BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

lastliberal Apparently the Rapture has taken place, and only the soulless are left to inhabit the Earth.Robert Englund is really creepy as the MC of a horror show not to be believed. It is especially horrific for Peggy (Jessica Lowndes), who is attracted to Jak (Jonathan Tucker) and goes to the show with him.What she sees is beyond the most unspeakable horror, but, even, more, the shock she next receives is beyond belief.Director Tobe Hooper, and writers Mick Garris and Richard Matheson (Duel, I Am Legend) give us a tale that is about the closest vision of Hell that I can imagine.

Claudio Carvalho In a post-apocalypse society, the seventeen years old Peggy (Jessica Lowndes) lives with her protective mother and works in her restaurant. She misses her sister Anna, who died some time ago. When two couples of punks come to the place to eat some hamburgers, Peggy feels attracted by Jak (Jonathan Tucker), who invites her to date with him later. Peggy goes out with Jak without telling her mother, and they go to a dark place, the Doom Room, where the master of ceremony (Robert Englund) is the ringmaster of a freak show with dead. The MC injects blood in the dead, and they dance on a ring for the exalted audience. When Peggy sees her sister Anna dancing in the show, the MC discloses the truth about her presence in the circus."Dance of the Dead" is another apocalyptic view of mankind after the Third World War, where the survivors watch the dance of the dead maybe to feel alive. The sick and unpleasant story is actually about the lead character Peggy and the fate of her beloved sister. She unravels the mystery about the death of her sister and never understands the fight of survival of her mother. I found this episode of Masters of Horror only reasonable. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Dança dos Mortos" ("Dance of the Dead")

ulic_cinn I actually paid for this DVD as I don't have Showtime and I wish I could get my money back. I have purchased the rest of "The Masters of Horror" DVD's and although there were a few that were less than great, (Landis, I'm looking at your episode,)they all look like masterpieces compared to "Dance of the Dead." This thing was BORING. Holy cow. I kept waiting for something scary or disturbing to happen and nothing ever did.The camera tricks also didn't contribute anything except to give my wife a headache.Avoid this thing at all costs.

Jonny_Numb "Wow," with a capital W-O-W.After reading the near-unanimous venomous sentiments being spat in the direction of Tobe Hooper's "Masters of Horror" episode, 'Dance of the Dead,' I had the lowest of low expectations. Additionally, I don't consider myself much of a fan of Hooper's oeuvre--save for "Texas Chainsaw" and the "Toolbox Murders" remake, his career has been sketchy, with projects often falling victim to studio meddling and financial troubles.And at first, I thought it was just my low expectations that made 'Dance of the Dead' stand out...but as it progressed, I realized that Hooper had just made a damn good episode. What 'Dance' achieves that most of the other shows have been missing is a personalization of madness and horror. The 'monsters' are not rubber-suited creatures or knife-wielding slashers, but unassuming tropes pulled from everyday life: most prominently, parental loss of control and the corruption of youth. Bio-terrorism, drug use, lurid sex, hypocrisy, nihilism, and the exploitation of the dead also pop up.The notion of 'messages' underlying the horror are bound to throw up a red flag for some, but Richard Christian Matheson's adaptation of his father's short story is ingeniously executed by Hooper, who employs jittery framing and whiplash edits to produce a visceral experience (I've never seen a film simulate a drug high as well as 'Dance of the Dead') that, instead of dulling the social commentary, heightens it in a way that only really becomes apparent once the episode ends. Comparatively, Joe Dante's 'Homecoming' failed because it bypassed horror and hammered us with its message, whereas Hooper strikes an effective balance between the two.There are so many subtle surprises in 'Dance of the Dead' that it's best to keep the plot synopsis brief: In a post-apocalyptic landscape, Peggy (Jessica Lowndes) lives under the watchful eye of her mother, and makes eyes with Jak (Jonathan Tucker), a sensitive rebel who runs blood to the emcee (a wonderfully sleazoid Robert Englund) of a local fetish club where the dead get up and do the titular deed.For all the negative notices 'Dance of the Dead' has received, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Hooper has created a short film that is as creepy, hopeless, and frightening as it is moving and deceptively intelligent. A true dark horse in the "Masters of Horror" series, highly recommended.