Plot Synopsis

Executive produced by award-winning horror film director, writer, producer, and actor Eli Roth, ELI ROTH'S HISTORY OF HORROR is a seven-part documentary series that brings together the masters of horror -- the storytellers and stars who define the genre -- to explore its biggest themes and reveal the inspirations and struggles behind its past and present. Each one-hour episode takse reveals how horror has evolved through the years and examine the genre's impact on society as well as delving into how horror maintains its fan base and why audiences are addicted to fear. Special guest stars include Alex Winter, Andrew Douglas, Bryan Fuller, Catherine Hardwicke, Elijah Wood, Greg Nicotero, Jack Black, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jordan Peele, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Englund, Sean S. Cunningham, Skeet Ulrich, Slash, Norman Reedus and more. This series premiered early morning Monday, October 15, 2018 (late night Sunday, October 14) at 12:12am ET/PT on AMC.


Season 2 of ELI ROTH'S HISTORY OF HORROR premiered on Saturday, October 10, 2020 at 10pm ET/PT on AMC. The second season digs even deeper into the catacombs of creepiness, exhuming landmark films and cult classics while chewing on the entrails of recent horror cinema. The series explores the dark power and wicked fun of scary movies, the craft that went into making them, and the ways that horror films reflect the anxieties of their times. The story is told by Eli Roth and a celebrated cast of writers, directors, actors, cinematographers, composers, and special effects artists who bring our nightmares to life. Interviewees include Stephen King, Quentin Tarantino, Jordan Peele, Ari Aster, Bill Hader, Nancy Allen, Megan Fox, Greg Nicotero, Rob Zombie, James Brolin, Edgar Wright, Piper Laurie, Leonard Maltin, Katharine Isabelle, Jack Black, Slash, Rachel True, Ashley Laurence, Joe Dante, Roger Corman, Mary Harron, John Landis, Tom Savini, Karyn Kusama, and many others. Season 2 episodes include:

"Houses of Hell" (October 10, 2020): Home is where the heart is unless you live in a house of hell. Whether they're filled with specters or psychos, every house of hell pokes at our illusions of comfort and safety.

"Monsters" (October 17, 2020): The history of monster movies is also the history of the evolution of special effects technology. But, whatever their size or shape and whatever they represent, for many horror fans monsters are the best part of the genre.

"Body Horror" (October 24, 2020): Sometimes disgusting, but always powerful, body horror films make us question our prejudices against physical difference, our attitudes about sex and gender, our fear of disease and contamination, and how much our appearance determines who we are.

"Witches" (October 31, 2020): The witch is a towering figure in the history of horror. The archetypical evil witch is everything mainstream religion tells us a woman should not be -- and that unapologetic, very female power frightens men and fascinates women.

"Chilling Children" (November 7, 2020): Parents are supposed to love their children, no matter how awful their kids may be. The films highlighted in this episode may not solve the mystery of where evil comes from, but they have a terrifically terrifying time raising the question.

"Nine Nightmares" (November 14, 2020): Nightmares is a deep dive into nine uncategorizable films that push the boundaries of horror. Great films that entertain us and provoke us. Films that put society under a microscope, making us question not just what we fear, but why we fear it.
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AMC+ released a sneak peek of the Season 3 premiere on Saturday, September 25, 2021, six days ahead of the official season debut on Friday, October 1 at 10pm ET/PT on AMC. The new season continues to explore the fun and the fear of scary films -- both timeless classics and wildly frightening films that flew under the radar. This season tackles the topics of Sequels (That Don't Suck), Infections, Psychics, Apocalyptic Horror, Holiday Horror and Mad Scientists. Eli Roth returns as host, with an all-star lineup of interviewees including (in alphabetical order) Cate Blanchett, Margaret Cho, Jeffrey Combs, Jamie Lee Curtis, Geena Davis, Lex Scott Davis, Robert Englund, Vanessa Hudgens, Elliott Knight, David Koechner, Christopher Landon, Meat Loaf, Greg Nicotero, Jonah Ray, Giovanni Ribisi, Jessica Rothe, Madeleine Stowe, Quentin Tarantino, Jennifer Tilly, Edgar Wright, Rob Zombie, and many others. Season 3 episodes include:

