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Masters of Horror: The TV Series

MrRING

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Interesting description of these films from AICN:

http://www.aintitcoolnews.com/display.cgi?id=20722
”Jenifer,” dir. Dario Argento
Screenplay by Steven Weber
Based on the classic comic book written by Bruce Jones and illustrated by Bernie Wrightson, “Jenifer” is the shocking tale of a modern-day Lolita who, through her Siren-like powers, ultimately destroys the bodies and souls of all men unfortunate enough to cross her path. After police officer Frank (Steven Weber) saves her life, he adopts her, only to learn that no good deed goes unpunished. “Jenifer” is a twisted and terrifying tale with a horrific twist that warns us all to be careful of what we bring into our homes.

”Cigarette Burns,” dir. John Carpenter
Screenplay by Drew McWeeny & Scott Swan
Jimmy Sweetman knows how to find rare film prints. However, nothing could prepare him for the daunting search for LA FIN DU MONDE, a film allegedly shown only once and rumored to have driven its audience into a murderous frenzy before the theater mysteriously erupted in flames. Working for a shadowy patron, Jimmy’s increasingly obsessive investigation becomes nightmarish and deadly. Finally he discovers LA FIN DU MONDE’s infamy is well deserved. This supernatural CHINATOWN is a chilling look at the power of cinema and the lengths to which we will go to satiate our private demons.

”Pick Me Up,” dir. Larry Cohen
Screenplay by David Schow
Two urban legends meet on a desolate roadside when Wheeler, a serial killer who butchers hitchhikers, offers a ride to Walker, a hitchhiker who slaughters any driver unlucky enough to offer him a ride. Caught in their deadly game of cat-and-mouse is a young woman who must choose her ally carefully or end up another notch on a killer’s bloody belt.

”Incident On And Off A Mountain Road,” dir. Don Coscarelli
Screenplay by Don Coscarelli & Stephen Romano
Based on Joe R. Lansdale’s short story of the same title, this film pits Ellen (Bree Turner), a seemingly defenseless young woman, against Moonface, a deformed and demented serial killer. As the story cuts back and forth in time, we slowly discover that our heroine is not as helpless or as innocent as she initially seems. Trained by her abusive husband, Bruce (Ethan Embry), to be a survivalist, instructed to use any and every available object as a weapon in a time of need, Ellen gets to test the real-life application of these lessons. Ultimately, chained to the floor of Moonface’s horrific cabin with a most unsavory roommate (Anghus Scrimm), she races against the clock to free herself before she meets a grisly fate. This gritty film pits a strong female protagonist against evil incarnate.

”Haeckel’s Tale,” dir. Roger Corman
Screenplay by Mick Garris
When Ernest Haeckel seeks shelter from the wilderness in a secluded cabin in the New England countryside, he is given one explicit instruction: no matter what he hears, he cannot go outside. As the cries of an unseen baby intermix with horrifying guttural moans, Haeckel disobeys his host and becomes embroiled in an orgy of the undead. Based on Clive Barker’s short story, “Haeckel’s Tale” is a sexually charged campfire story with a horrifying twist.

”Homecoming,” dir. Joe Dante
Screenplay by Sam Hamm
Terror and scandal grip the nation when the media discovers that the living dead have swayed the presidential election. This adaptation of Dale Bailey’s award-winning short story “Death & Suffrage” blends zombie horror and contemporary political satire with chilling results.

”Chocolate,” dir/scr. Mick Garris
Jamie (Henry Thomas), a newly divorced man who creates artificial flavors for the food industry, suddenly and inexplicably starts to experience brief and random flashes from someone – and somewhere – unknown: sight, sound, smell, touch. Learning that he’s experiencing life through the senses of a mysterious woman, he begins to fall in love with her without having met her. Eventually, he discovers a horrifying secret that binds him inexorably with the perfect woman in an erotic, horrifying dance of death.

