The Horror Channel
October 2, 2003 3:41 PM   Subscribe

The Horror Channel A 24-hour, all-horror, uncensored, digital cable channel plans to be launched for Halloween 2004, with programming to include classic and contemporary movies, specials, documentaries and original series’ each season. CEO and founder Nicholas A. Psaltos (former Director of Acquisitions and Program Administration at Bravo Television Networks) hopes the new genre network will capitalize on the success of other genre channels like Comedy Central and The Sci-Fi Channel. Psaltos has even put together a creative advisory board of genre legends and newcomers including John Carpenter, Roger Corman, Wes Craven, Guillermo del Toro, Tobe Hooper, Stuart Gordon, Lucky McKee, Eli Roth, George Romero and Rob Zombie. Starting a TV network is risky business and The Horror Channel is petitioning horror fans to help with programming by providing a survey on their consumer website. (Via Rue Morgue)
posted by Jeffy (17 comments total)
 
god, i'm gonna have nightmares all the time now. I hope they can get the viewing rights to enough movies--many cable channels are so limited in what they can show.
posted by amberglow at 4:27 PM on October 2, 2003


I thought the Sci-Fi channel sounded cool before I saw how horribly they were going to waste the opportunity. Hard to imagine this won't be more of the same, but I guess there's always hope.
posted by willnot at 4:31 PM on October 2, 2003


The horror... The horror.
posted by keswick at 4:40 PM on October 2, 2003


"Time, time, time... to understand the horror..."
posted by kindall at 4:54 PM on October 2, 2003


Horror is a lost art. In the last 10 years there has been maybe 5 good horror movies. And forget about monster movies, I contend that the last great monster movie was Alien. I just don't think there is enough quality material to supply a 24 hour station.
posted by pejamo at 5:39 PM on October 2, 2003


Up in Canada, we've had Scream for quite some time, which is just brilliantly programmed. I really can't imagine how they'd do any better, to be honest.

pejamo: Clearly, you're not watching the right horror. Not only is there more than enough horror for a 24-hour station (as evidenced by Scream), but the last three/four years have produced some incredible horror films, not to mention the best Godzilla/Gamera/misc kaiju flicks since the 60s.
posted by Jairus at 5:54 PM on October 2, 2003


I contend that the last great monster movie was Alien.

pejamo, you're clearly forgetting/omitting a few, like John Carpenter's The Thing, The mother from Dead Alive (Braindead to our european friends) and so many others. I agree the medium is faltering a bit, but come on....
posted by Busithoth at 6:32 PM on October 2, 2003


Being a bit old school, I am soooo hoping for gratuitous Hammer Films from way back when. Some of those were just so damn cool - in a campy way, naturally. Some of them were pretty racy for their time, including The Vampire Lovers, starring the delectable Ingrid Pitt.
posted by elendil71 at 8:53 PM on October 2, 2003


The best horror movie of all time is the Exorcist. meh... I had a hard time just typing that name. I'm still scared of stairs.
posted by stavrogin at 11:35 PM on October 2, 2003


Like most specialty channels, at the witching hour it will magically turn into 8+ hours of infomercials.

I gave up on cable TV.

The original lure was to sorta get away from the damn things. I ain't gonna pay for'em.
posted by RavinDave at 12:33 AM on October 3, 2003


Man am I going to be tired after spending the next year bouncing up and down expectantly...I sure hope this turns out to be good.
posted by hilatron at 4:35 AM on October 3, 2003


Oh! I don't want to give more money to Time Warner for digital cable! But now I'm going to have to.

Gratuitous Hammer Films!! Documentaries! Yay!

Programming blocks and/or special event programming I'd like to see: Italian horror, Japanese horror, various monsters (like Zombie Week or Modern Vampires Week), demonic possession movies, psycho killer movies, ensemble cast blood baths, Wes Craven: from Genius to Hack...

They could easily expand it into thriller and suspense, too, to keep the programming fresh. Even without that expansion, I don't think they'd have a problem with programming (especially since, as RavinDave pointed out, it will be all informercials in the wee hours) but I'm a little obsessive about the genre and would happily sit down to watch movies I've seen so often I have the dialog memorized again and again.
posted by jennyb at 7:23 AM on October 3, 2003


This will be a good, good thing if it meets two conditions:

(1) I can get it
(2) They show Night of the Lepus on a regular basis. That and Piranha 2: The Spawning.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:45 AM on October 3, 2003


Night of the Lepus... good call. I just watched it a month or so ago. Nothing scarier than gigantic bunny rabbits, I tell ya.
posted by laze at 10:10 AM on October 3, 2003


Oooh oooh oooh, and they would of course want to have not just horror movies ranging from sublime to ridiculous, but old/cancelled television as well: Night Stalker, Dark Shadows, Night Gallery, and the like.
posted by hilatron at 10:41 AM on October 3, 2003


This could be the event to convince me buy a television after 7 1/2 blissful years without one. Far too many DVDs of obscure movies are hacked prints, and if this channel makes an effort to restore some of the more classic among them, I'm there!

+hilatron, re: Night Stalker! ;-P
posted by mischief at 11:11 AM on October 3, 2003


Well, Comedy Central and the Sci-Fi channel almost always broadcast editted-for-TV versions of R-movies. I don't see how this could be a good idea if all the "good" parts of the shows are cut.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:41 PM on October 3, 2003


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