Masters of Horror: Joe Dante’s Homecoming
Directed By: Joe Dante
Studio: Anchor Bay
Year: 2006
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1 (Anamorphic)
Running Time: 59 Mins.
Rating: Not Rated
Audio: 5.1 Dolby Digital (English), 2.0 Dolby Digital (English)
Subtitles: English, and Spanish
MSRP: $16.98
Street Date: 1 July, 2006
Review Date: 9 July, 2006
(Ratings are out of five stars)
Summary
Fresh off their last two releases (Lucky McKee’s Sick Girl and John Landis’s excellent Deer Woman) Anchor Bay is serving up their next horror delight, Homecoming. Larry Cohen’s entry was originally scheduled to be paired with this DVD, but for reasons unknown to me, it has been delayed until October. Joe Dante, not unlike John Landis, is known for towing the line between horror and comedy. Homecoming is definitely not an exception to this rule. Thrown in for good measure is a hefty does of quasi-politcal commentary on our current situation in the Middle East. Under normal circumstances, this would leave me rolling my eyes, but Homecoming rarely takes itself seriously enough to be annoying. The story takes place a few weeks before an upcoming presidential election while an unpopular war is being waged in the Middle East. As the result of a bad wish, dead troops begin rising from their graves and returning back to America to, well, vote. Needless to say, their opinion isn’t quite what the Republican administration expected it to be.
The clever references to the real world come across a little heavy-handed. This episode, more than others seemed a lot like an old Tales from the Crypt show. It’s a little too clever for it’s own good at times, but at other times it’s very fun to watch. The acting was on par with most TV movies, and there wasn’t a memorable performance to pick out of the bunch. KNB’s makeup and effects were pretty good considering the moderate budget, but overall the production design looked cheap, and the camera work was pretty boring. The film plodded along with a conventional editing pattern that made for a pretty un-remarkable movie.
Film Rating:
Video
The video quality is pretty good. There is a moderate amount of grain, but shadow detail is good and colors are very vivid. I didn’t notice any obvious visual flaws (edge enhancement, banding, etc). Still, as opposed to some of the other entries (Cigarette Burns, Deer Woman, etc), the production quality including cinematography was very low.
Video Rating:
Audio
Along the same lines as the video quality, the audio is passable but nothing revolutionary. The score sounded like a typical synthesizer produced TV show score. LFE was pretty much non-existent on the Dolby Digital track, and there were only a few sequences that used the rear effects channels. Overall, the soundtrack was accurately produced, and sounded as good as can be expected.
Audio Rating:
Extras
Commentary – The DVD’s lone commentary features screenwriter Sam Hamm. I didn’t listen to the entire commentary, but what I sampled was interesting. Hamm is a pretty knowledgeable guy and does a decent job of explaining the film’s intentions. May be worth a listen if you’re a fan of this episode.
The Dead Come Marching: An Interview with Joe Dante (24:07) – A background on Joe Dante’s career told by the man himself. Like most of the masters, Dante is a pretty interesting guy, so this was a fun featurette to watch.
Working With A Master: Joe Dante (22:30) – A similar look at Dante’s career told by the people that he worked with. It manages to present new info without being too redundant.
On Set: An Interview with Jon Tenney (12:20) – A fairly sizable interview with the Homecoming’s lead Joe Tenney. He seems to take some of the material a little too serious, but it’s interesting to hear his take.
On Set: An Interview with Robert Picardo (10:36) – Picardo (playing the Karl Rove-ish role in the administration) was probably the only interesting guy in the movie, so it was fun hearing his take on the material.
On Set: An Interview with Thea Gill (10:23) – Thea had the task of playing an Ann Coulter type of character in Homecoming. She had some fun with the material, and seems pretty smart from her interview.
Script to Screen: Homecoming (31:46) – A series of comparisons between written scenes and the production of the scenes. The featurette plays as a behind-the-scenes production diary. Not great, but much more interesting than the behind-the-scenes footage on the other MoH DVDs.
Behind the Scenes: The Making of Homecoming (8:43) – What was I just saying about boring behind-the-scenes featurettes? Here’s another one with no narration. If you’ve seen the other ones, you know exactly what you’re getting in to.
Fantasy Film Festival: Mick Garris Interviews Joe Dante (13:42) – Another great interview program from Mick Garris’s 70’s program Fantasy Film Festival. The interview was taking soon after Piranha’s release and features a couple of Piranha’s stars in addition to Dante. Hopefully more of these will be included on the future MoH releases.
This DVD also features Trailers, a Still Gallery, and a Joe Dante Bio.
Extras Rating:
In Closing…
Homecoming falls somewhere toward the bottom of the Masters of Horror series. The over-the-top attempts at social commentary were pretty lame, and the narrative crept along at a snail’s pace. That being said, as a DVD package, Anchor Bay has once again spoiled us with a very thorough release. If you saw this episode on Showtime and liked it, or are collecting the whole MoH series, I recommend picking this up. Otherwise, it’s only worth a rental at best.
Overall Rating:
Matt Stone
9 July, 2005
