Monsters HD was a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week, linear

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, ap ...

and

monster movie A monster movie, monster film, creature feature or giant monster film is a film that focuses on one or more characters struggling to survive attacks by one or more antagonistic monsters, often abnormally large ones. The film may also fall under ...

network.Kiernan, Matthew (July 2004) "The New Future of Fear: Meet 13 Rising Talents Who Promise To Keep Us Terrified For The Next 25 Years", Fangoria Magazine July (234), pg. 88 It was launched on October 1, 2003, in the United States and premiered exclusively on the

Voom Voom HD Networks is a suite of 25 original high-definition television channels owned by AMC Networks. The channels were produced in Crystal Clear Hi-Definition with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and were the largest suite of HD channels in ...

DTH satellite platform, owned by

Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its e ...

. The home theatre webzine, Widescreen Review, alluded to Voom's Monsters HD as having "the largest collection of HD Horror films" when Echostar's Dish Network picked up Rainbow Media's Voom Suite of High Definition Channels. Rainbow Media's

AMC Network AMC is an American multinational basic cable television channel that is the flagship property of AMC Networks. The channel's programming primarily consists of theatrically released films, along with a limited amount of original programming. The ...

and its annual October "Monsterfest" (now known as "Fear Fest") programming of horror films served as the springboard and promotional platform for the launch of Monsters HD. Monsters HD commissioned the digital restoration of its film library, bringing them to high definition, and presented world television premieres of films like the Director's Cut of the

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 ...

film version of H.P. Lovecraft's From Beyond.

High Definition Horror: Restoration and Remastering

In an interview with Video Watchdog editor Tim Lucas, Monsters HD's David Sehring reflected on the restoration and high definition process, "As you know, Monsters HD's tagline is 'It's Alive!' We really take that to heart as we remaster films, like From Beyond." For its 25th Anniversary issue, the Horror magazine

Fangoria ''Fangoria'' is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr. The magazine was originally released ...

featured additional interviews with Monsters HD's senior vice president of acquisitions and programming, David Sehring, and creative director, Jason Bylan at their Rainbow Media Offices in New York City for an article entitled "The New Future of Fear: Meet 13 Rising Talents Who Promise To Keep Us Terrified For The Next 25 Years ". On the topic of Monsters HD's initiative to restore and remaster films in the high definition format, Sehring related, "With Monsters HD, you're going to see more movies that have been recently transferred from 35mm interpositives or negatives. We've been going back to all the studios, which is obviously a very labor intensive process because it's all brand new. They don't even have a format established for the HD DVD market yet. It's always a challenge to work with something that's still being developed. Monsters HD's Bylan added "We want people to go to hi-def, because that's the way television's going. That's why we made it, to present Octaman or The Boogens in HD. A lot of people aren't realizing what they're missing until they see it." Bylan also noted, "You can see the wires on Rodan much clearer now." In the April 2005 issue of

Video Watchdog ''Video Watchdog'' was a bimonthly, digest size film magazine published from 1990 to 2017 by publisher/editor Tim Lucas and his wife, art director and co-publisher Donna Lucas. Although devoted chiefly to the horror, science fiction, and fantas ...

, The Perfectionist's Guide to Fantastic Video editor Tim Lucas praised the horror and creature feature channel by noting that "Monsters HD continues to thrill with spectacular high definition masters of movies which can't be found on disc or anywhere else."

Film Acquisitions, Programming and Scheduling: Zombiethons to Killer Toy Stories

For its May 2006 issue, the Canadian horror publication '' Rue Morgue'' featured a cover story on the Monsters HD network reporting that the channel also "aired the world television premiere of '' Bubba Ho Tep'' and broadcast a wide range of beloved classics like ''

The Evil Dead ''The Evil Dead'' is a 1981 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Sam Raimi, produced by Robert Tapert and executive produced by Raimi, Tapert, and Bruce Campbell, who also starred alongside Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeMa ...

'', '' The Texas Chain Saw Massacre'', '' Tombs of the Blind Dead'', ''

The Tingler ''The Tingler'' is a 1959 American horror film produced and directed by William Castle. It is the third of five collaborations between Castle and writer Robb White, and starring Vincent Price. The film tells the story of a scientist who discove ...

