Executive produced by the great Sam Raimi (read our interview with him HERE), the anthology series 50 States of Fright had a clever concept: as the title implies, the show set out to tell “the scariest story in every state in the U.S.” Unfortunately, 50 States of Fright was set up at the Quibi streaming service, which shut down after just eight months. But the shows that were produced for Quibi will live again, as the streamer’s library was purchased by Roku, Inc. and will now be released through The Roku Channel. As for 50 States of Fright specifically, it will be reaching The Roku Channel on October 15th.
Here’s some information on The Roku Channel:
Launched in 2017, The Roku Channel is the home of free and premium entertainment on the Roku platform. In addition to Roku devices, The Roku Channel is available on Web, iOS and Android devices, Amazon Fire TV and select Samsung TVs and can be accessed internationally in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.
The idea behind Quibi was that it would be offering its subscribers “quick bites” of entertainment. Episodes of Quibi shows were 10 minutes or less, meant to be watched on your smartphone while you’re on the go. It turned out that not many people wanted to watch quick bites of entertainment while they were on the go. (Plus the streaming service launched at the start of the pandemic, so most people weren’t on the go anyway.)
Twenty-four episodes of 50 States of Fright were released through Quibi before it shut down, telling a total of nine stories. The states that got their stories told were Michigan (Raimi directed that one himself), Kansas, Oregon, Minnesota, Florida, Iowa, Washington, Colorado, and Missouri.
You can read Alex Maidy’s review of the Raimi episodes HERE, and The Iceman’s review of them at THIS LINK.