Masters of Horror: The Screwfly Solution (2006)

What a terrific end-of-the-world concept "The Screwfly Solution" is - based on a short story, penned by Alice Sheldon back in the '70s. It's certainly rife with social commentary, regarding gender-relations and mass panic.

A bizarre new murder trend kicks up in the Southern region of the U.S. in which women are being killed at an exponential rate. This violent progression seems to be steadily making its way North and is determined to be a sickness that afflicts men; chemically replacing affection and attraction for women with murderous hatred. During this, we follow a disease expert who's trying to convince government officials that they're most likely dealing with biochemical warfare. All while his wife and daughter are forced to keep a safe distance from him, as he has rejected medicinal neutering - the only known 'cure' for this open season on females.

Pretty grim stuff from director Joe Dante. There's some considerably 'strong' scenes of violence - one involving strippers being brutalized onstage as well as a woman-hating 'uproar' on an airplane. The mass hysteria tone is handled effectively and the story feels particularly thorough and well paced for clocking in at only an hour, as these Masters of Horror installments do. "The Screwfly Solution"is definitely up there as one of the strongest of this series.