REVISITING THE MASTERS OF HORROR, DANCE OF THE DEAD BY RICHARD MARTIN

12/5/2021

Revisiting the ‘Masters of Horror’

We are living in a golden age of horror on TV. Shows like ‘The Walking Dead’, ‘Supernatural’ and ‘American Horror Story’ have effectively taken the genre mainstream, offering weekly doses of gore and mayhem to the masses. Go back a decade or two however, and genre fans had far fewer options to choose from. Anthology shows, like ‘Tales From the Crypt’, ‘Monsters’ or ‘Tales From the Darkside’ were king during the horror heyday of the 1980s, providing cheesy and cheerful tongue in cheek horror in half hour bites. It wasn’t until 2005 that the TV horror anthology show got serious, and delivered arguably the most consistent, memorable and scary anthology show to date.
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The brainchild of horror legend Mick Garris, the show’s title is no hyperbole. ‘Masters of Horror’ brought together the best horror talent Hollywood (and beyond) had to offer. Episodes directed by undisputed genre luminaries such as John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, Dario Argento and Stuart Gordon were like hour long movies brought to your TV screen. High production values, A-List talent and a free reign to do whatever they pleased resulted in some truly unforgettable work from a group of horror legends let off their leash. These are stories that have stayed with me in the fifteen years since many initially aired and, in this series, I’ll be revisiting all twenty-six episodes, one at a time, to shine a light on a fondly remembered and undeniably influential moment in horror TV history.
Join me as I take a look back at;

DANCE OF THE DEAD

Directed by: Tobe Hooper
Starring: Jessica Lowndes, Robert Englund, Marilyn Norry, Jonathan Tucker
Original Air Date: 11 November 2005
Synopsis: Following a terrorist attack which instigates World War III, a young girl growing up in a post-apocalyptic world becomes embroiled in a seedy underworld after visiting a club where the dead are reanimated for the entertainment of their patrons.

With this series of articles, I have been focusing, at least partially, on my own personal experiences with these episodes, both in terms of my memories of initially watching them over fifteen years ago, and my thoughts revisiting them now. ‘Dance of the Dead’ is one of the rare episodes that didn’t really connect with me on my initial viewing. This may have been partially down to the weight of expectations, given the undeniably top tier horror talent involved. Directed by Tobe Hooper, who needs no introduction to horror fans, this episode starred Robert Englund and the script is even written by Richard Christian Matheson, and based on a classic short story written by his father in 1954. You feel that you can’t go far wrong with so many horror legends involved.

The episode opens at a children’s birthday party which is soon interrupted by what we later found out is a terrorist attack, when a biological weapon is unleashed, killing almost everyone in attendance. This big, bold opening statement really sets the tone for what’s to come and, some pretty shoddy (even by fifteen-year-old TV Movie standards) VFX aside, it is an effective and downbeat beginning and very much sets the tone for what’s to come.

Fast forward ten years and one of the survivors, Peggy (Jessica Lowndes) is living with her mother (Marilyn Norry) who owns and runs a rundown diner in a post-apocalyptic world decimated by a Third World War. We are also introduced to Jax (Jonathan Tucker) and his partner in crime, Boxx (Ryan McDonald), both criminals and drug addicts, as they assault and rob an elderly couple in broad daylight, stealing blood from one of them before fleeing. They don’t flee all that far and end up in Peggy’s diner, where the sweet but naïve young woman takes a (frankly inexplicable) shine to Jax and agrees to meet him later that night, much to her mother’s chagrin.

The episode really gets going once the group venture out later that night. The post World War III setting is suitably grim and ravaged, populated by thieves, criminals and (gasp!) teenagers! There are a lot of drugs taken and alcohol consumed as they make their way to the Doom Room, a packed nightclub with what we later find out has a particularly unique brand of entertainment in store.

Speaking of the drug taking, the direction of the episode so far has leaned heavily into the ‘jarring and disorientating’ style of camera work and there is a lot of what I can only refer to as ‘clumsy cam’ (like shaky cam, but more lacking in focus and coordination, as if it’s filmed handheld by someone who forgot to tie their shoelaces) and an odd trick of overlaying images with multiple, out of focus versions of itself. In terms of conveying disorientation (or drug taking) it works fine, but it’s so overused throughout, particularly when the group arrives at the Doom Room, it gets very distracting very quickly.

As soon as they arrive we find out why Jax and Boxx stole the blood earlier, as the clubs MC (Robert Englund) buys it from them for a mysterious purpose related to that night’s ‘entertainment’. The club, and Robert Englund, prove to be the highlight of the episode. Englund seems to be having a great time playing a decadent, larger than life showman and the club itself, packed with gratuitously half nude patrons, wire cages and heavy metal, is equal parts decadent and wretched, a ton of fun on screen but nowhere you’d dare go near in real life.

Sadly, the plot gets a little convoluted from this point. The blood turns out to be part of some scientific sounding movie nonsense that causes the dead bodies of overdosed drug addicts to reanimate, enough so that when the body is brought out on stage, they are able to stand and, with the help of two topless women wielding cattle prods, ‘dance’. Putting aside the fact that this is an oddly dull spectacle as presented on-screen, Peggy soon recognises one of the deceased dancers as her sister, who she thought lost (and who barely got a mention until this point, lessening the impact of the big reveal somewhat). Things escalate, Peggy’s mother conveniently shows up in time for some moderately shocking family revelations. Without spoiling the ending, suffice to say that nobody lives happily ever after.

The one thing that did resonate with me when re-watching this episode is just how bleak it all is. The story opens with the mass killing of children at a birthday party (and even revisits the scene again in a flashback for good measure) and fast forward ten years in the future, every character besides Peggy and her mother are either drug addicts, dead, or dead drug addicts. The ending makes it clear that Peggy’s mother is not as innocent as she first appears and she certainly pays for her actions in a big way, but even Peggy, who is shown throughout as good-hearted, innocent and trusting, quickly becomes embroiled in the criminal life Jax has introduced her to and any suggestion that she may help Jax escape his lot in life (and is actively shown to be dissatisfied with) is brutally dismissed in the final scene. It’s all very downbeat and sombre, maybe even cynical and a bit mean-spirited, but I loved that nothing was sugar-coated and the characters ultimately get left in a hopeless world with no chance of change or redemption by the time the credits roll.

Ultimately, I think the story is an interesting, albeit flawed one and I did very much enjoy how nihilistic and unrelentingly unpleasant the whole thing was, but the direction left me a little cold and Peggy just isn’t a strong enough character to carry the episode. I do think I appreciated ‘Dance of the Dead’ more upon my recent re-watch than I did on its initial airing, but my opinion that it’s not one of Masters of Horrors finest hours remains sadly unchanged.

Join me next time as I’ll be looking at episode four of the first season, Dario Argento’s ‘Jenifer’. See you then!

Further Reading

REVISITING THE ‘MASTERS OF HORROR’, INCIDENT ON AND OFF A MOUNTAIN ROAD

REVISITING THE MASTERS OF HORROR, DREAMS IN THE WITCH HOUSE

Richard is an avid reader and fan of all things horror. He supports Indie horror lit via Twitter (@RickReadsHorror) and reviews horror in all its forms for several websites including Horror Oasis and Sci Fi and Scary