Eli Roth's History of Horror: Season 1

Starring - Eli Roth (Green Inferno, Death Wish), Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead, Creepshow), and Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, Halloween)

Release Date - 2018

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "What screams are made of"

Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I discovered horror when I was in the fourth grade when I got my first set of Goosebumps books.  Soon I was diving head first into the works of Stephen King and Loren Coleman.  Horror and cryptids have been a huge part of my life for over 20 years.  Considering I'm only 34 I would say horror has shaped my life.  Over the years I've watched so many amazing documentaries on some of my favorite horror flicks, as well as, iconic horror films.  I was curious to check out Eli Roth's History of Horror when I received the press release for the DVD release of season 1.  I reached out to them and they were kind enough to send a copy my way.  Thanks guys!

     The first season consists of seven episodes that discusses the topics of vampires, zombies, slashers, creatures, possession, and ghosts.  Each episode takes the topic discussing the history and the impact it had on certain horror legends with that legend discussing how it influenced them.

     Over the years I've collected several horror documentaries and reviewed several of them here at Horror Society.  Most focus on one particular film while others discuss horror in general.  I recently reviewed season one of Cursed Films for Shudder.  My biggest complaint about that series was that it didn't deliver new information to horror fans.  Instead, it was a series that focused on information and stories that most horror fans already know.  Eli Roth's History of Horror does the same.  We get information that was common knowledge among horror fans but it is mixed with the filmmakers, authors, and personalities with how it inspired them with their work.  Honestly, the series should have been more of interviewing filmmakers and the like about how these movies influenced them more so the history of it.  We know movies like Psycho, Black Christmas and so on inspired the slasher sub-genre before Friday the 13th exploded.  We know Romero's Night of the Living Dead forever changed the zombie.  We didn't need 7 episodes ranging 5 hours to tell us this.  The interviews are somewhat informative.  Sure, the common knowledge stuff is discussed but I was really pulled in by hearing people like Stephen King and Rob Zombie talk about the films that inspired them.  The topics discussed are nicely broke up over each episode.  This really does help keep everything in order and nice and neat for the viewer.  Not interested in vampires then you can skip that episode.  I really liked how they were approached.  Finally, I liked how the series was edited and transitions between interviews.  It was extremely smooth and made each topic a lot easier to follow.  Overall, Eli Roth's History of Horror: Season 1 is a fun watch but avid horror fans will find it to be repetitive.  The series spends most of the time discussing common knowledge but hearing these legends discuss their inspiration and love for certain films was very entertaining.  I would highly suggest throwing this one on during this Halloween season.