Deer Woman (2005)

That was an excellent one.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

"Deer Woman" was okay. I was pleasantly surprised. That especially so after having seen the horrendous "Imprint" right before it. Model Cynthia Moura did a good job as the mysterious Indian deer woman who has hoofs. The director John Landis ("Twilight Zone movie", "American Werewolf in London") makes the most of the subject, by turns making a spoof and also giving us some genuine scares.This is probably one of the slightly better ones to be expected in the series. The only thing that bothered me quite a bit was the storyline kept going in circles when we knew all along that she was the killer. It was very predictable in that regard. It was also the first episode that was shot in the series back in 2007. This is one of the ones from Masters of Horror that should at least be checked out if you are into the series. 6/10.

John Landis's skill for being able to mix horror and comedy is absolutely unmatched in the genre. 1981's An American Werewolf in London was a great macabre gallows humor, the kind which the Nightmare on Elm Street series frequently reached for and almost always failed at. 1992's Innocent Blood was full of hilarious visual gags and character mash-ups. With this kind of talent behind the camera, and with the formulaic and uninteresting stories most of the Masters of Horror entries had been delivering as the series first debuted on Showtime, Deer Woman was the "episode" I was dying to see the most. Especially since whoever was in charge of editing trailers for each of the entries was making them look like "Must See" events. Deer Woman probably had the best trailer of the series. With amusing caps on all their humorous conceits, but also making the title woman look mysterious and creepy, and looking like it had a lot of dark scenes. This one seemed to have "winner" written all over it. Then, I watched it. And I have to say- talk about disappointment.Though this entry still keeps the levels of visual style and production quality very high, the writing and characterization are so shallow and bland, it was pitiful. It's not as boring as Landis's Season 2 entry, Family, but it's not nearly as well-written. Everything here is just a set up for an awful joke or one-liner. The characters are not funny or interesting. And many scenes are stretched out, in the hope of cashing in on the new "quirky humor" of any number of current TV shows. Sort of like the lost episode of Dream On. It even has a fantasy scene, like Dream On. And it's truly the only good sequence in the movie. A trucker and some random girl he met go into his truck in three separate scenarios, all ending with some kind of bizarre (and admittedly very funny) deer-related attack. The best of which being the one where of them are actually hurt in any way. She hears a noise from outside, they both look out the window to investigate, and scream in terror... as they see a deer blink its' eyes. The main character (the still stunning and drop-dead gorgeous Brian Benben) comments- "retarded." NO, John! That's funny!Other routines that attempt to be funny and sink like the Titanic include: Benben questioning a bartender about the mysterious woman and asks him a question where he gets confused by the answer and makes the man say the "F" word (hugely shocking and outrageous in 2005 - I'm being sarcastic). A string of crime scene investigations where a bumbling detective starts a back and forth chain of insults (none of them the slightest bit clever). A drunk trucker who gets mad and shouts loud in a bar. A scene where a heart-broken pet owner whose cherished friend has been killed being verbally bashed and lashed out upon by a woman whose dog she thinks was traumatized by it (as a pet owner myself, animal cruelty and death is never funny- ever! ...expect maybe in 1989's UHF). At least two scenes where the title woman goes topless (why not get a cheap shot in?). And completely inexplicable and head-scratching moment where Benben's character is stopped by a stranger (played by another gorgeously schlubby actor, Andy Thompson) who insists they know each other from somewhere.Apparently, John Landis has just been away from the horror genre for so long that he's very rusty. And none of the horror projects he's tried so far this decade have done anything to restore his good name. Deer Woman takes an interesting myth and some good mystery story ties and wastes them on lead-ups to crime scenes with one-foot-hopping detectives and morgue discussions about severed penises. Why does the monster do that? Why is the monster stalking and killing the men? Even if the comedy was dumb, I liked the concept. It could have been a much better piece if they had at least given some kind of creepy clues as to why a succubus creature is luring men away (one of them the smoking-hot Steve Archer as a business man, keep an eye out for him!). All Landis seems to have is some kind of "God works in mysterious ways" mumbo-jumbo. A native-American character later on says, "why does everything always have to have a Why with you people?" Why do I want to know? Because I have to have something to distract me from the terrible humor. Anything at all would be preferable.There are so many things that could have been done to capitalize on the intrigue and mystery of this old folklore legend. Even some of the dialogue lends itself to making this mystery terrifying and dark. But Landis only seems to see the sexual motivation or result of the situation and focuses in on that. Since if you're completely immature, you could sit around for hours and come up with a ton of jokes about genital mutilation and women messing around with animals. It seems like John's son, Max Landis, did exactly that. The Masters of Horror just do not have the best track record with mysterious women. Argento's Jenifer (who was never really a mystery) was great. And I'm starting to get the impression that Mick Garris and John Landis got the idea to do their entries based on what they thought Argento would focus on. Sure, all the women show their tits. But Jenifer was the only one who did something with her animalistic sexuality. Deer Woman just flashes and runs back into the forest. I'm not really into watching women flash... but if I were, wouldn't I want a better storyline and jokes to warrant the tease?

