Stephen (Ghostwatch) Volk is my guest on this week's podcast

In 1992 the British TV programme Ghostwatch hit the headlines after an estimated 30,000 viewers called the BBC to complain about the show. They said it was too disturbing, with some believing the events to be true. To mark the twenty year anniversary a new documentary, Ghostwatch: Behind the Curtain was released on DVD this March.

The man behind Ghostwatch is Stephen Volk, screenwriter and author, and one of the most important names in British horror.  His work for the big screen includes screenplays for Ken Russell and William Friedkin, and he is creator of the hit TV drama, Afterlife.

With this year the centenary of the birth of Peter Cushing, Stephen had published the novella, Whitstable, about a fictionalised Peter Cushing drawn into a web of intrigue by a boy who believes his stepfather is a vampire.

Stephen is my guest on this week's Friday Night Frights where we talk about Ghostwatch and Whitstable, and Stephen reveals some fascinating behind the scenes stories.

To listen go here

Friday Night Frights Episode 22 - with special guest Kim Newman

This month indie film and home entertainment Network Distributing launch The British Film DVD Collection, an intriguing mix of of vintage British movies from the past five decades, including some obscure horror gems like Devil Girl From Mars (1954), the Frankie Howerd horror-comedy House in Nightmare Park (1973) and two Herman I Was a Teenage Werewolf Cohen productions, Horrors of the Black Museum (1959) and Konga (1961).

To mark the launch I spoke to author and critic Kim Newman about what it is that makes these titles so unique within British horror and science fiction.

To listen to the podcast go here

For more information on The British Film Collection visit http://networkonair.com

Friday Night Frights - Dark Skies producer Jason Blum

My guest on this week's Friday Night Frights is Dark Skies producer Jason Blum. His company Blumhouse Productions is responsible for the Paranormal Activity franchise, Insidious and Sinister; and his model of low budget-wide release director-led film-making has made him one of the most successful producers in Hollywood.

To listen go here

We Belong Dead Returns!

Easter is the time of resurrection and one of the most impressive this spring is the return of We Belong Dead, Eric McNaughton's fanzine that many thought deceased back in 1996 after just 8 issues. Based on the only-slightly-delayed-by-16-years issue 9, We Belong Dead is very much alive and kicking. Despite its fanzine status, WBD, both in design and quality of its writing, gives more 'professional' horror magazines a run for their money. WBD concentrates on classic horror so don't be suprised by the lack of coverage of modern multiplex fodder: there is more than a whiff of nostalgia in its 80 pages, but to its credit none of it is musty.

The contributors are all horror fans themselves - and they include some well-known names as Tony Earnshaw, John Lewellyn Probert and Stephen Mosley - so the bar is set very high indeed in terms of the writing: Stephen Jones and Hemlock books contribute the movie stills, posters and lobby cards that illustrate WBD's sumptuous pages - including some rare overseas artwork; Dave Brooks and Woody Welch provide the illustrations, including a stunning front cover by Brooks based on Hammer's Twins of Evil. It's all beautifully laid out by designer Steve Kirkham, and editor McNaughton collates a satisfying and eclectic mix of articles, reviews, think-pieces and fan reflections, including a few genuine scoops: a revealing but all-too-brief account of writer John Burke's contribution to The Sorcerers (1967) by Chris O'Loughlin; a final interview with Jean Rollin by Piddle Andersson; and an interview by the aforementioned Earnshaw with scream queen Barbara Shelley.

Elsewhere in the magazine there's an entertaining retrospective of Twins of Evil by Mosley; a warm appreciation of Ossorio's Blind Dead films by Probert; an informative look at Witchfinder General by O'Loughlin (clearly a Michael Reeves fan); and a fun look at the all-but-forgotten- Al Adamson so-bad-it's-good monster flick Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1970) by Ernie Magnotta. Some of the other in-depth pieces include a detailed script-to-screen analysis of Tourneur's Night of the Demon (1957); a survey of Peter Cushing's work for Amicus; and a well-informed discussion of Tobe Hooper's Salem's Lot (1979); as well as a raft of other fan writing on Auroa monster model kits, Facebook groups and the Bring Classic Horror Back to Television Campaign.

Produced as a labour of love by all concerned, but with a professionalism that belies its fanzine status, WBD deserves a wide readership. It's an absorbing read from start to finish. Issue 10 is already in the works; and McNaughton plans to publish a 100 page Fearbook featuring the best of the long out of print and hard to find first 8 issues later in the year. Horror fans are advised to place their orders now as print runs will be limited. Based on the quality of issue 9 let's hope that WBD will be around for a long time: We Belong Dead very much belongs alive.

For more information visit wbd@yahoo.co.uk

The Orphan Killer on Friday Night Frights

Over at my podcast at Starburst Magazine, I talk to Matt Farnsworth, the director of The Orphan Killer about making and marketing his transgressive mini-masterpiece. The Orphan Killer is an agreeably nasty little slasher with an intriguing anti-Catholic theme that put me in mind of some of those 1970s classics like Alfred Sole's Communion and Pete Walker's House of Mortal Sin. But with more blood and guts. Listen to the podcast here.

Friday Night Frights 18 - I Didn't Come Here To Die

I remember as a kid being traumatised by those Central Office of Information safety films that used to show on children's television in the 1970s, warning of the perils of playing in dangerous places. The most memorable was Lonely Water (1973) and featured the voice of Donald Pleasence as the Grim Reaper culling off the foolhardy and the unwary. Another, more elaborate, but no less terrifying, effort was Apaches (1977) directed by John The Long Good Friday Mackenzie. This little nasty depicted a group of children who ignore all safety precautions while playing on a farm, and as a result die horribly under the wheels of tractors and so forth. What was so horrific about these films was that they proved that fate had it in for us kids, no matter what, and their gritty presentation made them all the more real. Final Destination re-imagined by the Children's Film Foundation.

All this is by way of introduction to my guest on this week's podcast - Bradley Scott Sullivan, whose debut I Didn't Come Here To Die comes on like some deranged version of those 1970s public information films.

Don't play with chainsaws, kids!

To listen go here.

Friday Night Frights 17: Leigh Dovey on The Fallow Field

 

Leigh Dovey's The Fallow Field has been described as Wolf Creek meets Memento set against the backdrop of the British harvest season. It's an intriguing combination and debut director Dovey is a big horror fan who got his chops watching the late night double bills on British BBC TV in the late 1970s/early 1980s. No surprise then that The Fallow Field has plenty of nods to rural horror classics like Blood on Satan's Claw (1970). I spoke to Leigh about his influences behind The Fallow Field over at my podcast. To listen go here

Starburst Issue 386

Fans of the Evil Dead will want to get their talons on this month's Starburst - just look at what is inside Issue 386

"Starburst dares to delve into the legacy of the Evil Dead franchise and is possessed by the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis as a result! Awaiting you beyond our exclusive Book of the Dead wrap-around cover you’ll find everything you ever wanted to know about Sam Raimi’s enduring horror franchise - from its humble origins, the innumerable comic book and videogame spin-offs, right up to the nervously anticipated remake. Jooooin us…
 
ALSO: The original ‘action figure’ himself, G.I. Joe gets the retrospective treatment in time for his second cinematic outing; Demons Within begins our exhaustive history of Exorcism in the Movies; and we go behind the scenes to talk with the crew of Angels & Airwaves’ acclaimed sci-fi drama, Love. Also letting us bend their ears in brand new interviews are Charlie Brooker (on Black Mirror, his career and more), Before Dawn’s Dominic Brunt, Doctor Who’s Chris Chibnall and Sinister director Scott Derrickson."

Yes, Demons Within, my history of Exorcism Movies sees print in this month's issue - with part two in next month's.

 

And coming up in my Friday Night Frights podcast over the next few weeks I have Leigh Dovey, director of The Fallow Field; Matt Farnsworth, director of the infamous The Orphan Killer; Scott Leberecht, director of Midnight Son; and Bradley Sullivan, director of I Didn't Come Here to Die. Quite a scary bunch of guys!

Thanks to all those who have been asking about the progress of my book, Shocks to the System. I'm happy to say I'm on target to meet my deadline with McFarland, so all is good. Have just spent the last month or so immersed in Val Lewton's world of shadows - not a bad place to be!

Scott Derrickson on Friday Night Frights

Scott Derrickson, director of Sinister (2012) and The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) is my guest on this week's Friday Night Frights podcast. Check it out here.

Return to Mayhem

Steven Sheil and Chris Cooke creating Mayhem

Readers of this blog will recall that I went to the Mayhem Film Festival in Nottingham last October and posted several reviews over at Starburst Magazine.

With many of the films shown at Mayhem - such as Maniac and American Mary - now on release (or about to open), I thought it would be good to catch up with the curators of Mayhem, Steven Sheil (who directed the brilliant Mum and Dad, 2008 ) and Chris Cooke (who made the equally sublime One for the Road, 2003) to pick over the bones of Mayhem 2012. To listen go here.