Right to Die (Masters of Horror)

Right to Die is the ninth episode of the second season from Masters of Horror directed by Rob Schmidt.

Plot

Cliff Addison (Martin Donovan) and his wife, Abby (Julia Benson), have a road accident. He walks away virtually unharmed, but she is left in a coma with her skin burned off. Cliff is told that there is a method of surgery that will allow her to live, but without speech or the ability to take care of herself. The nurse informs Cliff that if he chooses to discontinue any attempts to save his wife's life, he would need an attorney. Cliff consults with an attorney, who persuades him to let his wife die. It is with this consult with the attorney that he reveals that he had an affair, and laments that the last thing he could do for her is to kill her (as her preference in life was to have everything neat and perfect; her handicapped life would not fit with what she was used to).

Later, Cliff remembers an instance where his wife, Abby, found his cell phone with a video of his mistress, Trish (Robin Sydney), stripping whilst moaning his name, destroying his defense that it was a spam message from a co-worker friend. After telling him that she hopes the affair was worth it, she drops the cell phone and the video changes to a figure writhing and screaming in pain while on fire.

Shortly after, Cliff hallucinates that he is taking a bath with his wife, then they proceed to make love while her skin burns off. While he panics, it is shown that his wife had died, but was resuscitated, and that he has a burn mark in the shape of a hand on his back. Cliff calls his attorney for advise, who writes the burn marks on Cliff's back and genitals as a rash from stress. Cliff reveals he thinks his wife is haunting him, but the attorney believes that the wife is still alive and tells Cliff to take Valium to go to sleep. As the call ends, pounding noises can be heard from his front door. It is Abby's mother, who resents Cliff for trying to "pull the plug" on her daughter to make money. She informs him that she has an attorney, and the next week begins a dirty campaign against him on the news, portraying him as a frequently physically abusive man. The next day, Cliff goes by his dental practice. He listens to many messages from prank callers and critics, and runs into Trish who is an employee. It is revealed that she had been fired by Abby, and only slept with Cliff out of pity.

Cliff leaves to see his wife during a skin graft procedure, then meets with his attorney friend again. The attorney reveals that since his wife's airbag did not deploy, there was a manufacturing mistake and that the company would pay to settle out of court with the cost being about ten million. The winner of the "right to die" debate would take all of the money. Cliff wants to give his mother-in-law the money, but since she was so adamant towards her cause, she cannot back down without disgracing her public face. The attorney says that Cliff should keep trying to win his side, as his legal fees would be heavy. Cliff questions his friend's ethics, but is quickly rebuffed. Later, he makes a public speech about his desire for his wife to die painlessly, instead of the pain she is in currently. Cliff receives a call from his attorney that Cliff has won his side, and in forty-eight hours the DNR order will be instated.

While Cliff is away, his attorney mockingly toasts Abby, since her death will allow him to make a great deal of money from the settlement. As he leaves the room, her heartbeat increases drastically. He waits outside the room for Cliff, then leaves for the cafeteria while Cliff goes to see his wife. As he attempts to kiss Abby, her eyes open and she begins to flatline. Cliff then learns that she had flatlined two nights ago, but was brought back.

While this is happening, the attorney attempts to use his cell phone, but an orderly tells him no cell phones are allowed. He then goes into a restricted access MRI room to make his call unseen, ignoring all of the warning signs. As he paces trying to get a signal, Abby's ghost watches and makes him drop his phone. As he bends to retrieve it, Abby turns on a machine that magnetizes the wall, making him fly across the room and slam into the double doors leading to the machine. He attempts to remove his metallic materials while Abby's skinless body crawls to him, then sets him on fire. His screams are heard too late by Cliff, who tries to put out the flames with an extinguisher. Cliff runs back into Abby's medical room and pleads for her to hang in, then rushes out to his mother-in-law's press conference and offers the settlement money to anyone who can donate their tissue to keep Abby alive, whether or not she remains a vegetable.

Cliff returns home alone to see a drunken Trish, who questions if he is really going to give away all of the settlement money. Cliff reveals to her that he is doing this to keep Abby from screwing him over and they have sex. In bed, Trish questions why Cliff is staring at the clock, and he states that he cannot help it. He tells her that in four hours, without the transplant, Abby will die, as will he. Trish leaves the room in Cliff's shirt, and he thinks back to when Abby found out about the affair and the subsequent conversation, which was her suggestion to take a drive.

The sound of glass wakes him from his reverie. Cliff is looking at a picture of Abby, which has the glass broken over her face. Cliff's phone rings, showing he is receiving seductive pictures of Trish, but sees Abby's skinless figure approaching from behind her. Trish screams, making Cliff rush to her, and he sees "skin" painted on the wall in blood. As he embraces Trish, she asks if she is still there and begs Cliff to protect her. After he comforts her, she walks back towards the bedroom, and he breaks a bottle of wine over her head.

We next see a naked Trish strapped in the dentist chair, being prepped by Cliff to have her skin transferred to Abby. He informs her that he regrets that she has to be alive for the procedure, but that the skin has to be fresh. In her heavily drugged state, she feels no pain past the initial cut.

While driving to bring the skin to the hospital, he thinks back to the drive before the accident, where Cliff and his wife are on their drive, prior to the first scene. After professing his love for her, Abby reveals that she is pregnant. Cliff is apparently overjoyed, while Abby looks less than happy. She reveals that she is going to leave him because of the affair and never let him see the baby. Because of their argument, Cliff had taken his eyes off of the road, which led to their crash. The beginning scene is replayed, but it is shown that Cliff hesitates to call, then makes a conscious decision to not call 911 and fiddles with Abby's fallen lighter. She apologizes for being harsh to him, but he sets the car alight anyways. Almost immediately he regrets his decision as she screams in agony, then he flashes back to the present.

He arrives at the hospital early the next morning with the skin in a blood-covered cooler, but finds out that Abby has already died. Cliff arrives back home and throws away Trish's body pieces, then enters his house again to be greeted by his recently deceased wife's spirit.

External links

• Right to Die at the Internet Movie Database