AMC’s ‘History of Horror’ talks to Tarantino about Abbott and Costello’s monster meetings

In AMC’s new seven-episode series Eli Roth’s History of Horror, director Roth talks with some of the masters of horror as well as writers and directors who were influenced by the genre. In the first episode, Roth, who has directed some of the scariest cult-horror movies of the past 15 years, including Cabin Fever and the Hostel franchise, talks with Quentin Tarantino about the Abbott and Costello monster films. Tarantino has always cited Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein as one of his biggest influences.

In an interview with Cadillac News, Roth said, “Quentin [Tarantino] and I go very deep in the show talking about Abbott and Costello — Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein — wow! As a kid, the stuff that was on TV, the horror movies, when they got into Abbott and Costello, you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m seeing what Abbott and Costello would do!’ Those two worlds merging completely blew my mind as a kid because they were mixing horror and comedy, and the monsters would still kill people in those movies. They weren’t funny monsters. The monsters were always monsters.”

The series airs Sunday nights on AMC.