Interview with Adam Green Ahead of Horror Channel’s UK TV premiere Victor Crowley

Ahead of Horror Channel’s UK TV premiere of Adam Green’s VICTOR CROWLEY, the great director shares his personal tragedies, George Romero’s inspirational words, the importance of genre comedy and hints that the Bayou Butcher may rise again…


Adam, you’re back on the UK’s Horror Channel this Friday night with your latest ‘Hatchet’ instalment VICTOR CROWLEY. Excited?

I’m always thrilled to hear that another one of my films will be playing on the UK’s Horror Channel! It’s crazy to think that the US hasn’t had a horror specific television channel in 6 years now, only horror themed subscription platforms like SHUDDER. Then again- look at the real life horror we’re dealing with here as far as our current President goes. Clearly our country has made far worse decisions than doing away with our horror television network.


You've called VICTOR CROWLEY your most personal movie ever. Why?

I truly intended to be finished with HATCHET after the original trilogy. When HATCHET 3 was released in 2013 I had absolutely no desire to ever step foot back in Victor Crowley’s swamp ever again. However, life had other plans for me and in 2014 I underwent a series of personal tragedies that changed everything. Within a span of just thirteen days I endured a heart shattering divorce, the tragic death of Dave Brockie, one of my best friends and co-stars on my TV series HOLLISTON and the dissolving of HOLLISTON’s home network FEARnet, in a corporate merger which left my show trapped in television purgatory for six years. I’ll spare you the details of the dark year or so that followed but my health deteriorated down into a truly frightening state.

Then in October of 2015 George Romero asked if I would host his panel at a horror convention in my hometown of Boston, Masachusetts. There was no way I was going to say “no” to George. At the end of the panel he pointed out to me just how many in the crowd were wearing HATCHET or HOLLISTON or “Adam Green” T-shirts and then he turned me away from the crowd and gave me a short but extremely blunt pep talk about what my work means to “these kids” and that I have to get back on my feet and back to doing what I do best. The long story short is that George snapped me out of it and made me see the light, in particularly what HATCHET had come to mean to the genre.

However, if I was going to bring back Victor Crowley I only wanted to do it if it could be a surprise for the fans, we set out to make the film in secret. I still can’t believe we pulled it off! The end result was a much more personal and honest film than I ever would have had the courage to make otherwise. I worked out a lot of the pain I was going through during that dark point in my life. Several critics have called VICTOR CROWLEY “the best HATCHET film yet” but I am still far too close to the process of making the movie to be able to rank it against the other three films with any kind of clarity.


VC is more comical than ever, do ‘Hatchet’ fans expect that fun side of the franchise to be upped every single time?

HATCHET’s sense of humor is precisely what sets it apart from other slashers of its kind. The series may proudly wear all of the expected slasher movie tropes on its sleeves but it is the comedic tone of the films that make them a more entertaining experience overall than the slashers that came before it. Rarely were the 80’s slashers intentionally funny and as Kane Hodder always points out, with the sequels in the big franchises the audience merely tolerated the time they had to spend with the characters while they waited to see them die. If you look at the first three films as one long movie the humor actually gets toned down slightly with each entry as the story works its way to its action packed final act. So with VICTOR CROWLEY I got to hit the re-set button and really amp up the comical side of things once again.

This time around the film’s theme also holds a mirror up to an audience that has become shamefully numb to murder and obsessed with the next great true crime docu-series. Think about it, just twenty years ago major network sit-coms like FRIENDS and SEINFELD were “must see TV” not only in the US but around the world. Now it’s real life tragedies like MAKING A MURDERER, DON’T F*CK WITH CATS, and TIGER KING that have become our passionate water cooler conversations at the office and a major force in modern day pop culture. The sheer fact that more people are talking about Joe Exotic’s mullet than the mistreatment of the actual tigers in TIGER KING sickens me. I mean, our President’s own dim-witted son was asked what he thought of the Netflix phenomenon and his take away from the series was that he “didn’t realize a tiger was so affordable!” The characters in VICTOR CROWLEY are all looking to cash in on a massacre that left at least forty innocent people dead and they have absolutely no regard for the human lives lost. Sadly, that’s exactly what would happen if the events of HATCHET were real.


Many have called the film your ‘Scream 3’, do you agree with that assessment?

Any time someone mentions one of my films in the same breath as a Wes Craven film my heart grows another size bigger. I would agree with that assessment in that overall the HATCHET series is more akin to Craven’s SCREAM series than the 80’s slashers it is often compared to. When the first HATCHET came out nothing made me happier than hearing seasoned horror fans draw comparisons to AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON and FRIGHT NIGHT - the two films that influenced HATCHET the most. John Landis and Tom Holland had both taken tired sub-genres that had grown out of fashion and updated them by infusing comedy into their characters’ dialogue. With HATCHET I tried to take the same approach with the slasher sub-genre that they had taken with the werewolf and vampire sub-genres so it’s always a huge compliment to hear that others recognize it.

What did star Kane Hodder add to VC this time that you weren't expecting?

Kane has always approached each film as if Victor Crowley is actually starting to enjoy killing the more that he does it. So after ten years at peace without ripping a single head from a body, I think that Victor Crowley revelled in the over the top kills more this time than ever before. For Kane personally, he had always thought that HATCHET 3 was the last time he was ever going to play Victor Crowley so when I told him I had written a fourth film that we were going to make in secret and then surprise the fans with on the 10th anniversary of the original film, I swear I saw tears of joy in his eyes. Of course, the tears were actually a mixture of gasoline and dead baby juice as we all know Kane Hodder doesn’t cry…


The inevitable question…can we expect the beast from the bayou to rise again? 

