Pro-Life
John Carpenter and Masters of Horror, that’s all that I should really need to say. Unfortunately, that’s not clear to everyone. Masters of Horror is the Showtime anthology that has brought us some truly outstanding instances of mastery as well as some efforts that could barely be called apprentice-quality horror. John Carpenter is, and always will be, one of the “true” Masters of Horror.
Pro-Life is the story of some chick that is the daughter of an inbred hillbilly (Ron Perlman) that magically finds herself unwillingly taken to an abortion clinic. Regrettably, Ron Perlman’s character is a staunch pro-lifer and it isn’t long before he and his merry band of children begin laying siege to the abortion clinic. The rest of the plot flows just as easily and I truly enjoyed the twists and turns that the story took. Pro-Life is, by far, one of the best stories in the Masters of Horror anthology. Instead of tension and ambience, Carpenter takes an action-packed, all-out-assault approach to horror, which is refreshing.
Ron Perlman is amazing as the pro-life maniac Dwayne Burcell. If you are a pro-choice supporter, Perlman’s performance will leave you conflicted as he delivers his lines with the charisma and authority of a god… he still looks like a caveman though. Perlman’s ball-busting, take-no-prisoners attitude is bigger than the story, the film, and all of the other actors put together. It’s a good thing too. Without the looming personality of Perlman, I might well have turned Pro-Life off for the amateurish acting. The only other bright spot is Emanuelle Vaugier, who I am quite glad to see still manages to find work despite having starred in House of the Dead 2. I thought her career would be over after starring in that meaningless turdfest.
That being said, the look of Pro-Life is far from being the best of Carpenter’s career. I was not impressed with the look of the film at all. I’ve seen the same quality stuff on the Sci-Fi channel, which isn’t really saying much. Luckily, you don’t need great camerawork when blood is splattered all over the screen along with some other truly disturbing effects. Think pregnancy and imagine all that can go wrong and you will have an idea of just how far Carpenter and his crew manage to go. It’s still not as nasty as Miike’s Imprint in this respect, but it is still enough to make you feel more than your fair share of squeamishness.
Thanks to Perlman, a healthy dose of gore, and an energetic storyline, I can definitely recommend Pro-Life to all those out there. I would have liked to have seen what John Carpenter could have done with this script if he had a little more time, but what he has now is definitely enjoyable enough.
Final Synopsis: Check it out. I’ll probably end up buying it, but I’d probably buy a handjob from a chick with razorblades for hands if John Carpenter was directing it. Perlman’s performance is definitely worth checking out, so if you don’t want to pony up the cash then give it a rentsky.
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