'', '' The Abominable Dr. Phibes'', '' Scanners'' and others, all presented in 5.1 sound, uncut and completely commercial free. ''Rue Morgue'' also noted that Monsters HD managed to secure licensing deals with all the major studios -- Paramount and their ''

Friday the 13th Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day in Western superstition. It occurs when the 13th day of the month in the Gregorian calendar falls on a Friday, which happens at least once every year but can occur up to three times in the same year. ...

'' franchise, MGM (which includes Sam Arkoff's AIP drive-in classics from Roger Corman), New Line's (post Paramount) ''Friday the 13th'' movies as well as the 2003 version of '' The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'', the Universal horror classics, Sony/Columbia's

Ray Harryhausen Raymond Frederick Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 – May 7, 2013) was an American-British animator and special effects creator who created a form of stop motion model animation known as "Dynamation". His works include the animation for '' Mi ...

stop-motion monster films and oddball titles like ''

Octaman ''Octaman'' is a 1971 Mexican-American monster film written and directed by Harry Essex, with the costume design by future Academy Award winner Rick Baker. It follows an expedition team that becomes the target of a murderous humanoid octopus. Th ...

'' and Joe Giannone's ''

Madman Pierfrancesco Botrugno (born 25 July 1988), better known by the stage name Madman sometimes stylized as MadMan is an Italian rapper. Biography Early years, ''Escape from Heart'' Madman entered the world of hip hop by participating in the 2 ...

''. Monsters HD's curation of horror films for 2006 were presented in ''Rue Morgue's'' "TV Terror Guide", which cited the channel's monthly marathons, weekly film festivals including thematic programming stunts like May's "Monsters Mother's Day" featuring Larry Cohen's '' It's Alive'' trilogy; August's "Jawsfest" featuring the first four ''

Jaws Jaws or Jaw may refer to: Anatomy * Jaw, an opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth ** Mandible, the lower jaw Arts, entertainment, and media * Jaws (James Bond), a character in ''The Spy Who Loved Me'' and ''Moonraker'' * ...

'' films; September's "Zombiethon" featuring George Romero's ''

Night of the Living Dead ''Night of the Living Dead'' is a 1968 American independent horror film directed, photographed, and edited by George A. Romero, with a screenplay by John Russo and Romero, and starring Duane Jones and Judith O'Dea. The story follows seven pe ...

'', '' Dawn of the Dead'', and ''

Day of the Dead The Day of the Dead ( es, Día de Muertos or ''Día de los Muertos'') is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2, though other days, such as October 31 or November 6, may be included depending on the locality. It is widely obser ...

''; November's "Monsters Goes Ape" featuring ''

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

'' (1933), ''

Son of Kong ''The Son of Kong'' (also known and publicized simply as ''Son of Kong'') is a 1933 American Pre-Code adventure monster film produced by RKO Pictures. Directed by Ernest Schoedsack and featuring special effects by Willis O'Brien and Buzz Gibson ...

'', '' Mighty Joe Young'' and ''

'' (1976); and a Christmas schedule of "Killer Toy Stories" featuring films from the '' Child's Play'' and '' Puppet Master'' franchises." Monsters HD's program stunts for 2006 and 2007 also included a July "Japanese Giant Kaiju Fest" featuring various ''

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film '' Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films produ ...

'' films from

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer ...

and an October schedule featuring four titles from the ''

Hellraiser ''Hellraiser'' is a 1987 British supernatural horror film written and directed by Clive Barker, and produced by Christopher Figg, based on Barker's 1986 novella ''The Hellbound Heart''. The film marked Barker's directorial debut. Its plot invol ...

'' film series and a Halloween marathon of six titles from the ''

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observan ...

'' franchise.

Original productions: Monsterama, Gruesome Twosomes & Tales From The Crypt

Monsters HD also aired several original productions, including a series focusing on different genre celebrities, special effects artists, monster movie props and creature collectibles hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, (

Cassandra Peterson Cassandra Peterson (born September 17, 1951) is an American actress. She is best known for her portrayal of the horror hostess character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Peterson gained fame on Los Angeles television station KHJ-TV in her stage ...

