Masters of Horror: "Haeckel's Tale"

Since the Takashi Miike episode of Masters of Horror turned out to be too hot to handle for American television, it looks as though the season-ender is Haeckel's Tale (airing later tonight on Showtime).

The Masters of Horror series has lost a couple of Masters along the way — Roger Corman was going to direct the week-before-last's entry, Sick Girl, but due to ill health was replaced by Lucky McKee, a director with only one small cult hit, May, under his belt. George A. Romero was originally going to helm Haeckel's Tale but bowed out, and John McNaughton stepped up. McNaughton is a director with a lot of movies behind him, but only one that's resonated with horror fans (1986's Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer).

Still, the masterfulness is abundantly available in the source material for Haeckel's Tale: It's based on a short story by Clive Barker (you can find the tale in an anthology boasting several authors, called Dark Delicacies). Barker has lately distanced himself from horror, but he clearly hasn't lost his touch with the shocking and macabre (as he said in a recent interview, "Haeckel's Tale is … just re-visiting the old Clive to see whether he was still living at the same address."). The story is written for the screen by Masters of Horror creator, Mick Garris.

This is one of the few Garris writings I've seen that steps away from his trademark internal characters — in his hit TV adaptations of Stephen King's novels The Stand and The Shining, Garris deftly dealt with protagonists who show us a lot in their imaginations, and who have visions only "they" can see. In 2004's theatrical release, Riding the Bullet, much of the story took place in the lead's mind, as did Garris's own Masters entry, Chocolate. It's what he does best. However, Haeckel's Tale is a wholly external tale — and the screenwriter is more than up to the task.

In keeping with the top-notch music and cinematography the whole first season has enjoyed, Haeckel's Tale looks and sounds great. (The editing is razor-sharp, too.) It's one of the few period pieces (Stuart Gordon's Lovecraftian episode was another), and as such it's an extra-special treat. If you like Deadwood and Night of the Living Dead equally, this is the episode for you.

The story begins as many classic tales of terror do: in front of a crackling fire. Warming her old bones is an all-seeing crone, Miz Carnation (Micki Maunsell, deliciously enigmatic). Soon at her side is a bereaved husband, desperately looking for a way to bring his young wife back from the dead. Rocking in her chair, the gnarled woman recounts Haeckel's Tale.

Decades ago, a man of science called Ernst Haeckel (Derek Cecil, earnestly blue-eyed and intense) ran afoul of a necromancer known as The Great Montesquino (Jon Polito, excellent in his showman comfort zone) — both were as different from the other as could be, but they did share one common belief: Yes, it is somehow possible to reanimate the dead.

After receiving some rather disturbing news about his father's health, Haeckel sets out on foot to begin a long journey home. A furious storm soon stops him, and he's forced to take refuge in a small farmhouse. The residents are an odd couple, indeed — the husband, Wolfram (Tom McBeath, with a wonderful Hopkins'esque gravitas) is old and impertinent, while the wife, Elise (Leela Savasta, alluring, and often topless) is young and possessed of an obvious wanderlust.

The showdown in the cemetery is not to be missed — and yes, there are zombies — but to say any more would be saying too much about this wonderfully suspenseful and intricate horror yarn.

The only complaints about Haeckel's Tale are minor; most of the animatronics are good, but in some cases they're overused and over-the-top. Also, the dialogue is unusually muffled, surely requiring captions for those who've been listening to the official Masters of Horror soundtrack CD too loud.

Since there won't be an new episode of Masters of Horror to review next week (merely a rerun of Haeckel's Tale, according to Showtime's website), look for my recap of Season One.

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson