This episode of the Horror TV Shows We Miss video series was Written and Narrated by Niki Minter, Edited by Adam Walton, Produced by John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

The Chiller Channel was a huge gateway for me. I had been exposed to whatever my mom watched previous to that, or whatever weird shit I found at 2AM… it’s more than you think. Chiller brought me the things I missed out on when they originally aired. One of those is Night Visions.

Night Visions originally aired in 2001, though it was meant to air the year prior, but one of our previous series, Freakylinks took its place. I’m not upset about this– Freakylinks was the series we deserved. Then on July 6th, 2001, brooding punk poet and man of many black tees, Henry Rollins entered our homes through the small screen. He’d probably give me shit for using the word brooding. I do love me some Rollins poetry though. If you are familiar with Uncle Hank, you know he is more intimidating than terrifying. More on that in a moment…

Night Visions was an anthology series created by Dan Angel and Billy Brown. Angel has certainly dabbled in some of the more noteworthy of the genre from John Carpenter’s Body Bags to Goosebumps to The X-Files. Then on the other hand, Brown has just as many credits and many of the same as his partner in crime. Brown has tag teamed on many of R.L. Stine’s TV projects. I get it. If Stine called me up to work on literally anything, I would be there. Horror fangirly dreams aside, Night Visions was pretty stacked for the given budget. They had actors like Timothy Olyphant, Thora Birch, Cary Elwes, Malcolm McDowell, Miguel Ferrer, Natasha Lyonne, Pam Grier, Amanda Plummer, and Aidan Quinn. You have writing and directing talent that includes Jose Rivera, Joe Dante, Tobe Hooper, and Keith Gordon. This sounds amazing so far, right? Right.

I think the series often getting mixed up with the likes of Outer Limits, Twilight Zone (the newer ones), and to some extent, Beyond Belief is a bit of an injustice. Unfortunately it didn’t get the fair chance it originally deserved. There was a bit of overlap as those 3 shows were running around the same time. The showrunners had a clear idea of what they wanted the series to be, and it just quietly slipped through the cracks. First starting with Fox, who thought it was strong, but also wanted to add their flair. Which brings us back to Uncle Hank. It wasn’t originally intended for the series to have an actual host, if anything, it would be something more of a voiceover/narrator. The network actually made it a make or break situation– they either had a host or they had no show. Apparently, Gary Oldman was interested in taking on the role, but the studio pushed ultimately to have Rollins who they had been courting so to speak. Rollins was supposed to have a recurring role on X-Files and instead they got him for this. Rollins liked the idea of being a Rod Sterling, we all do, so I can’t blame him. It irks me slightly that some viewers are critical of having Rollins as a host. I think it’s actually one of the more memorable things about the series.

Fave Episodes:

I’m going to spoil these a little throughout so if you’ve never seen this series, maybe skip then circle back to this part when you’ve done the deed.

A View Through the Window (Ep 3): This episode trips me the hell out, much like that Monsters episode, The Waiting Game. I wanted to start with this one because I think it’s an episode that everyone references when it comes to the tops in anthology horror. From the beginning, you have no idea what’s going on. I spent most of the time with my wheels spinning. I really wanted Bill Pullman to get his happy ending, and I naively thought this was achievable. The tale is based on a short story called Window from Bob Leman. Pullman plays Major Ben Darnell, a Physicist Army Major who is brought to the middle of a desert on a special assignment. When Ben gets there, he finds what appears to be a one-way window with a view to a family on a prairie, having split with his wife losing his child, he begins to romanticizes a life he could still have. The army is trying to break through the window, and he finds that at certain times the barrier breaks… and that’s all you need to know at this point. Pullman himself directed this one and I think he did a rather lovely job in regards to the imagery and how the story is portrayed on screen. I have a feeling that several of you have had nightmares about this one.

The Maze (Ep 11): I pretty much adore everything about this episode, and I think a big reason why has to do with the fact that it parallels my own dreams. Do you ever have that? Even more bizarre that it’s Tobe Hooper’s vision and this is not the first time this has happened with him. The idea that this maze serves as a portal through time is kind of great on several levels. I didn’t think that the episode would go where it did a couple of times, and you’re thrown off immediately. It starts with Amanda Plummer– just envision me pointing at my TV like Rick Dalton. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever been offered a DVD or DVD player in exchange for a date. It’s like a white van candy scenario for cinephiles. Thora Birch is an awesome lead, and definitely a legend amongst the spooky, cynical gals. The episode also utilizes liminal Horror before we coined the phrase. The ending serves as a bittersweet reminder to us all.