Given the success of VICTOR CROWLEY it’s a safe bet that we’ll be seeing the Bayou Butcher paint the screen red again. One of the aspects of the original trilogy that I am most proud of is that the films fit together as one cohesive story, always starting on the very frame that the previous entry ended on. So just like how I had the original trilogy plotted out before we ever shot a frame of the first film, I had several films plotted out before I started shooting VICTOR CROWLEY as well. The biggest reason that the HATCHET series has remained so strong over the years is that the same key people have been involved with the making of each film. That is incredibly rare in this genre. We also don’t rush out sequels like they are being mass produced on a conveyor belt and my crew and I only come back to the series when we are all truly ready to do so. The secret to how we’ve been able to fall back in love with Victor Crowley all over again each time is that we’ve always put a few years of working on other projects in between making HATCHET sequels.


You’re a master at injecting the slasher genre with great killer comedy. And of course, humour runs through the veins of all your TV/Radio/Podcast ventures. Has humour always played a vital part of your creative life?

Yes, always. Comedy was where I originally started out and it is a major aspect of my story telling voice. I did stand-up comedy for a few years when I was first coming up, not because I ever had any interest in being a stand-up comic but because I knew that the experience would help me become a stronger comedy writer. While my films like FROZEN and SPIRAL may have had no room for humor in them given the tone of the stories being told, those are rare exceptions for me. Overall my goal is to always entertain my audience, not to punish them with ugly, mean spirited, or depraved stories. We have real life for that. 


You’ve written, directed, produced, acted, been a musician, author, marketer…is there an ambition left still lying dormant?

I still believe there’s time for me to become a professional basketball player. All I need is another growth spurt and to develop some athletic ability.


How are you coping with the lockdown?

When the United States started going into lockdown, my first instinct was of course to want to try and help in some way. Unfortunately, I’m just a filmmaker, I’m not smart enough to assist our incredible doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel on the front lines. However, the one thing I could do was entertain and give folk somewhere to “go” every day for a few hours, so I put on “Adam Green’s CORONAPOCALYPSE Live Stream Series” where every single day I hosted live streams of my films, TV shows, and other projects for FREE on my ArieScope Pictures' YouTube channel. I literally gave away every single thing I’ve made over the course of my twenty-two year career so far.

Starting with the very first stream (a live reading of my novel I SURVIVOR) various cast and crew members from my films started to turn up in the chat thread without me even having asked them to. Not only would they chat with fans and answer their questions during each day’s show but a few of us would even check in with fans throughout the night and at odd hours just to say hello and see how everyone was holding up. It’s very hard to explain to someone who wasn’t there taking part in it but the experience became something truly special that helped a lot of people (myself included) get through that first very difficult month. I didn’t know what to expect but by the end of the month the series had amassed over 50,000 views – and counting.

The whole experience is one that I will never forget as it brought out the “good” in so many people.

I must admit I’ve been slightly lost since the daily streams ended but, thankfully, I’ve been able to distract myself by working on finishing the new upcoming episode of my SCARY SLEEPOVER series, producing the weekly MOVIE CRYPT podcast I do with Joe Lynch, and writing-writing-writing since keeping busy is the only way I can stay sane during this awful time.


Finally, what’s in the pipeline for you? Is ‘Killer Pizza’ still on the menu?

I’d tell you but then I’d have to kill you. I have several exciting things coming and originally expected to be letting the cat out of the bag on at least two of the things I’ve been working on by the start of summer. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has put a stop to everything for now. For the moment my only job is praying for all of us.


VICTOR CROWLEY is broadcast on Friday 15 May @ 21:00

"Bianca" Short Thriller - Directed by Federico Zampaglione

Italian musician and film director Federico Zampaglione latest movie is BIANCA, a stylishly violent short horror thriller, shot in lockdown in Italy on his iPad in three days and starring his ten year old daughter Linda in the title role and his partner, actress Giglia Marra.

The story, which centres on the tense, unpredictable relationship between a girl and her mother at home, was co-written by Zampaglione and Gianluigi Perrone.

Federico said today: “My daughter was getting a little bored being at home for so long with nothing entertaining to do, so I suggested to her and my girlfriend Giglia, that we do a little film - have some fun together and stay in a better mood.  It’s very important right now to stay positive through the tough times we are going through. On top of this I had the occasion to get back to my old love...The Horror”.

COMPETITION: Win Revenge Limited Edition Blu-ray

Revenge Limited Edition Blu-ray is released on Blu-ray on May 11th.

And to celebrate we have a great competition and 2 copies on Blu-ray to give away.

Synopsis
One of the most talked about movies of recent years, Revenge lends ‘pitch-black humour and a cunning feminist agenda’ (★★★★ Daily Express) to the classic exploitation genre, and now Second Sight Films is giving this groundbreaking gore-fest the Limited Edition Blu-ray box set treatment.

The release features stacks of brand new special features, including a new interview with debut feature writer-director Coralie Fargeat and star Matilda Lutz (Medici), whose performance is ‘gripping — a powerful mix of Lara Croft and The Bride’ says The Sun. Also included are new interviews with the film’s cinematographer and the composer, a new commentary and much more, please see details in full below. The set arrives on 11 May 2020 complete with new artwork, designed by Adam Stothard, a poster and a soft cover book with writing by Mary Beth McAndrews and Elena Lazic.

Entitled CEO Richard’s (Kevin Janssens – Undercover ) romantic getaway with his young mistress Jen (Lutz) is interrupted when his sleazy associates Stan (Vincent Colombe – Point Blank) and Dimitri (Guillaume Bouchède – Love at Second Sight) arrive early for the businessmen’s annual hunting trip. Their leering advances turn ugly, culminating in a brutal attack where Jen is left for dead in the desert. Like a phoenix from the ashes, Jen rises, and now she’s out for revenge. What follows is ‘a bloody middle finger…a demand for reckoning…a kick in the balls with a feminine combat boot’ (Rolling Stone).

