As a long time fan of Argento with his extremely stylish often ludicrously plotted films he frequently created some weird and brilliant cinematic moments in 'horror' film history. Admittedly, there were many moments where the brilliance didn't shine and even the most ardent fan will begrudgingly admit most of his films haven't aged too well. However, the sheer power of his set pieces and exquisite use of the cinematic medium in them more than compensates.Sadly, Pelts isn't vintage Argento. Not even close. In fact it's dreadful.You could show it to any Argento fan and they wouldn't recognise it as his work. Laboured, perfunctory direction at best and mainly not even that!. Any old hack could do it, and what's worse, probably better.Excellent special effects though and the sole reason for the 3 stars.

Looking back in my vaults of horror I came across the fabulous Masters Of Horror series. And they are indeed amazing. Back then I never reviewed stuff but I also came across season two and noticed I hadn't seen it. My best friend and horror buff told me to be ashamed of that fact and face it, it's summer so nothing is on the telee or at theatres. What else could a geek do then go back in time.I just picked one DVD out, Let it be this one. Immediately you are into the stories and this follows the same line. Masters Of Horror are known to indeed having the best horror directors on board and having some famous names from the genre in it. This time it's John Saxon as thespian and Dario Argento as director. And Dario doesn't go for a Giallo this time but for a gorefest. Somewhere I was a bit lost when the story slowly turned into a Stephen King look-a-like with the racoons looking through a window just like they had a 'Disney' life. Luckily it picked up strong again to end in a gory final. No boundaries were made, it do has some cruel gore made by the KNB boys and it looks fabulous. We also have a lot of nudity and nothing is cut. So far Imprint from season one was brought out cut in Europe but at this writing it's out there in Germany full uncut on Blu Ray.On part of the gore it has a strange feeling because when they are smashing heads or a head is being cut in pieces by a trap you can easily spot it was some rubber face. And the ending wasn't realistic at all but to be honest, somehow you take it. John Saxon looks great in his role as Jeb 'Pa' Jameson, face it, he was 71 then, I have seen him in flesh around that time and he was walking with sticks so go figure that one out.But for me Meat Loaf as Jake Feldman did an excellent job. What a great performance he gives here. Melissa Gonzalez (Mira) is the one who strips and is walking around naked a lot of times. But while walking in the flesh she not only looks great but performs great too. The end scene with her in the elevator when she got in trouble with her hand did remind me of Tenebre (1982), I don't know if it was a wink by Dario intended for the geeks out there or if I'm too deep into the genre. Nevertheless, this was an outstanding episode not that typical Dario but surely one to pick up. I wont go that far to say that Dario's entries in Masters Of Horror are a statement against animal abuse but there's a small message to catch for those wearing fur...Gore 3,5/5 Nudity 2,5/5 Effects 4/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

At the time I'm writing this user-comment, I have yet to see quite a lot of episodes in the Masters of Horror's second season, but I don't necessarily have to finish the whole series in order to know already that this installment will become one of my absolute favorites! Dario Argento's second contribution to the series – after the somewhat offbeat "Jennifer" in series one – features a deliriously absurd story, copious amounts of gut wrenching gore effects and a cameo by the almighty B-movie veteran John Saxon! That is more than enough already to qualify as a huge success in my book. It's still not a bona fide Argento effort, because the concept doesn't really allow him to experiment with visual style elements or Italian Giallo themes, but it is nonetheless a shocking exercise in the extremes of the horror genre. The particularly well cast Meat Loaf stars as the sleazy and power-obsessed fur trader Jake Feldman. Via an elderly poacher (John Saxon) and his son, Feldman gets hold of a cargo of exceptionally qualitative raccoon furs that he intends to process into a coat and donate to his unreachable muse; a black lesbian striptease dancer. However, the raccoons were butchered in the garden of an eccentric old witch and their fur homes a horrifying curse. Anyone who gets in contact with these furs goes berserk and develops murderous and suicidal tendencies. The poacher and his son are the first ones to fall victim to this curse, but their terrifyingly gruesome deaths don't stop Feldman from claiming the furs as his own… The running time is too short to emphasize on substantial depth and/or detailed character drawings, so Argento just fully goes for outrageously explicit gore. Someone harshly gets beaten to death with a baseball bat, another character cuts open his own chest with a pair of scissors, a lady sews her own face entirely shut and another poor soul professionally skins himself in front of a mirror. The absolute highlight of repulsiveness – perhaps even in the entire Master of Horror series – involves someone who slowly places his own face in an animal trap before setting it off. Whoa baby, that was awesome! Add a lot of nudity and gratuitous lesbian action to this and you've got yourself one hour of sheer old-fashioned and undemanding horror entertainment. Thank you, Maestro Argento, for once again brightening up my day!

Pelts (2006) *** (out of 4) Dario Argento's second film in the Masters of Horror series is about a fur trader (Meat Loaf) to finds the perfect pelts but these pelts also lead to murder and suicide. I preferred Argento's other film in the series but this here is certainly miles better than the past few features from the Italian director. Meat Loaf does a good job in the role, although he doesn't go too deep into the character. The real highlight here is the appearance of John Saxon who steals the show. It was really great seeing him in another film. The special effects are quite gruesome and that includes the seriously over the top ending.