Frankly, I had left this and SICK GIRL for last from the first "Masters Of Horror" series (though I missed out on Tobe Hooper's DANCE OF THE DEAD) because, not being the work of renowned directors, I did not expect much from them. However, both proved surprisingly rewarding more so, in fact, than some entries by respected (and long-standing) genre exponents! Anyway, while the plot here is not exactly novel a middle-aged couple make a pact with the devil to revive their beloved teenage son, the price being the life of 12 others to be carried out over a period of so many years on the occasion of their son's birthday. The initial sequence, revealing the heroine to be out-of-touch with both peers and family, was perhaps unnecessary, but I can see how it accentuated her subsequent feeling of loneliness and her attachment to the mysterious boy she encounters attempting to commit suicide! in the basement of the remote country-house to which the girl has been abducted. The back-story of the pact (with typically henpecked and doubtful male but a dedicated and ruthless female, given a masculine look to boot by her short-cropped hair) is depicted via a few stylized scenes; the appearance (and movement) of the monster in which the boy transforms in order to fulfill it, then, comes off as appropriately creepy. The overall tone of the episode is quite grim, but it manages to hold one's interest throughout eventually contriving an ironic yet strangely moving denouement.