Don Coscarelli is a name that's instantly recognizable by genre fans everywhere. Despite only making a handful of actual horror flicks, Coscarelli created the well respected Phantasm series, gave us the cable TV classic The Beastmaster, and got Bruce Campbell to pretend to be an elderly Elvis Presley in Bubba Ho-Tep. So, it's a given he'd be asked to helm an episode of the new anthology series Masters Of Horror and it's really no surprise he's gone back to author Joe R. Lansdale (who penned Bubba's short story) for his source material. What is a surprise is that he's ditched the fantasy elements that snuck their way into his past works to make a lean, mean, and at times brutal entry.

During a aimless road trip in the middle of the night (and middle of nowhere), Ellen (Bree Turner) finds herself involved in a car accident with another vehicle when she reaches over to change the radio station. Upon investigating the other car she follows a trail of blood that leads her over the embankment at the side of the road. She sees a rather imposing figure and when she calls down to see if they are alright she learns said figure is pulling along a woman who desperately calls out for help.

From there Ellen finds herself on the run from a hulking, bald, and metal teethed psychopath and has to rely on the survival instincts she learnt during her relationship with her nihilistic jerk of a husband, Bruce (Ethan Embrey).

Incident On And Off A Mountain Road plays out like a chase movie mixed with moments of a broken marriage as Coscarelli blends Ellen setting up traps and running from her stalker with flashback scenes of Ellen and Bruce's crumbling relationship. It's that relationship though that gives Ellen a fighting chance against the seemingly unstoppable killer and when she finds herself captured and taken hostage by "Moonface" (as he's dubbed by Buddy, an absent-minded, wheelchair bound captive played by Angus Scrimm - the "Tall Man" in the Phantasm movies).

Given the chance to do a more "straight-forward" horror flick, Coscarelli rises to the challenge and keeps things going at a ramped up pace, giving us the flashbacks to balance out the suspense he manages to build-up as Turner gets to run the gamut of emotions being placed in a situation she wasn't expecting to be.

The acting here is top-notch with Turner making a convincing "empowered woman", Embrey being the perfect asshole character, Scrimm turning in an unexpectedly funny performance, and John De Santis being quite imposing as our killer. Throw into the fact it moves at a brisk pace and there's an unnerving moment involving blaring sirens and a drill and you have one of the best episodes in the Masters Of Horror series.

And how could you not love a finale where Scrimm is smacked out with a 2x4 and the skeleton of a baby is used as a weapon? Plus there's on Hell of a good twist at the end (even if there's a seemingly unnecessary rape scene thrown in there). (Chris Hartley, 5/31/06)

Directed By: Don Coscarelli.
Written By: Don Coscarelli, Stephen Romano.

Starring: Bree Turner, Angus Scrimm, John De Santis, Ethan Embrey.

Picture Ratio: 1.77:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: Like all of Anchor Bay's entries discs for the series, Incident looks quite good with solid clarity, no grain, and it handles the constant dark scenes well. 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 Coscarelli, DVD-rom content that includes the screenplay and a screensaver, on set interviews with Embrey and De Santis, an informative interview with Coscarelli entitled "Predators And Prey", the pretty cool "Working with a Master" featurette that graces every Masters disc, and a two commentary tracks one with Coscarelli, Romano, and DVD producer Perry Martin and the other a breezy and fun track with Coscarelli and author Lansdale.

This disc is also available in a double pack with Mick Garris' entry, Chocolate. Visit Anchor Bay for more info.