"Haeckel's Tale" (also known as "Clive Barker's Haeckel's Tale") is the twelfth episode of the first season of the television series ''

Masters of Horror ''Masters of Horror'' is an anthology television series created by director Mick Garris for the Showtime cable network. Origin In 2002, director Mick Garris invited some director friends to an informal dinner at a restaurant in Sherman Oaks, C ...

''. It originally aired in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

on January 27, 2006.

George A. Romero George Andrew Romero (; February 4, 1940 – July 16, 2017) was an American-Canadian filmmaker, writer, editor and actor. His ''Night of the Living Dead'' series of films about an imagined zombie apocalypse began with the 1968 film of the ...

was originally supposed to direct the episode but was replaced by

John McNaughton John McNaughton (born January 13, 1950) is an American film and television director, originally from Chicago, Illinois, whose works encompass the horror, thriller, drama and comedy film genres. His films include '' Henry: Portrait of a Seria ...

because of a scheduling problem. The episode script is based on a

Clive Barker Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is an English novelist, playwright, author, film director, and visual artist who came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories, the ''Books of Blood'', which established him as a leading h ...

short story, first published in the

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

''Dark Delicacies: Original Tales of Terror and the Macabre''.Haeckel's Tale

TV.com TV.com was a website owned by Red Ventures that covered television series and episodes with a focus on English-language shows made or broadcast in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Origin ...

episode notes.

Plot

Beginning

The story, set in the late 19th century, begins with a young man named Edward Ralston (

Steve Bacic Steve Bacic ( ; hr, Bačić ) is a Canadian actor. He is known for playing the characters Gaheris and Telemachus Rhade on the Sci-Fi series ''Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda''. After guest starring in seasons 1-3 as both characters, he joined the c ...

), coming to an old woman, Miz Carnation, who lives in an old cabin deep in the woods of upstate New York. Ralston asks Miz Carnation, a

necromancer Necromancy () is the practice of magic or black magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions, or by resurrection for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future events; ...

, to revive his recently deceased wife; she refuses, but then decides to tell him the story of

Ernst Haeckel Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (; 16 February 1834 – 9 August 1919) was a German zoologist, naturalist, eugenicist, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biologist and artist. He discovered, described and named thousands of new sp ...

, and says that, if he still wishes to revive his wife afterwards, she will do as he asks.

Main story

The story mainly concerns Ernst Haeckel (

Derek Cecil Derek Cecil (born January 5, 1973) is an American actor. He played the role of Seth Grayson on the Netflix series ''House of Cards'', starred in the short-lived series ''Push, Nevada'' and '' The Beat'', and made several appearances in the series ...

), who is trying to follow in the footsteps of

Victor Frankenstein Victor Frankenstein is a fictional character and the main protagonist and title character in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''.. He is an Italians, Italian-Swiss scientist (born in Naples, Italy ...

, but is unsuccessful with his attempts to create life. He learns of Montesquino, a necromancer, but believes that the man is a charlatan. Learning of his father's ill condition, he travels and encounters Walter Wolfram (Tom McBeath) and his wife Elise (

Leela Savasta Leela Savasta is a Canadian actress. She played Clair Crosby in the 2006 film '' Black Christmas''. She is best known for her supporting roles in the television shows, ''Battlestar Galactica'' as Tracey Anne, ''Cra$h & Burn'' as Lucia Silva and L ...

). Haeckel is oddly drawn to Elise and vice versa. Wolfram seems undisturbed by the attraction but when unearthly shrieks echo outside, Elise is drawn to them. Haeckel also notices that Elise is caring for a baby. Elise finally goes outside and the despondent Wolfram notes that he can't satisfy his wife, although he has sold everything he has to take care of her. Haeckel goes after Elise and follows the shrieks to a nearby necropolis. There he discovers that Elise is having sexual consort with her dead husband and the other resurrected corpses. Wolfram has paid Montesquino to raise the dead so that they can satisfy Elise. When Wolfram tries to take her home, the corpses kill him. Haeckel confronts Montesquino and demands that he make it stop. The necromancer says that he cannot, and an angry Haeckel shoots him as he tries to escape. The dying Montesquino shoves Haeckel into a tombstone, knocking him out. The next morning, Haeckel wakes up and returns to the cabin, where he finds Elise nursing the baby: a corpse-child, the son of her "true" husband. The baby rips out Haeckel's throat. The next scene takes place again at the necropolis, except it is the dead Haeckel with whom Elise now has sex.

Conclusion

Miz Carnation concludes her tale and a disgusted Ralston looks on in horror as he realizes that she is the older Elise, as the corpses of her first husband, Wolfram, and Haeckel stagger in and she brings out the

zombie A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in whic ...

baby. Ralston decides against raising his dead wife and flees from the cabin into the night while Miz Carnation and the rest of her undead clan look on.

References

External links

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Haeckel's Tale on Clive Barker Info
{{Clive Barker 2006 American television episodes Masters of Horror episodes Television shows based on short fiction Television episodes about zombies it:Episodi di Masters of Horror (prima stagione)#La terribile storia di Haeckel