), entitled "Monsterama." Tim Lucas, editor of the publication

, noted that "This show was clearly put together by people who know this stuff, and it is always a treat to watch." Some of the Monsterama highlights included in ''Video Watchdog: A Profile of B-Movie Monster Maker

Paul Blaisdell Paul Blaisdell (July 21, 1927 – July 10, 1983) was an American painter, sculptor and visual effects creator, best remembered for his work in science fiction and horror B movies of the 1950s. Life and career Blaisdell was born in Newport, Rhod ...

'', featuring clips from his hard-to-see home made movie ''The Cliff Monster'' and vintage creature effects test footage from his AIP films; an episode on B-Monster movie authority

Bob Burns III Bob Burns (born May 12, 1935) is an American actor, consultant, producer, archivist and historian of props, costumes, and other paraphernalia from science fiction, fantasy, and horror motion pictures. He is best known for his work with and collect ...

including a brief tour of his collection and home movie footage of his renowned Halloween shows in Burbank, California; a look back at TV Horror Hosts from Vampira to

Zacherle Zacherle is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Franz Zacherle, Austrian sculptor, born in Hall in Tirol, died around 1790 * Thomas Zacherle, Austrian abbot of the monastery of Fiecht * Bonnie Dale Zacherle, American illustrator a ...

to Elvira and hosted by series producer and character actor Daniel Roebuck in Horror Host makeup; a visit to the crowded apartment of a

toy collector; segments devoted to Monster artist Basil Gogos,

Famous Monsters of Filmland ''Famous Monsters of Filmland'' is an American genre-specific film magazine, started in 1958 by publisher James Warren and editor Forrest J Ackerman. ''Famous Monsters of Filmland'' directly inspired the creation of many other similar publica ...

editor and collector Forrest Ackerman; the K.N.B. EFK special effects team; and Monster movie maker

Rick Baker (makeup artist) Richard A. Baker (born December 8, 1950), known professionally as Rick Baker, is an American retired special make-up effects creator and actor. He is mostly known for his creature designs and effects. Baker won the Academy Award for Best Make ...

whose in-house museum is described by Video Watchdog's Tim Lucas as "eye-popping in HD. " TV Guide.com lists other episodes in the series including segments on

Creature from the Black Lagoon ''Creature from the Black Lagoon'' is a 1954 American black-and-white 3D monster horror film produced by William Alland and directed by Jack Arnold, from a screenplay by Harry Essex and Arthur Ross and a story by Maurice Zimm. It stars ...

collectibles;

McFarlane Toys McFarlane Toys is an American company founded by comic book creator Todd McFarlane which makes highly detailed model action figures of characters from films, comics, popular music, video games and various sporting genres. The company, a subsid ...

featuring an interview with comic book artist

Todd McFarlane Todd McFarlane (; born March 16, 1961) is a Canadian comic book creator, artist, writer, filmmaker and entrepreneur, best known for his work as the artist on ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' and as the creator, writer, and artist on the superhero horro ...

; Horror attraction The Witches Dungeon;

Don Post Donald Post (March 14, 1902 – November 17, 1979), dubbed by many as The Godfather of Halloween, created and sold some of the first rubber masks, which remain popular today. Career In the 1970s, Post made masks of such actors as Tor Johnso ...

Masks; Sideshow Collectibles movie monster toys; and the Monster Model kits from

Aurora Plastics Corporation The Aurora Plastics Corporation was an American toy and hobby manufacturing company. It is known primarily for its production of plastic scale models of cars, airplanes, and TV and movie figures in the 1960s. Its principal competition in modelin ...

. Monsters HD's other productions included a series of suggestive video "comic strip" vignettes called "Gruesome Twosomes", featuring comic book cover artwork by Mike Hoffman, which was later released by the artist in a portfolio called 'Ghastly Gals", and two, live-action, scantily clad females disrobing while "keyed in" to "green screen" thematic horror and monster comic book settings. Monsters HD's Gruesome Twosome comic strips continue to air in their censored form on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

under the user name "MonstersHD", and were described on the website Best-Horror-Movies.com as "horror themed burlesque segments that aired uncensored between movies in the early morning hours." Monsters HD also aired an original one-hour production from director Chip Selby and CS Films, on the

Tales from the Crypt Tales from the Crypt may refer to: * ''Tales from the Crypt'' (album), by American rapper C-Bo * ''Tales from the Crypt'' (comics), published by EC Comics during the 1950s ** ''Tales from the Crypt'' (film), a 1972 Amicus film starring Ralph Ric ...

comic and television series entitled ''Tales From The Crypt: From Comic Books to Television'', which premiered on October 17, 2004 at the

Screamfest Screamfest Horror Film Festival is a horror film festival founded by film producers Rachel Belofsky and Ross Martin in August 2001. It runs over ten days during the month of October and is hosted at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres in Los Angeles, ...

