.
I called this a "partial" list because there are others I could include. Many others. What draws us to the movies and shows we love? Moments that touch us in some way, the hope that there are more moments like these in productions we're about to see. It could be a line, a martial arts battle, a snippet of music, the expression on an actor's face, a sequence of events that encodes itself into each of our unique tastes and feelings.
It's why we all love to sit in our comfy chair or that perfect seat at the theater and allow ourselves to be drawn into whatever stimulates that unique taste.
Until next time, it's time I turned on the DVD player and lose myself in what I'm about to watch.
Not only is this a movie review, but it's also another in my series of blogs about how certain things have affected me throughout my life in terms of horror - my Roots of Personal Horror entries. There's only been one other entry so far, but hey, now it's a series.
It's March, 1975. I'm in first grade, and I'll be eight in July. It's a northern Michigan twilight between winter and spring. I'm at my buddy Todd's house for a sleepover when I catch a glimpse of something in a TV Guide. It's something horrible, something wretchedly terrifying to a kid. It's this handsome fellow:
Yeah, that's right. The Zuni fetish doll from the 1975 cult classic TV movie, Trilogy of Terror. My little brain, despite the presence of superheroes and dinosaurs, was absolutely sure this toothy little guy was going to sneak into where I was sleeping at Todd's house and start stabbing me. I was positive that's what was going to happen. I couldn't sleep and when I dozed, there he was, whirling through my half-awake dreams. I did the only thing I thought I could do: I screamed like a banshee-in-training. Still a blur, but I think I calmed down eventually but I would have nothing to do with that little Zuni joker. I refused to look at picture of it for years. Even now, about 36 years later, I still hear the ghost of my seven-year-old self whimpering when I see a freeze-frame of "He Who Kills."
It occurred to me that I had never actually watched Trilogy of Terror. I should have by now. I mean, the trailer for Dawn of the Dead frightened me in 1978, and I faced that (obviously). The voice of little possessed Regan in The Exorcist made me cold with terror when it aired on broadcast TV, but I eventually faced that one down, too. Yet Trilogy of Terror eluded me.
No longer, dear readers. I pushed this baby to the top of my Netflix queue and it is now viewing history. And allow me to say this: it was worth the wait.
You know when a movie starts off with a title card over the actual film itself, it's scoring points in my book. Barely a few minutes into it, and the movie is already in the plus column. Did I mention that the three stories are based on the writings of the legendary Richard Matheson? Oh, and did I mention that the top star of each piece of the trilogy is the beautiful and talented Karen Black? And, oh, did I mention that Trilogy of Terror is directed by Dan Curtis, who helped bring the iconic gothic soap Dark Shadows to the viewing public, and who introduced us to the wily Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) in The Night Stalker, AND who directed the cult classic Burnt Offerings? Yeah...seriously winning points with me here.
Before jumping in, I'll warn you of spoiler material and black out the revealing sentences - highlight them if you want to take a sneaky peek.
The first story in Trilogy of Terror is "Julie," and if you look at the title card picture above, you'll see the characters Chad (the "douche") and Eddie (the "you'd-better-not-do-that sensible friend"). Chad is a privileged horndog who bets his friend he can bed their stuffy literature teacher, the titular Julie Eldrich. Chad makes advances and invites Julie to a drive-in to catch a horror film (actually clips of Night Stalker). He drugs her and brings her to a motel, where he takes provocative and - it's suggested - overtly sexual pictures of the unconscious teacher. Chad blackmails Julie into a dominant relationship that reeks of his misogynistic, douchebaggish stink. He even has a sneer. Perfect casting. I mean, Robert Burton (Black's real-life husband at the time) really nailed it.
It doesn't turn out well for Chad, though. SPOILER:Turns out Julie had been manipulating him the whole time, and she may or may not be a witch who derives pleasure from her own fear of the men in her life. When she no longer feels fear, she gets bored, and the boys get dead. She poisons Chad (great choking scene, too, by the way) and burns down his house. When the segments ends, she's meeting a new, handsome young man (Gregory Harrison in a small role) who just glows with the aura of a soon-to-be-dead-meat fellow.
The second story is called "Millicent and Therese." Black plays polar opposites in twin sisters, the prudish Millicent and the vivacious Therese. Millicent hates her twin, sure that she seduced their father and caused their mother's death. She's positive that Therese is a devil-worshipper and sex freak, and she may be right. Millicent keeps a diary of her observations, and she fears she may have to kill Therese at some point. Therese tries to seduce Dr. Ramsey (George Gaynes of the Police Academy movies), but he resists somehow. Millicent decides to kill Therese with her own black magic, and is successful in a way because...SPOILER:Millicent and Therese are one and the same, as Millicent suffers from dual personality syndrome.
