Product Description

Deep within the desperate hearts of the bereaved, there is a pact with the forces of darkness that demands new blood to resurrect the souls of the dead. Lori Petty ( A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN and TANK GIRL) stars as a grieving mother with a remote estate, a ghastly secret, and a locked basement where abducted teen outcasts await an evil that feasts upon their virgin flesh. But to satisfy a parent’s depraved bargain, the beast must feed one final time. And tonight, the ultimate horror will begin for those who do not heed the hunger of THE FAIR HAIRED CHILD. Lindsay Pulsipher and William Samples co-star in this relentlessly creepy saga scripted by Matt Greenberg (HALLOWEEN H20, REIGN OF FIRE) and directed by William Malone that The Horror Channel calls "a perfect dark fairy tale…one of the most solid and impressive episodes to date

DVD Features:Widescreen Presentation,AUDIO COMMENTARY WITH WRITER MATT GREENBERG AND DIRECTOR WILLIAM MALONE,BEHIND THE SCENES: THE MAKING OF THE FAIR HAIRED CHILD,DVD-ROM: SCREEN SAVER OVER 3 HOURS OF BONUS FEATURES

DVD-ROM: SCREENPLAY,ON SET: AN INTERVIEW WITH JESSE HADDOCK,ON SET: AN INTERVIEW WITH LINDSAY PULSIPHER,ON SET: AN INTERVIEW WITH LORI PETTY,ON SET: AN INTERVIEW WITH WILLIAM SAMPLES

SCENES FROM WILLIAM MALONE'S FIRST SHORT FILM,STILL GALLERY,THE FACE OF FEAR: AN INTERVIEW WITH WILLIAM MALONE,TRAILERS,WILLIAM MALONE BIO,WORKING WITH A MASTER: WILLIAM MALONE

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66360 in DVD
• Brand: STARZ/SPHE
• Released on: 2006-12-12
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 55 minutes

Amazon.com
The ninth episode in the celebrated Masters of Horror series, The Fair Haired Child, unfortunately may have the least scare power. Director William Malone's (Feardotcom, The House on Haunted Hill) choice to cast the outcast teen, Tara (Lindsay Pulsipher), as a cute blond girl more suited to The O.C. than to horror, spoils an initial opportunity to convince the viewer of her suffering. Weak acting is the biggest detriment, however. As Tara is kidnapped and thrown into a psychotic couple's basement as a sacrifice to the Devil to bring their dead son, Johnny (Jesse Haddock), back to life, Tara's fear fails to translate into real dread. Black-and-white flashbacks of the sick married couple watching helplessly as their son drowns are equally corny. Johnny, the child zombie haunted by guilt he feels for living at the expense of others, especially Tara's, is the only interesting character. The fact that he is mute, communicating by scribbling thoughts into dirt, makes him eerily prophetic. As a character, Johnny terrifies more than the stop-motion demon who steals teens away to the netherworld. Like House of Whipcord, this story of a basement-turned-torture chamber has appeal for its archetypal plot concept, but The Fair Hair Child lacks actors who convey real angst. --Trinie Dalton

Customer Reviews

WOW!

Wow is about all I can say, because this movie is so good it left me speechless. I watch LOTS of horror movies, read horror books, research hauntings, and even read horror comics. It takes a lot to impress me because 99 times out of 100, I've seen it before. The Fair Haired Child blew my socks off.

Not only is this movie artfully crafted and skillfully directed, the special effects are killer. Some scenes I immediately watched again, just to catch every second of the chilling graphics. The storyline is demented, twisted, and oh so evil. The acting also doesn't disappoint in the least (who doesn't love Lori Petty?) The monster of the film is grotesque and Lovecraftian. Everything here is perfection. Normally with a running time of just under an hour -in this case, 55 minutes- you might feel cheated. However, in this case, everything about the movie is so spot on you don't mind the short time. Besides, the short time means you can watch it again right away, which is what I did.

I can't recommend this movie enough. It is trite and childish to say this deserves 8 out of 5 stars, but it does. If you are a horror fan at all, please, treat yourself to a viewing of this film. You will NOT be disappointed.

Highest possible recommendations to all horror movie buffs!!!!

Some Of The True Masters Could Take Lessons From This Relative Unknown
I'm not quite sure that "House on Haunted Hill" and "FeardotCom" qualified William Malone to be called a Master of Horror in the Showtime anthology series--but we'll have that debate later. Considering the uneven quality of many of the episodes, the real surprise is that Malone surpasses many of the more acclaimed directors. "The Fair-Haired Child" is definitely a solid, if not great, episode in the infuriatingly inconsistent "Masters of Horror." In fact, "Child" (considering his resume) might be Malone's most effective work yet.