"Sequels (That Don't Suck)" (Friday, October 1, 2021 at 10pm ET/PT on AMC; sneak peek on Saturday, September 25 on AMC+): Everybody knows that when you see a number or a Roman numeral next to a title, beware! But if that's true, why are sequels so popular? They wouldn't make them if people didn't go to see them. Maybe it's because we want dive back into dark worlds that frightened and fascinated us the first time around...or we want to see the characters we bonded with back in action. And there's another reason that's rarely acknowledged: sometimes sequels are as good as or even better than the originals. They can take a proven commodity and turn it into something fresh and wild, like Joe Dante's anarchic anti-sequel Gremlins 2; or they can take a strong concept and root it in up-to-the-second social issues, like Gerard McMurray's incendiary The First Purge. Featured films include A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Psycho II, The First Purge, Bride of Chucky, Scream 2 and Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Interviewees include (in alphabetical order) Justina Bonilla, Diablo Cody, Dean Cundey, Joe Dante, Lex Scott Davis, Tananarive Due, Robert Englund, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Chris Hardwick, Lydia Hearst, Tom Holland, Heidi Honeycutt, Vanessa Hudgens, Heather Langenkamp, Leonard Maltin, Don Mancini, Anthony Masi, Greg Nicotero, Jonah Ray, Tori Spelling, Quentin Tarantino, Nathaniel Thompson, Jennifer Tilly, Joivan Wade, Kevin Williamson, Edgar Wright and Rob Zombie.

"Infections" (Friday, October 8, 2021 at 10pm ET/PT on AMC and AMC+): There were two kinds of people in 2020 and 2021: those who watched movies about infectious diseases, and those who did not. Horror fans tend to fall into the first category, because that's a major appeal of the genre: it is both a cathartic release for our worst fears (things are bad, but it could be worse - look what happened to Gwyneth Paltrow in Contagion) and a way of rehearsing for real-life nightmares. This episode covers the spectrum of frightening infection scenarios, ranging from reality-based films (Outbreak, Contagion and 12 Monkeys) to surreal plagues (Shivers, Rabid and The Masque of the Red Death), horrific zombie outbreaks ([REC] and Pontypool) to space-born pathogens (The Andromeda Strain and Color Out of Space). Interviewees include (in alphabetical order) Madeleine Arthur, Max Brooks, Scott Z. Burns, Axelle Carolyn, Roger Corman, Joe Dante, Mike Flanagan, Bryan Fuller, Mick Garris, Dana Gould, Bill Hader, Lydia Hearst, Joe Hill, Tom Holland, Elliot Knight, Leonard Maltin, Rebekah McKendry, David Morse, Greg Nicotero, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Stacey Sher, Madeleine Stowe, Quentin Tarantino, Nathaniel Thompson and Edgar Wright.

"Physics" (Friday, October 15, 2021 at 10pm ET/PT on AMC and AMC+): What's the downside of having psychic powers? The idea of being able to read minds or manipulate objects without moving a muscle is an attractive fantasy. But what if those powers showed you things you wished you hadn't seen? What if people wanted to exploit your gift for their own sinister ends? Worse than that: what if someone with psychic abilities turned their powers against you? This episode features a wide range of psychic films made by superstar creators, including David Cronenberg's Scanners and The Dead Zone, Mike Flanagan's thrilling adaptation of Stephen King's Doctor Sleep, Brian DePalma's The Fury, Sam Raimi's The Gift, Peter Jackson's The Frighteners and Tim Burton's horror/comedy masterpiece Beetlejuice. Interviewees include (in alphabetical order) Cate Blanchett, Jeffrey Combs, Joe Dante, Geena Davis, Chris Dumas, Alex Essoe, Michael Fimognari, Mike Flanagan, Mick Garris, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Bill Hader, Chris Hardwick, Joe Hill, Vanessa Hudgens, Mark Irwin, Stephen King, Don Mancini, Greg Nicotero, Jonah Ray, Giovanni Ribisi, Quentin Tarantino, Nathaniel Thompson and Edgar Wright.

