Masters of Horror: Episode 14 The Damned Thing

The Damned Thing is based on an old short-story by Ambrose Bierce. I've never read that story, and aside from the obvious updates I have no idea how closely this episode adheres to the original story. I bring up the original short-story only to save myself from comments left by readers who felt the need to share this information, under the impression that I didn't know.

This is an episode that gets worse in the re-watching. The first time through the creature seemed mysterious. But, watching it again, with an idea of how it ends, I just found it confusing. The creature was an oil monster that came to kill the descendants of the man who started an oil field in the 1930s. It can apparently attack as an invisible but corporeal force, cause people to kill themselves, cause people to kill each other, or just show up as oil and eat people. Why it needs such variety I don't understand. I'm also rather confused by why it's target seems to be the last person it attacks, plowing through the most of the town first.

The main character, Sheriff Kevin Reddle (Sean Patrick Flannery), is an excellent protagonist. It's like the episode got the hard part right, giving us an interesting protagonist, but screwed up the “scary monster chasing the hero” part. When he was a child his father killed his mother, and chased Kevin with a gun, before being killed by something the locals calls The Damned Thing. Now, Kevin is constantly paranoid, but still feels a need for a connection to the family he lost. So, he lives in his parents' home, but has rigged it up with extensive surveillance. He also dreads his own coming fortieth birthday, and the local priest (Ted Raimi) advises him to come in for confession. His paranoia eventually drove his wife Dina (Marisa Coughlan) to take their son Mikey (Alex Ferris) to live in a trailer instead.

Of course, The Damned Thing reappears with his birthday, and people in the town become both suicidal and homicidal overnight, and Kevin becomes increasingly violent. The Priest, interestingly, becomes violent in general, but also gains a determination to wipe out Kevin's bloodline to end the curse. While I'm not totally clear why some attackers seems incoherent, and others can focus their rage, I think it's effective enough to get me to suspend my disbelief. I'd say a bit too much of the havoc takes place off-screen, but what we get is decent enough.

The ending of the episode left me scratching my head, though. I have no idea if The Damned Thing wants to drag out the torment of Kevin's family, or is just doing whatever it feels like at the moment. Kevin's death has very little parallel with his father's. Kevin's father was attacked by The Damned Thing as an invisible force, Kevin is eaten by the aforementioned oil monster. Furthermore, the father's death marked the end of The Damned Thing's attack until Kevin's fortieth birthday. It's implied, however, that The Damned Thing killed Mikey and Dina immediately after Kevin. Bookends with a more clear parallel would have been far more effective here. Or at least give us a reason for the Damned Thing to want to end the bloodline now

I'm not going to say I hated this episode, but it's among the weakest of the series. It's certainly not fit to be the season premiere. It lacks the punch of Tobe Hooper's usual work, and feels more like a cut-rate Mick Garris/Stephen King miniseries slashed down to an hour, and without King's writing talent.