Masters of Horror
Encyclopedia
Masters of Horror is an informal social group of international film writers and directors specializing in horror movies and an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 series created by director Mick Garris
Mick Garris
Mick Garris is an American filmmaker and screenwriter born in Santa Monica, California.-Biography:He is best known for his adaptations of Stephen King stories, such as directing the horror film Sleepwalkers starring Madchen Amick and is the creator of the Showtime series Masters of Horror...

 for the Showtime cable network.

Origin

In 2002, director Mick Garris
Mick Garris
Mick Garris is an American filmmaker and screenwriter born in Santa Monica, California.-Biography:He is best known for his adaptations of Stephen King stories, such as directing the horror film Sleepwalkers starring Madchen Amick and is the creator of the Showtime series Masters of Horror...

 invited some director friends to an informal dinner at a restaurant in Sherman Oaks, California. The original ten “masters” attending were John Carpenter
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...

, Larry Cohen
Larry Cohen
Lawrence G. "Larry" Cohen is an American film producer, director, and screenwriter. He is best known as a B-Movie auteur of horror and science fiction films - often containing a police procedural element - during 1970s and 1980s...

, Don Coscarelli
Don Coscarelli
Don Coscarelli is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for horror films. His credits include the Phantasm series, The Beastmaster, and Bubba Ho-Tep.-Biography:...

, Joe Dante
Joe Dante
Joseph "Joe" Dante, Jr. is an American film director and producer of films generally with humorous and science fiction content....

, Guillermo Del Toro
Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro is a Mexican director, producer, screenwriter, novelist and designer. He is mostly known for his acclaimed films, Blade II, Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy film franchise. He is a frequent collaborator with Ron Perlman, Federico Luppi and Doug Jones...

, Garris, Stuart Gordon
Stuart Gordon
After the University of Wisconsin demanded future theatrical productions by Screw Theater be overseen by a University Professor, Gordon cut his University ties to form Broom Street Theater. Its first production, the new translation of the risque Lysistrata, premiered in May 1969. Gordon is...

, Tobe Hooper
Tobe Hooper
Tobe Hooper is an American film director and screenwriter, best known for his work in the horror film genre. His works include the cult classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , along with its first sequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 ; the three-time Emmy-nominated Stephen King film adaptation...

, John Landis
John Landis
John David Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer. He is known for his comedies, his horror films, and his music videos with singer Michael Jackson.-Early life and career:...

 and Bill Malone. 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
Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro is a Mexican director, producer, screenwriter, novelist and designer. He is mostly known for his acclaimed films, Blade II, Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy film franchise. He is a frequent collaborator with Ron Perlman, Federico Luppi and Doug Jones...

 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
Dario Argento
Dario Argento is an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work in the horror film genre, particularly in the subgenre known as giallo, and for his influence on modern horror and slasher movies....

, Eli Roth
Eli Roth
Eli Raphael Roth is an American film director, producer, writer and actor. He is known for his role as Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds for which he won both a SAG Award and a BFCA Critic's Choice Award...

, David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg
David Paul Cronenberg, OC, FRSC is a Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror or venereal horror genre. This style of filmmaking explores people's fears of bodily transformation and infection. In his films, the...

, Lucky McKee
Lucky McKee
Edward Lucky McKee is an American director, writer, and actor, largely known for the 2002 film May, which has acquired a cult following.-Biography:...

, Tim Sullivan, Wes Craven
Wes Craven
Wesley Earl "Wes" Craven is an American actor, film director, writer, producer, perhaps best known as the director of many horror films, particularly slasher films, including the famed A Nightmare on Elm Street and Wes Craven's New Nightmare, featuring the iconic Freddy Krueger character, the...

, Joe Lynch
Joe Lynch (director)
Joe Lynch is an American film director and music video director, cinematographer, and film actor.-Life and career:His directorial debut in feature film was 2007's Wrong Turn 2: Dead End, which starred Henry Rollins, Erica Leerhsen, and Texas Battle....

, William Lustig
William Lustig
William Lustig , also known as Bill Lustig, is an American film director and producer who has worked primarily in the horror film genre.-Movie career:...

, Ernest Dickerson
Ernest Dickerson
Ernest Roscoe Dickerson A.S.C. is an American film and television director and cinematographer. He directed generally urban films sometimes with supernatural stories like Juice, Tales from the Crypt Presents Demon Knight, Bones and Never Die Alone...

, Kat O’ Shea, Robert Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez
Robert Anthony Rodríguez is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician. He shoots and produces many of his films in his native Texas and Mexico. He has directed such films as Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, The Faculty, Spy Kids, Sin City, Planet...

, James Gunn, Mary Lambert, Tom Holland
Tom Holland
Tom Holland may refer to:*Tom Holland , American film director*Tom Holland , British author*Tom Holland , British actor*Tom Holland , English footballer...

, Peter Medak
Peter Medak
Peter Medak is a Hungarian-born film director of British and American films.-Early life:He was born in Budapest, Hungary to a Jewish family, but in 1956 fled his native country for England due to the Hungarian Revolution...

, Lloyd Kaufman
Lloyd Kaufman
Lloyd Kaufman is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and occasional actor. With producer Michael Herz, he is the co-founder of Troma Entertainment film studio, and the director of many of their feature films, including The Toxic Avenger and Tromeo and Juliet. Kaufman also serves as...

 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
Don Coscarelli
Don Coscarelli is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for horror films. His credits include the Phantasm series, The Beastmaster, and Bubba Ho-Tep.-Biography:...

. New episodes premiered every Friday at 10pm 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
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...

 director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

. In 2009 Chiller (TV network) began showing the show on their Sunday evening line up of shows and in 2010, Reelz Channel
Reelz Channel
ReelzChannel is a digital cable television channel owned by Hubbard Broadcasting that airs programming about movies as well as syndicated programming. It features news and information on movies currently in theatres as well as information on movies released on DVD and airing on cable television...

 began airing episodes of Masters of Horror edited (despite keeping its TV-MA rating) and with commercials.

Season 1 (2005-2006)

Ep. Title Director Airdate



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 (2006-2007)

Ep. Title Director Airdate


Fear Itself

Series creator Mick Garris
Mick Garris
Mick Garris is an American filmmaker and screenwriter born in Santa Monica, California.-Biography:He is best known for his adaptations of Stephen King stories, such as directing the horror film Sleepwalkers starring Madchen Amick and is the creator of the Showtime series Masters of Horror...

 stated that Showtime opted not to show the third season and that film studio Lionsgate had begun funding the series. The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...

reported on September 25, 2007 that Mick Garris
Mick Garris
Mick Garris is an American filmmaker and screenwriter born in Santa Monica, California.-Biography:He is best known for his adaptations of Stephen King stories, such as directing the horror film Sleepwalkers starring Madchen Amick and is the creator of the Showtime series Masters of Horror...

 and Lionsgate signed a 13-episode deal with NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

. Instead of a third season of the show, a new show, Fear Itself
Fear Itself (TV series)
Fear Itself was a horror/suspense anthology television series shot in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, with some additional shooting in the city of St. Albert and the town of Devon, Alberta. It began airing on June 5, 2008 on NBC....

, was created with the same premise as Masters of Horror. It premiered on NBC in Summer 2008.

Masters of Science Fiction

In 2006, broadcast network ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 and IDT announced that they were developing Masters of Science Fiction, a new anthology series from the creators of Masters of Horror. Six episodes were produced, and they aired Saturdays at 10PM starting August 4, 2007. The episodes feature adaptations of stories by John Kessel
John Kessel
John Kessel is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. He is a prolific short story writer and the author of two solo novels, Good News From Outer Space and Corrupting Dr...

, Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...

, Jonathan Fast
Jonathan Fast
Jonathan Fast is an American author and social work teacher.Fast was born in New York City. He attended Princeton University, and earned graduate degrees at Columbia University and Yeshiva University...

, and Walter Mosley
Walter Mosley
Walter Ellis Mosley is an American novelist, most widely recognized for his crime fiction. He has written a series of best-selling historical mysteries featuring the hard-boiled detective Easy Rawlins, a black private investigator and World War II veteran living in the Watts neighborhood of Los...

. Jonathan Frakes
Jonathan Frakes
Jonathan Scott Frakes is an American actor, author and director best known for his role as Commander William T. Riker in the Star Trek franchise, as well as for his tenure as host of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction ....

 has directed a story by Harlan Ellison
Harlan Ellison
Harlan Jay Ellison is an American writer. His principal genre is speculative fiction.His published works include over 1,700 short stories, novellas, screenplays, teleplays, essays, a wide range of criticism covering literature, film, television, and print media...

.
The last 2 episodes ('Watchbird' and 'Little Brother') were not broadcast in the USA. They were, however, shown in Canada and the UK.

Masters of Italian Horror

Masters of Italian Horror is also in the works, though not related to the other two show's creators. The first four directors announced are Lamberto Bava
Lamberto Bava
Lamberto Bava is an Italian film director, specializing in horror and fantasy films.Bava was born in Rome, Italy, the son of cinematographer/director Mario Bava, and grandson of cameraman Eugenio Bava...

, Umberto Lenzi
Umberto Lenzi
Umberto Lenzi , is an Italian film director who was very active in low budget crime films, peplums, spaghetti westerns, war movies, cannibal films and giallo murder mysteries ....

, Sergio Martino
Sergio Martino
Sergio Martino is an Italian film director and producer, notable for his contributions to the giallo genre.Martino is the brother of producer Luciano Martino. They collaborated frequently in their respective professions...

, and Nicola Rondolino.

DVD/Blu-Ray releases

Rather than the expected packaging of the first season's episodes in one comprehensive set, Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment is a U.S. based home entertainment and production company and is a division of Starz Media, which is a unit of Starz, LLC. It was previously owned by IDT Entertainment until 2006 when IDT was purchased by Starz Media. Anchor Bay markets and sells feature films, series,...

 originally released each episode individually, as well as in double and triple packs. Each DVD promises over three hours of bonus content, such as audio commentaries, interviews, and documentaries. These DVD releases also include covers and interior collector's cards painted by the Award-winning horror and fantasy artist Jeremy Caniglia. With the release of Homecoming
Homecoming (Masters of Horror episode)
Homecoming is the sixth episode of the first season of Masters of Horror. It originally aired in North America on December 2, 2005. It is loosely based on the 2002 short story "Death & Suffrage" by Dale Bailey.-Plot:...

, the cover art changed to a more mainstream appearance. With the DVD release of the Jenifer
Jenifer (Masters of Horror episode)
Jenifer is the fourth episode of the first season of Masters of Horror. It originally aired in North America on November 18, 2005. It was directed by Dario Argento, and written by and starring Steven Weber...

, it appears that Anchor Bay chose to produce artwork tailored to each episode. The Dead by Dawn
Dead by Dawn
Dead by Dawn is a film festival in Edinburgh, Scotland specifically devoted to horror films. Established in 1993 by Adele Hartley, this is a discovery festival showcasing mostly independent films, both short films and feature length films...

 film festival, which Anchor Bay supports, revealed in their festival guide that Anchor Bay UK had decided to stop releasing double pack editions and instead release a season one box set.

On August 28, 2007 the first season of Masters of Horror was released in a 14-disc box set. There was also a 6-disc Season One Vol. 1 set, and a 6-disc Season One Vol. 2 set. The 14-disc set consists of all episodes, each on an individual disc, plus a bonus disc with all new features.

