Jake Feldman is a tailor/fur trader who likes to pay visits to a sleazy strip-joint and especially to one special lady in particular who works there. Too bad for him, she not very interested in the guy for his personality or looks, so Jake needs something to win her over with. One day he gets his hands on some beautiful looking raccoon pelts and tends to make a coat out of them that he asks his special lady to wear. Only problem is just that the same pelts are supernatural and they violently turn against those that covet them.
Been excited about Argento's contribution to season 2 since I loooooved what he did with his episode Jenifer that was featured in season 1. I am aware that a lot of people did not really like that flick, and while I can't seem to figure out why that is, personally I believe that it was one of the best episodes that season 1 had to offer - along with Carpenter's Cigarette Burns. But just like Carpenter, Argento does not do as well here as he did last time, but Pelts is still a lot of fun, and gorehounds in particular are more than recommened to check this nasty one out. I think that the short story that the film is based on does an all right job, but I would like to have read it on paper, because while I'm sure it works well in that form, on film it just does not do it all the way.
What delivers all the way though is the gore, it's very nasty and it's there in your face every so often. But while the story might feel a little too predictable kinda early on in the movie, the gore still makes it a fun film to watch. I'm not a gorehound per say, and I believe that a good solid story is everything, but still, Pelts somehow delivers due to all the nasty shite it offers as well as the fast pacing that it has. The fact is, even if it might lack a thing or two, in the end it's a quite entertaining ride, pretty much worth the money. Then if you feel that Argento has lost his touch as the film-maker he once used to be, well, that's a different story.
 
Now, Meat Loaf has made some extremely crappy song that almost made my ears bleed when I first heard them and people should be kicked in the groin for listening to horrible stuff like that (sorry Mr. Meat Loaf, that's just how I feel). So obviously, my first thoughts when I saw the man on screen in this episode was something like: "Oh my God, no!". BUT, the man actually did an all right job and I have no complaints about his performance whatsoever. He plays a pretty sleazy guy that only cares about himself in a really good convincing way, so it was all a pleasure to watch. The other actors did an all right job as well, only thing that was bad was that John Saxon didn't get too much screen time.
Argento may have lost some of the things he had going 20 years ago or so, but that doesn't make Pelts a bad film. The story may be a bit predictable, but not entirely mind you, and while some people may think there's too much gore thrown in for the sake of just showing gore, it still adds a lot to the movie and makes it fun to watch. Not great, but definitely not bad at all.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Pelts
MOVIE YEAR: 2006
DIRECTOR: Dario Argento
WRITING CREDITS: Matt Venne, F. Paul Wilson
GENRE: Horror
CAST: Meat Loaf, Melissa Gonzalez, John Saxon
COUNTRY: USA
RUNTIME: 60 min
RATING: 7/10
Masters of Horror (S02E06): Pelts Website/IMDB Click here
Masters of Horror (S02E06): Pelts Trailer Click here
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