Wow! Such a good movie.

good back-story, and good acting

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Blistering performances.

Interesting entry in the 'Masters of Horror' series is well acted, appropriately disturbing, and does the best it can at creating a dystopian future on a budget. If you're like this viewer and haven't read the source material, this adaptation does intrigue you as to where it's going. Why would rebel youth be out to drain the blood from senior citizens? Why are those dead bodies being piled into a garbage bin and immolated? Ultimately, this does have something to say about human nature in the face of adversity, and work its way towards a time honoured twist of just desserts. The frenzied editing and camera-work is merely distracting most of the time; it's unfortunate that has become common in modern fright fare. The music is largely discordant and does a fine job of disorienting the audience. Director Tobe Hooper indeed may have had an uneven career ever since his breakthrough classic "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre", but he actually does a pretty good job with this tale, scripted by Richard Christian Matheson from a story by his legendary father Richard Matheson.Jessica Lowndes stars as Peggy, a teenager living with an overprotective mother, Kate (Marilyn Norry) and working in her diner. A catastrophic event dubbed "The Blizz" has either killed or scarred many humans, and the younger generation are now running amok. One of the bad kids, Jak (Jonathan Tucker), is more sensitive than most and catches Peggy's eye. She sneaks out one night to be with him and goes to the club that he and his pals frequent. This is a decadent place where heavy metal is played and where women are made to "dance" in a rather creepy way. It's ruled by a grinning MC played to the hilt by the great Robert Englund, with whom Hooper had worked on "Eaten Alive" and "The Mangler".The big reveal near the end and the eventual comeuppance do make this intense tale worth sitting through. Until then, Hooper lets the acting carry the story along. Lowndes is appealing in the lead role, and Tucker does a creditable job as well. The atmosphere is pretty heavy and in general this *is* a decently entertaining episode if not among the more well regarded ones of 'Masters of Horror'.Seven out of 10.

movie ever, seriously. From the foolish dialog to the dull acting, the plot that goes no where, for no reason, and takes forever doing it.Every second of this film is painful to watch, and don't be fooled by reviews saying this movie is too "deep for your average gore hound" there's really nothing going on below the surface here.It's sad to see Tobe Hopper has gone off the deep end like so many other great directors (Argento, Romero, Carpenter) and just started turning out lazy work.This movie is dull, and stupid; don't waste your time, instead watch a good episode of this show like Dreams in the witch House, Cigarette Burns, or Imprint(the best of the series)

Apparently the Rapture has taken place, and only the soulless are left to inhabit the Earth.Robert Englund is really creepy as the MC of a horror show not to be believed. It is especially horrific for Peggy (Jessica Lowndes), who is attracted to Jak (Jonathan Tucker) and goes to the show with him.What she sees is beyond the most unspeakable horror, but, even, more, the shock she next receives is beyond belief.Director Tobe Hooper, and writers Mick Garris and Richard Matheson (Duel, I Am Legend) give us a tale that is about the closest vision of Hell that I can imagine.

Masters of Horror: Dance of the Dead is set sometime during the near future after World War III in a post apocalyptic America which has been decimated by nuclear fallout, Peggy (Jessica Lowndes) & her mum Kate (Marilyn Norry) run a small diner catering to the more upscale residents left where they live. So when scumbag punks Jak (Jonathan Tucker) & his mate Boxx (Ryan McDonald) turn up looking for food Kate kicks them out but not before Jak got a chance to talk with Peggy to try & convince her there's a whole world out there & he can show her it, unfortunately as Peggy quickly discovers it's a not very nice world out there...This Canadian American co-production was episode 3 from season 1 of the Masters of Horror TV series, the first of the episodes directed by Tobe Hooper I think that Dance of the Dead is easily the worst Masters of Horror episode that I have seen although I admit I haven't seen them all as of yet. The script by Richard Christian Matheson really isn't very good, the character's are mostly unlikable, just swear a lot & take drugs, it's really slow going & I'd struggle to describe it as horror. It feels more like a teen drama with a few zombies thrown in there at the end, the bulk of the film concentrates on Peggy & Jak which becomes immensely dull to watch. This particular episode has various parallels & tries to convey a social message about modern society but I just thought it was all misjudged & comes across as very weak. There's a supposed twist ending which I thought was pretty bad & there's a distinct lack of exploitation elements. Dance of the Dead seems to divide opinion quite strongly judging by the comments on the IMDb but I genuinely think most people would agree this is pretty awful stuff & of the Masters of Horror episodes I have seen so far I thought The Screwfly Solution from season 2 was the worst but Dance of the Dead tops even that for crapness.Director Hooper ruins this even more with hand held shaky camera shots that are as annoying as anything seen in The Blair Witch project (1999) & for some reason he uses crash zooms & blurriness constantly throughout & it becomes highly irritating to watch as if it wasn't bad enough already. Forget about any gore as there isn't any in this one, there's a melted skin effect but that's it & even the zombies look dull. There are a few scenes with female nudity though if that's your thing.Technically this is alright, it's well made with decent production values but those camera & editing techniques make it a pain to sit through, well for me anyway. The acting is OK, Freddy Krueger himself Robert Englund turns up in this one.Dance of the Dead is a really poor way to spend 60 odd minutes of your time & the worst Masters of Horror I've seen so far, one to avoid. Hooper's second Masters of Horror episode The Damned Thing from season 2 turned much better than this.