Fan reaction to Showtime's Masters Of Horror series has been mixed so far in the series' history but more often then not, when discussing the worst entries, Dance Of The Dead is the one that is mentioned. Tobe Hooper can't seem to catch a break sometimes, and while the man has made his fair share of turkeys, this reviewer doesn't count his hour-long adaptation of Richard Matheson's short story of the same name as one of them. That's not to say there aren't a few problems with the project, but it's far from the worst thing out there and miles above series creator Mick Garris' Chocolate.

The movie follows a pretty young woman named Peggy (Jessica Lowndes), a seventeen year old who has spent all of her life working with her mother at the family dinner in a small town somewhere in the mid-west. This sounds like a wholesome life, one of ease and relaxation but mom's the over protective type. She's been this way ever since her other daughter was killed after World War III broke out and Peggy's really all she's got left.

When a no-good punk named Jak (played by Jonathon Tucker) shows up at the dinner with a few friends, he and Peggy take an instant liking to one another and before you can say boo they've whisked her away to what's left of the big city where Peggy gets a taste of what life is like outside of her sheltered world. The kids end up at a club called the Doom Room where a strange MC (played by Robert Englund of A Nightmare On Elm Street fame) introduces various acts for the audience of mohawk clad bi-sexual fetish freaks in attendance.

When Peggy's mom finds out that her little girl has taken off and gone where she always warned her not to go, she grabs a hunting knife and takes off after her in the family car. There's something there that she doesn't want Peggy to find out, something that ties into their past that neither one of them has ever really gotten over – and in mom's case it's for a very good reason that she hasn't.

The biggest flaw with this entry is the camera work and the editing. Hooper admits to cutting things really, really fast for this project and there are scenes here that would give Russ Meyer an aneurism if he were still around. While it seems that the intended effect was to bring us into the chaos of the events portrayed in the film, it doesn't work and instead it seems more like a pointless exercise in hyper-style over substance. Thankfully the substance doesn't get completely buried in the pointless over the top visuals, even if you have to look a little harder than you probably should have to in order to get to it. The story at the heart of the movie is an interesting one, and in Peggy we have a character that a lot of us can relate to, particularly those of us who had over protective parents, grew up in a smaller town, or both. Her attraction to Jak (and no that's not a typo, he states in the movie that he spells with without a 'C') is understandable as he represents everything she's not and in him she sees freedom and a chance to experience things on her own – something that most seventeen year olds deal with in every day life.

The twist that comes towards the end of the film is handled well and comes as a fairly genuine surprise. There are hints there that allude to it but the mystery remains a mystery until Hooper wisely decides to unveil the truth behind Peggy and her mother at just the right moment. The scene carries a fair bit of impact and it works quite well, as does the little wrap up at the end of the movie where things are, as Peggy herself says, 'set right.'

Video:

The 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer presents the movie in its original aspect ratio and for the most part, the image looks very good and the picture is quite sharp throughout. There is some edge enhancement present in a few scenes as well as some shimmering and aliasing in spots but there's very little to complain about otherwise. Black levels are strong and deep, there are no issues at all with print damage, dirt or debris on the picture and there's a very pleasing level of both foreground and background detail present throughout the picture. Skin tones look lifelike and natural and the reds, particularly those used in the gore scenes, are well defined without bleeding through.