Masters of Horror

Masters of Horror

The poster of Masters of Horror series
Genre Horror
Thriller
Created by Mick Garris
Country of origin United States
Canada
No. of seasons 2
No. of episodes 26
Production
Executive producer(s) Mick Garris, Andrew Deane, Keith Addis
Producer(s) Adam Goldworm, Ben Browning
Running time 60 minutes
Production company(s) Industry Entertainment
Nice Guy Productions
Reunion Pictures
Starz Productions
Showtime Networks
Release
Original network Showtime
Original release October 28, 2005 (2005-10-28) – February 2, 2007 (2007-02-02)
Website

Masters of Horror was an American anthology television series created by director Mick Garris for the Showtime cable network.

Origin

In 2002, director Mick Garris invited some director friends to an informal dinner at a restaurant in Sherman Oaks, California. The original ten “masters” attending were John Carpenter, Larry Cohen, Don Coscarelli, Joe Dante, Guillermo Del Toro, Stuart Gordon, Tobe Hooper, John Landis, Bill Malone, and Garris himself. The dinner was an extremely satisfying experience for the directors: a welcome night of camaraderie, humor and mutual admiration of one another's work. Del Toro coined the name of the group in jest when he told a nearby diner celebrating her birthday that the "Masters of Horror" wished her a happy birthday.

Subsequently, Garris organized regular dinners with the group and invited other horror and genre directors to attend, including Dario Argento, Eli Roth, David Cronenberg, Tim Sullivan, Rob Zombie, Bryan Singer, Fred Dekker, William Lustig, Lucky McKee, Ernest Dickerson, Katt Shea, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, James Gunn, Mary Lambert, Tom Holland, Peter Medak, Ti West, Lloyd Kaufman, 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 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, based on the short story by Joe R. Lansdale. New episodes premiered every Friday at 10 p.m. EST throughout the series' two seasons. The show followed an anthology series format, with each episode featuring a one-hour film directed by a well-known horror film director. In 2009, Chiller began airing the show on their Sunday evening line-up of shows, and in 2010, Reelz Channel began airing episodes of Masters of Horror edited (despite keeping its TV-MA rating) and with commercials.[1]

Episodes

Season 1 (2005–06)

No. in
series		 No. in
season		 Title Directed by Written by Original air date
11"Incident On and Off a Mountain Road"Don CoscarelliShort Story by: Joe R. Lansdale
Teleplay by: Don Coscarelli & Stephen Romano		October 28, 2005 (2005-10-28)
A young woman matches wits with a deformed and sadistic serial killer on and off a remote mountain road. Based on the short story by Joe R. Lansdale
22"H. P. Lovecraft's Dreams in the Witch-House"Stuart GordonShort Story by: H. P. Lovecraft
Teleplay by: Dennis Paoli & Stuart Gordon		November 4, 2005 (2005-11-04)
A college student renting an old room in a boarding house discovers a plot by sinister, otherworldly forces to sacrifice his neighbour's infant. Based on the short story by H. P. Lovecraft
33"Dance of the Dead"Tobe HooperShort Story by: Richard Matheson
Teleplay by: Richard Christian Matheson		November 11, 2005 (2005-11-11)
A teenage girl living in a post-apocalyptic village befriends a group of rough punks who hang out at a sinister bar where reanimated corpses dance on stage.
44"Jenifer"Dario ArgentoShort Story by: Bruce Jones
Teleplay by: Steven Weber		November 18, 2005 (2005-11-18)
A police officer saves the life of a hideously deformed young woman, only to find himself drawn into a web of murder and self-destruction from which he finds it hard to break away.
55"Chocolate"Mick GarrisShort Story by: Mick Garris
Teleplay by: Mick Garris		November 25, 2005 (2005-11-25)
A recently divorced young man begins experiencing the world through the senses of a woman he's never met after eating a sample of chocolate. But his quest to meet her face-to-face leads to drastic consequences.
66"Homecoming"Joe DanteShort Story by: Dale Bailey
Teleplay by: Sam Hamm		December 2, 2005 (2005-12-02)
Political satire in which the reanimated corpses of soldiers killed in Iraq return in an attempt to sway the presidential election.
77"Deer Woman"John LandisMax Landis & John LandisDecember 9, 2005 (2005-12-09)
In this horror comedy, a police detective investigates a series of brutal murders which are committed by an ancient creature from Native American mythology.
88"Cigarette Burns"John CarpenterDrew McWeeny & Scott SwanDecember 16, 2005 (2005-12-16)
A man searches for the last surviving print of a rare film which allegedly drove the only audience that ever viewed it into a fit of homicidal frenzy.
99"Fair Haired Child"William MaloneMatt GreenbergJanuary 6, 2006 (2006-01-06)
A teenage outcast is kidnapped by a strange couple and locked in a basement with their son, who has a dark secret.
1010"Sick Girl"Lucky McKeeStory by: Sean Hood
Teleplay by: Sean Hood and Lucky McKee		January 13, 2006 (2006-01-13)
A horror comedy in which a lesbian entomologist starts a relationship with another woman, but then also finds herself involved with a rather predatory and aggressive insect.
1111"Pick Me Up"Larry CohenShort Story by: David J. Schow
Teleplay by: David J. Schow		January 20, 2006 (2006-01-20)
Two serial killers (one who kills hitchhikers, another who kills anyone who gives him a ride) clash over their latest victim.
1212"Haeckel's Tale"John McNaughtonShort Story by: Clive Barker
Teleplay by: Mick Garris		January 27, 2006 (2006-01-27)
In the 1850s, a man on his way to his sick father in upstate New York, seeks shelter in a secluded cabin owned by a mysterious couple where he becomes involved in a grotesque orgy of the undead.
1313"Imprint"Takashi MiikeNovel "Bokkê, kyôtê" by: Shimako Iwai
Teleplay by: Daisuke Tengan		February 25, 2006 (2006-02-25)
A 19th century American tourist gets much more than he bargained for while searching for a Japanese prostitute he fell in love with years earlier.