”Dreams In The Witch-House,” dir. Stuart Gordon
Screenplay by Stuart Gordon & Dennis Paoli
Stuart Gordon presents his fifth adaptation of a tale of terror from horror master H.P. Lovecraft. Walter Gilman (Ezra Godden), a college student studying interdimensional string theory, rents a garret in a run-down building in the old New England town of Arkham. He is haunted by terrifying nightmares in which he is visited by a 17th-century witch and her familiar, a rat with a human face. He begins to realize that these are not dreams at all and that diabolical forces are gathering to sacrifice his neighbor’s infant. As Walter struggles to prevent this, it becomes less clear if he will save the child or become its unwitting murderer himself.

”Dance Of The Dead,” dir. Tobe Hooper
Screenplay by Richard Christian Matheson
Based on Richard Matheson’s celebrated short story, “Dance Of The Dead” depicts a post-apocalyptic dystopia wherein reanimated corpses of former friends and enemies dance on stage for the entertainment of the few who survived a nuclear holocaust. Too naive and wholesome for her own good, Peggy embarks on her first double-date with a slick upperclassman. Her nervous fits of laughter quickly turn to panicked screams as she learns the truth of the dangerous world outside her mother’s protective cloister, and the sacrifices that were made in order to guarantee her survival. Intelligent, haunting, and just as politically relevant as when it was first published in 1954, “Dance Of The Dead” will be a film to be remembered.

”Deer Woman,” dir. John Landis
Screenplay by Max Landis & John Landis
A series of bizarre murders leads cynical detective Dwight Faraday (Brian Benben) to suspect that an ancient Native American mythological creature is real in this sexually charged tale of seduction and death.

”Fair Haired Child,” dir. William Malone
Screenplay by Matt Greenburg
Tara, a lonely 13-year-old outcast, is kidnapped by a strange couple and locked in the basement with their 13-year-old son, Johnny. Despite the fact that he is kind and sensitive, Johnny keeps a terrible secret. These two children form a special bond to find a way to battle a curse and survive the night.

And the official site:

http://www.mastersofhorror.net/

[Emp edit: And I'll provide a list as we progress:

Series 1:

  • 1. Incident On And Off A Mountain Road by Don Coscarelli (Review)
    2. Dreams in the Witch House by Stuart Gordon (Review)
    3. Dance of the Dead by Tobe Hooper (Review)
    4. Jenifer by Dario Argento (Review)
    5. Chocolate by Mick Garris (Review)
    6. Homecoming by Joe Dante (Review)
    7. Deer Woman by John Landis
    8. Cigarette Burns by John Carpenter
    9. Fair-Haired Child by William Malone (6th January 2006)
    10. Sick Girl by Lucky McKee (to be aired 13th January 2005)
    11. Pick Me Up by Larry Cohen (to be aired 20th January 2005)
    12. Haeckel's Tale by John McNaughton (to be aired 27th January 2005)
    13. Miike?
 
Cool thanks for that - I've been looking forward to the details since this was first announced :)
 
Since when was Mick Garris a master of horror?
 
Masters of Horror

I've been excited about this for a while - 13 directors pulling out all the stops and filming one hour horror films:

www.mastersofhorror.net

More news emerging and this pairing made me happy :)

September 26: Rutger Hauer into Miike’s MASTERS

MASTERS OF HORROR creator Mick Garris told Fango at the Weekend of Horrors that Rutger Hauer will star in Takashi Miike’s entry in the IDT Entertainment horror series. The AUDITION bad boy’s tale will be an 18th-century ghost story filmed in Japan, and aside from Hauer, the cast will be all-Japanese (though the episode will be shot in English). Garris also reports that he recently spoke to Lucky (THE WOODS) McKee and that the latter said he’s “the happiest director alive” shooting his segment SICK GIRL (see previous item here). Look for more MASTERS updates in the coming weeks, and watch for the show to premiere on Showtime Friday, October 28 with Don Coscarelli’s INCIDENT ON AND OFF A MOUNTAIN ROAD. The series’ official website can be found here. —Michael Gingold

www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=4766

The previous news segment mentioned is:

August 16: Lucky McKee casts his MASTERS

While director Lucky McKee’s THE WOODS is (presumably) readied for its September 16 release from Screen Gems, the creator of MAY gave FANGORIA the scoop on his MASTERS OF HORROR entry, SICK GIRL. Scripted by Sean (HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION) Hood, SICK GIRL will star TOOLBOX MURDERS’ Angela Bettis (left) and SHADOW: DEAD RIOT’s Erin Brown (right). Fans may recognize Brown from her other professional persona, Misty Mundae, the tireless actress from a string of naughty E.I. Cinema flicks and who also appears in the McKee production THE LOST (see item here). Shooting on SICK GIRL will take place in Vancouver September 14-27.

“It’s gonna be awesome,” McKee says of SICK GIRL, episode 10 of MASTERS OF HORROR. “The script is getting better than ever as we sit here working on it. The producers sent me three scripts, and I liked this one the best. Though the Clive Barker one [HAECKEL’S TALE, once slated for Roger Corman] was pretty cool too.”

The plot of SICK GIRL? It’s a doozy. “It’s a romantic-comedy version of THE FLY,” McKee says. “It’s a lesbian love story about two girls [Bettis and Brown] and the bug that gets between them. KNB showed me their creature designs, and they look great. People are going to be surprised by SICK GIRL.”

Besides MASTERS OF HORROR and the impending release of THE WOODS (shot nearly three years ago), McKee’s plate remains full. He’s preparing THE LOST (based on the Jack Ketchum novel and directed by MAY editor Chris Sivertson) for its big Sitges debut in Spain in October, while his maniac movie ROMAN (in which he plays the title role; see details here) begins a slow postproduction. “ROMAN, which Angela Bettis directed, will be a real cool companion piece to MAY,” McKee says. “In the meantime, I’m really proud of THE WOODS. It’s better than a lot of the other horror films that have come out this year, and I want the fans to finally have the opportunity to see it.” See FANGORIA #247 (out next month) for articles on both THE WOODS and MASTERS OF HORROR. —Tony Timpone

www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=4560
 
November 1: First look: Miike’s MASTERS OF HORROR

Fango got the above first photo of actor Billy Drago, director Takashi Miike and actress Youki Kudoh from IMPRINT, the notorious Miike’s entry in Showtime/IDT Entertainment’s MASTERS OF HORROR series (see previous story here). “It’s been fascinating to watch the Japanese master work his magic,” MASTERS creator/executive producer Mick Garris tells Fango. “Many of those involved, including Miike and many of the cast, do not speak English at all, and some of the actors are working phonetically. It’s amazing to watch Miike calmly guide this complicated mix of difficult locations and studio work in a really strange period film. It’s based on a popular Japanese horror novel called BOKEE KYOTEE, or ‘Really Scary.’ Everyone told Miike that it was unfilmable, but he’s proving them, uh, dead wrong.”

The book was adapted for the screen by Daisuke Tengan, who also scripted AUDITION, perhaps Miike’s best-known fear feature. Japanese actress Kudoh has won notice for American movies like MYSTERY TRAIN and SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS and did the lead voice for the anime film BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE. Check out FANGORIA’s MASTERS OF HORROR set reports in issue #248 (on sale now) and #249 (on sale December 6), and watch this site for exclusive chats with directors William Malone, Dario Argento and Lucky McKee coming soon. —Tony Timpone and Michael Gingold

www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=5012
 
November 9: Argento’s MASTERS too extreme for Showtime?

