What began as a modest Bonus Feature for Severin Films’ upcoming Special Edition Blu-ray of The Theatre Bizarre became – when Covid hit – a Zoom-enabled feature-length documentary on the evolution, challenges, and all-time Top 5 anthologies – and anthology segments – in horror history. TALES OF THE UNCANNY – THE ULTIMATE SURVEY OF ANTHOLOGY HORROR will have its world premiere at Abertoir – The International Horror Festival of Wales October 28th-November 1.
“We had a lot of fun with our COVID Project, and it gave friends and colleagues a chance to ponder and articulate the enduring appeal of the format,” says co-producer Kier-La Janisse. “The anthology horror film is an extension of much older traditions of storytelling that are especially valued in the horror community, and though the films are by nature a mixed bag, there’s a reason we keep returning to them again and again.”
Co-hosts/producers David Gregory (director of the award-winning Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau) and Kier-La Janisse (author of House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films) queried a global roster of more than 60 horror writers, directors and scholars that include Eli Roth, Joe Dante, Mark Hartley, Mick Garris, Ernest Dickerson, Joko Anwar, Ramsey Campbell, David DeCoteau, Kim Newman, Jovanka Vuckovic, Luigi Cozzi, Tom Savini, Jenn Wexler, Larry Fessenden, Richard Stanley, Michael Gingold, Brian Trenchard-Smith, Brian Yuzna, Gary Sherman, Rebekah McKendry and Peter Strickland in a candid discussion of such film/TV classics as Dead of Night, Kwaidan, Spirits of the Dead, Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, The House That Dripped Blood, Creepshow, Trilogy of terror, V/H/S, and many, many more!
“I’ve loved horror anthologies since seeing THE MONSTER CLUB when I was 9,” says director/co-producer David Gregory. “And most horror filmmakers and fans love them too, often getting into heated discussions about their favorites. Kier-La and I decided to ask our horror industry colleagues and friends to determine the experts’ Top 5 films and segments that would make the ultimate horror omnibus movie. The results surprised us all.”
TALES OF THE UNCANNY – THE ULTIMATE SURVEY OF ANTHOLOGY HORROR will be available this November – in tandem with THE THEATRE BIZARRE Special Edition – as a Severin Films’ Limited-Edition Blu-ray featuring special anthology horror archival rarities.
