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 United States 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 filmdirector. 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]
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.
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 difficult to break away.
Short 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.
Story by : Sean Hood Teleplay by : Sean Hood and Lucky McKee
January 13, 2006 (2006-01-13)
A horror comedy in which a lesbianentomologist starts a relationship with another woman, but then also finds herself involved with a rather predatory and aggressive insect.
Short 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.
A 19th-century American tourist in Japan 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]
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.
A young married couple moves into a new home and meet their seemingly venerable neighbor Harold. Harold is in fact a psychoticserial killer who has created a family using the skeletons of his former victims, which he has kidnapped and murdered throughout the years.
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.
Short 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 the 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.
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.
Short 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.
Short 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Short 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.
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] On September 25, 2007, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Mick Garris and Lionsgate signed a 13-episode deal with NBC. Instead of a third season of the show, a new show called Fear Itself was created with the same premise as Masters of Horror. It premiered on NBC in June 2008.
A two-disc soundtrack was released for the series in October 2005 on Immortal Records. The album features heavy metal and hard rock acts with a few acoustic pieces. A second volume was released a year later.
