DVD Review: Masters of Horror - Pelts (2006)

One of the masters of cult classics is Dario Argento steps back to his Demon days using palpable and tasty special effects which transcend computer generation in the Masters of Horror: Pelts.

Meatloaf plays Jake Feldman, a fur trader who receives a call about some special pelts that he may be interested in. After arriving at their home, he finds the trader dead from a brutal beating around the head and his son whose face was removed with one clear snap of an animal trap (of course, Argentino goes back in time to show you exactly what happened!) Jake finds the pelts and takes them, removing all evidence that he was there.

During the movie, he finds that the pelts belonged to furry guardians of sacred land, from a story dictated to him by a mad woman who, instead of cats, seems to have dozens of raccoons. Her madness eventually drives her to attack him, although he escapes in perhaps the worst scene of the movie.

Jake puts his staff to work to create an ujltimate fur coat for an exhibition. One by one, they start killing themselves after they have handled the supernatural pelts or the fur coat which was created from it. Jake takes the coat to a stripper and asks her to wear it. After a brief session of lovemaking, Jake goes into her bathroom, removes his skin and chases after her with even more catastrophes to come.

Although the plot sounds corny, and after watching Meat Loaf’s performance in Bloodrayne, I wasn’t too intent on watching this movie, but it was much better than I thought it would be. It was short and relieving that the director hadn’t extended the story for the sake of it, like many movies seem to do.

This movie is a clear example of an under-promise and an over-delivery, just as all movies should be, without any hype or in-your-face marketing. Despite the clichés, the movie was not only watchable, but very enjoyable, with Argentino’s particular zest for the horror genre. With new directors like Rob Zombie coming into the limelight, one has to wonder why they don’t try push the boundaries like they used to in the good old days of horror movies (Friday 13th, Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Re-animator, etc).

Yes. The self-immolation was nice to watch and included eye stitching, skin peeling, and literal gut wrenching (yes, I mean gut wrenching, as in pulling out one’s own innards). The most surprising thing about this movie, although not perfect, was Meat Loaf’s acting. I expected it to be as bad as Bloodrayne, but it wasn’t.

Yes: I'm enjoying the Masters of Horror series, and with more to come, I'll be happy for a while. The worst part about the series is trying to find them.