Horror Film Festival in Los Angeles, California. and later screened on the Monsters HD channel on October 24, 2004. The documentary was described by the website Horrortalk.com as an "in depth look at EC, from its difficult beginnings to its tragic ending and the decency hearing that caused it."

Promotional campaigns: "It's Alive!" and "See The Good Parts"

Monsters HD's animated "on-air" launch package and logos were designed, created and produced by creative ad agency mOcean. In an article for HiDef.com, mOcean creative director Steve Kazanjian noted that the inspiration for Monsters HD's animation package came from the key art of vintage genre posters hanging in their office. According to Kanzanjian, "Monsters HD focused on using the HD platform: emphasizing subtle color variations, fine point lines and 5.1 stereo surround sound. Using a combination of 2D compositing, 3D character animation and hand drawn illustration, mOcean developed modern poster interpretations of classic monster themes such as 'Destruction Outer Space", 'The Island That Time Forgot', The Demented Psychopath's Lair' and a classic 'Southern Cemetery'. The imagery helped reinforce the network's tagline – 'It's Alive!' -with all new animation, as each poster actually "comes alive" through visual moves." In 2004, Monsters HD and web developer Sudden Industries, created an on-line "It's Alive! Monsters HD Sweepstakes" campaign to promote the horror and creature feature channel and the VOOM Satellite Service. On-line digital trading cards, with sound and animation, depicting classic monster highlights were distributed to various genre websites and the horror community to engage potential entrants for a chance to win a set of limited edition Arkoff monster figures, an HDTV set and a subscription to Voom. Monsters HD also had an on-air campaign called "See The Good Parts". Monsters HD's Greg Heim was noted in an article by Best-Horror-Movies.com as having created many of the promotions that "advertised a movie that was airing on the channel by showing an iconic part from the film, cutting to a graphic with the words 'See the Good Parts', and then continuing the scene. To promote John Carpenter's ''The Thing'', the promotion featured the famous chest-alien teeth scene, cut to the "See the Good Parts" graphic after the arms had been bitten off, and then proceeded to show the rest of the scene including the Thing leaping out the chest, the spider head crawling across the floor, and then the torching of the creature. Monsters HD would then let you know when the film would be airing. With the 1974 version of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, the ad was shorter: Monsters HD showed Leatherface's first appearance, cutting to the "See the Good Parts" graphic just after the bludgeoning of the victim and cutting back to show Leatherface slamming the metal door shut."

Branding and marketing: 1950s Horror Comics & Bernie Wrightson

Monsters HD commissioned genre artist and

Swamp Thing The Swamp Thing is a superhero in American comic books published by DC Comics. A humanoid/plant elemental creature, created by writer Len Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson, the Swamp Thing has had several humanoid or monster incarnations in v ...

co-creator

Bernie Wrightson Bernard Albert Wrightson (October 27, 1948 – March 18, 2017), sometimes credited as Bernie Wrightson, was an American artist, known for co-creating the Swamp Thing, his adaptation of the novel ''Frankenstein'' illustration work, and for his o ...

"to design their EC Comics-style image spots and brand." Monsters HD utilized Wrighton's artwork on air, on line and in print advertisements which appeared in the genre publications HorrorHound, The Phantom of the Movies' Videoscope, and Rue Morgue Magazine. Horror writer and fellow Swamp Thing comic book artist

Stephen R. Bissette Stephen R. Bissette (born March 14, 1955) is an American comic book artist, editor, and publisher with a focus on the horror genre. He is known for working with writer Alan Moore and inker John Totleben on the DC Comics series ''Swamp Thing'' in ...

noted on his blog Myrant "Wrightson's fun riff on the

Jack Kamen Jack Kamen (; May 29, 1920 – August 5, 2008) was an American illustrator for books, magazines, comic books and advertising, known for his work illustrating crime, horror, humour, suspense and science fiction stories for EC Comics, for his work in ...