The third segment, "Amelia," is the drawing power of Trilogy of Terror. Amelia, who's subletting a high-rise apartment, tries to have a social life despite being under the thumb of her domineering mother. She buys a gift for her anthropologist boyfriend: a Zuni fetish doll called "He Who Kills." You know what he looks like. I don't need to describe him. But beware, because if that gold chain is removed from his body, he'll come to life and...uh-oh, it just fell off and Amelia didn't notice.
Amelia hears little noises here and there, and sees no sign of He Who Kills, until she experiences a slight stabbing around her ankles. There's the little guy, poking her feet with a kitchen knife. He Who Kills is like a homicidal blend of the Tasmanian Devil and a Gremlin, frenetically chasing Amelia around the apartment, stabbing and cutting through everything. She tries drowning him and trapping him, to no avail.
After HWK gets all bitey, Amelia manages to throw him into an already-on oven, burning him to a wildly flailing little crisp. Amelia opens the oven to investigate the burning-Zuni-doll progress and freaks out. She apparently calms down enough to call her mother and invite her over. Amelia then crouches down - and you know it ain't good - and begins stabbing the carpet over and over before smiling...SPOILER:revealing a mouthful of thin, sharp teeth, just like that of the Zuni doll.
*shiver*
I made it through without screaming, but damn if I didn't feel that little crawl in the back of my neck, that slight shiver in the spine. It was 1975 all over again, only this time, I loved it.
Trilogy of Terror wasn't as hokey as I'd expected, and that's OK. Karen Black is tremendous, showing great range as each lead character. They're rich characters as well, and we get decent backstories for most of everyone who has a speaking part. The weakest segment for me was the middle one. It had an ending you could see a mile away, but it was still enjoyable. Of course, my favorite segment is the one that gave me nightmares oh, so long ago. It's taut and terrifying, and the relentless image of that doll shaking and flailing in murderous rage is unforgettable and scary as hell, even in this jaded day and age.
As for He Who Kills, who knew that one day, I could purchase him for myself years later if I'd wanted at Chiller Theater.
I didn't buy him, of course. I was too scared.
Until next time, fellow survivors, don't remove any gold chains from your kids' dolls. You know, just to be safe.
OK, wait a minute. This is a horror blog, right? I mean, in it, I like to discuss horror films, books, shows, comics...well, maybe I should include ideas as well. Something doesn't have to be classified in the horror genre for it to contain horror ideas. I never want to constrain myself by only taking one angle on a subject.
Take, for example, the episode of Torchwood called "Countrycide." First, a bit of a primer on this British show. Torchwood is a spin-off of the wildly successful modern reboot of Doctor Who. In fact, take a look at the spelling of Torchwood. Yep, it's an anagram for Doctor Who. There's a whole history in the parent show about why Torchwood was formed: something had to be in place in case the Doctor was not present to save the world. It had a few incarnations before the one the spin-off is based upon, mostly militaristic. This version is much smaller and only consists of five people out to prepare the world to defend itself against alien and supernatural threats. Oh, and it's a lot more...ahem..."sophisticated" than its parent show. There is frequent cursing, sex, violence, all sorts of good stuff.
The group consists of leader Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), a former Time Agent who cannot be killed and is a bit of a smooth talker. There's former policewoman Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles), tough and sensitive, trying to balance her personal life with the wildly insane life of Torchwood. Also in the group is the compassionate main tech Toshiko Sato a.k.a. Tosh (Naoko Mori), obedient and quiet assistant Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd), and intensely forward medic Owen Harper (Burn Gorman). Those are your players, now let's set the stage for "Countrycide."
The episode begins in such a way, that it reminded me of the French horror thriller Ils that I recently reviewed. A woman drives down a lonely stretch of English country road when she comes across what appears to be a body. Upon investigation, she sees that it's a dummy. Someone's messing with her, that much is clear. She's hearing sounds, seeing shapes. Suddenly, the tires on her car are flat. When she realizes she's really, really in trouble, that's when a hooded figure attacks her.
The Torchwood team is called in to investigate not only that disappearance, but of 16 others in the same area. They're used to dealing with the strange and unusual, and this appears to be right up their alley. It could be UFO's, it could be ghosts, werewolves, who knows? Mysteries are their thing. Like the Scooby Gang, but with more sexual tension.
