Calling William Malone a "Master Of Horror" is quite an overestimation since he is probably not a bad director, but is work is far away from being essential Horror. "Creature" (1985) is certainly no genre classic, and his 1999 "House On Haunted Hill", was an OK remake due to a very good performance by Geoffrey Rush, but it was nowhere near the eeriness and brilliance of William Castle's original masterpiece starring the great Vincent Price. Malone's "Masters Of Horror" episode, "The Fair Haired Child", however, is immensely creepy and atmospheric, and definitely increases Malone's worth as a director. The performances are entirely very good, the episode has a great atmosphere and the classical score fits in perfectly. I personally didn't quite find it as suspenseful as some of the other episodes I've seen so far. I've become a big fan of the "Masters Of Horror" series, and I have to say that the quality of the episodes differs immensely. While there are some episodes that I found brilliant, such as Takashi Miike's "Imprint" (the absolute greatest episode of the entire series), Dario Argento's "Pelts", John Carpenter's "Cigarette Burns" or Peter Medak's "The Washingtonians", some other episodes were disappointing, such as Mick Garris' "Chocolate" or Tobe Hooper's "Dance Of The Dead". "The Fair Haired Child" fortunately belongs to the first category as one of the best episodes of the first season.
Teenage Tara (Lindsay Pulsipher), an outsider at her high school, is kidnapped and brought to a mansion in the middle of nowhere by a creepy couple, Anton (William Samples) and Judith (Lori Petty). The two have lost their 15 year old son in an accident 12 years ago, and made a pact with a mysterious and evil deity, to sacrifice teenagers in order to bring their own son back to life...
Lindsay Pulsipher delivers a great performance in the lead, and so do William Samples and 'Tank Girl' Lori Petty in their roles of the parents who are willing to do anything to get their son back to life. The atmosphere is quite creepy, and, as mentioned above, the score fits in really well. "The Fair Haired Child" has all the ingredients a great MoH episode needs. It is immensely creepy, suspenseful from the beginning, well-acted and macabre. And What else could a Horror fan ask for? 8/10
- Warning! Possible Minor Spoilers! -
Teenage Tara (Lindsay Pulsipher), an outsider at her high school, is kidnapped and brought to a mansion in the middle of nowhere by a creepy couple, Anton (William Samples) and Judith (Lori Petty). The two have lost their 15 year old son in an accident 12 years ago, and made a pact with a mysterious and evil deity, to sacrifice teenagers in order to bring their own son back to life...
Lindsay Pulsipher delivers a great performance in the lead, and so do William Samples and 'Tank Girl' Lori Petty in their roles of the parents who are willing to do anything to get their son back to life. The atmosphere is quite creepy, and, as mentioned above, the score fits in really well. "The Fair Haired Child" has all the ingredients a great MoH episode needs. It is immensely creepy, suspenseful from the beginning, well-acted and macabre. And What else could a Horror fan ask for? 8/10