Monsters: Portrait of the Artist starts as Roger Darcy & Lucile Gray arrive at the Barn Galley to confront the curator Hubert (Darren McGavin) about some of the strange paintings & sculptures on display by an artist named Viva Kenanda, several of these paintings & sculptures seem to depict missing people including Roger's missing daughter Penny. Hubert tries to skirt around the issue claiming ignorance but the couple are sure something is wrong & that the answers lie with the mysterious artist Viva Kenanda, however the truth is far more bizarre than either Roger or Lucile could have imagined & in fact you could say it's out of this world...
Episode two from season two of Monsters this originally aired in the US during October 1989, directed by Gerald Cotts as Jerry Smith I thought Portrait of the Artist was going to be a fairly standard House of Wax (1953) styled horror story about a macabre art gallery with exhibits made from human beings but then the episode goes completely nuts for the last few minutes & there's one of the most unexpected twist endings seen in the series so far that does actually increase the overall entertainment value considerably & lifts Portrait of the Artist above average although it's hard to take seriously as a whole. The plot starts out like a mystery then goes into horror mode before finally finishing as a straight sci-fi fantasy & all in only twenty odd minutes. Portrait of the Artist is nothing more than a fun disposable horror short that gets a few chuckles because of an outlandish twist ending, take it for what it is & I am sure most will enjoy it as the fun & silly piece of entertainment that it was intended as.
Again made on a low budget on only one set with only three cast members Portrait of the Artist works well & the makers knew their limitations, some of the art exhibits that dress the set are truly awful though. There's a nifty special effect at the end & the monster in this episode is a fanged alien creature that is seen only briefly but looks pretty good. There's no blood or gore in this episode & overall it plays out more like a fantasy sci-fi than a dark horror. The acting is good with the late Darren McGavin putting in a very good & likable performance as the mysterious curator with a dark secret.
Portrait of the Artist is a fun Monsters episode that starts off as nothing special but ends on a great twist that is both bizarre & rather likable, a good episode that I enjoyed.
Episode two from season two of Monsters this originally aired in the US during October 1989, directed by Gerald Cotts as Jerry Smith I thought Portrait of the Artist was going to be a fairly standard House of Wax (1953) styled horror story about a macabre art gallery with exhibits made from human beings but then the episode goes completely nuts for the last few minutes & there's one of the most unexpected twist endings seen in the series so far that does actually increase the overall entertainment value considerably & lifts Portrait of the Artist above average although it's hard to take seriously as a whole. The plot starts out like a mystery then goes into horror mode before finally finishing as a straight sci-fi fantasy & all in only twenty odd minutes. Portrait of the Artist is nothing more than a fun disposable horror short that gets a few chuckles because of an outlandish twist ending, take it for what it is & I am sure most will enjoy it as the fun & silly piece of entertainment that it was intended as.
Again made on a low budget on only one set with only three cast members Portrait of the Artist works well & the makers knew their limitations, some of the art exhibits that dress the set are truly awful though. There's a nifty special effect at the end & the monster in this episode is a fanged alien creature that is seen only briefly but looks pretty good. There's no blood or gore in this episode & overall it plays out more like a fantasy sci-fi than a dark horror. The acting is good with the late Darren McGavin putting in a very good & likable performance as the mysterious curator with a dark secret.
Portrait of the Artist is a fun Monsters episode that starts off as nothing special but ends on a great twist that is both bizarre & rather likable, a good episode that I enjoyed.
