Guest Author - Andy Boxall

Although the big screen is where horror has flourished and grown, television has still played an important part in the recognition of the genre. Of course, rarely do you find the more extreme examples popping up on the schedules, but it’s easy to find films such as the Universal monster series, Hammer or Amicus pictures and occasionally, some of the more obscure offerings that are hard on any other format.

It was through this ease of watching the ‘classics’ that many fans started out becoming interested in horror, especially in the years before VHS became popular in the home. But it wasn’t just films that horror fans could tune into on their TV’s, as every so often a decent horror serial would turn up too. With the success of the new Masters of Horror TV series, let’s take a look at some of the examples that went before it.

Although shows such as The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits were more sic-fi based than horror, some of the more surreal episodes could be frightening. The same could be said for Alfred Hitchcock Presents and the UK produced Tales of the Unexpected. These psychological serials all featured strange stories that preyed on the mind after the closing credits; exactly like a good horror should do.

Tales from the Crypt was a different case however, as most of the episodes had horrific origins. Although many horror fans disliked the way it treated the material and hated the Crypt Keeper, there is no doubt that most episodes were well made, well acted and creepily effective.

Other TV shows to cash-in on a popular movie franchise included Freddy’s Nightmares, where child-killer Freddy introduces various stories about the residents of the infamous Elm Street. Lasting for only 40 episodes, Nightmares too often felt like a money-making exercise using a once effective movie chiller. Robert Englund is always good value though!

Around the same time came a horror TV show that although it shared the name of a very famous movie franchise, had seemingly nothing to do with it. The show was Friday the 13th: The Series where cousin’s Micki and Ryan recovered antiques that had been sold by their uncle following a pact he made with the Devil. Lasting only a short while longer that Freddy’s TV outing, this was a far more effective TV horror, with likeable characters and interesting, frightening storylines.

Friday the 13th: The Series played a little like the more supernatural episodes of the X-Files, which also had its fair share of scary stories. In particular, Squeeze and its follow- up Tooms from Series One certainly had plenty of horror elements to them.

Comedy-horror was obviously a far better TV ‘fit’ than simply horror alone, but is actually left rather wanting. The usual suspects of The Addams Family and The Munsters carry the flag and lasted for many seasons, but other than the very surreal UK children’s show Rentaghost and the always great Simpsons seasonal Treehouse of Horror anthologies, nothing else has been popular.

Recently however, it is the Masters of Horror series that has dragged decent horror back onto television. Season two is well under way in the USA and season one has just been released on DVD in the UK. It is refreshing to see these famous directors embracing the small screen, when many of their peers still regard it as a career graveyard. The excellence of this series goes a long way to proving them wrong and long may it continue!