Masters of Horror on Showtime

[Latte Thunder]

I can't believe this hasn't been discussed here already. I nearly shit my pants when I saw the write up on it in Rue Morgue. Masters of Horror is a seriously big deal! Here's the skinny:

It's a horror anthology series produced for Showtime by Mick Garris who is responsible for directing a lot of the made for TV Stephen King adaptations. Each episode is an hour long and is directed by a noted horror director past and present. The first episode, Incident On and Off A Mountain Road, is directed by Don Coscarelli based on a short by Joe Lansdale. Future episodes are being directed by John Landis, Joe Dante, Takashi Miike, Dario Argento, Tobe Hooper, John Carpenter, Lucky McKee, Stuart Gordon, Mick Garris, John McNaughton, Larry Cohen and the guy who did Feardotcom (you can't win 'em all, I guess).

If the first episode is any indication of things to come, this is going to be solid shit for the rest of us fans. It concerns the fate of a woman leaving her abusive, survivalist husband only to run into "car trouble" on a remote mountain road. She's waylaid by a deranged killer in the forest, captured and held in his basement, forced to watch him perform his murder ritual on another unlucky victim. She's also kept with the only survivor of Moonface's (the killer's name) kidnapping, an elderly lunatic chatterbox named Buddy (played by Angus Scrimm). She has to rely on the survival skills gleaned from her husband to escape.

It's a tight one hour script with some outstanding KNB effects and a cool killer. The photography is fantastic and it really shows off how far Coscarelli has come since Phantasm. This is definitely something to keep your eyes out for.

When the series ends (a second season is already scheduled for production) Anchor Bay will produce the boxed set for those without Showtime.

[MetalGoddess]

I just read about this series in the newspaper this morning. It sounds killer (pardon the pun). I wonder if Showtime has it On Demand. If so, I'll watch it this morning.

[llapman]

I've been waiting for this for quite awhile, but alas, I do not have Showtime. That's ok, since they will be putting them on DVD via Anchor Bay a month or so after they air. Here's hoping Dario Argento can finally drag himself out of the rut he's been in since he put out Trauma.

C-YA

[MrFulci]

I watched part of the epsiode that aired last night. Directed by Coscarelli.

The episode definately had a "made-for-TV" feel, however, I pretty much expected that.

I was watching this while I fixed something to eat, so I didnt' catch all of it.

Seemed like a girl driving around encounters a serial killer. I thought it was funny how a cell phone became a part of the action, they had to get that method of escape/help out of the way early on I guess.

Girl runs, she's chased after. Then she's locked in a house with an old man. The serial killer doesn't like, "Sexy" things. ummmmm Later on she grabs a gun from somewhere. hahahha, this description......

During the episode there were also flashbacks to a relationship the girl was in, and how this guy eventually says he felt she was weak and he wanted to make her strong. Based upon her situation with that guy, she uses her strength to kick serial killer ass. It was funny.

The episode didn't hold my attention too well, and the flashbacks didn't do much for me. I'm curious how the other episodes will be.

The Mike Tyson fights from 1986 that aired on ESPN the day before, the TV had my full attention at that time.

I didn't watch the episode with my full attention, so take what you will from my opinion.

[Griff [Mola]]

Currently downloadable from usenet.

[Kimberly]

I've been waiting for this for quite awhile, but alas, I do not have Showtime. That's ok, since they will be putting them on DVD via Anchor Bay a month or so after they air. Here's hoping Dario Argento can finally drag himself out of the rut he's been in since he put out Trauma.

C-YA

Was Stendhal Syndrome done after Trauma? If so, Stendhal is a really good movie... and Sleepless wasn't that bad... Phantom and The Card Player though were total stinkers!!

[MetalGoddess]

I watched the first episode last night. I thought it was scarey as hell!! It was a good story. I was surprised at what happened at the end when she opened the trunk, then went back to the killer's house.

Hope the rest are just as good.

[Latte Thunder]

Episode 2 aired on friday night and it was the balls.

Stuart Gordon directed Lovecraft's Dreams in the Witch House and it was very reminiscent of his best 80's material. It had some goofy puppet special effects, a Richard Band soundtrack and was bloody as fuck. Oh! And boobs.

This is really shaping up and living up to the hype. I salute Mick Garris for this idea.

[Griff [Mola]]

Remember when Brian Yuzna had a similar idea back in the early 90's? He was trying to get a series of movies off the ground based on the 7 deadly sins. The idea was to get some of the big names in horror at the time to helm each installment - most of whom ended up on MoH.

[stypees back]

Was Stendhal Syndrome done after Trauma? If so, Stendhal is a really good movie... and Sleepless wasn't that bad... Phantom and The Card Player though were total stinkers!!

I kinda' dug The Card Player and Sleepless.. Totally must agree with you on PHANTOM, man that was dreadful.

Anyone pick up the PLUMMAGE SE yet? Thoughts???


I checked out the first MASTERS OF HORROR and DVR'D it. I think they really did a fine job with the first episode. I just can't figure out when the next one is supposed to air. I've got everything programmed for new episodes but nothing has come up since. Did I miss something?

[MrFulci]

Argento is alright. I have The Car Player. I will watch it sometime, though I'm not too eager. A serial killer an internet poker.... it doesn't soudn too interesting.

I still haven't seen Sleepless. I'll get around to it sometime.

I picked up the Plumage 2 disc SE. The picture is clear. Lots of Sound Mixes here (5.1, English, Itallian, original Mono, etc).

I havent checked out the extras disc yet. it has 4 interviews. I'll get to it sometime. A decent disc set.

Plumage is one of the best Argento films I've seen. It's not quite Hitchcock (as the trailers say), but I would say it's on the same level as some of Hitchcock's work, such as Family Plot.

BU also released Strip Nude for Your Killer. It's goofy fun, it's a dark comedy of sorts. Don't take it seriously, and you'll be alright.

[Rich]

I just watched Don Coscarelli's short and it was alright, nothing special but watchable. I just wish we knew more about moonface, the characters just didn't have any depth and ol' Angus Scrimm finally picked up some acting work from his old Phantasm director buddy, what was the deal with his character anyway? I like the idea of the Masters Of Horror series, I'll be checking out the others soon. This first installment felt like a Tales From The Crypt episode, in a way the series sort of is eh.

[MrFulci]

It didn't seem anything like a Tales from the Crypt episode to me. Tales from the Crypt pretty much always had some sort of humour to it, even if it was subtle.

I can't think of any TV series I could compare Masters of Horror to. It's more like what I woudl expect from an anthology horror movie such as Nightmares, Two Evil Eyes, etc.

[DylanDog]

Of particular interest to me and Kimberly, from the Residents bog:

"The Residents will be scoring a film as part of the Showtime series, Masters of Horror. The film is directed by John McNaughton (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Wild Things). John had previously used scattered Resident music bits on a 2000 indie doc on artist George Condo called Condo Painting. "

[Latte Thunder]

Fucking awesome, Dave! I had no idea about that. There's a soundtrack CD, but it's all this new metalcore stuff. The Residents aren't even mentioned in the press for this show. Not surprising as most people wouldn't know who the fuck they were.