Masters of Horror
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Masters of Horror (premiered October 28, 2005) is an American horror television series created by Mick Garris for Showtime. It is a weekly show which features one-hour movies by well known directors. There is no conceptual format, each episode is a self-contained one-hour story. As a cable show, it can feature more extreme levels of sex and violence than usual, and is therefore generally aimed at those who feel the current "PG-13" style of horror films is too tame. Of course, there is a limit as to how much can be handled; one episode was cut, another was postponed from America entirely.
According to interviews given by Mick Garris, the phrase "Masters of Horror" was coined one evening when the directors attached to the project were having dinner together, next to another group celebrating a birthday. Guillermo Del Toro reportedly raised his glass and addressed the other group with: "The Masters of Horror wish you a happy birthday!".
Season 1
| Episode | Director | Screenshot | Title | Overview | DVD Cover |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Don Coscarelli |
| Incident On and Off a Mountain Road | A young woman with a dark past matches wits with a deformed and sadistic serial killer. |
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| 2 | Stuart Gordon |
| ''H.P. Lovecraft's Dreams in the Witch-House | A college student discovers a parallel universe and a plot by a sinister witch to sacrifice his neighbor's infant. |
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| 3 | Tobe Hooper |
| Dance of the Dead | A girl experiences a post-apocalyptic world in which reanimated corpses dance on stage at a sinister bar. |
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| 4 | Dario Argento |
| Jenifer | A police officer saves a hideously deformed girl's life only to be sucked into a web of murder and self-destruction. |
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| 5 | Mick Garris |
| Chocolate | A divorced young man begins witnessing and experiencing the sights, smells and sounds of a woman he's never met. |
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| 6 | Joe Dante |
| Homecoming | A political satire in which zombies of resurrected soldiers from the war in Iraq return in attempt to sway the presidential election. |
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| 7 | John Landis |
| Deer Woman | An ancient Native American mythological creature wrecks havoc in this horror-comedy. |
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| 8 | John Carpenter |
| Cigarette Burns | A man searches for a rare film print that allegedly drove its audience into a fit of murderous frenzy. |
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| 9 | William Malone |
| Fair-Haired Child | A young outcast is kidnapped by a strange couple and locked in a basement with their son who has a dark secret. |
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| 10 | Lucky McKee |
| Sick Girl | A female bug enthusiast starts a relationship with another girl but gets involved with a rather predatory and aggressive insect. |
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| 11 | Larry Cohen |
| Pick Me Up | Two serial killers clash; one who kills hitchhikers, another who is a hitchhiker that slays whoever gives him a ride. |
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| 12 | John McNaughton |
| Haeckel's Tale | A man seeking shelter in a cabin becomes involved in a grotesque orgy of the undead. |
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| 13 | Takashi Miike |
| Imprint | An American gets much more than he bargained for when searching for a Japanese prostitute he fell in love with. |
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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 some graphic violence in its television broadcast but restored on its DVD release.
Episode 13, "Imprint", originally scheduled to have its premiere on January 27, 2006, was removed from the television lineup 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." [link] The episode will be released on DVD by Anchor Bay Entertainment, along with the rest of the episodes in the series.[link] Imprint was recently shown in the UK on Bravo (7th April 2006).[link]
Season 2
Family, directed by John Landis and written by Brent Hanley, tells the story of a young married couple (Meredith Monroe and Matt Keeslar) that moves into a new home in a new city and finds out that their neighbor (George Wendt) is not what he seems.The Fat Man, is an episode based on a short story by Joe R Lansdale with a screenplay by Neal Barrett Junior.
Pelts, directed by Dario Argento, written by Matt Venne, adapted from F. Paul Wilson’s short-story, is an erotic tale about stolen raccoon pelts that violently turn against those that covet them in this Giallo-style adaptation of F. Paul Wilson’s short story. Meat Loaf and John Saxon star.
The Damned Thing, directed by Tobe Hooper, inspired by Ambrose Bierce’s classic short-story and written by Richard Christian Matheson, is the apocalyptic tale of a monstrous force that devastates Sheriff Kevin Reddle’s family and his small Texas town. Sean Patrick Flanery, Marisa Coughlan and Ted Raimi star.
Pro-Life, directed by John Carpenter, written by Drew McWeeny & Scott Swan, tells the story of a young girl trapped inside a clinic, that discovers the only thing more dangerous than her pursuers is the demonic secret that she carries within her. Ron Perlman, and Caitlin Wachs star.
The V Word, a vampire film directed by Ernest Dickerson and written by Mick Garris, reveals the punishment visited upon two teenage boys who make the very poor decision to break into a mortuary. Michael Ironside stars.
Sounds Like, directed and written by Brad Anderson, adapted from a short-story by Mike O’Driscoll, tells the story of Larry Pearce - an ordinary man blessed with a gift of extraordinary supernatural hearing that drives him to the brink of insanity and forces him to take violent action to silence the horrific cacophony in his head.
The Screwfly Solution, directed by Joe Dante, written by Sam Hamm and adapted from the James Tiptree, Jr. short-story, is about a nightmare virus infecting our nation, transforming men into psychotic killers who attack every woman that crosses their paths.
Valerie On The Stairs, directed and written by Mick Garris from a Clive Barker original screen story, tells the tale of a novelist who discovers there are fates worse than literary anonymity in this sexually-charged tale of terror.
We Scream For Ice Cream, directed by Tom Holland from David J. Schow’s adaptation of John Farris’ short-story, depicts a local ice cream man who, in this case, is turning sweet-toothed children against their parents.
The Black Cat (Masters of Horror episode), directed by Stuart Gordon and written by Gordon & Dennis Paoli, has the great Edgar Allan Poe, out of ideas and short on cash, tormented by a black cat that will either destroy his life or inspire him to write one of his most famous stories. Jeffrey Combs stars as Poe.
DVD Release
Rather than the expected route of packaging all of the season's episodes in one set, Anchor Bay Entertainment will release each episode individually and in optional two-packs or three-packs. The DVDs promise over three hours of bonus content, such as audio commentaries, interviews and documentaries.With the release of Joe Dante's 'Homecoming' the DVD cover art has changed from the director oriented look to a more mainstream DVD cover art. As of July 5th, 2006 the reason for this is unknown.
The Dead by Dawn film festival, which Anchor Bay supports, revealed in their festival guide that the decision has been taken by Anchor Bay UK to stop releasing double packs editions and instead release a season one box-set.
Comic Adaptations
IDW publishing is doing a series of comicbook adaptations of several episodes of the series. The first four issues are twoparters of Incident On and Off a Mountain Road and Dreams in the Witch-House.External links
- Review for [Incident On and Off a Mountain Road] at [DreadCentral.com]
- Review for [Dreams in the Witch-House] at [DreadCentral.com]
- Review for [Dance of the Dead] at [DreadCentral.com]
- Review for [Jenifer] at [DreadCentral.com]
- Review for [Chocolate] at [DreadCentral.com]
- Review for [Homecoming] at [DreadCentral.com]
- Review for [Deer Woman] at [DreadCentral.com]
- Review for [Cigarette Burns] at [DreadCentral.com]
- Review for [Fair-Haired Child] at [DreadCentral.com]
- Review for [Sick Girl] at [DreadCentral.com]
- Review for [Pick Me Up] at [DreadCentral.com]
- Review for [Haeckel's Tale] at [DreadCentral.com]
- Review for [Imprint] at [DreadCentral.com]
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