Jenifer Is Here: 12 Amazing Episodes of The Masters Of Horror Television Series

John Carpenter's Cigarette Burns is among the highest-rated episodes and a fan favorite. It's no surprise since it was directed by John Carpenter and stars Norman Reedus and Udo Kier. It concerns a lethal film called La Fin Absolue du Monde or The Absolute End of the World which caused the audience to riot and commit horrendous acts of murder. The film was supposedly destroyed, and Kirby Sweetman, played by Reedus, has to find it to save his movie theater. Mick Garris, Drew McWeeny, and Rebecca Swan wrote it.

Imprint is a special case among the episodes of the series. Takashi Miike directed Imprint and said that he thought it was within the realm of acceptability to be aired on cable television, but he was mistaken. First, Mick Garris, the series showrunner and co-writer of the episode, asked Miike to make cuts; Showtime still judged Imprint to be too disturbing to air even on cable. Despite never airing as a regular episode, many fans got their eyeballs on it when the DVD was released and declared it one of the best.

Don Coscarelli's Incident On and Off A Mountain Road is another highly rated episode and a favorite among fans of the show. The series' first episode kicked things off for the show. In it, a woman fights with a crazed and deformed serial killer who drags victims off of an isolated road. She has a survivalist husband who teaches her how to fight, and she is determined to fight the killer but ends up being captured. It was written from his short story by Joe R. Lansdale and Stephen Romano.

The first episode, directed by Dario Argento in the series, is truly haunting. Steven Weber plays the lead character Frank Spivey, a decent and married lawman who suddenly loses his morals when tempted by the mysterious Jenifer. He rescues her from a man who is desperately trying to kill her and finds that her face is hideously deformed while she has an attractive body. Co-written by Steven Weber, and Bruce Jones, the episode considers how appearance and lust can override your better judgment.

The Black Cat, an adaptation of the Edgar Allen Poe story, was directed by Stuart Gordon, who reunited with the star of his film Re-Animator, Jeffrey Combs. Combs plays Edgar Allen Poe, and the story, written by Gordon and Dennis Paoli combines actual events in Poe's life and elements of Poe's The Black Cat to create a mash-up of both.

Larry Cohen's Pick Me Up is wild. It is the tale of two serial killers, one who picks up hitchhikers, and the other is the hitchhiker. They kill anyone unfortunate enough to meet or trust them but bicker endlessly between themselves. The episode stars Cohen regular Michael Moriarty, Fairuza Balk, and Warren Kole. and was written by
David Schow. The ending is a shocker.

Sick Girl was directed by Lucky McKee and written by McKee and Sean Hood—Angela Bettis, who has worked with McKee on the cult film May stars. In Sick Girl, a shy woman, Ida, an entomologist, gets dumped by her girlfriend and moves on perhaps too quickly with another woman named Misty. A strange insect appears and starts getting too close to Misty, with unpleasant results.

Joe Dante directs Homecoming and is one of his more serious creations. It's powerful. In it, after a political speechwriter tells a grieving mother that his one wish would be for her son to return, the dead soldiers killed in a current and unpopular war start returning from the dead. It's a different zombie story since the living dead aren't interested in eating flesh. Their only desire is to vote for a candidate that will stop the war into office. It stars Jon Tenney and Robert Picardo and is written by Sam Hamm. It is based, somewhat loosely, on a short story called Death and Sufferage.

Haeckel's Tale is based on a short story by Clive Barker and a rare period tale among the Masters of Horror episodes, like The Black Cat. Edward Ralston wants a necromancer to revive his dead wife since he failed to reanimate her. The necromancer Miz Carnation refuses unless he first listens to the tale of Ernst Haeckel. After hearing the story, if he still wishes to have his wish, she will do it. She thinks the account will dissuade Ralston for a good reason. Haeckel's Tale is directed by John McNaughton, best known for directing Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and Wild Things.

Sounds Like is different from most of the episodes in that there isn't an antagonist, really. It's about a man whose hearing becomes so acute that it drives him insane. Directed by Brad Anderson (Session 9 and The Machinist), it doesn't have the significant moments of some of the other episodes. However, the unrelenting pressure put upon one man for no reason rachets up the quiet terror. It stars Chris Bauer as Larry Pearce.

The Screwfly Solution is a tale of an apocalyptic event when almost every man starts committing femicide and kills every woman they can find. There seems to be no cause for this wave of murder. Joe Dante directs it and is another more somber tale than he is usually known for that has a relation to social issues. The Screwfly Solution is based on the short story by James Tiptree Jr., and Sam Hamm wrote the teleplay.

Dreams in the Witch-House is director Stuart Gordon's adaptation of another classic H.P. Lovecraft story. Gordon was well known for wildly successful Lovecraft adaptations such as Re-Animator, Dagon, and From Beyond. This episode is another favorite of fans and is highly rated. A young college student rents a room in a dilapidated house and starts having disturbing dreams where a woman who looks like Frances visits him. Ezra Godden stars as the unfortunate Walter Gilman.