EC inspired Creepshow film poster as well as "Wrightson's 'Eye Want You!' parody of the famous Flagg Uncle Sam recruitment poster" which Monsters HD used to introduce a skeletal Frankenstien Zombie character named "Uncle Samhain." Monsters HD announced Wrightson's Uncle Samhain character at the San Diego Comic Con in July 2006 with the character artwork appearing on branded T-shirts, advertisements and web banners heralding Monsters HD's user-generated video series called "American Monstar." On October 30 and 31, 2006, the Uncle Samhain character appeared in an animated "American Monstar" promotional spot which ran in over 150 movie theatres across the United States with a special Monsters HD presentation of the

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 ...

horror classic

Merchandising: Monsters HD Action Figures and DVDs

Monsters HD also has a boutique line of action figures, produced in association with Executive Replicas and Amok Time, which were reviewed by collector and Fangoria.com contributor Mike Koopmans who noted, "I'm most impressed by the Monsters HD line. It's not so much the quality and detail that tickles me so; it's the odd choice of characters." Prototypes of Monsters HD's Uncle Samhain character and Frankenstien Meets The Space Monster appeared at the New York Toy Fair in 2008, but only the creature from Horror of Party Beach and the teenage vampire girl from

Blood of Dracula ''Blood of Dracula'' (U.K. title: ''Blood Is My Heritage'') is a 1957 American black-and-white horror film directed by Herbert L. Strock and starring Sandra Harrison, Louise Lewis and Gail Ganley. It was co-written by Aben Kandel and Herman Cohe ...

were produced and continue to be sold. Another marketing and merchandising effort was created for Monsters HD by Dark Sky Films and

MPI Home Video MPI Media Group is an American producer, distributor and licensor of theatrical film and home entertainment. MPI's subsidiaries include MPI Pictures, MPI Home Video, Gorgon Video, and the horror film distributor Dark Sky Films. The company is l ...

, as well as

Lions Gate Entertainment 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 ...

, who continue to release and sell a boutique DVD line of Horror and Drive-In Double Feature discs showcasing Monsters HD's owned and remastered films.Monsters HD's DVD label includes the

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 ...

films Horror of Party Beach and Curse of the Living Corpse, and Violent Midnight; Frankenstein Meets The Space Monster; The Flesh Eaters: Horror Hospital; Slaughter of the Vampires; Blood of the Vampire; Creation of the Humanoids; Prince of Space; Terror Beneath The Sea and Invasion of the Neptune Men (both starring Sonny Chiba); Werewolves on Wheels; the Amicus classics And Now The Screaming Starts, The Beast Must Die and Asylum starring Peter Cushing; The Devil's Rain starring Ernest Borgnine and William Shatner; and Magic starring Anthony Hopkins and Ann-Margret; the Samuel Arkoff American International Pictures: The She Creature, Earth vs The Spider, War of the Colossal Beast, The Day The World Ended, Blood of Dracula; How To Make A Monster; and others.

Litigation: Voom HD Networks vs Echostar Satellite

After Cablevision's sale of the Voom Satellite Service in 2005 to Echostar Communications for

Dish Network DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling ...

, Monsters HD ran on the satellite provider as part of a Rainbow Media distribution deal of Voom channels with Echostar Communications. Citing low viewership of the Voom suite of channels and breach of contract relating to contractual obligations with Rainbow's Voom programming expenditures, Dish removed Monsters HD and the balance of the VOOM channels in 2008, which, in turn, resulted in a $2.4 billion

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil act ...

filed against Dish Network by Cablevison and AMC Networks, fka Rainbow Media Holdings, LLC.. Petitions were formed to save the Monsters HD channel as it continued to air on Cablevision systems, but were unsuccessful with Monsters HD and the rest of the Voom channels ceasing operations in the United States on January 20, 2009. Eventually, AMC Networks and Cablevision's litigation with Dish Network for breach of contract relating to carriage termination of Monsters HD and fourteen additional Voom HD channels ended, with a proposed settlement announced on October 21, 2012.