Mick Garris deserves a lot of praise for being the creator of the "Masters Of Horror" series, but it has to be said that the episodes he directed himself, "Chocolate" and "Valerie On The Stairs" both rank among the lesser entries to this generally vastly entertaining franchise. While I liked this eighth episode of the second season slightly better than Garris' boring contribution to the first season, "Chocolate", "Valerie On The Stairs" is just a bit too silly for my tastes. The episode is set in a boarding house where unsuccessful writers are allowed to reside until their works become published. In this particular house the writers' nightmarish fantasies seem to come to life, however... "Valerie On The Stairs" was adapted from a story by Clive Barker, but I guess it must have been altered quite heavily, as this is certainly not a worthy entry to Clive "Hellraiser" Barker's repertoire. While Horror does not necessarily have to be realistic, it should have a certain logic, and it should certainly NOT be ridiculous. "Valerie On The Stairs" sadly gets ridiculous at some points, which is a shame since there could have been some potential in this episode. The episode stars prolific actors Christopher Lloyd and Tony 'Candyman' Todd, and Clare Grant, who plays the eponymous Valerie is one yummy protagonist (the beauty of the female cast members is a quality that most MoH episodes have). Too bad the episode keeps getting sillier and sillier to a ridiculous point.

This isn't well-regarded on the IMDb, but I personally liked it well enough. While the plot (based, as were the recently-viewed "Candyman" films, on a story by Clive Barker) features several well-worn elements, the mix proves intriguing and reasonably compelling: failed author, eccentric household, ghostly damsel-in-distress, literary characters coming to life, etc.Even if there were only two noted performers – the ever-reliable (and quirky) Christopher Lloyd and the Candyman himself, Tony Todd (once again, playing a figure of mystery and menace, a rather effectively made-up demon) – the rest of the cast does well enough by their roles as well, especially the hero and heroine (the entrancing Clare Grant) and the two older women in the boarding-house.As was the case with the two previous "Masters Of Horror" episodes I've watched – both, incidentally, helmed by Dario Argento – this too confirms that TV has finally achieved maturity (with its graphic display of sexuality and violence, and the tackling of subjects previously considered taboo, in this case, a dash of lesbianism). In fact, not being into modern TV series at all, I'd only previously encountered such explicitness – where, however, it was mostly gratuitous and even off-putting – in ROME (2005)...

Does this guy think just cause he took the title Master of Horror that he is one? Its pretty obvious that this guy never will do a theatrical movie as his skills get worse with each attempt. I don't know if hes stephen kings cousin or brother in law but this guy has gotten too many freebiees and delivered boring garbage, I love Stephen kings books but garris go back to square one and start reading his work cause your films suck and the films you produce ain't much better (except for a couple MOH episodes-Black Cat)Oh by the way wasn't this a twilight zone episode. I'll wait for serious word of mouth before watching another master of horror episode.

Story-wise, its tough to do a decent horror movie these days because the themes are very well known. This movie is a case in point. It was probably an idea that sounded good, but ended up not being right for a movie.The story is about a writer who goes to a writing retreat / hotel for unpublished authors. As he begins to write, he starts to encounter the presence of a young lady named "Valerie" reaching out to him. He begins to explore what's happening and the story progresses from there.Sound familiar? The average horror fan will have seen this setup countless times before. Admittedly, there are some clever ideas behind "what's going on", but it's not enough. The main idea (I won't spoil it) seems too far fetched. Worst, it's just not interesting to watch.It seems evident that the main actors do a pretty good job at what they were asked to do, but their characters seem to lack depth. Along with the story - they don't get any more interesting as time goes on.If you're a big Clive Barker fan, you will probably want to see this to see what his thinking is like these days. For everyone else, pass on this one.