The tale begins with the abduction of a young girl. Trapped by a couple, led by a gloriously deranged Lori Petty, she is locked in their basement with another child. Forming a tentative friendship with the mute boy, she eventually learns that they will be involved in some sort of ritual to bring the couple's deceased child back to life. Let's just say that they made a pact with the devil that involves child sacrifice and a rather unpleasant beastie.

The mood and atmosphere of "Child" are genuinely creepy, the performances good, and the effects are nice. The spooky ambiance and brisk pace distinguish this tale from some of the others. This certainly isn't a groundbreaking work, though. You've seen elements of this story in many other films. However, it is put together with confidence and competence. I enjoyed "The Fair-Haired Child," and would rate it at 3 1/2 star if possible. Not the best the show had to offer--but far, far, far from the worst. KGHarris, 12/06.

Probably the only good entry from the Masters of Horror series: 3.5 stars
Masters of Horror was a show released through Showtime in which some of the best known directors and writers in the horror industry conjure up 1 hour stories similar to a Tales From the Crypt style. This format is right up out alley. We loved Tales From the Crypt and other short tv series and hoped this anthology would be on the same page. Unfortunately it's not in any sense. In two 13 episode seasons there is about 2 good efforts, the rest are complete garbage which makes sense since the show was cancelled after it's second year. So out of 26 episodes there are only 2-3 worth watching. Luckily Fair Haired Child was one of the select few and turned out to be a pretty creepy effort. What drew us to try this one out was the creepy looking face on the cover (yeah we fell for the cover again). With a mug like that this creature had to be worth checking out especially if it's under an hour long.

The short starts with outcast teenager Tara and she sits through another painful day of school. Being shunned by everyone she hops on her bike to head home when she gets plowed down by a van. It was really fake looking so there were a couple laughs. While on the ground she is dragged into the back of the van where she's drugged and passes out. When she awakes she is sitting in a room with a nurse waiting. She tells Tara she is in a hosiptal in Vermont, far from her home in Virginia. Tara starts to freak out and gets up to call her mom who has no interest in picking her up. Seems the mother wants nothing to do with her daughter and gives her the brush off so she can get back to her nap. Parent of the year! Now that Tara is abandoned the nurse tries to ease her mind then starts asking her questions in regards to her health. Finally she asks if she's a virgin, which she is, forcing Tara to wonder what kind of hospital this is. Turns out it's no hospital and the woman isn't a nurse. Tara has been kidnapped by a couple who refuse to let her leave. They grab her by hands and feet and chuck her into the dark basement where the door is locked behind her.

Once in the basement she sees a kids hanging from the ceiling but is still alive. She rushes over and helps him down but he hasn't enough energy to talk. She tries to find out why he's here and all he can down is warn her by writing on the wall his name is Johnny and she needs to hide quick. She isn't sure why until Johhny starts morphing into the creature you see on the cover. This thing is really creepy looking so kudos to whoever did the makeup. It walks around all quick and eratic looking to eat Tara. She manages to escape to a part of the basement just in time for the creature to turn back into Johhny. She approaches him and asks what his deal is and why he turns into this thing. He informs her that he died years ago and the parents made a pack with the devil that they would sacrifice 12 virgins to the creature he becomes in order to bring him back. Tara happens to be the final sacrifice (Rowsdower!) in order to bring him back to life, but Johhny doesn't want it to heppen. He is harmless and doesn't want to kill but the creature inside takes over. After all the screams end the parents unlock the basement and retrieve their son. Now that the sacrifices have been complete he is a normal boy again. The family is sitting upstairs where Johhny just stares at the window forcing his mother to ask what he's doing and he responds; waiting. He tells them he had made a pact with the devil that instead of sacrificing the girl he'd prefer his parents be the sacrifice and the creature bursts through the window to rip apart the parents. Johhny now is back to a normal boy and Tara is unharmed. The ending is turned out corny since Johhny and Tara now seem like a couple and will live there lives together in the secluded home. Could've wrapped it up a bit cooler then that but whatever.

Overall this Masters of Horror was a pretty good effort. The atmosphere and creature were extremely creepy and represented the intruguing cover well. This wasn't one of those you were tricked into by a great looking cover, it actually delivered. So if you are interested in checking out any of the Masters of Horror series then make Fair Haired Child one of your only choices. Almost all the rest are a complete waste.