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".[2] It is available only on DVD and Blu-ray by Anchor Bay Entertainment, along with the rest of the episodes in the first season.[3] "Imprint" was shown in the UK on Bravo (7 April 2006).[4]

Season 2 (2006–07)

No. in
series		 No. in
season		 Title Directed by Written by Original air date
141"The Damned Thing"Tobe HooperShort Story by: Ambrose Bierce
Teleplay by: Richard Christian Matheson		October 27, 2006 (2006-10-27)
The apocalyptic tale of a monstrous, unseen force that devastates Sheriff Kevin Reddle’s family and terrorizes their small Texas community. Based on the short story of the same title by Ambrose Bierce.
152"Family"John LandisBrent HanleyNovember 3, 2006 (2006-11-03)
Tells the story of a young couple who move to a new city and soon find out that their neighbor is not what he seems.
163"The V Word"Ernest DickersonMick GarrisNovember 10, 2006 (2006-11-10)
This vampire film reveals the punishment visited upon two teenage boys who make the very poor decision to break into a mortuary and encounter a real vampire.
174"Sounds Like"Brad AndersonShort Story by: Mike O'Driscoll
Teleplay by: Brad Anderson		November 17, 2006 (2006-11-17)
The story of Larry Pearce, an ordinary man blessed with gift/curse of extraordinary hearing that drives him to the brink of insanity, and forces him to take violent action to silence the horrific cacophony in his head.
185"Pro-Life"John CarpenterDrew McWeeny and Scott SwanNovember 24, 2006 (2006-11-24)
Pro-Life tells the story of a young pregnant girl trapped inside an abortion clinic by her murderous family, who soon discovers the only thing more dangerous than her pursuers is the demonic secret that she carries within her.
196"Pelts"Dario ArgentoShort Story by: F. Paul Wilson
Teleplay by: Matt Venne		December 1, 2006 (2006-12-01)
Fur trader Jake Feldman knows that you cannot make a coat without breaking a few animals' necks. In his pursuit to make the perfect fur coat to win over a woman, Feldman steals supernatural raccoon pelts that violently turn against those that covet them.
207"The Screwfly Solution"Joe DanteShort Story by: James Tiptree, Jr.
Teleplay by: Sam Hamm		December 8, 2006 (2006-12-08)
A nightmarish plague spreads across the globe, transforming men into killers who attack every woman that crosses their paths.
218"Valerie on the Stairs"Mick GarrisShort Story by: Clive Barker
Teleplay by: Mick Garris		December 29, 2006 (2006-12-29)
A novelist rents a room in a flophouse to write a novel and discovers there are fates worse than literary anonymity when he encounters a mysterious woman and a stalking demon spawned from the imagination of three tenants.
229"Right to Die"Rob SchmidtJohn EspositoJanuary 5, 2007 (2007-01-05)
After walking away from an auto accident that leaves his wife in a coma and on life support, a man must decide to let his wife die. But the situation becomes more nightmarish when her vengeful spirit threatens to expose a dirty secret of his own.
2310"We All Scream for Ice Cream"Tom HollandShort Story by: John Farris
Teleplay by: David J. Schow		January 12, 2007 (2007-01-12)
In the 1950s, an ice cream man in clown makeup is accidentally killed during a childhood prank gone wrong. Now, years later after the kids have grown up, his ghost returns for revenge.
