JOHN CARPENTER'S PRO-LIFE

Some of these MASTERS OF HORROR shows ain’t bad and matter of fact, CIGARETTE BURNS, the John Carpenter entry from the first season was pretty good. Carpenter’s second season entry , PRO-LIFE, is even better, give or take some lousy writing.

Anqelique runs through the woods and out into the road where she’s almost hit by doctor Alex (Mark Feuerstein, RULES OF ENGAGEMENT) and nurse Kim (Emmanuelle Vaugier, SAW II). They work in a abortion clinic somewhere in the middle of the Oregon woods and take Angelique there to make sure she’s alright. At the abortion clinic, they find out she’s pregnant and wants an abortion. Turns out, her father is Dwayne Burcell (Ron Perlman, CITY OF LOST CHILDREN), an abortion protestor with a restraing order. Dwayne and his three sons track down his daughter there and begin an assault on the medicos to get her back. However, all hell breaks loose literally, as we find out that the abortion foe’s daughter was impregnated by something evil from the bowels of inner earth.

The bad part about MASTERS OF HORROR are that the shows are cheap, which is fine, but some of these directors, like Carpenter, have a style that doesn’t seem to transcend to this under-funded television format. The two I’ve seen so far that break this mold are Joe Dante’s HOMECOMING and John Landis’s DEER WOMAN. However, that doesn’t make things all bad, as Carpenter ups the ante on implied torture and gushing gore which oddly enough, was never part of how he did business before.

The writing here is sloppy at points, especially when the story slows down to extend its running time. For example, Dwayne and his sons unload their weapons on a closed gate while trying to get in to the abortion clinic, but when faced with the wooden doors at the entrance, he sends the sons around the building to find another way in, allowing Carpenter to cut back to the drama inside. Similar padding happens a few more times , which means you could probably do this tale in about 30 minutes and some change, if not less.

The monster is pretty impressive for a low budget but the gore is a bit too digital for my taste. Acting is sub-par all around except for Perlman, who does a great job as the God-fearing father who learns too late the error of his ways.

While modestly entertaining if you catch it on TV, I can’t see anyone paying money to own this, especially when true Carpenter style is completely absent. Ol’ John needs to quit cashing his remake checks and turn out a new feature worthy of his talents.