After Masters of Horror gave a new generation of horror fans an anthology series they could call their own, all good and creepy things came to an end when the show wrapped production at the end of the second season. Knowing that the horror genre has a huge fan base that's alive and well, many of the same producing partners on Masters of Horror, including Mick Garris, Keith Addis, and Andrew Deane, found a home at NBC for a new horror anthology series called Fear Itself, which makes its debut on Thursday, June 5 at 10pm.

Much like Masters of Horror, Fear Itself features some of the best horror directors in the business and will roll out 13 episodes directed by such ghoulishly creepy greats as John Landis (An American Werewolf in London), Stuart Gordon (Reanimator, From Beyond), Breck Eisner (Creature from the Black Lagoon), Brad Anderson (Session 9), (Darren Bousman (Saw II, III and IV) and Ronny Yu (Freddy vs. Jason), and episodes written by the likes of Mick Garris (Masters of Horror), Joe Gangemi (Wind Chill and the novel Inamorata), Victor Salva (Jeepers Creepers), Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) and Dan Knauf (Carnivale, Supernatural).

Leading up to the premiere episode of Fear Itself on June 5, The Deadbolt took part in a conference call with Friday Nights Lights actor Jesse Plemons, who stars in Mick Garris penned and Brek Eisner directed "Sacrifice", plus Oscar Nominated actor Eric Roberts, star of the Brad Anderson helmed "Spooked," which airs on June 12. Also on the call to fill in the gaps between Masters of Horror and Fear Itself, and how the new anthology will offer up new and unique frights on NBC, were producers Keith Addis and Andrew Deane.

THE DEADBOLT: Jesse, what can you tell us about the three women you end up being trapped with?

JESSE PLEMONS: They’re beautiful. They are three women who basically have lived at this fort for their entire lives. We really don’t know anything about these characters and basically they kind of one-by-one start to pick us off.

THE DEADBOLT: What time period does it take place in?

PLEMONS: I’m pretty sure it’s present.

THE DEADBOLT: How long were you able to hang upside down?

PLEMONS: I honestly don’t really remember what my limit was but I don’t think I was ever up there for more than ten minutes or so. But the scene was actually fairly long and [there was] a lot of dialogue to be hanging upside down. Yeah, that was interesting.

THE DEADBOLT: Eric, since these anthologies are designed to creep people out, how do you feel Spooked achieved that?

ERIC ROBERTS: It’s a story that comes across as an ordinary tale then it dips into what is supernatural and it dips in there, for my money, unexpectedly. So even by the title you know what it’s going to do for you, or hopefully do for you. This, I felt, did it in a way that was, well, that was spooky. And it was like your ordinary old cop story, he made some mistakes and becomes a P.I., and it’s kind of an ordinary story we see in episodic TV every day. And then it turns into a monster. It was so much fun to read. And with the package of [Brad] Anderson being involved I had to, running.

THE DEADBOLT: On a different note, how much did you look to Dennis Paladino’s Sal Maroni from Batman Forever for The Dark Knight?

ROBERTS: Not at all, because I’m not him. So why would I try to do that? And I would hope he would give himself the same respect and work the other way around.

Fear Itself: Jesse Plemons, Eric Roberts, Keith Addis, and Andrew Deane Page 2