By Geno McGahee
John Landis, the mind behind AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON brings his vision to the MASTERS OF HORROR series with a fun tale about a Native American legend that stomps men to death. It was part horror, part comedy, and it was rather good.
Dwight Faraday (Brian Benben) is a cop that was once a top detective, but after a mistake that left his partner dead, he became the lead of the animal attack claims. His wife has left him and he is just going through the motions. A call comes in about a possible animal attack at a diner in a truck, and he is dispatched along with Officer Reed (Anthony Griffith). That’s when they find a mangled man in a bloody heap. The body is unrecognizable.
Faraday is kicked off the case because it’s now a homicide, but there were signs of animal involvement and he stays on the case. He begins putting the pieces together and comes up with several scenarios, including a huge deer man, which was just hilarious. There was a lot of humor in this and it worked.
After a trip to a Native American casino, Faraday and Reed conclude that the legend is real. A beautiful woman with deer legs seduces men and then stomps them to death and Faraday starts becoming the man he used to be. He is hot on the trail and he does come face to face with the legend and pays for it. He gets kicked across the room, smashing into the wall hard, but then the chase is on.
DEER WOMAN is a lot of fun. The natural sarcasm of Brian Benben worked well in the role of Faraday. The only gripe has to be the ending which was really no ending at all. Other than that, this tale is an absolute winner. It wasn’t scary…just interesting and fun.
Rating: 7.5/10
NEW HORROR ANTHOLOGY TRAILER: SCARY TALES
