As far as current horror production companies go, few are as well-known as Blumhouse Productions. With films like Insidious, The Purge, Paranormal Activity, and Halloween films directed by David Gordon Green, the firm has played a major role in establishing the genre as a mainstream success. Blumhouse Television (Worst Roommate Ever) has joined up with premium network Epix to produce Blumhouse’s Compendium of Horror, a docuseries exploring the pervasiveness of horror in American society and our insatiable need for all things scary. On October 2 at 10 p.m. EDT/PDT, the first episode of the five-part series will air. Compendium of Horror is a film history book that will chronicle the scariest moments in the history of horror movies.
The series will feature producers, directors, actors, and more from across the industry, as well as historians and specialists, to speak about the enduring effect of horror from the 1930s, when stars like Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff ruled, to the wide-ranging horror of today. All in all, it’s supposed to make you think about the ways in which frights have served as unifiers, confronted actual evils, and terrified audiences. Blumhouse chose Robert Englund, one of the most famous actors in the horror genre, to narrate this retrospective. Most people recognise Englund from his role as Freddy Kruger in the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Kruger is a legendary slasher villain with the likes of Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Chucky, and Ghostface.
However, his contributions to the horror genre extend far beyond Freddy, as he has also starred in a number of lesser-known but still highly regarded films, such as Maniacs, Eaten Alive, and Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, in which he played the mysterious Dr Loomis-like psychiatrist Doc Halloran. The docu-series is executive produced by Jason Blum, Mary Lisio, Ryan Turek, Jeremy Gold, Michael Wright, and Jill Burkhart, with James Buddy Day additionally acting as the show’s showrunner.
As Day previously directed and produced Fall River, this is his second time working on a Blumhouse/Epix co-production. Michael Wright, president of Epix, issued a comment about the network’s ongoing partnership with Blumhouse and its sustained commitment to the horror genre “As always, our collaboration with Blumhouse Television on groundbreaking ideas is something we look forward to immensely. We couldn’t think of a better partner to analyse the history of the horror film genre than Blumhouse, which has continually pushed the standard in the horror field for over 20 years.
Horror films have been a vital part of the American cultural language for more than a century.” Blumhouse Television president Chris McCumber echoed the high regard for Epix expressed by his company “It is our sincere desire that horror lovers will take as much pleasure in viewing this series as we did in creating it. Thanks to everyone who helped make this series a success, especially our collaborators at EPIX.” On October 2nd, Epix will air the first episode of Blumhouse’s anthology horror film, Compendium of Horror.