Back in the early ’90s, Showtime took note of the success HBO was having with their horror anthology series Tales from the Crypt and decided they wanted in on that action. So they reached out to popular genre filmmaker John Carpenter and his wife/producing partner Sandy King to develop an anthology series called Body Bags. Carpenter directed what was meant to be the first two episodes of the show, and brought in fellow genre icon Tobe Hooper to direct the third. Unfortunately, Showtime decided they didn’t want to run the show after all, and not even the fact that it was hosted by Carpenter himself, hamming it up as a character called The Coroner, was enough to get them to order more episodes. So the three episodes that had been shot were assembled into the 1993 feature anthology Body Bags. A decade later, Showtime did run a horror anthology series called Masters of Horror, which Carpenter and Hooper both contributed to. And now, The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that there’s a new Carpenter anthology series in the works. The legendary filmmaker has signed on to executive produce a show that’s appropriately titled John Carpenter Presents for Elevation Pictures.
Created and showrun by Michael Amo (Pure, The Listener) and Will Pascoe (Orphan Black, Absentia), the first season of John Carpenter Presents will be set in the remote wilderness of Alaska. As a diverse group of characters face a chilling mix of supernatural and existential terror, the anthology series will explore the hidden fears and social anxieties of our time. It’s said that this Canadian anthology series will “channel both Carpenter’s visual style and musical sensibility.”
Christina Piovesan of Elevation Pictures provided the following statement: “We’re thrilled to launch into the television space with the master of horror, John Carpenter. Will and Michael bring deep experience in writing and showrunning and we can’t be more excited for this creative team to bring this series to audiences.” John Carpenter and Sandy King Carpenter will be executive producing the show through their company Storm King Productions. Amo and Pascoe are also executive producing.
I will be difficult for John Carpenter Presents to live up to what Body Bags could have been (judging by the first three episodes) if Showtime had gone ahead with the series, and to live up to what Masters of Horror was, but I look forward to seeing how it turns out.
Does John Carpenter Presents sound like an anthology you’d like to watch? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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