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned…and now it’s time to get Revenge.

Click here to buy from Amazon (Opens in a new window)

COMPETITION CLOSED

Terms and conditions
1. Closing date 18-05-20
2. No alternative prize is available
3. When the competition ends as indicated on this page, any and all entries received after this point will not count and emails blacklisted due to not checking this page first.
4. Winners will be chosen randomly and will be informed via email.

Different Categories of Online Slots

There are multiple different types of slot games available for you to play online which not only benefits the player but also enables these games to differ in the ways that they are designed. Let’s take a look at the most common types of slot games available online for you to play so that you can find the best type of new game to play for you.


Classic Online Slots

The “original” version of a slot game is a three reel slot. This is an online slots game based on the traditional slots machines that you can play on when you go to a bricks and mortar style casino which is often why they are so popular with players. They are very familiar in their layout and they are really easy to play. All you have to do is align the symbols on any of the three visible rows to be able to win yourself some prize money.


5 Reel Slots

Very similar to the format of the three reel slots games, the five reel slots game are the modern equivalent. They have changed in their design due to the technological advancements and because gamers were wanting more from their experience of playing slots games online. With five reels in play, the games developers were able to make slots games more exciting, more diverse and have a wider range of interesting themes to entice the players.

But the other things that make these slot games so popular is that because they have more reels in play, there is always more money available for you to win and there are also more paylines in play so you always have the chances of winning more cash as you play. This makes the overall experience more exciting for the players and entices them, not only into playing more and for longer periods of time, but also to return for another game.


Progressive Slots

These are the types of slots games where the largest amounts of jackpot totals are lurking. This is because the jackpot will keep increasing if the jackpot is not won and will continue to increase until the jackpot is won. This results in enormous wins, where players can become multi-millionaires just by spinning the reel.
These slots games are generally much higher risk to be able to play them but the rewards are much greater so players are generally happy to take the bigger risk.

If this style of slots game interests and excites you, keep your eyes on the prize as the jackpot will be forever changing. Make sure that you play the game when you know that the jackpot is at an increased level so that you can be sure that you have the best chances of being able to win the largest amount of cash available to you in that specific slots game online of the progressive variety.


Non-progressive Slots

This type of slots game may be similar to the progressive slots game via its name but that is where the similarity ends. Non-progressive slots have a specific jackpot total and this does not alter or increase at any time. You know what you are able to win before the game starts and you also know that this will be won by a player during the game. This is a very self-explanatory style of slots game and is not something that will change in its jackpot size if you come back and check it at a later time or date.


Mobile Slots

This is the most popular way in which people choose to play on their favourite slots game. This is because of their ease and convenience as mobile slots games can be accessed from any location and at any time of the day or night. You do not have to attend a casino to be able to play and this means that the concept of playing on slots has been opened up to a much wider audience.

Mobile slots can be played on a Smartphone or on a tablet. Either of these methods are popular. Some people prefer to be able to see more of the finer details of a slots game so prefer to play on the larger screen of a tablet. But for other players, the convenience of your Smartphone always being on your person is much more of an overriding factor for playing slots on the go.


Slots with Mega Spins

If you are the type of player who likes to multi-task or needs lots of action to keep your attention, then the Mega Spin style slots game could be the perfect solution for you. This is where you have the ability to be able to play lots of different slots games all at once so that you can increase your chances of winning but decrease the amount of time these wins could potentially take.

This is a clever concept because you can play all of the different slots games you enjoy playing all on one screen so that you can keep a close eye on all of the action as it happens but you don’t have to flit between lots of different screens. You don’t want to lose track of what is happening, especially when your hard-earned cash is at stake.

Another of the best features of Mega Spin slots is that the majority of them have progressive jackpots. This means that they combine the excitement of playing multiple games with the draw of being in the running for winning big cash returns. You might even be able to win multiple progressive jackpots at the same time which could result in life-changing amounts of cash coming your way!


Online Slots Categories

There are many different categories of online slots which you can choose from. You need to know what you are looking for so that you can find the perfect slots gaming style for yourself before you play. From the more traditional to the multi-taskers dream, there is a slot gaming online style for every player.

Ban on credit card: How it can influence slots players

The data on gambling in the UK claims that the British invest around £3 billion every year on casino games.

This consists of the hugely popular slots, and these account for a good proportion of that total, staggering, amount. It is little wonder that increasingly more funding has been invested in internet casinos, plus slot designers are spending a lot of their time developing innovative and new games to offer folks a thrill and entice them to play (and pay) at SlotsUK even more.

But although it's the casinos and app developers that have taken notice of the massive sum of money folks are investing, so too has the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC). This regulatory body has spotted that online gambling is developing at an extremely rapid rate, and it is worried about the spending that's taking place. Naturally, not many are overspending, but it's certain some are since £3 billion is an enormous amount of cash, and this means some people have to be entering into debt just to enjoy some games. Put like that, to most people it just wouldn’t be worth it, but for those in the middle of the problem, it is definitely an issue.

Due to this, the UKGC has placed several additional security measures on online casinos – and slot games – to stop people from spending too much. One of these ideas, as of April 2020, is that credit cards can no longer be used to bet with. The money has to come instead from a debit card or, in some cases, cryptocurrency although this is not yet a universal payment method for online casinos. So is this move a good one or not?