IDT Entertainment/Showtime’s MASTERS OF HORRORS series has won notice for giving its genre-fave filmmakers license to be as gruesome and intense as they desire—but while speaking about the series recently, John Landis, one of the directors taking part, reveals that one proved to be too much for the cable network. “Dario Argento’s [JENIFER, pictured] is probably the wackiest one; it’s the one where you watch and think, ‘What the f**k am I seeing??’ because some of it is pretty shocking,” he says. “They did have to cut one scene for Showtime, involving some cannibalism of a phallus, which is a little severe. I remember when I saw it—and Dario’s a very sweet guy—he said, ‘Oh, come look, this is great!’ And we were all watching it on the Avid going, ‘Jesus Christ!’ So it’ll be implied on Showtime, but it will be explicit on the DVD,” coming from Anchor Bay next year.

So, no one on the MASTERS team objected to this moment in the script? “There’s a big difference between when [the screenplay] says, ‘She’s caught devouring the young man…’ ” Landis notes. “That means you could shoot many different things.” The director also promises a startling sight in Tobe Hooper’s DANCE OF THE DEAD, airing this Friday night: “He was very excited, Tobe, because they used for the first time this new kind of gel for fire effects, where you can have a burning person with flames on their skin in a way that can’t burn them. And so of course, Tobe put it on three naked girls being thrown into a dumpster!” See the official MASTERS site here, check out FANGORIA’s MASTERS OF HORROR set reports in issue #248 (on sale now) and #249 (on sale December 6), and watch this site for exclusive chats with directors Argento, William Malone and Lucky McKee in the coming weeks. —Michael Gingold

www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=5064

-------------
November 09, 2005

John Carpenter's Website gets a Cigarette Burn

(Posted In Horror TV USA and Canada )

Carpenter_CigBurns.jpgJohn Carpenter's website has been dolled up a bit with a walk-through/teaser for his upcoming MASTER OF HORROR segment airing on Showtime entitled Cigarette Burns. The experience of browsing around the flash-environment is a bit of the cheap thrills variety, but then again, that has always been one (and not the only one) of the charms of Mr. Carpenter.

www.twitchfilm.net/archives/004095.html

Site:
www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com

----------
Also some news on the soundtrack:

www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=5073
 
The airing dates from these sources:

www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=4776
www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=5002

The first was Stuart Gordon's "Dreams in the Witchhouse". Review:
www.fangoria.com/ghastly_review.php?id=5031

The next up is Tobe Hooper's "Dance Of The Dead"

Other dates:

December 2: Joe Dante’s HOMECOMING
December 9: John Landis’ DEER WOMAN
December 16: John Carpenter’s CIGARETTE BURNS

Don Coscarelli’s INCIDENT ON AND OFF A MOUNTAIN ROAD
Stuart Gordon’s DREAMS IN THE WITCH HOUSE
Dario Argento’s JENIFER
John Landis’ DEER WOMAN
Mick Garris’ CHOCOLATE

Showtime's site (only accesible via the US - or using a proxy ;) ):

www.sho.com/site/mastersofhorror/home.do

The full schedule can be found there via the directors page - currently showing the next one and repeats of the first:

Dreams in the Witch House
11/10 12:30 AM Showtime Too
Dance of the Dead
11/11 10:00 PM Showtime
Dreams in the Witch House
11/11 11:00 PM Showtime
Dance of the Dead
11/12 10:00 PM Showtime
Dreams in the Witch House
11/12 11:00 PM Showtime

---------
There is also going to be a comic;

www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=4998
 
More news on the second series:

November 14: Masterton story for MASTERS’ second season

While recently discussing his new short story collection FESTIVAL OF FEAR, author Graham Masterton (pictured) revealed to Fango that his favorite story from it is going to be adapted for the second series of IDT Entertainment/Showtime’s MASTERS OF HORROR. He says of the tale, titled “Anti-Claus,” “It puts a new and disturbing face on a popular character, and that is something that I always enjoy doing. ‘Anti-Claus’ also has parallels with The Pied Piper, who offers people magical solutions to their problems. Once their problems are solved, however, they refuse to pay what they promised, and he takes his revenge.”

