Mick Garris

Born in Santa Monica, California, on December 4, 1951, 'Mick Garris' (qv) grew up with his mother in the San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Van Nuys from age 12, following his parents' divorce. Garris was making his own 8mm home movies around that time, and when he got older be became a freelance critic for a number of film and music celebrities. He wrote publications for various bands and movies for newspapers and magazines like "The San Diego Door", "The Los Angewles Herald-Examiner", "Cinefantastique" and "Starlog" through the 1970s.For eight years he was the lead singer in a band called The Horsefeathers Quintet, which disbanded in 1976. In 1977 Garris was hired as a receptionist in 'George Lucas' (qv)' newly formed company Star Wars Corporation where, through industry contacts, he created and served as the on-screen host for a Los Angeles cable access interview program show called "Fastasy Film Festival," which aired on L.A.'s legendary Z-Channel. Guests included filmmakers like 'John Landis' (qv), 'Joe Dante' (qv), 'John Carpenter' (qv) and 'Steven Spielberg' (qv) and actors like 'William Shatner' (qv) and 'Christopher Lee' (qv).In 1980 Garris worked as a press agent for the newly merged Pickwick-Maslansky-Koeninsberg agency. He also began making a name for himself with photographing and directing "making-of..." features for such films as _Scanners (1981)_ (qv), _The Howling (1981)_ (qv), _Halloween II (1981)_ (qv), _The Thing (1982)_ (qv) and _Videodrome (1983)_ (qv). In 1982 Garris was hired by MCA/Universal to write the script for _Coming Soon (1982)_ (qv), which was a collection of horror movie trailers featuring 'Jamie Lee Curtis' (qv) as the hostess and directed by 'John Landis' (qv). While struggling to find more work, Garris was hired by 'Steven Spielberg' (qv) to be one of the writers and story editors for Spielberg's sci-fi anthology series _Amazing Stories (1985)_ (qv). Garris worked as as an editor again for Spielberg in the sci-fi fantasy _*batteries not included (1987)_ (qv). He also wrote screenplays for more horror anthology TV shows, from _Freddy's Nightmares (1988)_ (qv) to a stint on the HBO cable series _Tales from the Crypt (1989)_ (qv), as well as co-writer on the screenplays for _The Fly II (1989)_ (qv) and the 'Stephen Sommers' remake _The Mummy (1999)_ (qv). Garris wrote and directed _Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990)_ (qv) as a prequel to the 'Anthony Perkins' (qv) "Psycho" films, featuring Perkins in his fourth (and last) appearance as Norman Bates. Co-starring with Perkins was 'Henry Thomas' (qv) (from _E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)_ (qv) fame), whom Garris hired to play young Norman. That same year Garris was approached by MCA/Universal to create a syndicated TV series about werewolves which was to be based on the hit 'John Landis' (qv) film _An American Werewolf in London (1981)_ (qv). The resulting series, _She-Wolf of London (1990)_ (qv), ran for two seasons.In 1992 Garris directed an original screenplay by 'Stephen King' (qv), _Sleepwalkers (1992)_ (qv). The following year Garris received story and screenplay credit for the comic horror film _Hocus Pocus (1993)_ (qv), and the year after that he took the reins at the request of 'Stephen King' (qv) for the six-hour mini-series _The Stand (1994)_ (qv) based on King's best-selling horror novel. The mini-series, which had a grueling 20-month shooting schedule, was one of the most-watched shows of 1994. Garris and King again teamed up for a three-part made-for-TV rewriting of King's novel, _The Shining (1997)_ (qv). Later that year Garris oversaw the directing for _Quicksilver Highway (1997)_ (qv), based on a pair of horror stories by King and 'Clive Barker' (qv). Garris directed _Höst (1998)_ (qv) (later changed to "Virtual Obsession"), based on a novel by 'Peter James' (qv), with a screenplay written by 'P.G. Sturges' (qv), about a computer genius stalked by a female colleague bent on digitizing her consciousness. Taking a break from horror films, Garris directed _The Judge (2001)_ (qv), an adaption of the mystery novel by 'Steve Martini' (qv). Garris and 'Stephen King' (qv) reunited for _Riding the Bullet (2004)_ (qv), directed by Garris and written by King, based on an internet short short about a hitchhiker being picked up by a soul-searching angel of death driving a 1959 Plymouth. They also collaborated on _Desperation (2006)_ (qv), based on King's 1997 horror novel.In 2005 Garris was able to assemble a group of his fellow horror film directors in the anthology horror series _Masters of Horror (2005)_ (qv), which he created and executive-produced. Garris' own contribution, "Chocolate", was based on his own short story, written 20 years earlier.::Matt Patay (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)