Boob Tube Recognition of the Week, 12-03-05

Not to plug anything, but Showtime series Masters of Horror finally lived up to the potential of its diverse directors and writers this week. So far, the show has been a gimmick anthology with directors such as Tobe Hoober and Dario Argento with stories that have been scary but not all memorable. It has seemed like Tales from the Crypt from the 1990's, which seemed to be more interested in its cast and crew than a story.
But that all changed this week with it's latest episode, "Homecoming," which answers the political question what would dead U.S. soldiers do if they came back from the grave. They wouldn't want to eat brains. They would want to vote.
"Homecoming" combines the recent trend in zombie movies and gives it a political satire twist.
The episode is directed by Joe Dante, whose movies The Howling and Gremlins combine horror with humor. John Landis, Sam Raimi, and Peter Jackson all did this. But Dante seems to be more interested in the horror as a social commentary on what is going on. Gremlins was about consumerism and the need to get your child the best gift for Christmas even though it can and does become dangerous. The Howling made fun of New Age retreats where people can run away from the hectic urban life and get back to nature with a community of werewolves who seem like normal people.
Jon Tenney plays a political consultant to the U.S. President who is running for reelection on the slogan of "Mission Accomplished." While on a political talk show with an Ann Coulter type political analyst, he is talking via satellite to a woman who has lost her son in the war the nation is involved in. He makes a wish that starts out as truly sincere and honest, then turns into your basic soundbite. His wish is for the dead soldiers to come back and let us know how they truly feel.
They do come back and want to vote. At first, everyone wants to honor their right to vote. How they gave their lives for the country and must not be denied this right. Until early voting results in them voting for the other guy. Worse yet, its the only way the undead soliders can be killed. Guns can't stop them. Cutting them up won't either. Tenney's boss, long-time Dante collaborate Robert Picardo, states that an amputated leg kicked one of the doctors in the ass.
Suddenly, the administration in charge doesn't want these undead soldiers to vote and try to get the undead that supported the war. But the rub is that the ones that supported the war are at peace.
"Homecoming" is based on the short story "Death and Suffrage" by Dale Bailey and adapted for the TV screen by Sam Hamm, who wrote 1989's Batman.
The episode takes a stab at the Republican party, but isn't modest about sticking it to the liberals. We only hear the President briefly and he sounds like a spoof of Bush. We also are never told which country America is at war with.
With people questioning the voting results of the last two Presidential elections, it makes you wonder what is really wrong with democracy in this country. Instead of one person/one vote, we have the electoral collage to keep the candidate with the most votes out. Instead of respecting each other's political opinion, we mock it. Even worse, we expect certain social classes to vote a certain way. People always assume those in the military will vote Republican, even though they're have to be a few Democrats there.
I also like the concept of dead, or undead people voting, when elections from many years ago had people reportedly voting while pretending to be people who had died.
"Homecoming" walks the line between being very clever and very stupid at the same time. Dante gives us the right mixture of comedy, drama, and horror. He also has the reliable Picardo on hand. Picardo has always been the type of actor who is too sleazy to be the nice guy, but too likeable to be an all-out bad guy. Tenney plays the role straight, while Picardo is the funny man and they have great chemistry together as a political campaign team trying to win an election.
I don't know how good the rest of the series is going to be, but "Homecoming" hits the mark dead-on. This is one of the best political satires ever made.