Although Masterton has about 40 horror novels to his credit, he has not been particularly lucky with screen adaptations of his fiction so far. His first book, THE MANITOU, was filmed just two years after it was published, but the movie (directed by William Girdler, starring Tony Curtis) wasn’t as successful as expected. Masterton still feels fondly toward the adaptation of his debut novel, despite its dubious special FX. “The most outrageous thing they could manage to do was blow up an IBM typewriter,” he says. “STAR WARS had just come out, and Bill [Girdler] got carried away by the idea of a battle in outer space, which to my mind made the climax laughable. But as one reviewer said, ‘If you haven’t seen a naked woman zapping a gurgling primeval monster with light-rays, you can’t go to your grave happy.’ ”

After THE MANITOU, the film community apparently decided that adapting Masterton’s fiction was too much of a risk (though three episodes of Tony Scott’s THE HUNGER TV series were based on the author’s short works). Yet the author continued to be prolific in the 29-year period since his first book came out, and now it appears that there’s a good chance his brand of horror will return to the screen. In addition to the aforementioned MASTERS OF HORROR adapatation of “Anti-Claus,” “FAMILY PORTRAIT was optioned by Gold Circle,” Masterton reveals, “and as far as I know it is in quite an advanced state of production, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed and tossing salt over my left shoulder. THE PARIAH has been optioned by Phoenix Pictures, and again I am hoping that it will finally reach the screen. RITUAL has been acquired by NoShame Films in Rome for direction by Mariano Baino [whose DARK WATERS is coming from NoShame in a two-DVD set; see item here]. That will start filming in Macedonia in spring 2006.”

And since 2005 Masterton also published the fourth book in the MANITOU series—MANITOU BLOOD—this year, one can imagine that soon some filmmaker will spot a new horror franchise opportunity… You can read more about the author and his work at his official website. —Bartek Paszylk

www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=5096
 
Pelts, Fat Man for Masters Season 2! (Movie)

More on IDT Entertainment's Masters of Horror Season 2 has come our way this morning...

Following the announcement of White Noise 2: The Light (read that item here), THC's Dread Central has received word that Light scribe Matt Venne is set to adapt F. Paul Wilson's short story Pelts for Horror's second round on Showtime. Furthermore, we have learned that Joe R. Landsdale is at work on translating his own short story The Fat Man with co-writer Neal Barrett Jr.

Landsdale provided the source material for Season 1's Incident On and Off a Mountain Road (review), adapted by Don Coscarelli and Stephen Romano.

These make the third and fourth confirmed installments behind David J. Schow's I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream (read that exclusive break here) and Graham Masterson's Anti-Claus.

A disturbing look at the fur trade, Pelts was first penned in 1990. You can find it in Wilson's The Barrens and Others in short story and stage play format, and it's also expected to pop up in a forthcoming issue of IDW Publishing's comic magazine Doomed.

www.horrorchannel.com/index.php?name=Ne ... e&sid=3788
 
I'm unsure about having Rob Zombie in the second series but he might shake it up a bit ;)

November 21: Coscarelli’s MASTERS gets longer

Don Coscarelli was clearly overwhelmed to be among the MASTERS OF HORROR directors assembled for the 23rd Turin Film Festival in Northern Italy, where seven episodes played back to back last week. “It’s only now that I’ve seen them one after another that I can appreciate producer Mick Garris’ overall vision,” says the PHANTASM/BUBBA HO-TEP cult director. “What struck me about the series is its sheer diversity. There’s usually an overall guiding force in most anthology series, but not here. There is no connection whatsoever. Mick promised us total freedom, and that’s exactly what we got, despite our early cynicism.”

