Review of Masters of Horror 9: William Malone's "Fair-Haired Child"

Left:William Malone and the Fair-Haired Child.















William Malone is a lesser known horror director with 'Creature", an "Alien" knockoff starring the great Klaus Kinski. He also did 1999s' "House on Haunted Hill" and also 'Feardotcom". Rather not a good resume, I got to admit "Creature" was cool but the others I don't favor too much or at all. Either way it does not come into play with this film, which is has a fairy-tale quality and surreal horror. It also features the great Lori(Tank Girl) Petty, man I haven't seen that girl in awhile.
The film is basically about a typical outcast girl that looks actually hot, but is kidnapped from Connecticut to Vermont by an odd couple. Lori- Petty plays the mother and through black and white flashbacks it showcased character development of these two odd balls. Both of them are concert instrumentalists, the wife plays the cello while the husbands plays the pianist. Malone extends the classical to give a more sensible gothic horror that actually works but gets very tiring with montage flashback moments. So they kidnap this girl and throw her down the basement with there 13 year-old son who is supposedly the "Fair-hair Child", through three person flashback moments we get a understanding why he is sown there and the parents. We could acre less about the parents, but the outcast girl start to fall in love with the boy who later discovers that he turns into a monster every birthday to eat kid to stay alive. The kid died drowning and the mother and father decide to revive him back but they have to repay the evil forces with children's flesh. So exchange for their son's life they give him 13 kids, the girl being the last, and he can come back fully alive. He turns into the "Fair-haired child", which is pictured up above, and devours kids that the parents kidnap.
Malone seems to be style over substance even though their is a lot going in the story, but tmore focusing on the parents. The true odd ball relationship is the girl trapped in the basement with the son trying to survive, their something gothic and romanctic it that almost feels like a fairy-tale. Black and white montages get old but beautiful especially during the drowning sequence that plays a lot with shadow and light. When you watch that sequence it feels like he's quoting "Friday the 13th". The movie has a happy ending, to say the least...but an ending like "And they Lived Happily Everafter". Their is some impressive stuff in this that don''t have to do with story, because Malone seems more like a stylist, which is not bad because he has a good eye. You can tell by his last two films, were horrid scripts but had a cool style. I'm not saying the script is bad, it's just their could have been more. Overall I recommend this as a bedtime story for parents that let their kids watch scary movies late-night. It sounds like a horrible title, but opens the eyes for young generations to explore horror films. This is a great introduction. Good Job!
This Aliye Nyoka saying "PEACE OUT DAWG!"