After setting up camp, they find a mutilated corpse in the woods. It's been skinned and much of the meat taken off its bones. They start to realize the gravity of what they might be dealing with, but don't have long to think about it when someone steals their swanky Range Rover as they look on. Fortunately for them, they're Torchwood, and handy gadgets are handy just for pickles such as this. Ianto tracks the Range Rover into a nearby town which appears to be a little more quiet than it should be. It's a spooky little village, and it seems to be deserted. Not a single soul to be seen. As the team splits up, Jack, Owen, and Gwen surprise a young man named Kieran, who fires upon them with a shotgun and wounds Gwen. As Gwen is tended to by Owen - furthering their smoldering tension - Kieran tells his story, that he thought "they" had come back for him. He claims "they" aren't human, and he's in utter shock, only wanting to get away right now.
During this time, Ianto and Tosh have been taken hostage, but by whom, we have no idea. They're locked up in some kind of weird room with chains, hooks, and strange fluids. They also find remnants of other people: shoes, clothes. Upon opening the fridge they discover, well...here's another horror staple: it becomes clear to them that they are now food. There is a supply of meat inside the fridge, and it isn't a rack of lamb.
In the pub, someone or something tries to break in even as Jack and the others fire on it. Whatever it is, it takes the kid Kieran and leaves. They still have no idea what they're dealing with, despite Jack's vast knowledge of aliens and unknown.
Back in the meat locker, a scared lady opens the door and tells Ianto and Tosh she's there to help. She warns them of a "harvest" and says she's been sent to "collect" them, but wishes she could help them. Every ten years, apparently, the harvest "takes" them. She holds them at gunpoint and insists they come with her.
Cut to the pub (remember, this is a TV show, lots of cuts and such) and Jack is seeing this place isn't all it seems to be. There are jars of icky things and hey, a blood trail. It must be the one of the attackers, and it sure is. Jack interrogates him, but the guy is borderline insane and laughs in his face. But Jack, being somewhat immortal, has been around the block once or twice when it comes torture and amps it up a bit.
Gwen and Owen run into the woods and eventually meet a policeman, much to their relief. They insist on the police's help, that the village is in grave danger. Ianto and Tosh are taken to a horrible house, full of hanging plastic, blood splatters, and "that stench." The woman really didn't want to help them, obviously. It was just a spot of fun. They meet their attackers, the ones who have apparently cannibalized the village. They have met their attackers, and they are them...in other words, they are all too human. Not aliens. Not demons or ghosts. Humans. And they love what they do. "See, the meat has to be tenderized first." But awesome Ianto headbutts the leader and Tosh gets away into the woods.
Tosh, handcuffed, is found by the leader, who gleefully bullies her until Owen and Gwen show up with the policeman. Finally, Tosh is saved! Well...until the policeman reveals his true colors and forces Owen and Gwen to disarm. Oh, great. Everyone's in on it.
It looks like curtains for our brave team. Back at the charnel house, the leader explains that the meat must be bled out, "like veal." He really enjoys this way too much as he holds a cleaver to Ianto's neck. A growing tremor distracts the band of bitey people. Seems they forgot about good ol' Jack, who storms in and wounds each one in a rage. Jack wants to kill them all. "People like this don't deserve a warning!" he exclaims, but Gwen wants to know. The same curiosity that got her the job with Torchwood compels her to know why.
She interrogates the leader by asking him that one question: why? The leader is playfully evil, toying with her, knowing he can scare her with words. And he does. He agrees to tell her why he does it, with a tear rolling from one eye, only if he can whisper it:
"Because it made me happy."
The expression on Gwen's face as he tells her that and as he's dragged away by Jack says it all. Utter and complete horror. See, horror? That a person could perpetrate this kind of evil on others, and that it had nothing to do with aliens or the supernatural, echoes in her head. And it changes her.
Torchwood is not a horror show, that's very true. It's sci-fi spun off from sci-fi. But that's not to say that you can't mix a little horror with your sci-fi. At the heart of this episode was a classic torture horror story about cannibals, a vanished village, and the shriveled heart of evil. No gadgets, no lasers, and no Doctor to bail them out.
I like it when I find horror in the least expected places.
Check out the video of the end of the episode to see some of those horror elements, a heroic save by Jack, and the chilling words from the leader of the cannibals.