Coscarelli was a last-minute addition to the Turin program of Joe Dante, Mick Garris, Dario Argento and John Landis; Tobe Hooper’s advertised appearance had to be axed after he contracted an ear infection and was told it would be unwise to travel. John Carpenter was a no-show too. Both directors’ episodes screened, though, with Carpenter’s snuff-movie shocker CIGARETTE BURNS getting the greatest audience response—especially the moment when horror icon Udo Kier threads his own intestines through a film projector.

Coscarelli’s artful INCIDENT ON AND OFF A MOUNTAIN ROAD (pictured) was shown in its original U.S. cut, which kicked off the series on Showtime in America (see review here). However, it will be seen with additional footage in every other market, as he explains: “My episode came in short at 52 minutes. It was an exhaustingly hard one to make, because of the night shoots and because it required much running, chasing, jumping and fighting. I noted with interest that the later episodes relied a lot more on dialogue between two characters in room. I accepted the baptism of fire as more of a challenge, especially when I kept hearing about how gory Dario’s JENIFER was. That was the only pressure I felt. I didn’t feel any over my show airing first, because I liked it and knew it would be appreciated.”

And as such, Showtime accepted it. “But then someone in the office forgot they had outstanding foreign contracts that stipulated a 58-minute running time, especially Japan. So they told me I had to go back and shoot extra scenes. I tried to resist that—it had already aired and gotten good reviews. They were clear, though: either I shot it or someone else would. Two weeks ago, I went back and shot two extra scenes in one day. They both turned out well, but now I have the challenge of deciding whether the new international version should be the official one.”

He describes the new sequences: “One is very simple, with Moonface [John De Santis]. During the scene where Ellen [Bree Turner] and Buddy [Angus Scrimm] first start talking in the basement, I added Moonface dragging a corpse out of the house, hammering it onto a cross and finally hoisting it up. Graphically it’s interesting, and it raises the concept of him hearing the voices of the dead, the reason he’s constantly shushing her up.

“The other scene I’m a little worried about, because it might push Ellen’s character too far into insanity. It comes right after we find her husband Bruce [Ethan Embry] dead in the car trunk. We flash back to the rape and how she murders him, and then we cut to the basement where she’s going to drill out his eyes. But before she does that, she retrieves her cell phone and calls her mother. It seems bizarre, and Bree plays it so strangely. ‘Hi mom, I saw you called, but my phone hasn’t been working tonight. I’m a little tired. I’ll come to visit soon, but I’ll be alone because Bruce will be off on one of his excursions. But I’m finally understanding him…’ The scene ends with her saying she’s got to go because she has some cleaning up to do. Then she drills his eyes out. Not in close-up, because we still couldn’t afford the $8,000 for a dummy head. I think the lines are clever; they might be too over-the-top, I’m not sure, but it plays well, even though it might make her seem far crazier than I wanted. It goes against my main reason for doing Joe Lansdale’s short story in the first place: The audience thinking Ellen is a damsel in distress, but the truth is that Moonface will get the worst part of the deal.”

Coscarelli is happy to join the so-far shortlisted Eli Roth, Guillermo del Toro and Rob Zombie for the second season of MASTERS OF HORROR—as long as the planned sequel BUBBA NOSFERATU doesn’t get in the way. “The goal is to have more of the young Elvis—because Bruce Campbell loves playing that age with his Memphis Mafia—and NOSFERATU will provide lots of opportunities for them getting into mischief. And there’s nothing better than seeing a legendary actor play with a prosthetic!” —Alan Jones

www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=5144
 
I've had the good fortune to see the first four episodes of this, and whoa, modern classics in the making. These are as good as the Hammer shorts seemed at the time, but I suspect will stand up to future scrutiny a lot better, owing to the fact that it's not dodgy effects overload, but good old-fashioned psychological horror (Saints be praised.. It CAN still be done!).

