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I missed PELTS when it aired on Showtime. Truth be told, I have just never really been that big a fan of Argento’s work. I know, most of you out there find him to be the best thing since Romero but I have to be honest with you, I just didn’t get a lot of his work. Sorry.
Sure, I could see the artistic merit of his work but I always had issues with character development and pacing. Anyway, when PELTS aired I didn’t expend much energy attempting to view it. I had surprisingly enjoyed his entry in last years MOH collection mainly because of the hot chick with the messed up face and the just plain oddity of the story so I knew that I would be checking out PELTS eventually and was actually rather surprised when it showed up for review as the first entry in the season two DVD onslaught.
PELTS is an odd little project from story to casting to SFX. The story line is not one that quickly pops into your head when you think “horror”. PELTS tells the tale of down on his luck fur maker Jake Feldman who is a perfectionist and a bit of a loser. He spends his days making fur coats and his nights lusting after a busty dancer down at the local strip club. He wants to make a coat for the object of his desire but not just any coat, a special coat, his finest coat ever. Enter John Saxon who is a trapper that has just happened upon a wealth of breathtaking racoon pelts that are beyond description. Problem is, they have come from a pack of magical racoons (yeah, I just said magical racoons) and it seems that anyone who comes in contact with these pelts is driven to performing horrible acts of cruelty upon themselves.
Feldman don’t care about any old cursed furs though, he wants to build that coat for the large breasted beauty at the club and proceeds on making his master work even as his workers one by one fall victim to horrible accidents and self inflicted mutilations.
The final scene in the strippers apartment is bloody great fun.
The casting of this film is unique. Playing the lead is Meat Loaf, you know, the singer (you took the words right out of my mouth, it must have been while you were kissing me) yeah, that guy. He plays Jake Feldman and he does one hell of a job. Loaf is not new to acting having taken several spins in front of the camera most notably in Fight Club and of course Rocky Horror Picture Show. He doesn’t normally play leading man though and this is a role that he really grabs a hold of and make the most of. I thoroughly enjoyed his performance and hope to see him involved in more genre fare. Also along for the ride is vet John Saxon who is always great and once again turns in a Steller performance.
The woman are all beautiful and Argento pulls off, at least for me, his finest performance yet. The characters are all well rounded and very believable. I loved the look of the project and Nicotero and Berger’s work is flawless as always.
There are some gruesome, gruesome effects in PELTS and they are all executed in grand style. This one is very much a throw back to the effects of the 80's and films like Maniac and the Dead films. Great work on the gore.
Anchor Bay has really hit their stride with these Masters of Horror discs and while I don’t enjoyed the external packaging as much as those early season one discs I really like the new look of the main menu and as always, the disc is just loaded with kick ass special features. Read on for a complete listing of what you’ll get when you pick this baby up on Feb. 13th.
Widescreen Presentation enhanced for 16x9 TVs
Still Gallery
Original Storyboards
"Fleshing it Out" The Making of Pelts
All Sewn Up: Mastering the Effects Sequence
Also on DVD
Audio Commentary with Writer Matt Venne
Director Bio
Motion Menus
Screenplay (DVD-ROM)
Still Gallery
Storyboard Gallery
Fans of Argento are going to claim this one a master work by a master director, those of us more middle of the road on Argento’s work will find it a reason to think that first group may be onto something.
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