The Positives

The credit card ban for internet gambling websites certainly has several benefits to it. For all those individuals who might have been getting carried away when it concerned their gambling, the fact that credit cards can no longer be used is a great thing; it means they're able to stop and consider before playing, and tailor their budget appropriately. For these individuals, the everyday players, the credit card ban has helped them to be much more sensible, and not get carried away.

This is great news; there is going to be less unwanted debt incurred plus, with a good budget installed for playing, no one’s finances should be affected.


The Negatives

At first glance it may appear that you'll find no negative factors with regards to banning using credit cards at internet casinos; it is helping folks and preventing them from adding to their debt. This is accurate for the vast majority of people who play online games, but for many it is a really terrible thing that will not have helped them whatsoever – in fact, it will have hurt them more than anything.

For somebody with a really serious gambling addiction, the credit card ban will have meant they have to source their cash elsewhere. They will not be content with simply using the money in their bank account (and making use of much more than they have to, possibly meaning they cannot pay for food or even pay bills), and instead they will be looking for other ways to obtain money. They are going to try to borrow cash from others, maybe get a re-mortgage from a bank. If their credit is bad… well, there are always unscrupulous folks that are willing to lend money for a hugely inflated interest rate. And since the cash is being used to gamble, and everyone always loses more than they win, paying the money back might just become impossible. Lives could be ruined all because a credit card has been banned online.

Interview with Steven W. Booth - By David Kempf

When did you first become interested in writing? 

I’ve always been a good writer. In elementary school, I could never understand what people were talking about with a first draft, an edit, and a final draft. For me it was a first draft, a proofread, and done. But storytelling is something I came to much later. I concluded in my youth that storytelling was the key to popularity (all the cool kids could tell stories well), and I wasn’t cool or popular, which I attributed to the fact that I couldn’t tell stories well. I didn’t understand the structure or process of crafting a story. I remember in my first days of college at University of California Santa Cruz, I wrote a short story about two serial killers meeting when one picked up the other on the side of the road. They really liked each other and were sad when they had to kill each other. The story was unpublishable, as you can well imagine. But it wasn’t until about 2005 when I started storytelling in earnest. A friend, horror author Harry Shannon, challenged me to write a novel when I tried to tell him that I wasn’t creative. Since then I’ve written about 2 million words (15 novels and a smattering of short stories, but some of those novels were written anywhere from 4 to 12 times). So, long answer to a short question, around 2005.


How did you get involved in fantasy/horror?

I blame my sister. I wasn’t a reader until I was about 13, and she gave me Piers Anthony, David Gerrold, Steven Brust, and of course JRR Tolkien and others. I’ve always been interested in fantasy and science fiction—and I feel horror has elements of both. How I got started writing horror was because of Harry again. I had been writing a lot, but not really getting anywhere with it. I tried getting into some anthologies that Harry would suggest, but he would always be accepted whereas I wouldn’t be. So my wife suggested we write a zombie short story for an anthology edited by Joe McKinney and Michelle McCrary. The anthology was Dead Set, and the short story was Jailbreak, the story of a small town sheriff who gets caught in her jailhouse on the first night of the apocalypse.

The story was accepted and was the first (or second, I’d have to look) story in the anthology. It was wildly popular, downloaded like 150,000 times (it was free, or course). So, seeing a good thing, Harry and I asked ourselves, what happens after. From that premise, we wrote The Hungry. That was also wildly popular (this was 2011, the heyday of zombie fiction). So we wrote The Wrath of God. And then At the End of the World. By the time we were done, we had written seven novels with the same characters as Jailbreak, and a thriller together. Zombies and a sheriff named Penny Miller are how I got involved.


Tell us about your first publisher.

Well, my first publisher was me. Which is to say, Genius Book Publishing, now a medium sized press handling a lot of true crime, but a smattering of other stuff, including all my novels. As far as the Horror Writers Association is concerned, I’m self published. If you saw how rigorously we vetted my books, you wouldn’t think it was done haphazardly. I was planning on starting a publishing company anyway, and I didn’t want to start with screwing up someone else’s book, so I decided to practice on The Hungry. As I said, it was wildly popular, and still holds the record for unit sales in my company. When I didn’t screw it up, I started publishing other authors. We now have 29 titles, and a gazillion more (really, like 10 or 15) coming out this year alone. Yes, eight of those titles have my by-line, and there will be a ninth by early May. But I leave it up to others in my organization to tell me whether my stuff is publishable. If it’s not, we don’t publish it. In other words, my first publisher is freakin’ awesome!


How would you classify the genre you write?

I write action-adventure and mystery. All of my zombie novels are actually action-adventure with horror elements. My thriller is action adventure with mystery elements. My new novel, The Orchard, is a mystery with science-fiction elements. My best short stories are all action-adventure, with I think one exception. I thought for a long time that I wanted to write cross-genre mystery and private eye stories like Steven Saylor and Steven Brust, but what I end up with is action-adventure and mystery.

Why do you think horror and fantasy books remain so popular?

I need to get technical here. I believe that horror is popular because people are practicing in their minds what they would do if their worst nightmares stared them in the face. Fantasy is the same, but substitute ghosts for dragons. There’s quite a bit of research that shows a good story can hijack the listener’s mind and cause them to experience in a very real way what they are hearing. Here’s an example: https://buffer.com/resources/science-of-storytelling-why-telling-a-story-is-the-most-powerful-way-to-activate-our-brains. I think people have fears and doubts, and fantasy and horror particularly, but adventure and mystery and romance and all genres are a safe way to practice being in foreign situations and test responses without actually getting rejected, beat up, or killed. Or eaten by zombie dragons, I would imagine.


What inspires your stories?