The pick of the bunch has to be Jenifer. This managed to put me off my lunch today. It's so simple in the way it works. Dario Argento is an absolute genius in the way that he puts you in Frank's shoes without you realising. You actually feel the horror that Frank is going through, almost like when you've had a dream that you've done something awful and wake up with that sick feeling in your stomach.

5 star - recommended 8)

edit - I also feel that it's refreshing to see non-ironic horror on the screen. There's industrial language all over the shop, but it's sparing as it's relevant, the scripts are very conversational and .. oh.. just watch it :) Robert Englund calling someone a bitch-c*nt whore never seemed so relevant in a scene.
 
December 5: MASTERS OF HORROR full January schedule

Dread Central was the first to notice that over at Showtime’s website, the network’s January schedule has been posted, including the month’s complete lineup of MASTERS OF HORROR segments. Here are the airdates:

• January 6: William Malone’s FAIR-HAIRED CHILD
• January 13: Lucky McKee’s SICK GIRL
• January 20: Larry Cohen’s PICK ME UP
• January 27: John McNaughton’s HAECKEL’S TALE

This Friday’s episode is John Landis’ DEER WOMAN, followed by John Carpenter’s CIGARETTE BURNS on December 16; the series then goes on hiatus until January. FANGORIA magazine’s extensive MASTERS OF HORROR coverage runs through issues #247-251; look for exclusive interviews with Landis, Malone, McKee and his SICK GIRL star Erin Brown and PICK ME UP scripter David J. Schow on this site over the next several weeks. MASTERS’ official website can be found here. —Michael Gingold

www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=5214
 
I saw Joe Dante's "Homecoming" over the weekend.
Wild concept -- looked good, but the acting was just
too over-the-top for it to be taken seriously.

However, the zombie effects were great fun! :shock:

TVgeek
 
Jonathan Bernstein's Aerial view of America

Jonathan Bernstein
Saturday December 10, 2005
The Guardian

I was a splatter geek. It wasn't a period of my life I'm particularly proud of - of course, I'm yet to discover a period of my life that I am particularly proud of - but there was a part of the 1980s when I pored religiously through the pages of Fangoria, declared Evil Dead 2 the greatest film ever made and was able to recognise the signature gouges and gaping wounds of the superstar make-up effects teams.

The moment passed, my ardour cooled, I moved on (to the far more mature preoccupations of wrestling and Hong Kong gangster films if I remember correctly), sparing not so much as a thought to what would become of the men behind the movies that spoke so eloquently to my pent-up hostility. As it turns out, the revered horror directors of the 1970s and 1980s went on to suffer fates scarcely less grisly than the punishments they routinely meted out to the blonde cheerleader who ventured down into the dark basement in her bikini to seek out the source of that weird noise.

For the much-vaunted likes of John Carpenter, Joe Dante, John Landis and Tobe Hooper, budgets, audience attendance and major studio employment all went into a downward spiral in the 1990s. This can be blamed on changing tastes, lack of inspiration and the fact that Steven King's books had become too bloated and unwieldy to adapt into features and no horror author had supplanted him as a reliable source of material. The only gore auteur who achieved a second act was Wes Craven, whose Scream success ushered in an era of self-aware teen horror which, in turn, introduced the notion of the PG-13 scary movie, ie the non-horror horror film.

So where does a veteran splatter director go when Hollywood turns squeamish at the sight of blood? Cable. The Showtime network is currently playing home to Masters Of Horror, a 13-week anthology, offering not only employment to these long-servers but a green light to pour on the gore. This might make you think less of me but I'm going to admit something: I hate anthologies. I'm sorry, but I do. I like things to be familiar. I like seeing the same characters recur in similar situations. I think most audiences do. That's why whenever networks revive classic anthology series such as The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits, they always fail. The lack of consistency is a huge viewer repellent.

