MASTERS OF HORROR creator Mick Garris confirmed to Fango that his new NBC/Lionsgate series FEAR ITSELF will indeed be the revamped season three of MASTERS OF HORROR, albeit with commercial network strictures. So how will FEAR differ from HORROR, besides a shorter running time (to accommodate commercials) and Standards and Practices issues that did not concern Garris and co. when they called cable channel Showtime home for the first two seasons? “The philosophy [behind FEAR ITSELF] is very similar to MASTERS: get the best people we can making the best and most varied horror films we can in their own particular style,” he tells us. “We hope to stretch the boundaries of network television horror, which may be a bit more doable in the wake of the acceptance of gruesome sequences in the latest medical and cop shows. But Lionsgate will be releasing uncensored DVD and international versions, which will probably be at least five minutes longer than the network versions.”
Garris previously pushed the network horror barrier with his short-lived NBC series THE OTHERS, as well as in his Stephen King miniseries THE STAND and THE SHINING and his nasty DESPERATION telemovie (like THE STAND, a Lionsgate DVD release). So if anyone can pull off a scary network anthology series, it may indeed be Garris and his FEAR ITSELF collaborators. The producer/writer/director sees a few advantages to the NBC jump as well. “It’s a chance to reach a much, much wider audience,” he says. Regarding which MASTERS veterans might be returning, Garris adds, “We have several of the guys, and a bunch of new ones, eager to do it, but nothing on paper yet. We’re just starting.”
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