Movies. I could list quite a few that mean a lot to me, but when I think storytelling, I think movies. Alien and Aliens. Star Wars. Jaws. Ghostbusters. Sneakers. The Wrath of Khan and The Undiscovered Country. Blue Thunder and War Games (same director, turns out). A Bugs Life, Finding Nemo, Lilo and Stitch. A ton more. Each of them have a permanent apartment in my head. I have a beta reader who is going over my new novel now, and he commented that my writing style is very cinematic. I love that feeling of immersion that I get from watching really good movies. I’m a very visual person, and I see the stories in my head. Not the whole thing, just snippets of situations, actions, faces, relationships. But I see them, and I want others to see them as well. There is insufficient room in this interview for me to go into a huge amount of detail, but I will say that my Hungry novels are really Aliens with zombies. My storytelling is equal parts Sneakers, Star Wars, Jaws, and Finding Nemo. I just love those movies, and I love what they do to my brain. I want other people to have that experience with my stories as well. Except in novel form. I don’t write screenplays.

What do you think the difference between American horror and British horror is?

I plead ignorance. I am wholly underprepared for this question. I have read my fair share of American horror (which is probably less than most people who have written 7 horror novels), but I cannot think of a single British horror story I’ve really spent any time on. I will stand here and accept the inevitable shaming that will be directed at me after this answer is published. [Edit: As I’m going through my favorite horror books, I realized I’ve read both Shelley’s Frankenstein and Stoker’s Dracula. Those are not exactly recent exemplars of modern British horror, so I’m sticking with my original answer. I don’t know.]


What are your favorite horror books? 

P.N. Elrod’s Vampire Chronicles are great. Anything by Anne Rice, but really Interview with a Vampire and the Vampire Lestat are the ones that I spent a lot of time with. I really liked Stoker’s Dracula. I am a big big fan of The Cask of Amantillado and the Pit and the Pendulum by Poe. I’ve read The Shining probably three times, but I wouldn’t put it at the top of the list. I find it compelling, but not a favorite. [Edit: Based on my answer to the previous question, I should note that Shelley’s Frankenstein was not one of my favorite horror novels. Full stop.] I also like Black Sun Rising by C.S. Friedman. That one had a big impact on my storytelling.


What are some of your favorite horror movies?

Alien, hands down, is my favorite horror movie. Next is Jaws. The Fourth Kind (that one freaks me out to this day). Sunshine goes on the list too, although that’s probably a stretch for most true horror fans. One time, a good friend and awesome horror author, Janet Joyce Holden, called my taste in horror very ‘mainstream.’ She’s probably right (and I’m still a little traumatized by that, despite it being true). Whereas I couldn’t get 20 minutes into Event Horizon, which I thought I would love. No accounting for taste.


What do you consider your greatest accomplishment as an author?

Despite being “self” published, I’m still shocked that I have been able to find so many people who want to read what I’ve written. One time, I was at a World Horror Convention in Salt Lake City, and we were doing a mass signing. Some guy came up to me and asked me to sign his Kindle in silver sharpie. I went up to him after and asked him—truly—“What the hell were you thinking?” He said, “I really love your work.” I have fans in the Philippines. I have people who really react to my work. I want people to engage with my stories, to feel them, to experience them. And they do. It’s surprising and very gratifying.


Do you have any advice for new writers?

Yes, and it could fill this interview a hundred times over. I’ll keep it short. First, persistence is everything. EVERYTHING. I’ve written 15 complete novels as I’ve said before. The most recent release I discovered I wrote 9 times, some of which bear no resemblance to the final at all. Nine complete novels to get one publishable story. If I didn’t have persistence, I would have never been able to do that. Persistence beats talent every time. Second, for a long time, I believed that if I couldn’t just “fix” a current story during rewrite—as opposed to going off on a tangent, which is what I’d usually wind up doing—it mean that I was not a disciplined writer. More than one author told me that. You can justify everything, I was told by one writing coach. It’s bullshit. Forking, diverging from the original story, getting lost in a tangent, those are all CRITICAL storytelling tools. I set aside my first novel because I wrote (not rewrote, but wrote) four entirely different stories as I was fixing it. How is that not being disciplined? I once had a conversation with Steven Saylor, one of my heroes. He showed me the first pages of the first novel in his Gordianus the Finder series, which is hugely influential on me (I wouldn’t be a novelist today if it wasn’t for Catalina’s Riddle). In those first pages, Gordianus didn’t even exist. The investigator was Marcus Tullius Cicero, who, in the resulting novels, was a minor if important character.

Even Steven Saylor needed to find his way. Why should I be any different? And David Gerrold rewrote a published novel, When Harlie Was One, because he didn’t like the ending and republished it as Version 2.0. How is that undisciplined? Third, ignore the advice that you can learn writing from reading other authors. Now, before you stop reading this interview, that advice is completely true. You CAN learn from reading others. But not if you don’t understand what you’re reading. Here’s what I mean. If you don’t know how to cook, and someone tells you you can learn how to cook like a master chef by eating great food, they are lying to you. You must know the basics of storytelling (I’m a big fan of the three act structure, but I digress) before you start reverse engineering someone else’s work. It’s like learning a foreign language. If someone teaches you the word for “towel” in Japanese, and then you listen to someone speaking Japanese, it all sounds the same until they say “towel.” That word stands out. But if you don’t know the ingredients of a story, how it’s constructed, how to bake it or pan fry it or barbecue it, what the writing equivalent of the Malliard effect is (look it up, it’s yummy), all you can say is, this is good food. Learn the basics of storytelling, plot, and structure, and THEN go read other great writers and you’ll start to see what they’re doing to your brain. When you know the elements of storytelling, reading is like watching TV with the sound off (try it, it’s creepy). You start to see what they’re doing to your brain. You can pick up on emotions, dramatic beats, and relationships by watching with the sound off. The words are getting in the way. Same with reading to learn writing. Turn the sound off.


