Masters of Horror 7: John Landis' "Deer Woman"

Left:Huge Deer man in a Lumber Jack costume. Right: John Landis













Wow! I know John Landis is hit and miss but he is one funny dude. Once I saw the trailer to this I knew it might be back to a return like "American Werewolf in London", that movie is so painstakingly funny and gory scary at the same time. I was raised more one John Landis as an appearance and person or actor on screen. He was probably the first director I notice if he ever appear on the screen making a cameo. The reason why is because like everyone I raised on the Michael Jackson video,"Thriller". I still have the old tape my parents recorded of the music video followed by the making of it. And of course it had a young John Landis talking about the effects and his love for horror and all that stuff. As time went on I regular see John Landis being and interviewee for a lot of documentaries on film genres. He was a born movie nut, just like Joe Dante. I was raised more on him as a person talking about films than a filmmaker. Even though "Animal House" is the granddaddy and engrave in everyone's(well not everyone) memory. I still think that "Trading Places" is sheer genius and by all means perfect. Same goes for "Coming to America", god that movie never gets old. I also remember his bit for "Amazon Women on the Moon" that featured Russ Meyer. Then after that he just went downhill, his last good film was "Innocent Blood". I still haven't seen his documentary "Slasher", I hears its funny. But until then I just saw his latest opus for "The Masters of Horror".
The story is plain and simple, some old mythic Native-American tale of a half-woman half-deer is going around having sex with men and then stomping on them. With a concept like that it sets John Landis(co-written by his son Max) to execute sight gags, gore and T&A. Their is also another mixture of genre in this besides horror and comedy, but a mix of a sub-genre in comedy. The "cop buddy" movie, Landis' has establish a "buddy movie" in "Trading Places" but he definitely displays it in here. The relationship between the white cop played by Brian Benben and the black cop played by Anthony Griffith. It mirrors 'Trading Places","Lethal Weapon" or "Hickey & Boggs". Of course the writing team of son and father eschews out quick witted humor and very funny one-liners courteously coined by Brian Benben. Plus the woman who plays the Deer Woman is hot, Landis has good eye!
Their is voice-over narration by the lead Brian Benben that echoes another genre in the mix of noir films. He is basically a down on your luck cop looking for a break and with a haunted past. That somehow through this investigation it comes out. I also like the three imaginations conjured up by the detective to figure out a Deer tracks ended up on a mans' genitals. Those are the sight gags that are just hilarious and very over-the-top but held with some realism in the end. Either way Landis knew what he was and sometimes I'm always excited to see anything starring, produced or even directed by John Landis. We all love you DAWG!
This is ALiye Nyoka saying "See you later Masturbater!"