“John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams,” a docuseries about horrific real-life tales of terror that happened in the seemingly perfect American suburbs, will premiere with all six episodes Oct. 13 on Peacock, the streamer announced Thursday.
Per the press release, “Each episode will delve into the monstrous evil that lurks beneath the surface of friendly suburbia through the lens of one frightful tale. In addition to firsthand accounts, the episodes will include cinematic reenactments, personal archives, and historic town press coverage.”
In the first trailer for the series, we get insight from police, survivors and witnesses about bizarre cases, including the hair-raising line: “In one night, police fielded more than 50 calls about a man in a rabbit suit with a hatchet.”
That episode was inspired by the 1970 reports of “The Bunny Man” in Clifton, Virginia. Often regarded as an urban legend, he was reported to brandish different types of weapons in various sightings. The ghost of the oddly suited killer is said to return every Halloween.
“Suburban Screams” is not Carpenter’s first foray into television. He got his start by directing TV movies like 1978’s “Someone’s Watching Me!” with Lauren Hutton and 1979’s musical biopic “Elvis,” which began his long partnership with actor Kurt Russell.
Carpenter, whose decades-long horror career also includes directing classics like “Halloween,” “The Fog,” “Assault on Precinct 13” and “They Live,” produces alongside his wife Sandy King, Tony DiSanto of Allyance Media Group, showrunner Jordan Roberts, Patrick Smith and Andy Portnoy.
And in addition to composing the series’ theme music, Carpenter also directs one episode. Other installments are are directed by Jordan Roberts, Michelle Latimer, and Jan Pavlacky.
Carpenter’s other October release is “Anthology II: Movie Themes 1976 – 1988,” a follow-up to his 2017 album “Anthology: Movie Themes 1974-1998.” The collection includes three unreleased tracks from “The Thing” that were recorded by Carpenter before he hired famed Italian composer Ennio Morricone to work on the movie. “Anthology II” is out on Oct. 6 from Sacred Bones.
