A young married couple moves into a new home in a new city and finds out that their neighbour is not what he seems.
Unlike Hooper's contribution to the 2nd season of MoH, Landis film is not as focused on delivering graphic horror and violent and gruesome scenes, but instead puts more focus on the story itself. While the story is very good with a big twist towards the end, things are never really horrific in Family. For most of the time when I watched the episode, it felt more like a drama, but that had sort of a horror theme to it, but nevertheless a drama. One thing is for sure though and that is that Landis does a helluva lot better here than he did with his Deer Woman in season 1.
Family takes part in surburbia and surburbia looks so freakin nice that you almost feel the urge to move there and raise a family of your own. Well, I might exaggerate things a bit, but trust me - it sure looks nice. And by looking that way, it right then and there creates a certain feeling and mood that hits right on the spot. We're introduced to a large fellow that is Harold (played absolutely brilliantly by George Wendt) who seems like a nice man on the outside, but that has a heap of issues on the inside. It's not just about what's inside of him, but what's inside his house where he has been putting together a family of his own, only problem is that they're all dead, but Harold doesn't see it like that. He sees them as his family and does things with them like a normal family would - like putting his little daughter to bed each night, have conversations and arguments with his wife among other things. This part of the story is awesome since it's sick and twisted, but on-screen it's played out in a cute and lovely way.
 
Harold collects his family members by abducting persons that he feel would fit the family concept and then pours some acid on them. So basically, his house is full of skeletons. One day a young couple moves in right across the street from where Harold lives - they're soon introduced to each other and Harold feels that his neighbour's wife would make a perfect contribution to his own family. That's all I'm gonna tell you folks, because this film has a great twist that I don't want to spoil for those who haven't seen this episode just yet.
The highlight of Family is the character George Wendt is playing, and he does it in a brilliant way. The guy's obviously a real psychopath (the character, not Wendt), but it's still quite hard not to feel sorry for him every now and then - he's very likable and just seems so darn nice. Apart from Wendt, Meredith Monroe does a terrific job as Harold's neighbour and she's very likable too. If I'm gonna complain a little it would have to be about the score which consist of a bunch of crappy Jesus songs that would most likely drive a person insane if hearing them too much. I guess the music plays its part and creates a certain feel and all that, but nevertheless, it's freakin awful to have to listen to. Apart from that, it's all darn good.
The big twist in the end might do it for some and while I thought that was very cool, what I liked most about Family was the atmosphere it had to it, played out in surburbia and all. The story was extremely easy to get into as well as to get caught up in and Wendt's character developed in a really good way as the film went along. Slightly better than Hooper's episode, but on the other hand, the films were very different from each other. Highly recommended.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Family
MOVIE YEAR: 2006
DIRECTOR: John Landis
WRITING CREDITS: Brent Hanley
GENRE: Horror
CAST: George Wendt, Meredith Monroe, Matt Keeslar
COUNTRY: USA
RUNTIME: 58 min
RATING: 8/10
Masters of Horror (S02E02): Family Website/IMDB Click here
Masters of Horror (S02E02): Family Trailer
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