Ellis’ soap has a horror streak

Bret Easton Ellis has come up with “a horror-tinged soap opera” for Showtime.

In “The Canyons,” a group of twenty- and thirtysomethings in Los Angeles are confronted with violence and manifestations of their own anxieties that may or may not be real, but the author of “American Psycho” and “Lunar Park” says he’s not venturing into David Lynch territory. “There are no midgets walking backward,” he told the Hollywood Reporter. “We want something much more naturalistic -- a very realistic soap.”