What is your opinion of the new self-publishing trend?

I have a total love-hate relationship with self-publishing. Some stories should never ever ever see the light of day. Never. Did I say never yet? Don’t do it. I’ve written more than my fair share. I actually self-pubbed an early draft of one of these winners. I forgot about that. Then, years later, I had reworked it into something publishable. And I found a home for it (Horror Library 5–say Hi to Boyd Harris if you see him). I was so excited. Then I got an angry email from him. They only accepted NEW stories. Well, this was a NEW version. Nope, didn’t count. Shot myself in the foot because I couldn’t wait to win fame and fortune with a story that wasn’t ready and actually harmed my reputation. The publishable version is actually really good. The published version is shite. On the other hand, my other business—and the reason I became a publisher—is helping authors and publishers create books from manuscripts. If it wasn’t for self-publishing, I wouldn’t have my 8 novels nor a career in publishing nor a roof over my head. If your story is ready, go ahead and self-pub. But deciding if your story is ready is a subject for another interview. I will say, if a publisher makes you an offer on your story, THAT’s when you should consider self-pubbing, not before. So many people disagree with that advice. Take it for what it’s worth.


Do you really think you’re a genius?

Oh, for heaven’s sake. My company is Genius Books & Media, Inc.. I named it after my wife, who is way smarter than me. She had Genius Office Services back in 2003, an editing and transcribing service. I coopted the name and created Genius Book Services. Then Genius Book Publishing. And now Genius Books & Media. Everyone gives me a hard time about the name. All I’m going to say is, both Leya and I passed the Mensa test. That’s good enough for me. But the name isn’t a matter of ego, it’s a matter of love. My wife is amazing and she really is WAY smarter than me.


Will you have more time to write now or is the quarantine too distracting?

I’ve worked from home since January 2010. The quarantine has impacted my social life (my friends are mostly in Los Angeles proper, about 45 minutes from my home in Castaic), and I’d really like a haircut and a meal served to me that I didn’t cook myself, but really nothing else has changed. I’m writing a couple of times a week, notwithstanding the true crime book I’m ghostwriting most mornings, and I’m painting three or four nights a week. My publishing work has not abated, but my book design clients have sort of fallen away. That’s affected my income, but not my writing time. And now that my fan in the Philippines has convinced me to write more books (I’ll tell you another time), I have plenty to write. More time? Perhaps not. Too distracting? Not even a little. I just have fewer excuses for not writing.


What are your current projects?

I’m currently writing a modern-day fantasy about a group of geriatric demon hunters who get caught up in the war between the gods for control of the multiverse. I’m plotting out two sequels to my new science-fiction mystery novel, The Orchard (Lord Wilfrando Sy, I’m looking at you, and you know why!) as well as two prequels, and I’m tinkering with a science-fiction private eye novel about a plot to start a galactic war around a single planet. Oh, and I’m thinking of resurrecting that first novel that I wrote four times, now that I’ve figured out what’s wrong with it (you don’t have to fix the world to be an inspiration to others). I’m also an avid figurative and aviation artist painting about one new piece a week. That’s enough to keep me busy.


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

I am an author, artist, publisher, and entrepreneur. I am a big believer in the idea that you shouldn’t be confined to writing (or painting, or creating) what you know, because if everyone did that, nothing new would ever be created. As a writer and storyteller, I consider myself a “feral pantser.” I often haven’t a clue where I’m going with a story as I’m writing it. But since the key to a great story is persistence, not talent (talent helps, but I’ll take persistence over talent every time), I’m learning that the story that is unpublishable today will be tomorrow’s masterpiece, once I’ve written it enough times. I am very emphatic, and experience the world in terms of energy flows between people, animals, objects, and the earth, which sounds way more touchy-feely and froofy than it really is. What it does mean is that I experience the world directly, not intellectually, which is beautiful and really hard to explain to others. I’m a cat lover, working on my 13th through 20th cat in 30 years. I’ve been married for just over 20 years (my 20th anniversary was the first day that the Governor of California declared the lockdown, so Leya and I had an intimate dinner at home, and have every night since). Leya is my Chief Operating Officer, my muse, and my best friend. And she really is way smarter than me.

Twitter: @GeniusBooks, @stevenwbooth
Instagram: @GeniusBooks, @stevenwbooth
Facebook: GeniusBookPublishing, stevenwbooth.writer
Website: https://GeniusBookPublishing.com/steven-w-booth.php, https://stevenwbooth.com
steven@geniusbooksinc.com
http://www.amazon.com/author/stevenwbooth

Horror Channel marks May with the return of the monstrous Victor Crowley and David Tennant in sadistic mood

Apocalyptic nightmares, the return of the monstrous Victor Crowley, David Tennant in sadistic mood and an all-star classic vampire tale…Horror Channel marks May with eight prime-time Channel premieres, including armrest-clutching shocker BAD SAMARITAN, starring a serial-killing David Tennant,  VICTOR CROWLEY, Adam Green’s horrifying rebooted journey back to the haunted, blood-drenched bayou, Francis Ford Cappola’s powerful BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA, starring Gary Oldman as the immortal Count, and CELL, best-selling horror author Stephen King’s acclaimed tech-inspired apocalyptic nightmare, starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson.

