RG
Roberto Giacomelli
•A dangerous species of flies, called reed flies, claims many victims among the populations of some countries in Latin America every year. To combat this parasite, the government assigns a team of scientists to develop a pesticide that will lead to the extinction of this deadly fly by eliminating its instinct to reproduce. However, strange cases of murder begin to occur in those same places, where the killer is always male and the victim female. It also seems that these horrific crimes are linked to the spread of this pesticide, which appears to have an effect on humans as well.
"Masters of Horror" is a unique project born from the mind of Mick Garris, a director known in the horror genre primarily for his adaptations of Stephen King's novels. Garris thought of bringing together the most representative horror film directors in a project destined for cable TV Showtime and home video, resulting in "Masters of Horror," a series of 13 half-hour films, each directed by a major name in the genre. Each episode has a budget of 1.8 million dollars, the location set in the Canadian city of Vancouver, and each director was given complete creative freedom. The names involved in the second season of this project are: Tobe Hooper, Dario Argento, Stuart Gordon, Joe Dante, John Carpenter, John Landis, Ernest Dickerson, Brand Anderson, Tom Holland, Peter Medak, Rob Schmidt, Norio Tsuruta, and Mick Garris himself.
The subject of "Against Nature," based on a story by James Tiptree Jr., is one of those truly captivating ones, filled with so much cinematic potential that it gives even the most ardent detractor of this TV series created by Mick Garris hope; yet, after viewing, the audience will have many opportunities to be deeply disappointed by this seventh episode of the second season of "Masters of Horror."
Joe Dante had already made the most openly political episode for this TV series, "The Candidate," which was unanimously "elected" as one of the most successful films of the first season; this time, the director of "Piranha" attempts the card of the always relevant ecological theme, also this time contaminated with socio-political elements.
Religious wars and cultural differences clash with the issue of gender equality: the episode opens with explicit references to the condition of women in Islamic cultures, and it is no coincidence that when the murderous wave breaks out, one thinks of a biological attack coming from the Middle East. Dante once again reveals the now well-known fear of the Western man for the international tensions characterizing our era, and he does so with a less "biased" look compared to his previous performance in "Masters of Horror," limiting himself to a more general, broader denunciation. And it is precisely the breadth that limits this film, understood as breadth of views, narration, themes, and genres addressed, that makes "Against Nature" a liked but objectively unsuccessful product.
The too much meat on the fire present in this short film makes the roast undercooked and a bit bland: too many characters are involved in the affair, with the consequence that none are properly developed and with the serious flaw that some (even fundamental ones) suddenly disappear from the scene without the audience knowing anything about their fate. The narration is developed over a time span that is too long, made known by captions that inform about the passage of months, giving a general sense of fragmentation; as too much is the variety of elements that are attempted to be inserted (ecological disaster, religious extremism, man hunt, family disintegration, horror in the province, alien invasion), more of which are then not developed due to obvious lack of time. Given the result that suffers considerably from the limit imposed by the short film timing, we are convinced that if Joe Dante had made it a feature film, the result would have been of great quality, because the potentials for an excellent work were all there.
It leaves quite perplexed, however, the choice to provide the audience with a science fiction explanation for the entire affair that, in addition to tasting of "already seen," gives a sense of almost ridiculousness to the scene and kills all the intrinsic meanings that had been created up to that point.
Despite the theme treated, the violence is very contained (the only "strong" scene is the stabbing of a dancer), on the contrary Dante focuses on visual eroticism, often concentrating on nude scenes and sexual allusions.
In short, a good opportunity substantially wasted.