''Masters of Horror'' is an
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 ...
television series created by director
Mick Garris
Mick Garris (born December 4, 1951) is an American filmmaker and screenwriter born in Santa Monica, California. He is best known for his work in the horror film genre, as well as making Stephen King adaptations.
Early life
Garris was born in Sant ...
for the
Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
cable network.
Origin
In 2002, director
Mick Garris
Mick Garris (born December 4, 1951) is an American filmmaker and screenwriter born in Santa Monica, California. He is best known for his work in the horror film genre, as well as making Stephen King adaptations.
Early life
Garris was born in Sant ...
invited some director friends to an informal dinner at a restaurant in
Sherman Oaks, California
Sherman Oaks is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California located in the San Fernando Valley, founded in 1927. The neighborhood includes a portion of the Santa Monica Mountains, which gives Sherman Oaks a lower population density than ...
. The original ten "masters" attending were
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, actor, and composer. Although he worked in various film genres, he is most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s. He ...
,
Larry Cohen
Lawrence George Cohen (July 15, 1936 – March 23, 2019) was an American screenwriter, producer, and director of film and television, best known as an author of horror and science fiction films — often containing police procedural and ...
,
Don Coscarelli
Don Coscarelli Jr. (born February 17, 1954) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born to Italian settlers in Libya, he is best known for his work in horror films. His directing credits include the first four films in the ' ...
,
Joe Dante
Joseph James Dante Jr. (; born November 28, 1946) is an American film director, producer, editor and actor. His films—notably ''Gremlins'' (1984) alongside its sequel, '' Gremlins 2: The New Batch'' (1990)—often mix 1950s-style B movies wit ...
,
Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born October 9, 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and actor. He directed the Academy Award–winning fantasy films ''Pan's Labyrinth'' (2006) and ''The Shape of Water'' (2017), winning the Academy Awards for Be ...
,
Stuart Gordon
Stuart Alan Gordon (August 11, 1947 – March 24, 2020) was an American filmmaker, theatre director, screenwriter, and playwright. Initially recognized for his provocative and frequently controversial work in experimental theatre, Gordon is perh ...
,
Tobe Hooper
Willard Tobe Hooper (; January 25, 1943 – August 26, 2017) was an American director, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work in the horror film, horror genre. The British Film Institute cited Hooper as one of the most influenti ...
,
John Landis
John David Landis (born August 3, 1950) is an American comedy and fantasy filmmaker and actor. He is best known for the comedy films that he has directed – such as ''The Kentucky Fried Movie'' (1977), ''Animal House, National Lampoon's Animal ...
,
Bill Malone William Malone may refer to:
*Bill C. Malone (born 1934), American musician and writer
*Bill Malone (magician) (born 1958), American entertainer
*Bill Malone (broadcaster), American television and radio personality
*William George Malone (1859–19 ...
, and Garris himself.
Subsequently, Garris organized regular dinners with the group and invited other horror and other genre directors to attend, including
Dario Argento
Dario Argento (; born 7 September 1940) is an Italian film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and film critic, critic. His influential work in the horror film, horror genre during the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in the subgenre known as ...
,
Eli Roth
Eli Raphael Roth (born April 18, 1972) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. As a director and producer, he is most closely associated with the horror genre, having directed the films '' Cabin Fever'' (2003) and ''Hoste ...
,
Wes Craven
Wesley Earl Craven (August 2, 1939 – August 30, 2015) was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and editor. Craven has commonly been recognized as one of the greatest masters of the horror genre due to the cultural imp ...
,
David Cronenberg
David Paul Cronenberg (born March 15, 1943) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation ...
,
Tim Sullivan,
Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie (born Robert Bartleh Cummings; January 12, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and voice actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live shows have be ...
,
Bryan Singer
Bryan Jay Singer (born September 17, 1965) is an American filmmaker. He is the founder of Bad Hat Harry Productions and has produced almost all of the films he has directed.
After graduating from the University of Southern California, Singer d ...
,
Fred Dekker
Fred Dekker (born April 9, 1959) is an American screenwriter and film director best known for his cult classic horror comedy films ''Night of the Creeps'' and ''The Monster Squad'' (written with Shane Black). He contributed the story ideas for ...