Further premium premieres include Russell Mulcahy’s iconic sword-sweeping fantasy thriller HIGHLANDER, Renny Harlin’s gripping psychological chiller MINDHUNTERS, starring Val Kilmer and Christian Slater, Tom Nagel’s supernatural road-trip horror THE TOYBOX, starring Denise Richards and Mischa Barton and DOOM, a twisty, alien mutating drama starring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Rosamund Pike and Karl Urban.

Full film details in transmission order:

Saturday 2 May @ 21:00 – HIGHLANDER (1996) *Channel Premier

An immortal race of warriors, who can only die by being decapitated, are fated to duel down the ages to a distant time called ‘The Gathering’. There, the last few will battle for the

ultimate prize – power beyond recognition. From the Scottish Highlands in the sixteenth century to present day New York, Conor Macleod (Christopher Lambert) does battle against his fellow warriors while the fate of mortal man hangs in the balance.

Saturday 3 May @ 21:00 – MINDHUNTERS (2004) * Channel premiere

FBI agent Jake Harris (Val Kilmer) escorts a group of cadets to a remote island for simulation training. The cadets, under the leadership of J.D. (Christian Slater), will try to catch an imaginary serial killer within the island's elaborate facility. The FBI, however, is suspicious of Harris' methods and dispatch Gabe Jensen (LL Cool J) to act as an outside observer. What he finds is a simulation exercise that becomes dangerously real, and training drills that become a fight for survival.

Friday 8 May @ 21:00 – THE TOYBOX (2018) *Channel Premiere

An estranged family embark on a cross-country trip in an old, recently purchased RV. The father hopes this will bring him and his two sons closer together following their death of their mother. However, the RV has a bloodthirsty hunger, and starts dealing out its own grisly punishments. Stars Denise Richards and Mischa Barton,

Saturday 9 May @ 21:00 – CELL (2016) *Channel Premiere

When a powerful signal is broadcast across mobile networks worldwide, every cell phone user’s mind is dangerously re-programmed turning them all into instant zombie killers. With civilization crumbling as the bloodthirsty ‘phoners’ attack each other and any unaltered person in view, artist Clay Riddell (John Cusack) heads north through New England in search of his wife Alice and son Tom. He’s joined by a group of survivors, including Tom McCourt (Samuel L Jackson), and together they fight off the hyper-connected horde amidst the total chaos. Then they learn of ‘The Raggedy Man’ and his sinister flock, and in their desperation for answers they go in search of him…

Friday 15 May @ 21:00 – VICTOR CROWLEY (2017) *Channel Premiere

In 2007, forty-nine people were brutally torn to pieces in Louisiana’s Honey Island Swamp. Over the past decade, lone survivor Andrew Yong’s claims that local legend Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder) was responsible for the horrific massacre have been met with great controversy, but when a twist of fate puts him back at the scene of the tragedy, Crowley is mistakenly resurrected and Yong must face the bloodthirsty ghost from his past.

Saturday 23 May @ 21:00 – DOOM (2005) *Channel Premiere

A team of space marines known as the Rapid Response Tactical Squad, led by Sarge (Dwayne Johnson), is sent to a science facility on Mars after somebody reports a security breach. There, they learn that the alert came after a test subject, a mass murderer purposefully injected with alien DNA, broke free and began killing people. Dr. Grimm (Rosamund Pike), who is related to team member Reaper (Karl Urban), informs them all that the chromosome can mutate humans into monsters - and is highly infectious.

Sunday 24 May @ 21:00 – BAD SAMARITAN (2018) *Channel Premiere

A small-time crook who runs a valet parking scam, robbing rich client’s houses while they dine at a fancy Italian restaurant, inadvertently stumbles upon a far more dangerous criminal - a sadistic serial killer played by ‘Doctor Who’ star David Tennant - earning a chance to redeem himself. An audacious throwback to such 90s thrillers as AMERICAN PSYCHO, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, CAPE FEAR and THE VANISHING, this crazy and outrageous jump-scare exploiter piles on the suspense and rips along at a nonstop pace to mind chilling contemporary paranoia.

Saturday 30 May @ 21:00 – BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA (1992) *Channel Premiere

Count Dracula (Gary Oldman), a 15th-century prince, is condemned to live off the blood of the living for eternity. Young lawyer Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) is sent to Dracula's castle to finalise a land deal, but when the Count sees a photo of Harker's fiancée, Mina (Wynona Ryder), the spitting image of his dead wife, he imprisons him and sets off for London to track her down. Also stars Anthony Hopkins, Sadie Frost, Tom Waits, Monica Bellucci & Richard E. Grant.

Horror Channel: Be Afraid

TV: Sky 317 / Virgin 149 / Freeview 70 / Freesat 138

Website: http://www.horrorchannel.co.uk

Fridays in April on Horror Channel feature the Hellraiser Trilogy of films

Friday 3 April @ 22:50 – HELLRAISER (1987)

Frank Cotton (Sean Chapman) has solved the mystery of the Lament Configuration puzzle box, a sort of evil Rubik’s cube. Unfortunately he inadvertently opens a doorway to Hell and, in death, enters the world of the Cenobites, a race of sadistic supernatural beings led by a bald Cenobite (Doug Bradley). Brought back from the edge of damnation by the blood of his brother, Larry (Andrew Robinson), Frank rises to feed on the souls of others. But he needs his lover and sister-in-law Julia (Clare Higgins) to bring him fresh blood.


Friday 10 April @ 23:15 - HELLRAISER II: HELLBOUND (1989)

Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence) has witnessed too many horrific images for her young mind to take and is placed in the care of Doctor Channard (Kenneth Cranham). No one believes Kirsty’s wild and weird tales, except the Doctor who has secretly been searching for the pleasures the dark side can bring. Soon the walls at the institute begin to crack and bleed and once dead faces from Kirsty’s recent past return to haunt her. And then a Cenobite known as Pinhead (Doug Bradley) vows to tear her soul apart.