"Apocalyptic Horror" (Friday, October 22, 2021 at 10pm ET/PT on AMC and AMC+): The bigger they come, the harder they fall. And when it comes to human civilizations, the modern world is as big and populous as it has ever been, so when the fall comes, it will be spectacular. The collapse of the Roman Empire was followed by roughly a thousand years of hard times for the human race. The collapse of the modern world will likely be even more traumatic. But as history tells us and horror movies confirm, humans can survive just about anything, including world wars, global plagues, mass famines, and, maybe, a zombie apocalypse. The ones who make it through may be the horror fans who have absorbed the lessons taught by end-of-the-world spectaculars like World War Z, Train to Busan, Zombieland, War of the Worlds, I Am Legend, The Omega Man, 10 Cloverfield Lane, The World's End and The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Interviewees include (in alphabetical order) Max Brooks, Margaret Cho, Joe Dante, Lex Scott Davis, Michael Dougherty, Chris Dumas, Ruben Fleischer, Bryan Fuller, Dana Gould, Chris Hardwick, Lydia Hearst, Joe Hill, Vanessa Hudgens, Leonard Maltin, Rebekah McKendry, Greg Nicotero, Jonah Ray, Quentin Tarantino, Nathaniel Thompson, Dan Trachtenberg, Joivan Wade, Edgar Wright and Rob Zombie.

"Holiday Horror" (Friday, October 29, 2021 at 10pm ET/PT on AMC and AMC+): It started with Black Christmas. Bob Clark's groundbreaking slasher film took the then-shocking notion of setting a sorority bloodbath at Christmastime, offering a dark contrast to the joy of the holiday season. Halloween came a few years later, and its success spawned a slew of holiday-themed horror movies. The idea still catches fire every decade or so, retooled for new generations of viewers. This episode features a deluxe sampler of holiday mayhem, including Black Christmas, Krampus, Silent Night Deadly Night, Terror Train, My Bloody Valentine, April Fool's Day, Happy Death Day and the blockbuster 2018 sequel to Halloween, featuring returning guest Jamie Lee Curtis. Interviewees include (in alphabetical order) Justina Bonilla, Margaret Cho, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Dougherty, Bryan Fuller, Mick Garris, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Chris Hardwick, Lydia Hearst, Joe Hill, Heidi Honeycutt, Vanessa Hudgens, John Jennings, David Koechner, Christopher Landon, Anthony Masi, Rebekah McKendry, Jessica Rothe, Sofia Takal, Quentin Tarantino, Nathaniel Thompson, Ryan Turek, Edgar Wright and Rob Zombie.

"Mad Scientist" (Friday, November 5, 2021 at 10pm ET/PT on AMC and AMC+): The pursuit of knowledge can lead us down dark paths. Our quest to understand the workings of the universe has taken us from caves to cities, from the desert to the Moon. But it has also sickened our bodies and the planet, given us weapons of mass destruction and the surveillance state, and, most recently, created the poison candy of the Internet, which has completely disrupted how we live and how we think. Featuring: the many incarnations of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, as well as Ex Machina, Eyes Without a Face, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Altered States and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Interviewees include (in alphabetical order) Axelle Carolyn, Margaret Cho, Joe Dante, Geena Davis, Lex Scott Davis, Chris Dumas, Bryan Fuller, Mick Garris, Dana Gould, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Joe Hill, Heidi Honeycutt, Vanessa Hudgens, Mark Irwin, Meat Loaf, Leonard Maltin, Rebekah McKendry, Greg Nicotero, Jonah Ray, Jessica Rothe, David J. Skal, Quentin Tarantino, Andrew Kevin Walker, Edgar Wright and Rob Zombie.