Putting aside for a second the episodes I ‘enjoyed’ the best when I first watched Masters of Horror, which tended to be the ones that featured the scariest monsters, most blood, or best special effects, there were a handful of episodes I would have singled out as objectively excellent episodes, and ‘Sounds Like’ would have topped that list. It doesn’t feature bloodthirsty creatures or fountains of gore, but it is an unsettling slow-burn that uses sound design to horrifically creative effect. Its story about an ordinary man increasingly unable to deal with the aftermath of unfathomable loss is a far cry from the more outlandish offerings the series often served up, and coming as it does from the director of ‘Session 9’ and ‘The Machinist’, the episode steers more into psychological horror territory than many of the Masters of Horror episodes had before it.

Chris Bauer (‘True Blood’, ‘The Wire’) plays Larry, a supervisor at a call centre offering computer technical support. He is very good at his job, possessing an uncanny ability to hear the subtle changes in a person’s voice to indicate a change in their mood or to suggest they are about to lose their temper, which serves him well when listening into other people’s calls. It is a knack that increasingly turns on him as the episode progresses.

We soon learn that Chris and his wife Brenda (Laura Margolis) recently lost their young son to a rare and untreatable heart condition and it has taken its toll on them both. In fact, one of the things I liked about ‘Sounds Like’ is how, despite not getting near as much screen time, Brenda is shown to be taking things just as hard as Larry is, but her grief is manifesting in completely different ways. While Larry has become withdrawn and largely mute around his wife, Brenda feels the need to fill every second of silence, unable to turn off. She is also desperate to have another child, and her desire borders on delusion at times. This is a stark contrast to Larry, who cannot bear to even go in his son’s bedroom, never mind contemplate replacing him. It’s a fascinating dichotomy and I like to think that there is an equally interesting episode to be had from following Brenda on the same journey that Larry is on.

The sorrow Larry is feeling, coupled with the pressure to move on, coming both from work (who are urging him to attend counselling) and his wife (whose life is now dominated around conceiving another child) begins to manifest through his hearing, which becomes more acute. He can hear dripping taps as if they are drum beats and, in one particularly effective scene in a restaurant while out with Brenda, her conversation is drowned out by the sound of champagne being poured from across the room, or the deafening crunch of a man chewing his dinner at the table across from him.  What is especially clever (and especially tragic) is the more these episodes where Larry can hear things at a vastly increased volume occur, the more stress it piles on him, and the worse and more frequent they become. It starts to affect his work, puts further strain on his marriage, and soon gets to the point where he can’t even be out in public.

There is so much about this episode that is worth calling out. The direction is very distinctive, full of close ups and quick edits to keep things disorientating when we, the viewer, are experiencing the world through Larry’s eyes (ears?). Chris Bauer puts in one of the series best performances, as Larry goes from quiet loner and distant husband, to grieving father, tortured by loss and, finally, someone who has descended into a madness he can’t come back from. I think what really works though, is the sound design. It is an oft forgotten part of filmmaking that, when it does its job well, you don’t tend to notice it at all, and I loved how ‘Sounds Like’ gave it centre stage here. The gentle fall of raindrops on his car roof sound like baseball bats hammering from all sides. The whir of the wheel of a passing bike sounds like a chainsaw and the sound of someone turning the page of a newspaper is like an avalanche. It’s easy to imagine how Larry finds himself unable to cope by the episodes end.

To say that these episodes that Larry is having is having an impact on his mental health is an understatement as his life begins to unravel. While we have only seen him happy in the few flashbacks, we’ve had of him spending time with his son (excluding those where we see him at his side is hospital when he passes away) at the opening of the episode, he comes across as struggling and troubled, but effectively managing a difficult situation. At this stage in the episode, he is a very different man. He’s quick to anger, prone to violent outbursts and while you never lose sympathy, you do begin to wonder just what he might be capable of.

If you missed any of Richard's previous Revisting The Masters of Horror articles, you can find links to them all here on our handy landing page ​
THE MASTERS OF HORROR ​

Black Spot Books President Lindy Ryan announced  a new direction for the small press. While the publisher has produced award-winning titles under the umbrella of speculative fiction, going forward Black Spot Books will focus exclusively on horror, continuing its mission to publish high-quality, inclusive fiction from breakout and established authors.
 
Ryan launched Black Spot Books with the goal of bringing genre-bending, innovative fiction to market, and has prioritized acquiring projects from debut and underrepresented authors.
 
“Black Spot Books has always looked for projects that make our hearts pound and pulses race,” says Ryan. “The same passion for discovering fresh storytelling and amplifying underrepresented voices will continue to drive our catalog as we acquire projects that promote diversity and representation within the horror community.”
 