Friday 17 April @ 22:55 - HELLRAISER III: HELL ON EARTH  (1993)

Pinhead (Doug Bradley) has been caged in the Torture Pillar, his evil secured for all eternity. But a club owner J.P. Monroe (Kevin Bernhardt) buys this bizarre sculpture and accidentally cuts himself during its installation, dripping blood onto the ancient monument. This resurrects Pinhead but this time he’s up against a reporter Joey Summerskill (Terri Farrell) who battles Pinhead into facing his own, tortured past.


Website: http://www.horrorchannel.co.uk

Interview with Nicholas Vince

Ahead of Horror Channel’s broadcast of HELLRAISER and HELLRAISER II: Nicholas Vince, who played the Chatterer Cenobite, reflects on tackling monsters, his new one-man show and his love of Vincent Price


Horror Channel are broadcasting HELLRAISER and HELLRAISER II: HELLBOUND. How does it feel being part of such an iconic franchise?

I feel extremely fortunate. And I'm grateful to Horror Channel for screening the films, as there's a chance for people who've not seen them before to watch them. I've introduced the films at various screenings and I'm always delighted there's often a 50/50 split between fans of the films and first timers.


You’ve spoken a lot about your experiences of playing the Chatterer Cenobite. Looking back, how much would you say it has defined your career?

Oh, it made my career. It's given me the chance to work with some really interesting young film makers such as MJ Dixon, Paddy Murphy, Stewart Sparke, Katie Bonham, Federico Ichi Scargiali and Lawrie Brewster. And it led to writing comics for Marvel in the 1990's. It's opened many doors for me, particularly in terms of meeting fans of the films who've been very supportive too.


I AM MONSTERS!, your well-received one-man show, reveals the depth of affection you have for Clive Barker. How would you sum up the impact he’s had on your life?

The impact has been extraordinary. Clive is not only extraordinarily talented, he's been very encouraging of all my writing and acting. When I decided to write some short stories in 2012, the first thing I did was re-read his Books of Blood to get some insight how great short stories are written.


The show reveals not just your love for playing monsters but how much, at certain times in your life, you’ve felt like a monster yourself - being gay but remaining closeted during the 70s and being born undershot and having to have major surgery. How much of your life experiences informed your portrayal of the Chatterer?

Good question. At the time, I was mostly concerned with the mechanics of making the costume and mask work, and hitting my marks on set. I did use a technique I'd learned during a mime class at drama school, where we had to bring in a cardboard box, put it over our head and make it into a character. We weren't allowed to decorate or cut it. That makes you both vulnerable and gives great freedom. Firstly, you can't see the audience, which is freeing; but you also have to rely entirely on your imagination and experiences to give the character life.

It's taken me decades to finally articulate a back story for Chatterer which I'm happy with, which I did in the short story Prayers of Desire.


Is it true that the design of the Chatterer was partly inspired by your own facial reconstruction?

Yes, that's right. I mentioned to Clive a documentary I'd watched about facial reconstructive surgery, during which I realised some of the techniques shown must have been used on me when I was 19 years old. It was really a brief conversation and I'd forgotten about it until after filming when Clive pointed out he'd remembered and incorporated what I'd described into the design of the Chatterer.

Are there plans to stage I AM MONSTERS in the future?

Yes, I'm working on some dates for later in the year for the UK and USA.


How important is the ongoing connection you have with your fans?

That's very important to me. It's something which I was taught by Clive. I used to meet up with friends when he did book signings at Forbidden Planet in London. I once saw him sign for seven hours without a break and he drew a picture along with his signature, and whilst he did that he chatted, answered any question and also asked questions. I've always tried to emulate that attitude when I meet fans, or as Clive would say 'enthusiasts'.


What ‘monster’ movies do you personally admire? Have you a favourite?

I'm a big fan of Vincent Price and the Edgar Allan Poe films he did with Roger Corman. My all time favourite is MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. What I love about Price in that film is that the monster he plays, Prince Prospero, isn't a classic monster makeup, but he's chilling. Of more classic monsters, then it would be Lon Chaney Jr. as WOLFMAN, Claude Rains as the PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and Robert England as Freddy Kreuger.


If you had the choice of playing any of the iconic monsters, which would it be?

THE ABOMINABLE DR PHIBES, as played by Vincent Price.


Finally, what can we expect to see you in next?

They've just released Ashley Thorpe's BORLEY RECTORY onto Amazon Prime in the UK, narrated by Julian Sands and starring Reece Shearsmith. There are three other feature films nearing completion and aiming for release later this year.

I'm also working on my third volume of short stories, which has my Chatterer origin story as the title, PRAYERS OF DESIRE which is due out at the end of Spring 2020.


HELLRAISER is broadcast on Friday 3 April @ 22:50 and HELLRAISER II: HELLBOUND on Friday 10 April @ 23:15.

Revenge Trailer - Directed by Coralie Fargeat and Starring Matilda Lutz

One of the most talked about movies of recent years, Revenge lends ‘pitch-black humour and a cunning feminist agenda’ (★★★★ Daily Express) to the classic exploitation genre, and now Second Sight Films is giving this groundbreaking gore-fest the Limited Edition Blu-ray box set treatment on 11 May 2020.

The release features stacks of brand new special features, including a new interview with debut feature writer-director Coralie Fargeat and star Matilda Lutz (Medici), whose performance is ‘gripping — a powerful mix of Lara Croft and The Bride’ says The Sun. Also included are new interviews with the film’s cinematographer and the composer, a new commentary and much more.

Pre-Order from Amazon UK here - Link opens in a new window