It’s possible to be interesting, yet somewhat pointless all at the same time.

New on DVD and Blu-Ray tomorrow, Eli Roth’s History of Horror Season 1 manages to be very accessible to the general audiences with just enough interesting insight to keep the experts and fans out there engaged.

Award winning horror film director, writer, producer and actor Eli Roth 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 its present.  Each one hour episode will take viewers on a chilling exploration of 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 audience are addicted to fear which is illuminated through conversations with notables like Stephen King, Linda Blair, Jamie Lee Curtis, Mick Garris, Rob Zombie, Greg Nicotero and many others.

While there have been better like Shudder’s In Search Of Darkness; Eli Roth’s History of Horror is a decent yet basic primer for the genre as a whole and it makes sense that it aired on AMC as it’s a cheap but effective piece of intro filler to a very rich genre.

With seven episodes spanning topics like Zombies, Slashers (which gets 2 full episodes), The Demons Inside, Killer Creatures, Vampires & Ghost Stories there’s a broad range of topics and subgenres getting covered.  It does a solid job, yet it’s all pretty broad sweeping as Roth makes for an amiable enough host, taking the viewer down this rabbit hole.  It’s well structured and presented, even breaking up the slasher genre into two episodes (which it needed) and while it was very “Coles Notes” in its overall approach it also managed some genuine nuance as it at least touched on some of the social and cultural impact that comes out of the horror genre.  Sure it’s blood and guts, but sometimes there’s genuine commentary, humor and even sociological importance in all the viscera being throw across the screen.  The horror genre is really no different than escapist flights of fantasy that we see in all forms of fiction.

If you’ve never see a horror movie in your life then Eli Roth’s History of Horror is a solid little primer, but it offers just enough insight for the hardcore fan to get behind.  It’s no surprise they’ve already green lit season 2 coming to AMC next year.