Bitter Harvest (Ep 8): Who is one of the all-time creepiest dudes? My number one guy. You likely will not guess on the first, or probably second and third tries– it’s Jack Palance. I mean, Torture Garden, Alone in the Dark, Craze, and this episode. When I was little, I had this irrational fear of old people, and thanks Jack Palance for reminding me. I think that’s kind of the beauty of Palance as an actor. He’s intimidating and his voice makes you feel like crawling under your blankie. In the episode he plays Jake, the neighbor on the farm to Brendan Fletcher’s character, Shane, who keeps trespassing to fish in his pond. One day the old man, Jake catches him and while trying to chase him, Jake slips into a running wood chipper and loses both of his arms. Instead of telling Shane’s parents that he’s the reason behind the accident, he tells them that he was fishing in his pond and in exchange for this wants Shane to help him around the farm. What Shane doesn’t know is that the old man is pushing for a little karma. There’s so many unsettling moments in this and the relationship between Fletcher and Palance only elevates the tension. The ending is f*cked, but the roller coaster of emotions that you’re taken on are a delightful thrill.

Patterns (Ep 13): I feel like I would fail you all if I left this episode off the list. Another reason we’re choosing it has to do with the chemistry between the two actors, similar to why I chose Cutting Cards in our Tales from the Crypt episode. In this case you get Malcolm McDowell and the late and extremely great, Miguel Ferrer. The focal point of the episode revolves around Martin, portrayed by McDowell, who must persuade psychiatrist Dr. Dan Critchley, played by Ferrer, that his tics are the key to preventing the world from ending. Now if I’m being truly honest, Cutting Cards edges this one out because Walter Hill. Writer Phillip Levens does make this one worth the watch, but it feels like it needed more time. Levens wrote and served as story editor on some of my favorite Smallville episodes so he stays in my good graces forever. The final ten minutes of the episode stand out as the most powerful, and McDowell’s closing line leaves you thoroughly satisfied.

The Occupant (Ep 6): This is one I missed on the first go around. I’m kinda glad I did because I think younger me would have been scared to be in the house alone. Well, adult me actually got pretty freaked too. Even though the whole alone in the house thing is not new to Horror, it still plays with you after, if it’s done well. Bridget Fonda, who I dearly miss seeing on-screen, plays Mary, a single woman who believes someone else is living in her home. This is a bit of a different twist on, there’s someone inside the house. No, it’s not some psychotic British guy or some college freshman. I think the story is really good at building tension and revealing the truth slowly. It keeps the surprise twist hidden until the end, which makes it super interesting to watch and keeps you hooked until the big reveal. Can I also add that anytime anyone is hiding in a closet in a Horror movie my blood pressure automatically goes up? You think that after seeing this scenario play out several times that you would have some sort of expectations, but the expectation is that you’re just going to fall for it all over again. God I love this genre.

For this series, having only one season, I must admit that I love all the episodes. Which ones are your favorites?

Where to Watch:

If you seek it out, you will find it. Want something more physical? Naw. You get nothing. Can we go back to our early 2000s roots and just burn it on a DVD-R? I’m somewhat surprised this never got a physical release, and also never went to streaming. Should I blame Fox? I have no problem with this.

How it Ended/Where are we now?:

With Night Visions getting moved from Fox to Sci-Fi mid-season and ending with a weird anthology movie which was just the last few episodes minus a host, we should have known that a second season was not in the cards. I will be forever grateful that it went into syndication on Chiller though. There are episodes I feel like I may have caught on Fox, but I remember watching it in its entirety on Chiller. Fox didn’t know what they had, which is not a surprise from a network that will either pull good shows or run them into the ground. Remember when Fox was a genuinely great network? How long ago was that?

Night Visions didn’t pull any punches. For what they had to work with, they left lasting impressions with the tales they presented each week. The great tragedy of Night Visions was that we had such a strong start and never got another season.

A couple previous episodes of Horror TV Shows We Miss can be seen below. If you’d like to see more, and check out the other shows we have to offer, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!

A trailer has been released for Sung Kang’s Shaky Shivers, which reaches theatres for one night in September

Sung Kang, who is best known for playing the fan favorite role of Han in the Fast and Furious franchise, has made his feature directorial debut with the ’90s-set creature feature Shaky Shivers, and a few months ago we heard that the film had landed a North American distribution deal with Cinedigm. Now a trailer for Shaky Shivers has arrived online, and along with the trailer comes the announcement that Cinedigm is teaming up with Fathom Events to bring the film to theatres for one night in September! The specific night is September 21st, and tickets are available at THIS LINK.

