Deer Woman (Review), is the John Landis entry in the ongoing, Masters of Horror series from Showtime. This episode stars; Brian Benben (Dwight Faraday), Anthony Griffith (Jacob Reed) and Cinthia Moura ('Deer Woman').
Police Officer Dwight Faraday (Benben) has been assigned to the 'Animal Attacks' division and a recent rash of murders has made for some interesting and confusing clues. All murder victims are male and all have died in a state of sexual arousal and appear to have imprints of animal hooves on what is left of their bodies. Faraday is joined in this investigation by partner, Jacob Reed (Griffith) and the two men take quite a bit hard-timing from detectives assigned to this case. The only clues that actually tie these murders together, other than the method of death is that each victim was seen in the company of an attractive, dark-haired woman. Faraday and Reed are out dining at a local Native American casino one night and an employee overhears the conversation regarding the murders and the employee tells them the legend of, 'The Deer Woman', in a joking manner, but is shocked when he realizes the officers accept this legend as legitimate.
Deer Woman is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.77:1) and as one would expect with a recent release, looks very nice. Colors are solid and skin tones look very natural, as well. Audio options include English-only tracks in Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0. There are no optional subtitles offered with this release. Bonus features with this release, as with others in the series are plentiful and include:
-Audio Commentary Track with Actors Brian Benben and Anthony Griffith
-'Animal Hooves'--An Interview with Director John Landis
-Working With A Master: John Landis
-On Set: An Interview With Brian Benben
-On Set: An Interview With Anthony Griffith
-On Set: An Interview With Cinthia Moura
-Behind the Scenes: The Making of Deer Woman
-Fantasy Film Festival: Mick Garris Interviews John Landis (This featurette must have been produced/filmed around the time of, An American Werewolf in London)
-Trailers: Masters of Horror Series; Chocolate, Cigarette Burns, Dreams In the Witch-House, Homecoming, Deer Woman, Jenifer, Incident On and Off A Mountain Road, Room 6, Demon Hunter, The Tooth Fairy
-Still Gallery
-John Landis Bio
-DVD-ROM: Screenplay
-DVD-ROM: Screensaver
I continue to be impressed with these releases and always find myself looking forward to the next episode. I'm really only a fan of Landis' film, An American Werewolf In London and wasn't sure what to expect with this effort. Sometimes Landis attempts to add just a tad bit too much humor in his films and it doesn't always work, but he seemed to find the correct balance in, An American Werewolf In London. I actually enjoyed, Deer Woman, once again, for my taste, Landis struck the right balance of humor and horror. Not sure you could ever call this an outright horror effort, but it has some moments of slight suspense, nothing to keep you on the edge of your seat, but certainly entertaining enough and worthy of at the very least, a rental.
Buy Deer Woman on DVD at Amazon.com
