A young girl named Tara, who's quite unpopular in school, is one day kidnapped on her way home. She wakes up in a house in the country, and after asking too many questions, she soon finds herself locked up in the basement of the house. Down there she meets a suicidal boy named Johnny who can't seem to remember who he is, but that keeps warning Tara about something strange and horrible that's down there with them.
While most of the episodes in the Masters of Horror series were quite good, I believe that The Fair-Haired Child was one of the best that season one had to offer. First off, it totally separated itself from the standard type of predictable horror and delivered something new and that was quite shocking as well. The biggest surprise with this episode was that it was directed by William Malone who also brought the incredibly crappy FeardotCom into the world of horror. The Fair-Haired Child is definitely a shocker that has mystery to it as well as it proved to be creepy as hell and that was filled with great suspense. While there are no really big actors in the flick, they all delivered a top-notch performance, but the best thing about this episode was the monsters itself which looked pretty amazing and creepy.
The tension lays thick all the way through the film, and even though it's just running for 55 minutes, it never felt rushed or anything like it since even the characters proved to have some depth to them. The overall atmosphere also plays an important role in the film and Malone does a great job getting the viewer into a certain mood. Talking about the very mood of the film, the music in it really helps to deliver that wonderful yet creepy and sad feel.
 
The Fair-Haired Child starts out like some kind of horror thriller where a young girl, who is the outcast of her school, is kidnapped on her way home. She's thrown into a van to later wake up in a house in the country. Obviously, she wonders what the hell she's doing there and have no real memory of what happened. Eventually she's tossed down and locked up in the basement in the house where she meets a strange boy who seems to have no idea of who he is. All of a sudden the film somewhat changes from being a horror film, with a genuine thriller feel to it, to instead becoming sort of a horrific fairy-tale and this is where all the good stuff comes in. Now, the couple that kidnapped Tara made a pact with the devil to bring their son back from the dead after that he had been in an accident. But in return for this, 12 innocent had to die before Johnny could return to his old self again. Tara is the last victim to go and when just have been down there in the basement for a short while, the nice boy suddenly turns into something quite horrible.
Obviously, it's very hard not to feel bad for young Tara. She doesn't seem to have any friends, she's the outcast in school, her mom ignores her and now she's gonna be some horrible monster's dinner. But what happens down there in the basement is of course for you to find out. The Fair-Haired Child was one creepy flick though and while most monsters are usually not that scary, this one truly is. The film delivers a whole lotta tension when Tara is trying to desperately flee from the horrific creature - she crawls into small spaces and such and it was cool to see how the monsters arms could reach around corners and into smaller pipes and stuff. The very story was good too and this episode will most definitely keep you on the edge of your seat for a while.
Along with Dario Argento's Jenifer and Carpenter's Cigarette Burns, I think that The Fair-Haired Child were the best that season one of the Masters of Horror series had to offer. This episode really stood out and even more so due to Malone's kinda rocky career, but the guy really proved here that he truly is a master as well. Highly recommended.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: The Fair-Haired Child
MOVIE YEAR: 2006
DIRECTOR: William Malone
WRITING CREDITS: Matt Greenberg
GENRE: Horror
CAST: Walter Phelan, Lindsay Pulsipher, Lori Petty
COUNTRY: USA
RUNTIME: 55 min
RATING: 8/10
Masters of Horror (S01E09): The Fair-Haired Child Website/IMDB Click here
Masters of Horror (S01E09): The Fair-Haired Child Trailer
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