Following the theatrical screening, Shaky Shivers will move to the SCREAMBOX streaming service.

Shot over the course of five weeks at a closed down girl scout camp back in 2020, Shaky Shivers takes viewers on a hilarious and nostalgic journey to an abandoned camp where two young women, played by Brooke Markham (In the Dark) and VyVy Nguyen (The Sympathizer), stumble upon a book of magical spells. Surrounded by classic monsters and drawing inspiration from 80’s horror films, Karen and Lucy find themselves facing a series of supernatural occurrences after a fateful encounter with an old woman. As zombies, werewolves, and Bigfoot wreak havoc, the duo must navigate a wild night, armed with an unfamiliar spell book, to restore order before their lives unravel completely…

Jimmy Bellinger (Blockers), Erin Daniels (House of 1000 Corpses), Skyler Day (Parenthood), and Herschel Sparber (Lucky Stiff) are also in the cast.

A press release notes that, while the film is set in the ’90s, it’s also a nostalgic tribute to ’80s horror movies. It features “a thrilling monster mash” and “captures the spirit of the ’80s classics that Kang grew up adoring”.

Kang provided the following statement: “The whole idea was to make this for the old school horror hounds and for them to share it with their families today. Little by little, we’re doing that. I couldn’t be more excited about rolling this film out.“

Brad Miska, the managing director of Bloody Disgusting/Cinedigm, had this to say: “This campy film transports us back to an era when spooky tales were shared by flashlight during slumber parties. Sung Kang’s directorial debut promises a truly unique and thrilling experience for fans. With its eclectic mix of quirky humor, chilling moments, monstrous creatures, and a captivating throwback atmosphere, fans are in for one hell of an experience this fall.“

Shaky Shivers was scripted by Aaron Strongoni and Andrew McAllister, who were inspired to write a creature feature script after making a documentary about special effects artist Gabriel Bartalos, who ended up working on the film. Kang produced the film through his company Raison D’etre, alongside Luci Y. Kim of Luka Productions and Jean Shim of Aerie On Elms. Nina Yang Bongiovi of AUM served as executive producer with Kevin M. Lin, Michael Y. Chow, and Brian Yang.

What did you think of the Shaky Shivers trailer? Let us know by leaving a comment below. I’m really looking forward to checking this one out.

Bradley Cooper’s sophomoric directorial effort finds the actor back in a music-themed romance with Carey Mulligan for Netflix.

Awards season is over the horizon, and while films like Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon are going to be big releases for Apple Originals, Netflix will be throwing its hat into the fray with Bradley Cooper’s new drama, Maestro. Cooper, who has already gained acclaim as a writer and director with his Academy Award-nominated remake of A Star is Born from 2018, returns in the trifecta duty of writing, directing, and starring in Maestro alongside Carey Mulligan, whose credits include The Great Gatsby and had garnered positive reviews for her performance in Promising Young Woman. Netflix has now released the trailer for Cooper’s romance drama.

The plot synopsis, according to Deadline, reads,
Billed as an emotionally epic examination of family and love, Maestro tells the complex love story of Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein (Carey Mulligan) — a story that spans over 30 years. Perhaps best known for his score to Broadway’s West Side Story and the classic Marlon Brando film On the Waterfront, Bernstein married the actress in 1951 and went on to share three children with her, with the couple splitting their time between New York and Connecticut. Complicating the dynamic between the duo were the affairs he had over the years, with both men and women, even as they were conducted with Felicia’s consenting awareness. The pair were separated at one point for a period of a year, though they ultimately stayed together until Felicia’s death in 1978.

The film’s cast includes Carey Mulligan, Bradley Cooper, Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, Sarah Silverman, Josh Hamilton, Scott Ellis, Gideon Glick, Sam Nivola, Alexa Swinton, and Miriam Shor. Maestro comes from Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment and Martin Scorsese, Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Fred Berner, Amy Durning, and Kristie Macosko Krieger are on board as producers on the film. Executive producers include Carla Raij, Josh Singer, Bobby Wilhelm, Weston Middleton, and Tracey Landon. Bradley Cooper would co-write the movie’s screenplay with Josh Singer, whose credits include Spotlight, The Post, and First Man.

