Masters Of Horror! (Masters Of Horror)

So, in 2002, Mick Garris got an informal dinner together of fellow directors, John Carpenter, Larry Cohen, Don Coscarelli, Joe Dante, Guillermo Del Toro, Stuart Gordon, Tobe Hooper, John Landis, and Bill Malone.

At that dinner, Del Toro informally half-jokingly named the group "The Masters Of Horror".

It went so well, Garris organized other dinners, including the likes of Dario Argento, Eli Roth, David Cronenberg, Tim Sullivan, Rob Zombie, Bryan Singer, William Lustig, Lucky McKee, Ernest Dickerson, Kat O’ Shea, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, James Gunn, Mary Lambert, Tom Holland, Peter Medak, Ti West, Lloyd Kaufman, Ken Russel, and more.

In 2005, Garris created an anthology show, featuring the writing and/or directing of many of the Masters, called "Masters Of Horror", making the name official.

Of the ones I've covered, the ones on the show have been Don Coscarelli, Stuart Gordon, Tobe Hooper, Joe Dante, John Landis, John Carpenter, Larry Cohen, John McNaughton, and Tom Holland.

Two episodes were based on Clive Barker stories, one on Edgar Allen Poe, and one on H.P. Lovecraft.

Then, Showtime pulled out of it, so, they moved it to NBC, and renamed it "Fear Itself".

Of the directors on that one, I only recognize John Landis, Stuart Gordon, and Ronnny Yu (Freddy vs Jason).

Then, that spun off into "Masters Of Science Fiction", and the only recognizable director there at all is Jonathan Frakes.

They did adapt Robert A. Heinlein, and Harlan Ellison though.
So, at least the material was good.

Aaand, then it all sputtered out.

But, it's like that old Dr. Seuss quote "don't be sad it ended, be glad it happened".
I try to live my life by that.

Anyhoo, the individual episodes are out there as feature releases.
Track them down if you like.

Stuart Gordon's Poe episode has Jeffrey Combs as Poe.
Hey, there ya go.

And, there, that ties this year's theme all together...

Up next, more treats.