Masters Of Horror is aimed at a fanbase that worships its genre's directors over their choice of material. The lure of Carpenter, Dante, Landis, Hooper plus the likes of Dario Argento, Re-Animator's Stuart Gordon, Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer's John McNaughton and Japan's evil genius Takashi Miike is what sells the series rather than the subject matter of their low-budget, Canadian-lensed, star-free one-hour episodes. But even though it's thrown up its fair share of duds and even though it's not doing much to alter my lifelong prejudice against Canadian actors, I've made it through more of Masters Of Horror than any other anthology.

The majority of this commitment stems from the fantastic series opener, Incident On And Off A Mountain Road. Directed by Don "Phantasm" Coscarelli, this duel between a terrified single woman whose car breaks down in the middle of nowhere and the inbred psycho who wants to hack her up and add her to his collection of roadside trophies has more genuine scares and stomach-lurches than any movie I've seen this year (although I haven't got around to Mrs Henderson Presents yet).

Then there's Joe Dante's Homecoming. Joe Dante hasn't made a decent film since Gremlins 2: The New Batch in 1990. I'm not saying I never thought he had it in him to direct a politically charged zombie movie about dead soldiers being shipped home from Iraq and coming back to life so they can vote Bush out of office. I'm saying no Hollywood studio would ever have allowed him to direct it. If the upcoming John Carpenter segment makes up for the catastrophe that was Ghosts Of Mars, I might even have to face the fact that I've become re-acquainted with my inner splatter geek.

www.guardian.co.uk/theguide/columnists/ ... 77,00.html
 
And if you thought the Jenifer makeup work was unsettling:

December 13: First look: MASTERS OF HORROR’s SICK GIRL

Here’s an exclusive peek at some KNB weirdness from Lucky McKee’s SICK GIRL, the MAY director’s MASTERS OF HORROR entry set to air January 13 on Showtime. SICK GIRL stars TOOLBOX MURDERS’ Angela Bettis and SHADOW: DEAD RIOT’s Erin Brown (a.k.a. Misty Mundae) as insect scientists involved in a strange love affair.

FANGORIA magazine’s extensive MASTERS OF HORROR coverage runs through issues #247-251, including a Bettis interview in #250, on sale January 24; look for exclusive interviews with McKee and Brown on this site in January, plus chats with FAIR HAIRED CHILD helmer William Malone and PICK ME UP scripter David J. Schow. MASTERS’ official website can be found here; John Carpenter’s CIGARETTE BURNS airs this Friday. —Tony Timpone

www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=5267
 
Hadn't bothered with this series at all, but Witch House is my favourite Lovecraft tale, so I might have to hunt this one out.
 
fquake said:
Hadn't bothered with this series at all, but Witch House is my favourite Lovecraft tale, so I might have to hunt this one out.

Its pretty good (I think they led off with a couple of solid shows - the quality does vary in later episodes) - well worth a watch although adaptations of favourite stories can often disappoint.
 
I've seen episodes 2-6 so far and my fave has been Argento's entry. Gordon's wasn't bad either. Hooper's was the worst of the bunch. I'm looking forward to the Lucky McKee and Miike entries.
 
StoryofE said:
I've seen episodes 2-6 so far and my fave has been Argento's entry.

Yeah Jenifer was good - I prefered Incident though.

StoryofE said:
Gordon's wasn't bad either. Hooper's was the worst of the bunch. I'm looking forward to the Lucky McKee and Miike entries.

Yeah I haven't seen any specific info on it but Miike was pencilled into the schedule and the other 12 have been declared so fingers crossed his will be the final one of the line up :)
 
StoryofE said:
I prefered Incident though.
That was the first one, right? Coscarelli? I've yet to see that one.

Yep - I'd probably rate Jenifer on a par with Witch-House as I felt it a tad clunky in places but still delivered There was nothing much highly original in Incident but it worked really well as a whole - you can see why they started off with it.
 
Watched the episode entitled The Fair Haired Child. I thought it was on par with Dreams in the Witch House. Solid but not outstanding. It was directed by William Malone, whoever that is.
 
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