,
William Lustig
William "Bill" Lustig (born February 1, 1955, in The Bronx, New York) is an American film director and producer who has worked primarily in the horror film genre. He is the nephew of former middleweight champion Jake LaMotta.
Film career
As ...
,
Lucky McKee
Edward Lucky McKee (born November 1, 1975) is an American director, writer, and actor, largely known for the 2002 cult film ''May''. He is best known for his work in horror films.
Life and career
McKee was born in Jenny Lind, California. He has ...
,
Ernest Dickerson
Ernest Roscoe Dickerson (born June 25, 1951) is an American director, cinematographer, and screenwriter of film, television, and music videos.
As a cinematographer, he is known for his frequent collaborations with Spike Lee ever since they were c ...
,
Katt Shea
Kathleen Ann Shea (born October 9, 1959) is an American actress, film director, and acting teacher. She is best known for directing the erotic thriller '' Poison Ivy'', which was nominated for the 1992 Sundance Grand Jury Prize.
Early life
Shea ...
,
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...
,
Robert Rodriguez
Robert Anthony Rodriguez (; born June 20, 1968) is an American filmmaker, composer, and visual effects supervisor. He shoots, edits, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas. Rodriguez directed the 1992 ac ...
,
James Gunn
James Francis Gunn Jr. (born August 5, 1966) is an American filmmaker and executive. He began his career as a screenwriter in the mid-1990s, starting at Troma Entertainment with ''Tromeo and Juliet'' (1997). He then began working as a director ...
,
Mary Lambert,
Tom Holland
Thomas Stanley Holland (born 1 June 1996) is an English actor. His accolades include a British Academy Film Award, three Saturn Awards, a Guinness World Record and an appearance on the ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 Europe list. Some publications h ...
,
Peter Medak
Peter Medak (born Medák Péter, 23 December 1937) is a Hungarian-born film director and television director of British and American productions.
Early life
Born in Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary, Hungary, he was the son of Elisabeth (née Diamoun ...
,
Ti West
Timon C. West (born October 5, 1980) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, editor, cinematographer, and occasional actor, best known for his work in horror films. He directed the horror films ''The Roost'' (2005), ''The House of ...
,
Lloyd Kaufman
Stanley Lloyd Kaufman Jr. (born December 30, 1945) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. Alongside producer Michael Herz (producer), Michael Herz, he is the co-founder of Troma Entertainment film studio, and the director ...
, and others. In 2005, Garris created and produced an original anthology television series of one-hour movies, written and directed by many of the "masters," which was originally broadcast in the U.S. on the
Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
cable network. In several international territories, the films were released theatrically.
The series debuted to excellent reviews in the U.S. on October 28, 2005, with the premiere episode "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road," co-written and directed by
Don Coscarelli
Don Coscarelli Jr. (born February 17, 1954) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born to Italian settlers in Libya, he is best known for his work in horror films. His directing credits include the first four films in the ' ...
, based on the short story by
Joe R. Lansdale
Joe Richard Lansdale (born October 28, 1951) is an American writer and martial arts instructor.
A prose writer in a variety of genres - Western, horror, science fiction, mystery, and suspense - he's also written comic books and screenplays. Se ...
. New episodes premiered every Friday at 10 p.m. EST throughout the series' two seasons. The show followed an
anthology series
An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a differ ...
format, with each episode featuring a one-hour film directed by a well-known
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''Di ...
. In 2009,
Chiller
A chiller is a machine that removes heat from a liquid coolant via a vapor-compression refrigeration, vapor-compression, adsorption refrigeration, or absorption refrigerator, absorption refrigeration cycles. This liquid can then be circulated th ...
began airing the show on their Sunday evening line-up of shows, and in 2010,
Reelz Channel
Reelz (formerly known as Reelz Channel) is an American digital cable and satellite television network owned by Hubbard Broadcasting. The network's programming was formerly devoted to entertainment-oriented programming focusing on the Hollywood ...
began airing episodes of ''Masters of Horror'' edited (despite keeping its
TV-MA
The TV Parental Guidelines are a television content rating system in the United States that was first proposed on December 19, 1996, by the United States Congress, the television industry and the federal communication commission (FCC), and went ...
rating) and with commercials.
