By Alyse Wax

Scary stories have often lent themselves to the anthology format. Tales from the Crypt, The Twilight Zone, Tales From the Darkside, Night Gallery?the list goes on and on. My theory on why this genre, above all others, works so well in this format? A horror or thriller tale is likely to have a far higher body count than, say, a romantic comedy. So producers don?t have to worry about characters carrying the story?they can focus on the plot.

Whatever the reason, horror anthologies are usually good news for genre fans. And here?s the latest good news: those of you who don?t get Showtime can still get your weekly TV scarefest, when the producers of Masters of Horror bring their talent?and their cannibals?to NBC this summer. Headed up by Keith Addis and Andrew Deane, the executive producers of Masters of Horror and last year?s short-lived sci-fi anthology attempt Masters of Science Fiction, the pair promise scares that remain within NBC?s Standards & Practices guidelines.

?Without having gruesome violence and sexual perversion to fall back on, it forces writers and directors to be more creative and imaginative,? Addis tells us during NBC?s Summer Preview event. I hope someone remembered to tell this to Darren Bousman (Saw II, III, and IV), one of thirteen directors who?ve signed on for the show?s initial run.

One of these directors, soon-to-be genre favorite Breck Eisner (director of the upcoming Creature From the Black Lagoon and The Crazies remakes) was there to tell us about his own episode, ?Red Snow??uh, I mean ?Sacrifice.? The title change, Eisner tells us, exemplifies the difference between shooting for television and shooting a feature. ?Shooting in Canada, we were expecting snow for our episode, so it was going to be called ?Red Snow.? That snow never came,? he laments. ?Everyone else got snow. It snowed before and after we shot, but not when we were there.? If he were shooting a feature, Eisner would have had the time and the budget to bring in a snow machine. But with a strict eight-day shoot schedule and finite budget, he had to improvise. Now called ?Sacrifice,? with an ending that wasn?t solidified until the actors were in place and the cameras were already rolling, Eisner insists his episode came out better for the forced changes. ?It?s about guys with guns, and beautiful women, and vampires, and these women trying to feed these guys to the vampires. It?s a great, fun episode.?

Also on hand at the sunny Los Angeles event were actors Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) and Elisabeth Ross (Mad Men), each starring in their own episode of Fear Itself.

In ?Eater,? Ross plays a tomboy cop whose job it is to ?baby sit? a serial killer (played by Stephen Hart) while he is waiting to be moved from a local jail to a high-security prison. ?It?s the classic story of a girl and a serial killer,? Ross explains. ?My character is a horror fan, so she kind of becomes part of her own story.? Ross?s first encounter with her 7?2? co-star was at their hotel in Edmonton. ?I first saw him in the lobby and thought he was a rock star on tour. He is really tall!? Ross, who?s a mere 5?3?, says that despite the fact that Hart towered over her, and used to be a carnival sideshow attraction, he was a really great guy to work with, very sweet and intelligent.

She has similar praise for the director of her episode, legendary genre director Stuart Gordon. ?Filmmakers who make the most horrible, gruesome horror movies are often times the nicest, sweetest people. Stuart is the epitome of that. He?s just a big teddy bear. He became a buddy of mine. In most of my episode, it was just me on screen. If there was anyone else, they were either trying to kill me or just not being helpful. Stuart was my only ?ally,? even though he was the one responsible for putting me into these situations.?

Routh?s episode is called ?The Community.? He and his wife (played by Roswell actress Shiri Appleby) buy a house in a planned community with the intention of starting a family. But, as Routh says, ?It wasn?t exactly what we expected? it was a little too planned.? Routh was honored to work with director Mary Harron (American Psycho) on this episode. ?She has a very specific view of what she wants, and she gets it done. She really wanted to bring out the human elements of the script, not just play up the thrilling parts. The human aspect makes the scary aspects more powerful.? Routh agrees with Addis?s idea of ?more is less? when it comes to being scary. ?The episodes are more imaginative, and that?s the kind of stuff I like to see,? Routh says.

Ross had lots of fun learning to be a cop for her episode??I?ve never gotten to do a lot of stunt work, so this was great.? Routh, who?s no stranger to stunts, had surprisingly few for his own episode. ?Uh, I had to run,? he says. ?Thankfully, I already knew how to do that. ? He?s quick to add that his is still an exciting episode.

Addis says that, although a host was considered for the series, it was decided that that conceit had been ?done to death.? Though looking back on all the episodes they shot this season, Addis does notice two themes threading their way through the episodes. ?One is the loss of control,? he says. ?It seems that everyone has a primal fear of being out of control. The other is the very thin membrane between sanity and insanity. This was unintentional, but now that we are wrapped, we can see those two ideas are pervasive through all the episodes.?

When asked about more intense footage that might make its way to DVD, the producers are tantalizingly tight-lipped. ?Some feel that that which you can?t see is more terrifying than what you can see,? Addis teases. ?Some of the things you can?t see on NBC, you will be able to see on the DVD.?

Note: Fear Itself will air Thursdays at 10 P.M. on NBC this summer. For more on the series, be sure to check out our exclusive episode guide!