"Homecoming" is the sixth episode of the first season of '' Masters of Horror''. 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 December 2, 2005. It is loosely based on the 2002 short story "Death & Suffrage" by

Dale Bailey Dale Frederick Bailey is an American author of speculative fiction, including science fiction, fantasy and horror, active in the field since 1993. He writes as Dale Bailey. Biography Bailey grew up in Princeton, West Virginia and currently lives ...

Plot

President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

is running for reelection during a divisive war, and one of his speechwriters, David Murch ( Jon Tenney), goes on TV to speak with talk show hosts Marty Clark (

Terry David Mulligan Terry David Mulligan (born June 30, 1942) is a Canadian actor and radio and television personality based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Life and career Born in New Westminster, British Columbia, Mulligan worked as a Royal Canadian Mounted Pol ...

) and Jane Cleaver. Another guest, the

Cindy Sheehan Cindy Lee Sheehan ( Miller; born July 10, 1957) is an American anti-war activist,Geraghty, Jim (2011-05-02)Cindy Sheehan: ‘If you believe the newest death of OBL, you’re stupid.’''National Review''. Retrieved May 2, 2011. whose son, U.S. Arm ...

-like mother of a dead soldier Janet Hofstader (Beverly Breuer), demands to know what her son died for. Murch gets a bit teary-eyed as he explains that he lost his older brother Philip (Ryan McDonnell) in Vietnam. "Believe me," he tells the grieving mom, "if I had one wish, I would wish for your son to come back, because I know he would tell us how important this struggle is." Cleaver is so impressed with Murch's handling of the situation that she takes him out for a drink later, picks his brain, and eventually seduces him. The

Karl Rove Karl Christian Rove (born December 25, 1950) is an American Republican political consultant, policy advisor, and lobbyist. He was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff during the George W. Bush administration until his resignation on August 3 ...

-like Kurt Rand (Dante regular Robert Picardo) interrupts their tryst, calling to let Murch know that the president plans to make his line part of his stump speech. Soon, the soldiers killed in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

actually do start returning from the dead. However, they are not back to feast on the living, or even to get revenge on the president and his supporters. They just want a chance to vote in the upcoming election. "We'll vote for anyone who ends this war," one explains. The spin machine goes into overdrive, but the dead are determined to make their voice heard, even going as far as one soldier killing Kurt Rand by acting out the Lucio Fulci

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 ...

stereotype (gouging his eye and slamming his head into the table) when Rand tried to force him to sign an unwanted document by threatening the soldier's mother. While voting results are being counted during the election, people within the current administration decide to skew the results so the current administration remains in power. After the election results are broadcast, more soldiers begin to return from the dead... but not just ones from Iraq. Soldiers begin to return from previous wars including World War I and II, the Vietnam War, and the Civil War. Eventually all of the people who died during wartime to protect the United States of America have returned from the dead. The progress of the episode also reveals a shadowy mistake from Murch's past. He believed that his brother Philip was murdered in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, only to discover that it was he who unintentionally killed him long ago with a gun in a game of "friend or foe". After Cleaver attacks the soldiers with her shotgun, Murch kills her, but fails to kill himself. Murch is countered by a soldier that asks him to join them, saying, "We're looking for a few good men." Philip is among those returning from the grave, saying he forgives Murch for killing him—and then snaps Murch's neck. Now one of the zombies, Murch announces that he will show anyone who sends their brothers and sisters to die for a lie the true face of hell.

Cast

* Jon Tenney as David Murch *

Thea Gill Thea may refer to: * Thea (name), a given name * Ancient Greek term for goddess, including an alternative spelling of Theia * ''Thea'', the former name of the tea plant genus, now included in ''Camellia'' * Thea, a village in the municipal unit Mes ...

as Jane Cleaver * Wanda Cannon as Kathy Hobart *

as Marty Clark * Robert Picardo as Kurt Rand

DVD and Blu-ray

The DVD was released by Anchor Bay Entertainment on July 18, 2006. The episode was the sixth episode and the seventh to be released on DVD. The episode appears on the fourth volume of the

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

compilation of the series.

References to popular culture

During the scene where the dead rise from their graves, the gravestones are marked with the names of

Jacques Tourneur Jacques Tourneur (; November 12, 1904 – December 19, 1977) was a French film director known for the classic film noir ''Out of the Past'' and a series of low-budget horror films he made for RKO Studios, including ''Cat People (1942 film), Cat ...

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 ...

Jean Yarbrough Jean Yarbrough (August 22, 1901 – August 2, 1975) was an American film director. Biography Jean Yarbrough was born in Marianna, Arkansas on August 22, 1901. He attended the University of the South located in Sewanee, Tennessee. In 1922 ...

, Lucio Fulci,

Del Tenney Delbert "Del" Tenney (July 27, 1930 – February 21, 2013) was an American actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer. Starting out as an actor he appeared in some Off-Broadway plays and also performed in the Broadway premiere of Teren ...

, Gordon Douglas, John Gilling, Victor Halperin and Steve Sekely, who are other zombie film directors.

Reception

The episode received generally favorably reviews. ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...

'' described the film as "easily one of the most important political films of the Bush II era", a sentiment echoed by ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', who said that it was " e best political film of 2005."The Film File: Homecoming
''

'', April 17, 2006

References

External links

* *Review fo
"Homecoming" episode
an
"Homecoming" DVD
a
Dread Central
{{Joe Dante Masters of Horror episodes 2005 American television episodes American political satire films American supernatural horror films Television shows based on short fiction Television episodes about zombies Films directed by Joe Dante Films scored by Hummie Mann it:Episodi di Masters of Horror (prima stagione)#Candidato maledetto