I didn't have high hopes going into this, it seemed like the typical "helpless woman being chased by a crazed inbred in the woods" but I was pleasantly surprised. That basically is the premise, Ellen is in a minor car wreck and left stranded on an empty wooded highway at night when she becomes prey to the very large "Moonface". This film has an interesting difference though, Ellen is trained in survival tactics from her intense husband. It was nice to actually see a woman fight back for once. "Incident" was the perfect length for it's story line. There was a lot of tension but it wasn't dragged out and overplayed. I highly recommend this for fans of the horror genre who have an hour to spare.

'Incident On and Off a Mountain Road' is thoroughly enjoyable, atmospheric horror with a lightning pace, delivering action, gore, and laughs in equal measure. It's based on a short story by Joe R. Lansdale, and co-scripted by Don Coscarelli, who'd previously brought Lansdale's story "Bubba Ho-Tep" to life. Pretty, appealing dancer / actress Bree Turner plays Ellen, who's motoring through the wilderness one night when she ends up in the domain of Moonface, deliciously played by John De Santis. Moonface is a towering, pale psycho with steel teeth who snatches unwary travellers and turns them into macabre works of art in front of his home. From then on it's a constant struggle for Ellen to keep her wits about her and remember the lessons taught to her by her domineering husband Bruce (Ethan Embry, in what was a real change-of-pace role and performance for him at the time). Bruce is a survivalist, see, and is constantly thinking about preparing for the worst. So this rocking episode is both an interesting look into the survivalist mentality, as well as a tried and true horror story with enough grisliness - including some implied ocular violence - to satisfy the gore hound in many of us. It also does great things with lighting and sound; when Moonface fires up his eye gouging machine, sirens go off! It has some great brief bits of grim irony, when some of the booby traps that Ellen sets up for Moonface don't work out as planned. Much of the humour is courtesy of Coscarelli's "good luck charm", actor Angus Scrimm a.k.a. The Tall Man of the "Phantasm" series, who plays demented Buddy, who chatters non-stop; the actor is just a hoot in the role. This is a fun, fun episode that begins a little quietly but soon starts coming up with shocks (when will characters ever learn to keep their eyes on the road?) and thrills that last right up until the end. Eight out of 10.

It is indeed fitting that this should be the first episode of Masters of Horror, a very creative anthology series devoted to giving icons of horror a chance to write, direct, and act in smaller yet hugely creative one hour episodes. A young woman is driving down a very deserted stretch of road through the mountains. She hits another car and soon discovers that a woman has just been captured by a killer who we find out later is nicknamed "Moonface" because he has black eyes in a bald, gruff, illuminated face. The woman gives quite a fight as we go back and forth between her being chased by this killer and flashbacks about her relationship with her survivalist husband. we see them court, date, wed, and then fight. Interspersed we see her husband, played very creepily by Ethan Embry, teach his wife how to survive in a variety of ways. She uses these against Moonface but is captured nonetheless. We then get what I think is one of the scariest things I have seen so far in this series: Moonface's lair with all the people he has captured hanging on wood cross-like structure with their eyes staring blankly into the moonlit night. See, they have all had their eyes bored out with a drill, and we get some of that to see as well. While I am not a gorehound by any bet,I must admit director Don Coscarelli always seems to do it better than most. Well, the rest of the episode has this woman talking with one other living person named "Buddy" that Moonface has allowed to live for some reason in a basement like place where the drill is kept as well as various corpses. Buddy is played by an almost unrecognizable Angus Scrimm( the Tall man from the Phantasm films). Scrimm is wonderful to watch and pathetic too, and , well, I won't say what happens at the end as we get several twists and one is a major one I did not see coming though is was firmly rooted throughout the episode. This episode is strong on suspense. True, there isn't much of a a story here at all. but it is a roller-coaster ride from beginning to end. The director does a great job starting, maintaining, and accelerating that tension. The actors are all good with Scrimm standing out the most. The guy playing Moonface is evil and yet has a bit of devilish humor about him as he goes "Shhhh." The end scene was for me the best and the most eerie. This is solid horror from a true master. Enjoy.

There is no denying: Don Coscarelli is a great director, with a knack to communicate his enthusiasm. When exploring his oeuvre, we should also take into account his tendency to create original movies. The Phantasm series, while inconsistent, is one such example as well as the excellent Bubba Ho-tep. Well, what about Coscarelli's Master of Horror entry? Considering every critics about this flick, it seems that "Incident" is a love-it or hate-it affair. For my part: i'm in the former category. It may be at first just one more slasher movie, but I think there is more than meets the eye. An interesting subtext about survivalism culture and science, an heroine full of resources (a rarity in these kind of flick!) and a real twist-ending that is hard to perceive before you're there (and a satisfying one to that!!!). What more can you ask of a one hour movie, hey? Yes: you can ask Coscarelli's stylish direction which is truly effective here (and, contrary to the today's style of torture movie, Coscarelli is of the old school of "seeing less and feeling more"): the photography is great, the tension of the run is there and the actors are well directed. Add the editing, which switch from past to present to past smoothly and creatively and you have a sometimes disconcerting slasher movie (it offers some hints of characterization).One more bonus here: a delicious cameo by Phantasm's Angus Scrimm. That performance is worth the renting alone! And I personally disagree with those who deplore the fact that we don't know much about Moonface and Angus Scrimm's character. Why do we need to know about them? This story is tell from Bree's point of view and she have no means to know about them. The only thing that matter to her is to survive and that's okay. Just let your imagination run wild: you can be surprised by how rewarding it could be and its good to have such auteur as Don Coscarelli who can understand that pleasure!!!!!!!!! It may not be as original or disturbing as such other Master of Horrors entries, but it is much more interesting than most horror remakes or teen flicks that pervade the megaplexes these days... and that is enough a good reason to see it. You need another reason? Here it is: Don Coscarelli.