Black Spot Books plans to acquire across the breadth of the horror genre—from novellas to novels, standalones to series, and throughout all subgenres, in adult and YA. The press will also produce anthologies and an annual women-in-horror poetry showcases. Both have inaugural releases in 2022.
 
To support its transition, Black Spot Books has added new staff and partnerships in editorial, marketing, and publicity. Ladies of Horror Fiction co-founder Toni Miller has joined as Vice President of Media Relations. Miller will lead Black Spot Books’ communication and media strategy, creating new pathways for Black Spot Books to interact and engage with readers and the horror community-at-large.
 
“Horror is my first true love, and the past several years have seen an incredible resurgence in the genre,” says Miller. “I look forward to expanding Black Spot Books’ footprint in the horror community, and helping readers connect with stories that are just as terrifying on paper as they are on screen.”
 
Black Spot Books’ upcoming list includes projects from debut authors to Bram Stoker Award-Winners as well as well-known names in the film/TV community. The first publication is planned for January 2022.
 
BLACK SPOT BOOKS
Black Spot Books is an author-centric traditional press specializing in award-winning and bestselling speculative fiction, dark fantasy, and horror. Learn more about Black Spot Books at www.vesuvianmedia.com and connect with Black Spot Books on social media @BlackSpotBooks.
 
ABOUT VESUVIAN MEDIA GROUP, INC.
Vesuvian Media Group (VMG) is a books-to-film multimedia corporation composed of industry veterans with decades of experience in entertainment, publishing, and representation. Through the divisions of Vesuvian Entertainment and Vesuvian Books—which has published multiple bestselling and award-winning properties—VMG provides Hollywood unparalleled access to high quality content while bridging the gap between books and screen. With a global presence and staff in the USA [Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, New Orleans, Anchorage], Canada [Vancouver], and Europe [Zurich], VMG also has a first look deal with Los Angeles-based Boilermaker Entertainment. www.VesuvianMedia.com

The episode wraps up with Kerry leaving town on a bus, doing an absolutely atrocious Blade impression, donned in a long black coat and sunglasses and spouting some truly dire one-liners to an oblivious guy sat across from him (“I don’t drink…. wine!” Nudge Nudge, Wink Wink). It’s a shame to end it on such a hammy note after an otherwise effective and downbeat ending.

Overall, ‘The V Word’ is an enjoyable enough episode, but not a stand-out one. Other than a jarringly shoddy and tonally out of place last few minutes, it manages some pretty tense scenes, some great effects and decent performances, particularly Michael Ironside, who steals the episode entirely with his five minutes of screen time. A lot of the episode worked well, but I’m hard-pressed to pick out much that it excelled at. The series is called ‘Masters of Horror’ after all and when you’re getting weekly episodes from the best directors the genre has to offer, even a solid, entertaining episode doesn’t fare well in comparison, especially sandwiched as it is between two of season twos strongest episodes.
Speaking of which…

Join me next time as I’ll be looking at episode four of the second season, Brad Anderson’s ‘Sounds Like’. See you then!

If you missed any of Richard's previous Revisting The Masters of Horror articles, you can find links to them all here on our handy landing page ​
THE MASTERS OF HORROR ​

​Fifteen articles in, and ‘Family’ is the first episode of my rewatch where I remembered the episode clearly from my initial viewing back in 2006, even down to song choices and the episodes big reveal. It’s an episode that obviously made a big impression on me and given how much fun I had with Landis’s Season One entry (Deer Woman) I had high hopes going back in.

The episode opens with a fantastic continuous shot that takes us through an all-American neighbourhood on a glorious summers day before focusing on one of the many pristine houses across the street. The camera follows the path up to the front door, goes through the peephole and gives us a tour through the immaculately neat and tidy rooms. It’s all bright lighting and crisp whites until we get to the basement door. The upbeat soundtrack plays on as we descend the steps and meet Harold (George Wendt) clad in a rubber apron and gas mask, pouring chemicals. The reason why becomes gruesomely clear when the camera pulls back to reveal a nude corpse of an elderly man in a bathtub and, in a stellar CG shot, Harold pours the chemical over his head, melting the skin from its bones, while the jaunty soul music plays on in the background. It is a killer opening and sets the tone effectively before a single line of dialogue.

When Harold has finished his work, he comes upstairs to make some well-earned lunch and takes it upstairs to eat with his family. He joins his wife and young daughter in a sitting room, where his wife is reading the newspaper and his daughter is watching cartoons. He engages them in conversation which is, surprisingly, not all that one-sided, once they are revealed to be skeletons. It seems Harold, cheerful demeanour aside, may be suffering from some pretty severe mental health issues and it looks as if the body in the basement is set to be the latest addition to the household.