Maestro is set to premiere in Venice, then it will be released in theaters on November 22, before finally heading to Netflix, where it will available to stream on December 20.

We revisit the making of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and explore why this movie stands the test of time so well.

Keanu Reeves has made a household name for himself. In the 90’s, he was the star of classics like Speed, Point Break, the movie that changed Sci-Fi action, The Matrix, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (record scratch)…okay, so he wasn’t the best part of that movie. Let’s move along! 

In mid-2010’s, he reinvented himself again as John Wick in the John Wick franchise. To this day, he’s kicking ass, taking names and getting us audience members to flock to the theatre and watch whatever he puts out. 

As someone who grew up in the 90s, I would watch all his films. Two of them would stand out to me before The Matrix came out. The first and obvious choice was Speed. The other was Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure…a film that has stood the test of time. So let’s try to guess what number I’m thinking of, hit up the local Circle K and find out when did the Mongols rule China on this episode of Revisited, which is written, narrated and edited by Ric Solomon. 

In this video, we dig into how a low-budget comedy that sat on the shelf for a year ended up grossing four times its budget, spawning a sequel that includes (to date) two sequels, two tv shows, a comic book series, video games and more. Were Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves always the top choices to play Bill S. Preston Esq and Ted “Theodore” Logan? And when its production company went bankrupt, did Bill & Ted almost end up stranded on the shelf, permanently? We dig into all of that, so check out the video and make sure to let us know in the comments how you think Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure holds up all these (many) years later.

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure has the following synopsis: Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) are high school buddies starting a band. However, they are about to fail their history class, which means Ted would be sent to military school. They receive help from Rufus (George Carlin), a traveler from a future where their band is the foundation for a perfect society. With the use of Rufus’ time machine, Bill and Ted travel to various points in history, returning with important figures to help them complete their final history presentation.

Author Jason Paul Collum’s new book They Made How Many?! is a 654 page look at the many horror sequels of the 20th century

Horror fans may be familiar with the name Jason Paul Collum. He has written, directed, produced, and/or acted in multiple films over the last thirty years, including Safe Inside, October Moon, November Son, and the documentaries Something to Scream About, Sleepless Nights: Revisiting the Slumber Party Massacres, and Screaming in High Heels: The Rise & Fall of the Scream Queen Era. He has also written the book Assault of the Killer Bs: Interviews With 20 Cult Film Actresses – and this month, a new Jason Paul Collum book has been published. It’s called They Made How Many?! (Mostly) American Horror Franchises of the 20th Century, and it’s a 654 page look at the many horror sequels that were made in the 1900s. Copies can be purchased at THIS LINK.

They Made How Many?! (Mostly) American Horror Franchises of the 20th Century has the following description: The Howling 8. Children of the Corn 9. Witchcraft 16. Amityville 41 (legally?). Horror sequels have existed for over 100 years, dating back to at least The Golem (1915) and its first sequel, The Golem and the Dancing Girl (1917). Originally a rarity and often looked down upon as lesser-than films, sequels within the genre exploded in popularity in the 1980s when video rental stores needed product to fill their empty shelves. A phenomenon around the world, sequels to any successful title guaranteed a profit for producers. These often direct-to-video installments were also quickly forgotten. This collection covers practically every American horror franchise from silent films of the early 1900s to the year 1999, with a few foreign exceptions that found equal fame in the U.S. Along for this nostalgic ride are the thoughts and recollections of many of the cast and crew members who brought them to theaters and TV screens for multiple generations to enjoy.

As someone who owes their horror fandom to the many sequels of the 1980s, this book sounds like a fun idea and a must-read to me.

Will you be picking up a copy of They Made How Many?! (Mostly) American Horror Franchises of the 20th Century? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The Courteney Cox horror comedy series Shining Vale is returning for season 2, which is set to premiere in October

The horror comedy series Shining Vale premiered on Starz back in March of 2022 – and just when I was starting to wonder if the show was turning out to be “one season and done”, Entertainment Weekly has gone ahead and broken the news that Shining Vale season 2 is scheduled to begin airing on Friday, October 13th! Along with that confirmation comes the unveiling of some first look images from the new season, and you can check those out at the bottom of this article.