This is the most uproarious comedy I have seen in ages. My best friend and I stayed up until 3:00AM Xmas Eve watching the 1-hour film and the 3 hours (!!!!) of extras on the DVD. The highlights for us: 1) A clip of John Landis directing the 'Deer Woman' lead by yelling "Smile! Smile! Now, frown!" 2) The god-awful CGI deer legs. 3) The deer wearing lumberjack clothing. 4) The woman who murders a trucker with a stuffed deer leg. 5) The interview with the lead actress, during which she debates whether it was a positive or negative that her part had no lines. Believe me--it was a positive. 6) The smile the 'Deer Woman' gives looks exactly like the smile on the woman who shoots ping-pong balls out of her privates in 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'. 7) The Troma-level acting of Officer Reed. 8) The fact that the trucker is wearing a hat that just says 'Wiener.' 9) The 1.5 minutes of the hour-long interview with Landis where he actually talks about this film. 10) The stills. My God, the stills. I run a little club titled Le Bad Cinema, which consists of a small group of masochists who punish each other by screening progressively awful films. This will be my entry for our next meeting. God bless you, John Landis.

A trucker is killed in his semi by what appears to be a large deer, and a detective from the animal attacks division (Anthony Griffith) is left to investigate. Is the killer human, animal or something else? I really enjoyed this movie a lot. After seeing the thirteen movies from the first season of "Masters of Horror", let me say this proudly: "Deer Woman" is one of my favorites. I enjoyed a few of the others quite a bit (particularly "Jenifer", "Incident" and "Dreams in the Witch House")... but this one ranks right up at the top.John Landis gave us a movie that is more comedy than horror, but the kind of comedy a horror fan can appreciate. He even found a way to reference his classic "American Werewolf in London" (another bizarre animal attack). Way to go tying the mythology together, John.The deer jokes and imagery were very nice. I live in Wisconsin and I have seen my fair share of deer, so you would think that deer would bore me. Usually they do. But Steve the Deer telling the wigwam joke? Classic. The attack of the Flannel Deerman? I nearly shot Diet Coke out my nose. The scene where Anthony Griffith's character is thinking up different scenarios to explain the murder is the highlight of the film, though the actress from these sequences needs an upper lip.Dana the medical examiner (or whatever she was) was very sexy, with haunting eyes. More than Cynthia Moura, who is actually Brazilian and not Native American at all.You have some mutilated bodies and blood, and a description of a mangled body part that left me hurting for a few minutes. Overall, the gore is minimal, though... but what it lacks in gore it makes up for with great writing. Don't let the cover or Indian mythology scare you off. I know Indian myths sound pretty stupid, but this time we got something a little better than "Pet Sematery".The audio commentary features only Brian Benben and Anthony Griffith, so the bulk of the talking is about height differences and the film "Mandingo". The insight that John Landis or Max Landis could have provided is absent (though John does have interview segments on the DVD).