INCIDENTS ON AND OFF A MOUNTAIN ROAD

Joe R. Lansdale is the mojo champion of storytelling, with a strong, authoritative voice and the instinctive ability to make the everyday terrifying. His fiction effortlessly fuse the dark and fantastic elements of the human mind with blood-pumping action and characters of extraordinary depth. Director Don Coscarelli has proved himself capable of translating Lansdale's generous, often daunting flights of imagination to the unforgiving light of the silver screen, hitting aesthetic pay-dirt twice: first with the wonderfully touching dark comedy of friendship and death Bubba Ho-Tep, and now, exploring the ravaged psyche and tortured flesh of a young woman in Incidents On and Off A Mountain Road. A reckless, hard hitting, ultimately satisfying collision of grit, grue, and guts, this 'fight or flight' instalment of Masters of Horror is a triumph of filmic storytelling, as concerned with the endurance of the human mind as it is in providing a breathless roller-coaster of conflicting emotions.

"You've always got to expect the unexpected . . . And do the unexpected," says a young woman's ex-husband in this grim fight for survival, ands those words could just as easily describe Lansdale's storytelling range, as both he and Coscarelli come out of left field, duck, swerve, and punch at our expectations with one of the most startling, visually pleasing episodes of the series yet. When a car accident leaves emotionally weathered Bree Turner isolated on an empty dirt road one moonlit night, her survivalist ex-hubby's words take on cosmic significance. She finds herself the target of a genuinely menacing figure known as "Moonface," but is far from helpless. After a taunt struggle, she flees through the wilderness only to be captured. Throughout we see flashbacks of her courtship, marriage, and increasingly disturbing relationship with her ex-husband. Complimenting one another in theme, each providing narrative tension for the other, these flashbacks and present-time conflict evoke suspense and character depth. Struggling to escape death, Bree's remembrance of her husband are easily as terrifying as her confrontation with Moonface, leading to a surprising, satisfying conclusion.

A twisted yet strangely moralistic sense of old fashioned justice colors Lansdale's rustic voice. A storyteller of old, he appreciates the art of traditional narrative, eschewing post-modern anti-fictions for the pleasures of conflicts that actually lead to resolutions. The simplicity of a folktale resonates in this narrative. Coscarelli uses his prowling camera to capture the beauty and terror of settings that breath with an organic sense of life. More impressively are the metaphorical areas between fantasy and reality that exist in Bree's desperate character. In fact, her part is so well written and acted that she becomes, if but for a moment, a symbolic personification of our human condition. For better or worse, she is us -- both a victim and victimizer. A film uneasy to categorize, as was Ho-Tep, Incidents shares conventions of the dark comedy, the slasher, thriller, and straight drama. Its shadowy world is bathed in darkness and light, with various ambiguities of self struggling for grim supremacy.

Incident On and Off a Mountain Road is offered up by Anchor Bay in yet another unblemished digital transfer. Featured in anamorphic widescreen in its original aspect ratio of 1.77:1, the picture is without grain, scratches, or any other significant flaws. Audio is likewise sterling. Extras are the focal point of the disc -- supplements that add to our understanding and appreciation of the film and the talents both behind and in front of the camera. The most informative features are two exhaustive commentaries, the first with screen-writer/director Coscarelli and co-writer Romano, the second featuring Coscarelli and author Joe R. Lansdale. An interview with Coscarelli covers some ground already ploughed, but includes enough new material, and slants on the old, that it is easily worth the listen. The "Working with a Master" featurette is brimming with praise from folks who have worked with the director. Interviews with cast members are less interesting but reveal an earnest appreciation of both craft and project. Other extra features include the standard MOH trailers, a Still Gallery, and, for those with DVD-ROM, a screensaver and complete screenplay of the episode.

Review by William P. Simmons