The "go to" guy when you want any works of Stephen King adapted into a mini-series (and also the helmer of the fun sequel, Critters 2), Mick Garris is the brain behind the Masters Of Horror series bringing together all the diverse talents in the genre to each make their own hour-long mini movies. Therefore, it's somewhat ironic that his entry into the first season, Chocolate, is probably the weakest of the set.

Based on his own short story, this stars Henry Thomas as Jamie, a regular guy who works in a laboratory responsible for creating artificial flavouring. When we first see Jamie on screen his neck is covered in blood and he's being questioned by the police. From there Garris goes on to tell us a story filled with out-of-body experiences, sex, and a tiny dose of violence.

Stinging from a recent divorce and unable to get his life back into gear, Jamie wakes up one evening with the taste of chocolate fresh in his mouth. At first he thinks nothing of this, but not long after he begins to have weird things (he loses his hearing during a rock show his friend is part of and later that night loses his sight) and visions happen to him which he soon learns could be glimpses into the life of an attractive woman who's living on the other side of the country.

Turns out Catherine (Lucie Laurier) is the woman in his visions and has also been getting glimpses into his life. Things start to go downhill though after she kills her boyfriend in a fit of rage and Jamie tracks her down determined to help her cover her tracks - and maybe get her to fall in love with him in the process.

It has to say something about the minimal entertainment value to be had in Chocolate when I spent most of my time trying to single out the landmarks in the episode since it happened to be filmed and set around my area. There's just nothing to Garris' story and it's more of a bland sensual/sexual thriller than a horror tale.

It also doesn't help that Thomas isn't overly convincing in his role (even when he's faking an orgasm in one unintentionally funny moment) and that the entire thing ends with an obvious twist and little to no impact - but then that's the problem with Chocolate, it makes no impression on you and it's never anything better than dull.

Garris would follow this up by directing the mini-series Desperation (based on Stephen King's novel and given a slight "wink" here by having Thomas' character reading the book). He previously worked with Thomas on the critically acclaimed fourth Psycho movie. (Chris Hartley, 5/31/06)

Directed By: Mick Garris.
Written By: Mick Garris.

Starring: Henry Thomas, Lucie Laurier, Stacy Grant, Leah Graham.

Picture Ratio: 1.77:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: Like all of Anchor Bay's entries discs for the series, Chocolate looks quite good with solid clarity and no grain. There's nothing here to complain about.

Extras: All of the Masters Of Horror discs use the same template and contain pretty much the same extras, but it's the sheer amount of them that makes Anchor Bay's decision to release them seperately instead of a season box set a good move (even if it might be expensive to buy them all, this way you can pick and choose your favourite episodes also).

We get a trailer (plus trailers for seven other episodes), promo trailers for other Anchor Bay DVD releases, a still gallery, a well written text biography for Garris, DVD-rom content that includes the screenplay, Garris' original story, and a screensaver; a clip from the early 80's TV show Fantasy Film Festival that has Garris interviewing B-movie king Roger Corman, a behind-the-scenes montage, on set interviews with Thomas and Laurier, an informative interview with Garris entitled "The Sweat Taste Of Fear", the pretty cool "Working with a Master" featurette that graces every Masters disc, and a commentary track with Garris and DVD producer Perry Martin.

This disc is also available in a double pack with Don Coscarelli's entry, Incident On And Off A Mountain Road.

Visit Anchor Bay for more info.