Series overview
Episodes
Season 1 (2005–06)
Episode 4, "Jenifer", was accidentally made available on-demand to a select audience at the same time as episode 2, "H. P. Lovecraft's Dreams in the Witch-House". The episode was cut for graphic violence during its initial television broadcast, and the cut scenes can only be viewed in a featurette separate from the film on the R1 DVD release.
Episode 13, "Imprint", originally scheduled to premiere on January 27, 2006, was shelved by Showtime due to concerns over its content. Mick Garris, creator and executive producer of the series, characterized the episode as "the most disturbing film I've ever seen". It is available only on DVD and Blu-ray by Anchor Bay Entertainment, along with the rest of the episodes in the first season. "Imprint" was shown in the UK on Bravo (7 April 2006).
Season 2 (2006–07)
Related series
Fear Itself
Series creator
Mick Garris
Mick Garris (born December 4, 1951) is an American filmmaker and screenwriter born in Santa Monica, California. He is best known for his work in the horror film genre, as well as making Stephen King adaptations.
Early life
Garris was born in Sant ...
stated that
Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
opted not to show the third season and that film studio
Lionsgate
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...
had begun funding the series. ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' reported on September 25, 2007, that
Mick Garris
Mick Garris (born December 4, 1951) is an American filmmaker and screenwriter born in Santa Monica, California. He is best known for his work in the horror film genre, as well as making Stephen King adaptations.
Early life
Garris was born in Sant ...
and
Lionsgate
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...
signed a 13-episode deal with
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
. Instead of a third season of the show, a new show, ''
Fear Itself'', was created with the same premise as ''Masters of Horror''. It premiered on NBC in Summer 2008.
Soundtrack
A two-disc soundtrack was released for the series in October 2005 on
Immortal Records
Immortal Records was an American independent record label/imprint label based in Los Angeles, California. The company helped launch the careers of such influential acts as Korn, Thirty Seconds To Mars, and Incubus over the years. The label had ...
. The album features heavy metal and hard rock acts with a few acoustic pieces. A second volume was released a year later.
Comic adaptations
IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly recog ...
produced a series of
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
adaptations of several episodes from the series. The first four issues are two-parters, adapting "
Incident On and Off a Mountain Road
"Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" is the premiere episode of the first season of ''Masters of Horror'', directed by Don Coscarelli. It originally aired in North America on October 28, 2005. The screenplay is based on a short story by American ...
", based on the short story by
Joe R. Lansdale
Joe Richard Lansdale (born October 28, 1951) is an American writer and martial arts instructor.
A prose writer in a variety of genres - Western, horror, science fiction, mystery, and suspense - he's also written comic books and screenplays. Se ...
, and "
Dreams in the Witch-House
A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...
".
IDW Unleashes The Masters of Horror in December
(press release), ''Newsarama
Newsarama is an American website that publishes news, interviews, and essays about the American comic book industry. It is owned by Future US. In June 2020, Newsarama was merged with the website GamesRadar+, also owned by FutureUS.
History
N ...
'', November 28, 2005 The first two comic covers were painted by the award-winning artist Jeremy Caniglia
Jeremy Caniglia (born July 13, 1970) is an American figurative painter and illustrator, primarily in fantasy and horror genres. He has done book and magazine illustration, conceptual artwork, book and album covers, and comic books, and his work ...
.
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
Official website
(requires Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia Computing platform, software platform used for production of Flash animation, animations, rich web applications, application software, desktop applications, mobile apps, mo ...
) archived at the Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masters Of Horror
2000s American anthology television series
2000s American horror television series
2005 American television series debuts
2007 American television series endings
2000s Canadian anthology television series
2005 Canadian television series debuts
2007 Canadian television series endings
Showtime (TV network) original programming
Television shows filmed in Vancouver
English-language television shows
American horror fiction television series
Canadian horror fiction television series
Television series by Lionsgate Television
Horror anthologies
Saturn Award-winning television series