Like a lot of people, when I see George Wendt, I think Norm from Cheers. It is a lot of fun to see TV’s favourite barfly in a much darker role and he plays the cheerful domestic loner just as well as he portrays him as a dangerous serial killer, switching between harmless and scary when the need arises. Harold is a great role and while the casting choice may be a bit outside of the box, the best casting choices usually are and Wendt is a big part of why this episode works as well as it does.

Meanwhile, across the street, it seems as if Harold has some new neighbours. Married couple Celia (Meredith Monroe) and David (Matt Keeslar) first meet Harold when, after returning home from dinner and a few drinks too many, they hit his mailbox with their car and, being good neighbours, leave Harold a note. When they come over early the next morning, the mailbox is miraculously fixed and they find Harold forgiving to a fault. He even charms them to the point that he scores an invite to dinner at their house.

With all the Norman Bates vibes and grandpa corpses I’ve been discussing so far, I might have inadvertently suggested that this is Landis’s take on grim and gritty serial murderers. This is the guy who directed Animal House don’t forget. Family turns on the comedy when it needs to and it is black comedy gold throughout. This isn’t evidenced better than in this scene, when Harold is charming the couple with bland chit chat, until Celia, sat right next to David, loudly proclaims that her husband is incapable of satisfying her sexually, before verbally pondering what Harold may be packing in his trousers, licking her lips at the mere thought. This is all in Harold's head of course, but his look of absolute incredulity is hilarious.

The good times don’t last for either Harold or his new neighbours, as Harold is soon ‘arguing’ with his ‘wife’ about his attraction to Celia, while Celia and David are not in the best place themselves, as they seem to be at odds with each other over an unspoken trauma of their past. What that may be, we’re not sure quite yet, but stay tuned! Harold picks up a new victim when an opportunity presents itself to kidnap an old lady shopping for groceries, and David seemingly disappears, leaving Celia alone, the stage is set to see how badly Harold really wants to bring Celia downstairs to his basement to make her his new wife.

When Harold learns of David’s disappearance, he sees this as his opportunity to get Celia alone and invites her to his place for dinner. Playing the concerned neighbour, he goes all out and puts on a big spread, with wine and candles. Celia, concerned for David, is clearly in no mood and Harold shows signs of growing frustrated with her, his façade of the friendly guy next door cracking gradually until he finally loses it and attacks her. Despite fighting back valiantly, Harold gets the upper hand and begins to choke her.

Just when we think Celia is done for, David appears at the last second to save the day. You didn’t think he’d just left off-screen, never to be heard from again, did you? When Celia asks him what took him so long, the curtain is pulled back and the big reveal is displayed for all to see. Celia and David knew full well what Harold was, and what he was doing all along. They had tracked him down and are here to kill him because the little girls’ skeleton he has upstairs is (drum roll) their daughter!

In a gleefully macabre closing scene, they tie Harold up in his basement and, after a marathon torture session wherein they tell Harold exactly why he’s here and what they have in store for him, David proudly proclaims that he thinks he could keep Harold alive down here for more torment for “at least another ten to fourteen days”. Harold’s blood-streaked face and expression of dismay stay with us throughout the closing credits.

There is a reason why Family is an episode that stuck with me so vividly for almost fifteen years. Its mix of tense horror and pitch-black comedy work and you can’t imagine anyone but John Landis pulling it off this well. George Wendt is an inspired piece of casting and the story is a lot of fun, sticking with a deceptively simple set-up and pulling the rug with a spectacular twist which works because you don’t see it coming but, once it has, you see all the clues that have been pointing towards it throughout the entire episode. Of the eight Masters of Horror who directed an episode for each season, my vote goes to John Landis for giving us the two most consistently excellent offerings.
​
Join me next time as I’ll be looking at episode three of the second season, Ernest Dickinson’s ‘The V Word’. See you then!

If you missed any of Richard's previous Revisting The Masters of Horror articles, you can find links to them all here on our handy landing page ​
THE MASTERS OF HORROR ​

The UK-based micro press announce their second queer led anthology "Skulls and Spells"
​
Artemisia's Axe, an independent micro press based out of Glasgow, Scotland proudly announce their newest publication "Skulls and Spells" due for launches on Kickstarter today!

The anthology publication will bring together 20 creators, including artists, writers and poets from the queer community. Each creator has been inspired by the themes of 'Queer Horror Magic' to pen pieces of horror from their unique perspectives. Of the horror genre and its relationship with the LGBTQI2SA+ community, Jinx Peregrine of Artemisia's Axe said, "It is vitally important marginalized voices have a bigger place in the horror community because so often we are the subject of real life horrors. Horror for us is a cathartic way to express our frustration with the world at large, it is also a tool to bring conversations and actions about the well needed change our world needs."

This collection is bound to be a popular crowd-funding project and one which celebrates a diverse set of under-represented voices in the horror literary community.

Follow them on Social Media 
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Twitter: @ArtemisiaAxe
Instagram: @the_haunted_bouncy_castle