Masters Of Horror: Family

John (An American Werewolf in London) Landis directed this blackly amusing and gruesome story from the second season of the Masters of Horror anthology TV series about a lonely serial killer's search for the perfect Family. George Wendt offers the lion's share of the chuckles--and the chills--as a seemingly normal suburbanite whose sweater-vest-and-groomed-lawn exterior conceals his true nature as a bloodthirsty murderer who kidnaps and butchers strangers in an attempt to assemble a flawless nuclear family; Meredith Monroe and Matt Keeslar are the neighbors who catch his eye as possible new additions. No stranger to mixing horror and humor, Landis' bloody blend is more successful than in his previous MoH outing, Deer Woman, thanks in part to the lead actors and writer Brent Hanley's script, which features one of the nastiest denouements this side of E.C. Comics. The DVD includes commentary by Hanley, making-of featurettes on the production and the score, a still gallery, and the original script in DVD-ROM format. --Paul Gaita