2411"The Black Cat"Stuart GordonShort Story by: Edgar Allan Poe
Teleplay by: Dennis Paoli & Stuart Gordon		January 19, 2007 (2007-01-19)
In 1841 Philadelphia, Edgar Allan Poe, suffering from writer's block and short on cash, is tormented by his wife's black cat that will either destroy his life or inspire him to write one of his most famous stories.
2512"The Washingtonians"Peter MedakShort Story by: Bentley Little
Teleplay by: Richard Chizmar & Johnathon Schaech		January 26, 2007 (2007-01-26)
A man finds his family in danger after he discovers a shocking secret about the United States of America's founding fathers, in which a secret society is hell-bent on keeping a secret at any cost.
2613"Dream Cruise"Norio TsurutaShort Story by: Kôji Suzuki
Teleplay by: Naoya Takayama & Norio Tsuruta		February 2, 2007 (2007-02-02)
Jack, an American lawyer working in Tokyo, has fallen in love with the wife of his most valued client, Eiji. Despite Jack's deep-rooted fear of the sea, he reluctantly accepts Eiji's invitation to join the couple for a day trip on the Tokyo Bay. Pleasure slowly turns to terror as they discover the watery destiny in store for each of them.

Fear Itself

Series creator Mick Garris stated that Showtime opted not to show the third season and that film studio Lionsgate had begun funding the series.[5] The Hollywood Reporter reported on September 25, 2007 that Mick Garris and Lionsgate signed a 13-episode deal with NBC. 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. The album features heavy metal and rock acts with a few acoustic pieces. A second volume was released a year later.

Comic adaptations

IDW Publishing is producing a series of comic book adaptations of several episodes from the series. The first four issues are two-parters, adapting Incident On and Off a Mountain Road, based on the short story by Joe R. Lansdale, and Dreams in the Witch-House.[6][7] The first two comic covers were painted by the award-winning artist Jeremy Caniglia.

Awards and nominations

Year Award Result Category Recipient Notes
2006 Saturn Award Won Best Television Presentation Tied with The Triangle
2007 Nominated
Won Best Television DVD Release
2006 Emmy Award Nominated Outstanding Music Composition for a Series Richard Band Episode: "H. P. Lovecraft's Dreams in the Witch-House"
Won Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music Edward Shearmur
2007 Satellite Award Won Best DVD Extras (Season 1) Tied with Borat

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Masters of Horror on ReelzChannel". ReelzChannel. Archived from the original on 24 August 2010. Retrieved 2014-07-14.
  2. ↑ Kehr, Dave (2006-01-19). "Horror Film Made for Showtime Will Not Be Shown". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ Lambert, David (2005-12-17). "Masters of Horror - 13 Master-ful DVD Releases (But Not 13 Episodes) To Be a Pricey Proposition". tvshowsondvd.com.
  4. ↑ "Masters of Horror". bravo.co.uk.
  5. ↑ Jon Condit (August 12, 2007). "Lionsgate Behind Masters 3". Dread Central. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
  6. ↑ Masters of Horror at IDW Publishing
  7. ↑ IDW Unleashes The Masters of Horror in December (press release), Newsarama, November 28, 2005
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