Summary
While Halloween has become spooky season for every streaming service out there, it feels as though the horror genre in general is more popular than ever. Horror movies are getting released all year long and while not every single one of them gets box office blowouts, it definitely feels like there’s a groundswell that has the public always asking for more.
The renewed popularity of thehorrorgenre, not just in October but all 12 months of the year, means that it’s the perfect time to bring back one of the best horror series of all time. When it was first put on the airwaves,Masters of Horrorlaunched at the wrong time. Even if the show managed to find a platform that looked like it might allow it to thrive, it couldn’t find an audience because while horror was always popular, it didn’t find purchase because there wasn’t the kinda ofclamoring for orignial horror storieslike there is now. If the show made a comeback, it could be quite a bit more successful.
Masters Of Horror Walked So A Revival Could Run
The original Masters of Horror aired on Showtime andfeatured horror shortsfrom some of the best directors and writers in the genre.Re-Animator’s Stuart Gordon,John Carpenter,Phantasm’sDon Coscarelli andGremlins’ Joe Dante were just a few of the creators that Mick Garris was able to team up with to make the show work.
Masters of Horror allowedpeople like Joe Danteto do something that might not have been a commercial hit.
Masters of Horror allowedpeople like Joe Danteto do something that might not have been a commercial hit. Might not have even been greenlit, even with his successful name. It allowed them to take some risks and do some stuff they’d never really done before in front of bigger audiences. It also allowed creators who normally didn’t do much in the horror genre, such as John Landis and his story titled “Family,” to show off their chops in filmmaking in general.
The show also allowed actors, such as George Wendt as the psycho in charge in “Family” to spread their wings and show they too were well cut out for horror, even if most people only saw the actors in more traditional works. Even in 2005, when the anthology series was released, Wendy was more well known as thelovable lush fromCheers, but he got to play a man who we genuinely scary.
Despite the star power behind the scripts and behind the camera, teamed up with surprising star power in front of the camera and starring in the anthology series, Masters of Horror was canceled after justtwo seasons on Showtime. But now, 19 years later, it certainly feels as though it’s time to try and bring it back. And it seems as if someone like Mick Garris would be more than willing to do his part. And while guys like John Carpenter and Ti West would be an awesome start to the roster, the idea of some of the best horror directors and writers of the last few years would be really exciting. Allowing them to take off any constraints they might be under and do things the studios won’t let them do would be very exciting.
The New Masters Of Horror Could Be Quite The Lineup
Imagine an anthology series that has stories from someone like Parker Finn. The man behind theSmilefranchise has managed to put out some truly scary horror movies that also include abit of humor from time to time. Allow Finn to do his own thing again, only this time in a no holds barred kind of way (yes, there are still some lines the studios won’t cross inSmile 2) It would also be a blast to see what kind of project Finn would put together for something like a newMasters of Horror.
The Original Masters of Horror is only 26 episodes
The same goes for Christopher Landonof theHappy Death Dayfranchise. He hasn’t gotten the opportunity to make one of those in five years and while he’s still trying to get Blumhouse to say to making it a real trilogy he’s been working on other things that sound more spooky.No One Will Save You’s Brian Duffield, andLate Night With The Devil’s Cameron and Colin Cairnes would also be intriguing. Throw in James Wan and Jordan Peele and there’s a show that could draw quite a few eyeballs.
A lot haschanged with the horror genreover the last 20 years. In fact, people are so into getting scared at the drop of a hat and the push of a button (or screen) that there’s even a streaming service that is dedicated to horror movies and shows, both old and new. There is not a better landing spot for this new anthology series than Shudder. Now someone just has to get everyone on board so horror fans can see this newMasters of Horrorin action.