Created by Jeff Astrof and Sharon Horgan, the first season of Shining Vale followed a dysfunctional family that moves from the city to a small town into a house in which terrible atrocities have taken place. But no one seems to notice except for Patricia “Pat” Phelps, who’s convinced she’s either depressed or possessed – turns out, the symptoms are exactly the same. Pat is a former “wild child” who rose to fame by writing a raunchy, drug-and-alcohol-soaked women’s empowerment novel (a.k.a. lady porn). Fast forward 17 years later, Pat is clean and sober but totally unfulfilled. She still hasn’t written her second novel, she can’t remember the last time she had sex with her husband, and her teenage kids are at that stage where they want you dead. She was a faithful wife until her one slip-up: she had a torrid affair with the hot, young handyman who came over to fix the sink while Terry was at work. In a last-ditch effort to save their marriage, she and Terry cash in all their savings and move the family from the “crazy” of the city to a large, old house in the suburbs that has a storied past of its own. Everyone has their demons, but for Pat Phelps, they may be real.

Shining Vale stars Courteney Cox as Patricia “Pat” Phelps, Greg Kinnear as Pat’s husband Terry, Merrin Dungey as Pat’s friend and book editor Kam; Gus Birney and Dylan Gage as Pat and Terry’s teenage kids Gaynor and Jake; Mira Sorvino as Rosemary, “who is either Pat’s alter ego, a split personality, her id, her muse, or a demon trying to possess her”; Sherilyn Fenn as realtor Robyn Court; and Judith Light as Joan, “Pat’s Lithium-infused mother, who has long battled mental illness, and her daughter… (who she blames for her mental illness). Joan is vain and hyper-critical, taking any opportunity to recall her prized youth, or belittle Pat. Of all the horrors that Pat faces, becoming Joan is the most frightening – and most real.”

The first season ended with Pat being committed to a psychiatric hospital. Season 2 picks up four months later, when Pat’s insurance runs out and she is released from the psychiatric hospital early. She returns home, determined to pick up the pieces of her broken family, but she quickly finds out her children don’t need her, Terry doesn’t remember her, and to make matters worse, Pat’s new neighbor Ruth looks exactly like Rosemary. As if that wasn’t enough, the house starts to reveal the shocking secrets of its dark past.

Shining Vale is produced by Lionsgate and Warner Bros. Television, in association with Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment, Astrof’s Other Shoe Productions, and Horgan and Clelia Mountford’s Merman. Astrof, Horgan, Mountford, Kaplan, and Dana Honor are all executive producers, while Cox is a producer. The pilot episode was directed and executive produced by Dearbhla Walsh.

Did you watch the first season of Shining Vale, and will you be tuning in for season 2? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Tron: Ares has fallen victim to the dual strikes by SAG-AFTRA and the WGA, which its directors says has made things that much harder.

The ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, now in its second month, has claimed yet another victim, as Tron: Ares has officially been delayed the same week it was set to begin filming. Coming hot off the news, director Joachim Rønning has expressed his frustrations on social media, urging there to be a better “safety net” as SAG-AFTRA and WGA (whose own strike has exceeded 100 days so far) continue to be in a stalemate with the AMPTP, the group at the center of both strikes.

The delay of Tron: Ares will result not just in a calendar shakeup but the loss of jobs for around 150 crew members. As such, director Rønning has not minced words on his take. As per The Hollywood Reporter, “Today was supposed to be our first day of principal photography on TRON: ARES (a movie subsequently about AI and what it means, and takes, to be human). Instead, we are shut down with over a hundred and fifty people laid off. It’s indefinite, which makes it exponentially harder for everyone…The AMPTP, SAG-AFTRA and WGA need to speed up the negotiating process and not leave the table until it’s done. This is Hollywood. We close deals for breakfast. Why do we suddenly have all the time in the world when every day is so precious? These tactics are extremely frustrating. It’s time for diplomacy so we can get back to work – under conditions that are fair to everybody #amptp #sagaftra #wga”. That Tron: Ares centers around artificial intelligence is quite interesting, considering the topic is a major point in negotiations for both unions. You can read his full statement from Instagram below:

Tron: Ares is set to be the third movie in the Tron franchise following 1982’s original and 2010’s Tron: Legacy. It had been building its cast for some time – recently adding Cameron Monaghan (Shameless, Gotham) and Sarah Desjardins (Riverdale, Yellowjackets) to the already-cast Jared Leto, Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith, and more – building as best as they could in the excitement, although fans would much rather see Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde in the cast. Most would probably want to see how Cillian Murphy could expand his Legacy cameo as well.

Do you share Joachim Rønning’s sentiments about Tron: Ares being delayed because of the strikes? Are you still looking forward to the threequel? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.