Masters of Horror: Chocolate (DVD)

Jamie (Henry Thomas) is just a regular guy, going through an extraordinary expedition of terror. At first, the scares are seductive… he tastes phantom chocolate, he feels sensual pleasures, and he sees through the eyes of a beautiful woman he does not know.

Then, this supernatural psychometry takes an evil turn when Jamie "experiences" his mystery lover committing murder. Now, he is desperate to find her before she finds him!

Written and directed by Showtime's Masters of Horror's creator Mick Garris, Chocolate is the most mystical, spiritual and cerebral of the anthology series.

DVD Features:

• Commentary by Writer/Director Mick Garris

Although I've never felt that Garris needed any help with his DVD commentaries (he's one of the few directors who can pull off the single-person commentary without awkward pauses and stating the obvious), he's aided here by DVD Producer, Perry Martin, who leads the proceedings interview-style. Garris talks about why he believes Thomas works so well as Jamie, how his original short story made the metamorphosis from page to screen, what it was like to work with the cougar, and so on. My only complaint is that there are no dialogue captions, so you cannot easily follow the story onscreen as the commentary is spoken.

• "The Sweet Taste of Fear – An Interview with Mick Garris" featurette

This is an interview with Garris, wherein he talks about his roots in horror, comments on his early career, and goes more in-depth about his current projects including, of course, Masters of Horror's Chocolate episode. Anchor Bay has gone the extra mile in making this a visually-entertaining interview by superimposing the subject against film clips, photos, and script pages. It's so much nicer than your usual "talking head" DVD interview. There are some neat vintage pics in the virtual "scrapbook", including lurid old comic book covers, Garris as a kid, and even a priceless pic of a rainbow-suspendered Garris onstage with his rock group in the 70s (take that, Mork!).

• "Working With A Master: Mick Garris" featurette

Appropriately enough, Garris's wife Cynthia kicks off this featurette — she's known him personally and professionally for 25 years, and she offers some truly interesting and entertaining insights. The interview clip segues into other collaborators who've known Garris for years, including actors Ron Perlman, Matt Frewer, and Steven Weber. Annabeth Gish, who worked with Garris for the first time on his upcoming TV movie Desperation (an adaptation of the Stephen King novel), has some intelligent and incisive things to say about what she believes Garris's appeal is to horror fans, and what he brings to the genre. In addition to all the praise (which comes off more genuine than your usual EPK schmoozing), there are some cool behind-the-scenes clips of Cynthia in full "Lady in #217" makeup from The Shining miniseries, clips from Quicksilver Highway (a Garris movie I missed… Half.com, here I come!), and insider looks at the making of Chocolate.

• "Behind The Scenes: The Making of Chocolate" featurette

For more insider looks at the filming of the DVD's featured film, The Making of Chocolate starts right off with someone being gutted — woohoo! Way to kick off a featurette! Better yet, for me anyway, were some clips from the day I visited the set on behalf of Horror.com. Watch the DVD, then match up our footage by clicking on our set visit video.

• Fantasy Film Festival: Mick Garris Interviews Roger Corman

This is really fun — Fantasy Film Festival was Garris's own talk show on the Z Channel (the first pay cable station in Los Angeles, launched in 1974). This interview, one-on-one with the incomparable Roger Corman, was conducted sometime in1980 (Friday the 13th had just come out, and met with great success), is really interesting — when Garris asks Corman if he's comfortable with the title "King of the B Pictures", Corman answers with an unequivocal no, and proceeds to explain why.

Also on the DVD:

• On Set: An Interview with Henry Thomas
• On Set: An Interview with Lucie Laurier

• Trailers
• Still Gallery
• Mick Garris Bio
• Screenplay (DVD-ROM)
• Original Short Story (DVD-ROM)
• Screensaver (DVD-ROM)

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson