Quick Reviews: Homecoming (Masters of Horror)

As it turns out, I do own two more Episodes- Pick Me Up- and the one I haven't done yet...

In this 1st Season entry, Joe Dante brings you a tale of why wishes are sometimes bad, especially if they are Political.

On a Talk Show, a Political Insider for the President (definitely not Bush!) gets confronted by a grieving Mother of an Iraq War casualty.  He makes an off-hand comment about wishing that he could bring them back.

The success of that comment leads to his boss (definitely not Karl Rove!) giving the line to the President, who is running for re-election.

Unfortunately, they get their wish!  The dead Soldiers start to show up and walk around.

The pundits- including our hero's girlfriend (who's definitely not Ann Coulter)- spin this as a positive.

However, one of the undead reveals that they can speak and they want to Vote...against the President!

Now our hero is in a bind as the President's numbers go down.  While there aren't many undead (as only the unhappy ones are back), their presence in public is making people question the war effort.

With alot to lose, the President's people must play dirty.  Will it all blow up in their faces though?  The End.

Thankfully, this one still holds up.  The danger of doing something topical like this is that it won't have the same impact much later.  While it hasn't been a super-long time since this one aired (in 2006), it does still hold up for me.  The Satire of it is still great, the Effects are great and the whole thing feels as real as possible.  It is still about unhappy Soldier Zombies coming to life to Vote in an Election, of course.  For all the flack he gets about being one-note, Dante handles this one well.  If you still think he can't do serious, then watch his Season 2 Episode.  One hurdle this has is that it may not appeal to those of a certain ideology.  In this Episode's case, it was made at a point where popularity of the War was at an all-time low and the House was just taken by Democrats.  Regardless of how you may feel politically, this is still fun and poignant.  If it helps, just do what people did with V For Vendetta- pretend that it is just Fiction.  Just play it cool and casual, like this Undead Guy...

One of my quirky Favorites from Masters of Horror.  It is also more biting and poignant than you might think.