Masters of Horror is officially dead. Showtime’s “commitment” to the series only lasted a grand total of two seasons, and their pledge to leave the series unedited is beyond questionable. The Masters of Horror anthology series has been reborn as Fear Itself on a major network meaning that it’s probably nothing more than a watered down pretender to the throne, but those who have waited patiently for the second season of Masters of Horror to be reborn as a complete collection needn’t wait any longer.

The second season of Masters of Horror brings back some of the directors who worked on season one. Tobe Hooper, John Ladis, John Carpenter, Mick Garris, Joe Dante, Stuart Gordon and Dario Argento all once again partake in bringing horror fans tales that they hope will make their skin crawl and give them nightmares. There are newcomers to season two as well however. Ernest Dickerson, director of Bones and Demon Knight offers a tale of vampires while Brad Anderson, a name known by many for his cult hit Session 9, brings with him a tale that in many ways isn’t too much unlike something that you might see on The Twilight Zone or The X-Files. Wrong Turn director Rob Schmidt takes a twist on the concept of euthanasia while Tom Holland, director of Child’s Play and Fright Night brings with him the terror and fear of your local, not-so-friendly, ice cream man. Even Japanese director Tsuruta Norio is a part of season two, and it seemed as though Masters of Horror was poising itself to not only feature well-known directors as well as newcomers who may have a good career in horror, producers also seemed to be looking outside of North America for talent, and there is plenty of it in Asia.

The first season of Masters of Horror was released in great looking crypt, the perfect box to house the series and the right thing to mirror what the series itself stood for. Anchor Bay really has done some great collector’s editions in the past, so you’d have to wonder what they could possibly release for the second season to outdo themselves. You will find that the Masters of Horror: The Complete Second Season is house in a skull, yet another thing that perfectly illustrates what type of series you can expect if you’re not familiar with it.

The skull isn’t some cheap rubber or cardboard but a nice, durable plastic and designed in such a way that it looks old. The Masters of Horror logo is printed on the front of the skull in grim, black letter that, from a distance, almost looks like a barcode until you get close enough to read it. The top of the skull lifts off to reveal the series. All of the disc sit in an upright position and are held in place in individual slots, though there wasn’t enough room for all thirteen discs. That doensn’t mean that you are being shorted any of the episode, and all thirteen are included, but four episodes are found on double-sided “flipper” discs and unfortunately, there isn’t any additional features that weren’t found on original, single-disc releases of the series.

Although I don’t think that the second season of Masters of Horror is nearly as good as what the first was, this complete collection really makes up for any issues that anyone could have with the series. With other Anchor Bay unique packaging in my DVD collection, more and more there is a horrific section being constructed with a crypt, two variations of the Book of the Dead, and now a skull. This is one complete collection that is must own even if you’re not a fan of the series and is certain to gain stares and attract attention from all who gaze upon it.
 

-mike-