The Washingtonians (2007)

Review by Adam C. Thomas



The Washingtonians is part of Showtime’s ”Masters of Horror” series which showcases the greats of horror in one hour short films. Such greats as John Carpenter, Dario Argento, John Landis and many others are featured in each iteration of the series, and this particular short was directed by Peter Medak. A family travels to Virginia for the funeral of Mike’s grandmother, and is invited to stay in the grandmothers home. Upon arrival, they start exploring the house, and Mike’s daughter finds a painting of George Washington in the basement, which gives her the willies. Mike inspects it and finds a note tucked in between the canvas and the backing, clearly implicating the father of our nation as a murderer and a cannibal. One thing leads to another, and before you know it, the family is being hunted down by a cult of Cannibal Washington sympathizers. First off, the acting in this movie was terrible. It really took me out of the moment in some scenes, but I could ignore it overall. The story was an interesting alternate history deal, making our forefathers out to be these ravenous, cannibalistic monsters. It was interesting and fresh, and as a history geek I certainly appreciated this fictional look at real people who influenced the birth of our nation from a horror standpoint. The long and short of it is the actors could have acted a little better, but overall it was a fun look at an alternate reality of American History with a much more sinister twist. “Masters Of Horror: The Washingtonians”, directed by Peter Medak, gets a 6 out of 10.

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