The first season is also available in four volumes on Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...

 (volumes 1 and 2 on October 16, 2007, volume 3 on November 13, 2007, and volume 4 on December 11, 2007). Each Blu-ray volume includes 3 or 4 episodes on a single Blu-ray disc. They retain the audio commentaries from the DVD releases but do not include any of the other special features, e.g. documentaries, from the DVDs.

On July 29, 2008 the second season of Masters of Horror was released in a limited edition set featuring skull-shaped packaging. As of November 2009 there is no Blu-ray release of the second season.

Soundtrack

A two-disc soundtrack was released for the series on Immortal Records
Immortal Records
Immortal Records is an independent record label out of Los Angeles, California. Founded by Happy Walters in 1994, the label had helped launched the careers of such influential acts as Korn, 30 Seconds to Mars, and Incubus over the years. The label had also released soundtracks, including Judgment...

. The album features heavy metal and rock acts with a few acoustic pieces.

Comic adaptations

IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing, also known as Idea + Design Works, LLC and IDW, is an American publisher of comic books and comic strip collections. The company was founded in 1999 and has been awarded the title "Publisher of the Year Under 5% Market Share" for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 by Diamond Comic...

 is producing a series of comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 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
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 an original short story by American author Joe R...

and Dreams in the Witch-House. 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
Saturn Award
The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed in 1972, who felt that films within...

 
Won Best Television Presentation
-
Tied with The Triangle
2007 Nominated Best Presentation on Television
-
-
Won Best Television Series Release on DVD
-
-
2006 Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

 
Nominated Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score) Richard Band
Richard Band
Richard Howard Band is a composer of film music. He has scored more than 70 films, including From Beyond, which won the award for Best Original Soundtrack at the Catalonian International Film Festival in Sitges Spain...

 
For episode "Dreams in the Witch House"
Won Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music Edward Shearmur
-
2007 Satellite Awards
Satellite Awards
The Satellite Awards are an annual award given by the International Press Academy. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards.- Film :*Best Actor – Drama*Best Actor – Musical or Comedy*Best Actress – Drama...

 
Won Best DVD Extras (Season 1)
-
Tied with Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, often referred to simply as Borat, is a 2006 mockumentary comedy film directed by Larry Charles and distributed by 20th Century Fox...


See also

  • Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond
  • The Outer Limits
    The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)
    The Outer Limits is an American television series that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1965. The series is similar in style to the earlier The Twilight Zone, but with a greater emphasis on science fiction, rather than fantasy stories...

  • Night Gallery
    Night Gallery
    Night Gallery is an American anthology series that aired on NBC from 1970 to 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, The Twilight Zone, served both as the on-air host of Night Gallery and as a major contributor of scripts, although...

  • Twin Peaks
    Twin Peaks
    Twin Peaks is an American television serial drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The series follows the investigation headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper , of the murder of a popular teenager and homecoming queen, Laura Palmer...

  • The X-Files
    The X-Files
    The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...

  • The Hunger (TV series)
  • Tales From the Crypt
    Tales from the Crypt (TV series)
    Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series that ran from 1989 to 1996 on the premium cable channel HBO...

  • Masters of Science Fiction
    Masters of Science Fiction
    Masters of Science Fiction is an American television anthology series by the same creators as Masters of Horror. The show debuted on ABC on August 4, 2007 at 10PM for a run of four episodes...

  • Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King
  • Hammer House of Horror
    Hammer House of Horror
    In 1980, Hammer Films created a series for British television, the Hammer House of Horror, which ran for 13 episodes with 51 minutes per episode...

  • Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense
    Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense
    Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense was a short-lived anthology television series from Hammer Studios similar to the format now used by Masters of Horror in which several directors under contract to Hammer produced thirteen 69-73 min films for television. It is known in the United States as Fox...


  • Science fiction on television
    Science fiction on television
    Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...


External links

at Showtime
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK