Full Movie (USA Only) - The Phantom Speaks (1945) - From The Paramount Vault

The killer is dead, but definitely not gone…

The spirit of an executed murderer enters the body of a physician, and forces him to do its bidding--namely, murder.

TV News: Pan’s Labyrinth receives Horror Channel premiere

Sat 19 April @ 21:00 – PAN’S LABYRINTH (2006) *Network Premiere

Set in 1944, at the end of the Spanish Civil War, Carmen (Ariadna Gil) moves with her young daughter Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) into the country after remarrying brutal Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez). Finding her harsh new life hard to bear, Ofelia seeks refuge in a mysterious maze next to the house. There a magical faun (Hellboy’s Doug Jones) reveals she is the long lost princess of an enchanted kingdom and to discover the truth about herself she must accomplish three perilous tasks nothing has prepared her to face. These mirror her soul-destroying existence helping her cope with the perversions of innocence Fascism represents in this ravishingly presented pitch-black fable for adults.

TV: Sky 319 / Virgin 149 / Freesat 138

www.horrorchannel.co.uk | twitter.com/horror_channel

TV News: Tom Baker welcomes Doctor Who on Horror Channel - #WHOonHorror

Tom Baker says he’s thrilled that the classic Doctor Who series is to be screened on the Horror Channel.

“Horror is my very favourite genre,” he said today, “so I am thrilled the classic Doctor Who series have been picked up by the Horror Channel.
There was clearly a darker edge to my storylines, which I think brought a new dimension to the series.  I remember hearing of the series scaring children – I wonder how the audience will react to the series today, all grown up.

He added: “The Horror of Fang Rock’ is one of my favourite stories so I’m looking forward to that one!"

Horror Channel has completed a deal with BBC Worldwide to broadcast 30 stories from the Classic series which ran 1963 to 1989 featuring the first seven Doctors, starting with William Hartnell and concluding with Sylvester McCoy.

Launching on Fri 18 April (Good Friday) the season begins with the very first story ‘An Unearthly Child’, and then leads into a special WHO ON HORROR weekend - a classic marathon featuring one story from each of the Doctors across the Easter weekend.  There will then be weekday double-bills in daytime and evening slots with stories shown in chronological order starting on Easter Mon 21 April.


www.horrorchannel.co.uk  | twitter.com/horror_channel | #WHOonHorror

Interview with Leslie S. Klinger by David Kempf

Bio: Leslie S. Klinger is considered to be one of the world’s foremost authorities on those twin icons of the Victorian era, Sherlock Holmes and Dracula. He is the editor of the three-volume collection of the short stories and novels, The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, published by W. W. Norton in 2004 and 2005, winner of the Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical Work and nominated for every other major award in the mystery genre. He is also the editor of The New Annotated Dracula (W.W. Norton 2008), which possesses a similar in-depth examination of Bram Stoker’s haunting classic and its historical context. When I was a student at Millersville University, I won an award for my paper on Dracula at The Student Research Conference. Years later, I never dreamed there could be such a definitive addition of the text of what is arguably the world's greatest horror novel. Leslie Klinger has given this to the world. We thank him for that and Masters of Horror U.K. thanks him for the time he took for this interview.

Interview by David Kempf

Tell us why you became so interested in Sherlock Holmes and Dracula.

When I was in law school, I received a gift of “The Annotated Sherlock Holmes” by William S. Baring-Gould. I was hooked! I was fascinated by the footnotes—by the discovery that there was a community of scholars interested in the Victorian age and Holmes in particular. Earlier, in college, I had read “Dracula” and loved it, but it didn’t really connect until I read Leonard Wolf’s “Annotated Dracula” in the 1970’s. These two editors showed me how much depth there was to be plumbed in these classic works.


How did you become interested in the scholarly side of gothic horror literature?

I always fantasized that someday, I might be the one who would update Baring-Gould’s work. I began to play around with it in the mid-1990’s, and after a year or two, I was mesmerized by the wealth of material to be explored. The 19th century is now so remote from us that it requires explanation. Detective and horror fiction of that time accurately mirrors the age, and so it is worth studying in detail.


Are you satisfied with the amount of literary academic research you have done?

There’s never enough time to do as much research as one would like. “Research rapture” is a common ailment of scholars. At some point, you have to stop the research and begin the communicating. Satisfied? Never!


Have you ever written any original short stories or fiction novels of your own?

I have one short story (Sherlockian) published; I tried my hand at a novel (hard-core s-f meets Victorian flavor), but it needs a lot of editing to be marketable. Fiction is hard work!


Tell us about your earliest inspirations.

Baring-Gould and Wolf have already been mentioned. Another important influence is my “day job”—as a lawyer, I’m always marshalling the “evidence” to buttress my analysis of the “facts.” My best training for being a lawyer was my degree in English literature (which taught me to look for underlying themes and to write about them). My best training for being an annotator was my law degree, which taught me to observe very carefully and examine every aspect of the material.


What is it like to be a technical advisor on both Sherlock Holmes movies?

.As a technical advisor, you win some and lose some. Sometimes, the purity of the text needs to yield to what’s entertaining and, of course, to the producer’s vision of the film. I had plenty of victories, where I was able to convince the producers to hew closer to the original material, and the losses were all in the interest of enthralling the audience! One of my biggest thrills was to be allowed to write Holmes’s epitaph (for “Game of Shadows”): “He played the game for the game’s own sake.” It’s right there on the screen!


Were you disappointed in Holmes surviving what should have been a last fatal encounter with Processor Moriarty in the sequel?

It was no spoiler to discover that Holmes survived; anyone who had read “The Adventure of the Empty House” knew that. I thought that the film should have left Holmes’s survival ambiguous (though readers knew he was alive), rather than make it explicit, but this was an artistic judgment that was ultimately up to the producer and director. Holmes never died and so will never die!


Do you consider yourself a mentor to other artists or academics?
Tell us about your daily (or nightly) working routine.

I lecture frequently on Holmes and Dracula, to readers and writers alike. My mentoring efforts have been primarily to share my legal knowledge with other creators—to educate them about contracts and copyrights. My principal mantra as a teacher is “Find what you’re passionate about and write about it!”


What do you feel is your greatest accomplishment as a writer so far?

I was deeply honored to receive the Edgar® for my New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Short Stories. I always explain, however, that I stood on the shoulders of Baring-Gould’s work. I had three great advantages over Baring-Gould: (1) The Internet and its amazing depth of Victorian works (in GoogleBooks and elsewhere); (2) the Ronald B. De Waal bibliography of all things Sherlock Holmes (over 25,000 entries), published after Baring-Gould’s death; and (c) I got to start with the work of Baring-Gould! I spent 37 years reading about Holmes, and it was an incredible opportunity to be allowed to distill that reading into 3,000 footnotes! I’m immensely proud of every one of my books. A great highlight of my writing career was the amazing opportunity to study the manuscript of Dracula, owned by Paul Allen and seen (by 2007) by only one other scholar, who wrote nothing about it.


Name some of your favorite horror books.

Obviously, Dracula, Frankenstein, the work of H. G. Wells, the work of E. A. Poe, and especially the work of Kafka and E.T.A. Hoffmann.


Name some of your favorite horror films. 

Dracula: Dead and Loving It; Young Frankenstein. Seriously, the scariest movie I ever saw? John Frankenheimer’s Seconds, starring Rock Hudson.


Why do you think horror movies and books remain popular?

Reading and seeing horror stories gives us a chance to practice dealing with the horrors of daily life and exercise our control. With books and films, we can always shut the covers, close our eyes. We’d like to do that in real life too—that’s why films and books are so appealing!


Why do you think Shelley’s Frankenstein and Stoker’s Dracula have influenced society and writers so much?

The answer is obvious: Science fiction and horror fiction would not exist without those predecessors. They created the molds for virtually everything that followed. The mad scientist, science gone wrong, the invasion of the unknown, the plight of the innocent unaware of the strengths of their enemies—all of these are tropes from those brilliant books.


How did you feel when you won the Edgar Award?

I knew that the Sherlockian community would embrace the New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, but it was a shock and delight to learn that the mystery genre in general respected the material and my work. When I walked up on the stage to accept the award, all I could think was, “My god! That’s Lawrence Bloch handing me the award!” I was and still am deeply deeply honored to be part of the tradition of winners of the Edgars®.


What are your latest projects?

Neil Gaiman and I are finishing up Annotated Sandman (vols. 3 and 4 will be out soon); New Annotated H. P. Lovecraft  will be out from Liveright in October 2014, and there’s proofing the galleys to be done. Laurie R. King and I are finishing up In the Company of Sherlock Holmes, another anthology of amazing stories by major writers not normally associated with Holmes. And I’ve just started working on my next book for Liveright, The New Annotated Frankenstein, to be published in Oct. 2017, just in time for the 200th anniversary of the book.


What advice can you give to new writers seeking publication? 

Figure out what you’re passionate about and stick to it. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t write. All they can really tell you is that they don’t like your writing or they don’t want to publish it. If you’re doing your best—really, your best—then stick to it.


Please in your own words write a paragraph about yourself & your work.

I’m a lawyer by day who found that he was passionate about writing. The skills came from the day job, but the passion came from my outside interests. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have a totally supportive wife and family, and I’m lucky enough to have the economic freedom to write about what I care about, not what will sell well. Of course, publishers always want books that the public will buy, and that’s not so bad. I keep wondering whether I’ll live long enough to write all the books that I want to write—probably not, but I have no problem that when the Reaper comes a-calling, I’ll be saying, “Wait, I just need a little more time to finish my next few books!”

You can check out Leslie's website at
http://lesliesklinger.com

The Walking Dead 4x12 Promo "Still" (HD)

The Walking Dead 4x12 "Still" - An enlightened mission springs from a request from one of the group members.

The Walking Dead 4x11 Promo "Claimed" (HD)

The Walking Dead 4x11 "Claimed" - A number of immediate threats plague Rick. Group members deal with their past.

TV News (UK): Horror Channel strikes blow with more Hammer double-bills

Plus Adam Green’s HATCHET 2 makes Network premiere cut

Voluptuous vampire vixens, undead slaves, cobra-women, grisly murders and creepy aliens.  Yes, Hammer heaven continues throughout March as the UK’s number one TV destination for all things horror brings you five more Hammer horror double-bills, which broadcast from Sat Mar 1 – Sat Mar 29 from 9.00pm.

Sat 1 March @ 21:00 – THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES (1966)

Directed by John Gilling, this is Hammer’s sole foray into the Zombie genre and centres on a mad Cornish squire who solves a labour crisis in his tin mines by turning local villagers into voodoo-controlled zombies. Dr. Thompson (Brook Williams) and his daughter Alice (Jacqueline Pearce) soon discover the unpleasant nocturnal habits of the shambling undead slaves, and Sir James Forbes (André Morell) arrives to investigate.

Sat 1 March  @  22:45 – CAPTAIN KRONOS – VAMPIRE HUNTER (1974)

Considered one of the last great Hammer films, this swash-buckling vampire yarn, features a master swordsman, a former soldier and his hunchbacked assistant who hunt vampires, became a cult classic. Written and directed by Brian Clemens, it stars Horst Janson in the title role, along with John Carson, Shane Briant and Caroline Munro. It was originally the pilot for a planned television series.

Sat 8 March @ 21.00 – THE REPTILE (1966)

Directed by John Gilling. the story centres on the hostile Dr. Franklin (Noel Willman), who hides in a mansion in Cornwall with his frightened daughter Anna (Jacqueline Pearce). Unknown to his neighbours, Franklin had been investigating a secret tribe of snake-people on his last trip to Borneo, and they reacted to his intrusion by making Anna one of them. As a result, she turns into a hideous cobra-woman every winter
.

Sat 8 March @ 22.45 – QUATERMASS AND THE PIT (1967)

Based on the BBC serial of the same name, and directed by  Roy Ward Baker, this science-fiction horror stars Andrew Keir as Professor Bernard Quatermass, who discovers an ancient Martian spacecraft in the London Underground.  The spacecraft has an intelligence of its own and once uncovered begins to exert a malign influence on the human psyche. Mayhem breaks out on the streets of London as the alien force grows in strength

Sat 15 March @21:00 – THE WITCHES (1966)

A schoolteacher, Gwen Mayfield, (Joan Fontaine) has a nervous breakdown after being exposed to witchcraft while teaching as a missionary in Africa. In an effort to recover, she becomes head teacher of a small private school in a rural English village. But Gwen soon detects a sinister undercurrent beneath the pleasantries of village life and discovers an active voodoo cult preying on a 14 year-old girl…

Sat 15 March @  22:45 – DEMONS OF THE MIND (1972)

Baron Zorn (Robert Hardy) keeps his two incestuous grown-up children locked up and separated, afraid that they will go mad – a fate that beset his deceased wife. He invites a doctor of dubious reputation (Patrick Magee) to supervise his son and daughter’s mental health. Meanwhile, in the vicinity of the house, grisly murders are happening...Directed by Peter Sykes, the film is based on the life of Franz Mesmer.

Sat 22 Feb @ 21:00 – DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE (1971)

Dr Martine Beswick brings a chilling conviction to the spidery Sister Hyde. Directed by Roy Ward Baker and co-starring Ralph Bates, the film is seen as Hammer’s most successful attempt to combine gore and eroticism, taking advantage of the newly allowed freedom by censors. Beswick was a favourite of the film director Terence Young who cast her in two Bond films. A remake of the film is reportedly under consideration.


Sat 22 March @ 22:55 – LUST FOR A VAMPIRE (1971)

Yutte Stensgaard only appeared in one Hammer film but made quite an impression with male viewers as the predatory Mircalla who, as a member of the Karnstein Vampire Dynasty, bites her way through the pupils of a ladies finishing school. Directed by Jimmy Sangier and also starring Ralph Bates, Barbara Jefford and Suzanne Leigh, the film has developed a huge cult following around the world.

Sat 29 March @ 21.00 – THE HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN (1970)

Academically gifted but arrogant and amoral, Victor Frankenstein (Ralph Bates) will stop at nothing, not even patricide, to achieve his goal of recreating human life. He builds a man monster (played by David Browse) made up of a collection of spare body parts but when his handiwork turns out to have homicidal tendencies, he is happy to use this to his own ends rather than realise he has gone too far.

Sat 29 March @ 22:50 – RASPUTIN: THE MAD MONK (1966)

Thrown out of his monastery for licentious and drunken behaviour, Rasputin (played by Christopher Lee), travels to St Petersburg to try his luck. Through a dalliance with one of the czarina's ladies in waiting he soon gains influence at court with his powers of healing and of hypnotism. But he also makes enemies who wish to see him dead. Directed by Don Sharp, the film is only loosely based on historical fact. .


OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

Fri 28 March @ 22:50 – HATCHET 2 (2010) – Network Premiere

Adam Green’s sequel picks up right where the splatter-tastic original ended, Marybeth (Danielle Harris) escapes the clutches of the deformed, swamp-dwelling iconic killer Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder). After learning the truth about her family’s connection to the hatchet-wielding madman, Marybeth returns to the Louisiana swamps along with an army of hunters to recover the bodies of her family and exact the bloodiest revenge against the bayou butcher. Also stars Tony Todd and Tom Holland.


TV: Sky 319 / Virgin 149 / Freesat 138
www.horrorchannel.co.uk | twitter.com/horror_channel

Machete Kills Trailer and Information

In MACHETE KILLS, Danny Trejo returns as ex-Federale agent MACHETE, who is recruited by the President of the United States for a mission which would be impossible for any mortal man - he must take down a madman revolutionary and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has hatched a plan to spread war and anarchy across the planet.

The Walking Dead - Season 4 Unanswered Questions

Spoiler Alert! Chris and Roth talk about the lingering questions heading into Walking Dead's Season 4 return. Warning! Comics are discussed!

Interview with Duncan Long by David Kempf

Duncan Long has created book cover artwork and illustrations for HarperCollins, Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Solomon Press, American Media, Ilex, ISFiC Press, Moonstone Books, Fort Ross, Enslow Publishers, and many other small presses, indie publishers, and self-publishing book authors. He has been selected by the Collaborative Summer Library Program as a featured illustrator for 2013.


Tell us how you became interested in illustration & art. 

Well, I’ve just always been drawing since I can first remember. At about three I was creating figures (not just stick figures but with volume in their arms and legs) and captioning them with “pop” and “ow” as they shot each other (yes, a violent little child).

From there on illustrations has just a part of my life like eating or sleeping and it was more “life” than an interest in life, I guess.

When I saw a chance to start making a living as a writer/illustrator, I jumped at the chance, discovering my ability to add illustrations landed a lot of extra work. Eventually I sort of migrated to mostly illustration work rather than writing or writing and illustrating my own work.


Why the interest in book covers for horror fiction?

My mom always read books to me (and my sister), so books have been a big part of our lives. And for me, often the covers were often an important part of that experience that I grew to love.

While my mom didn’t read horror books to us per se, we were exposed to some of the old fairytales, Bible stories, and science fiction novels — and many of those stories have elements that are pretty terrifying even for adults, especially in the case of some of the old German fairytales.


What has helped you improve your craft?

I’m pretty much self-taught, though my dad (who is also a writer and sometimes drawer) gave me some pointers early on that got me started in the right direction.

I think studying art by other artists is always a way to grow, and the Internet really opens up the world to us today.

But mostly my techniques have slowly improved because I keep drawing, painting, and so forth. That’s what really enables and artist to get better. The craft end of artwork is important, and in many ways it’s simply a matter of the hours you put into it. The more work you do, the better you get.

When a certain level of skill is finally achieved, you can just produce what you want to see without having to struggle with the “how-to” of doing the work. Your fingers just know what to do to make it happen.


What do you consider your greatest achievement as an artist so far?

I’m not sure an artist is the best judge of the value of his work. And I tend to see my most recent work as my best.

I think I could argue just being more or less constantly employed as a freelance illustrator is my best achievement. I often see really talented artists (and writers and musicians) scrounging for work and my heart just about breaks for them and then I have a “there but for the Grace of God” moment when I realize a lot of what a person sees as “achievement” is a matter of being in the right place at the right time, ready to seize the opportunities that are presented.

So I guess my achievement might be one of “keeping on keeping on.” Generating more paintings and bringing in more-or-less steady income.


Do you work with more mainstream or self-published independent authors?

Well, I’ve seen a shift from large publishers to “indie” authors and small presses over the last ten years. Many people don’t realize it, but there’s really been quite an upheaval in the publishing industry over the last few decades, with a big shift from traditional publishing through agents and established presses to self-publishing via POD (print on demand) and ebooks.

I’m not sure where we’re headed in publishing, but it is most certainly an exciting ride getting there.


Have your political or philosophical views shaped your art in some way?

I suppose so. I’m sure of it, in fact. I don’t know how it could be otherwise. I’m a person who likes to see the good in people, but I also believe there are truly evil people in the world who will cut your throat as soon as look at you. So some of my artwork is pretty dark as I come to grips with that truth, and as I try to force people to see that there are two sides to human beings, both a goodness but also a monstrous waiting to get out if we let it.

I also tend to bring in “references” from mythology, the Bible, and elsewhere in some of my work. So sometimes what might on its surface be a science fiction, horror, or whatever picture may have some classical ideas behind it.

For example, I have a rather chilling picture of a robot holding a skull (for Stephen Quayle’s upcoming Xenogenesis book). Those familiar with Shakespeare often realize it is a not-too-obtuse reference to the scene in Hamlet “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him well.”


Which writers (whom you have worked with) have inspired you the most?

That’s a hard one. Most art directors and self-publishing authors come into a job with some pretty good ideas, so it’s hard to single anyone out and say one or another one was been the most inspiring.

Right now, the work I’m doing to help illustrate Steven Quayle’s upcoming Xenogenesis has probably been the most interesting. Ditto for Jeremy Turner’s Animal Tales. These illustrations are black and white and getting the subject matter to be clear to the eye while having a lot of detail is tricky. So from that standpoint, these have really pushed my limits and forced me to develop some new techniques to deal with the challenges involved.


What is your most frightening book cover?

For art directors, those I sent in that weren’t what they wanted (ha).

But, actually, I think a cover illustration I did for Lamplighter magazine (and the twist here is that it’s a religious publication) probably would be the one I find most frightening. Called “The Serpent’s Curse,” it pictures Satan in the Garden of Eden, shaking his fist at (apparently) God with the lower half of his body being serpent-like. I find it almost obscene to look at and for some reason frightening. Possibly, I’m the only one that considers this horrifying or frightening — but I do.

For horror book artwork, I think my “Ghostly Things” is probably my most frightening to date. (It was recently purchased by Mary Maddox for an upcoming novel, and I’m afraid I don’t know what title it will be published under).

“Sometimes Darkness Wins” is another I find spooky. I sold the rights to it to Adam Wright for his novel Down to Earth.

My wife finds the cover I did for Black Beast by R S Guthrie most frightening, but only because the guy in the front is a self-portrait. (And some might argue the demon behind him is a self-portrait as well.)

I find in general the artwork that falls into the “uncanny valley” of being almost but not quite human is the most frightening for me. A “beautiful person” who you happen to notice has a little too much glow in the eye, a tooth that is a little too pointed, etc., tends to scare the heck out me.


What is your most bizarre/surreal book cover?

“Agendas” — but no one has ever purchased the rights to it. Possibly it’s too strange. I may soon make a print of it as I suspect a lot of people might like hanging a copy on their walls as a conversation piece.


Name some of your favorite horror books.

Poe’s books of short stories have really stood the test of time and I enjoy them. Some of Stephen King’s works are pretty captivating; The Tommy Knockers comes to mind (though I suppose some might classify it as science fiction). I like some of the genre-bending stories like some of the stuff Harry Turtledove writes.

I tend to like psychological terror rather than blood and guts stories whether with books or movies. Blood and guts always seems like an easy out for a writer and I just don’t enjoy those stories.


Name some of your favorite horror movies. 

Alien and Aliens while technically science fiction really work as horror movies (I think). I still find parts of the old Frankenstein and Dracula (with Bela Lugosi) movies frightening — though overall these two are a bit tedious for those of us who enjoy more fast-paced work.

The Haunting (which is a remake of The Haunting of Hill House which I enjoyed as a kid, but not so much now) has some wonderful scenery even though its thrills and chills are a tad thin perhaps. The old 1963 film The Haunting (created from one of Shirly Jackson’s horror novels) as has this same sort of feel with some good chills — especially where the doors are bending in with some ghostly weight, an effect that since has been copied a lot but which was new at that time.

Poltergeist is good, though it has some of the Steven Spielberg slickness that I find a little distracting (don’t get me wrong — he makes bang-up movies).

The original Japanese version of The Ring definitely has a high creep factor, especially with the ending they have on the movie. Blair Witch Project was a nice one-off story that worked well, but it seems like all others attempting such films have been destined to failure to date (at least for me).

The original Psycho has stood the test of time, and being in B&W adds a certain interest to the movie — Alfred Hitchcock’s camera work is always amazing to watch.


What are your current projects?

Bunches on the burners. Right now laying out and perhaps making more illustrations for Quayle’s Xenogenesis is going to be the biggest project. Animal Tales (which is NOT horror) is also going to be a major bit of work since I’m laying out the cover and text as well as creating illustrations for it.

I also have several science fiction and horror illustration projects including one involving a diabolical black cat and a Ouija board that promises to be challenging due to the perspective the author wants for it.


Please in your own words write a paragraph about yourself & your work.

I’ve done cover artwork for HarperCollins, Amazing Stories, Pocket Books, Ilex, Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, PS Publishing, Moonstone Books, Enslow Publishers, and many other presses as well as self-publishing authors.

Last year, I had the honor of being selected as one of the 2013 Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) featured illustrators.

Bottom line: I’m a pretty average guy blessed with a little talent and bunches of “lucky breaks” who has the good fortune to make his living doing what he really loves doing.