Everybody loves horror movies. Look at weekend box office grosses and, more often than not, the new horror flick cleans up. Some go on to do fantastic business, others fade, but usually they do well up front because a lot of people want to be scared, grossed out, or kept on the edge of their seats. So an anthology blending the horror movie biz and traditional horror short fiction would seem to be a natural. You may remember previous anthologies called Silver Scream and It Came from the Drive-In. Fortunately, editor Tom Piccirilli makes sure his new Midnight Premiere will please the masses.

The gimmick here is to include, as writers and co-writers, a group of movie professionals such as writer/director Mick Garris, director Patrick Lussier, actors Kyra Schon, William Smith, and Linnea Quigley, and others, most riding shotgun with more experienced writers at the wheel.

To be fair, the strongest stories come from the field's stars. See, for instance, Jack Ketchum's "Elusive," in which a horror movie and one potential viewer can't quite connect, and John Shirley's "Seven Knives," which proves that working in Hollywood really can be torture. Mick Garris's "Ocular" is a slice of low budget horror movie history complete with gross-out (reminiscent of Greg Kihn's underappreciated novels Horror Show and Big Rock Beat). Ed Gorman's "Scream Queen" is a low-key but tragic response to the quintessential "where is he/she now" question blended with a realistic take on the coming-of-age tale. Lisa Morton and Richard Grove tackle a suddenly topical subject (school shootings) and refuse to go where you think they will in "Forces of Evil, Starring Robert Fields." Thomas F. Monteleone's over-the-top "End of Story" skewers a familiar documentarian with sharp, biting humor.

And so on. There is plenty of great work here by Tom Piccirilli, Gerard Houarner, T. M. Wright, and Ray Garton, among others, and only a couple that might be considered misfires. But the two best, as is often the case, come from the pens of Gary A. Braunbeck and Brian Hodge. Braunbeck's "The Onlookers" will force you to dust off your Buster Keaton collection, weaving sad nostalgia into the story of a Samuel Beckett-helmed Keaton art film that nevertheless still manages to pack a sting. Brian Hodge's "The Passion of the Beast" mimics Entertainment Weekly and chronicles the disastrous opening of a controversial Mel Gibson-style film about the opposing point of view. Meaty stuff.

While "theme" anthologies still have their detractors, it's clear that a well-balanced volume like Midnight Premiere can and does showcase great writing and entertainment, slip in a little social commentary, and wrap it all up in a humorous Alan Clark cover painting. What's not to like? Half the contents will stick long after the last page is read—which half depends on you. Lights . . . Roll the projector!