Arrow Video FrightFest announces line-up for Halloween 2021 event

Following on from its hugely successful August five-day event, Arrow Video FrightFest is back at the Cineworld, Leicester Square with a bumper two-day Halloween event on Friday 29th Oct and Sat 30th October, presenting nine fear-packed premieres from around the world.  The monstrous movie marathon embraces World, International and UK premieres, as we journey through an unholy celebration of mayhem, menace and murder.

Kicking off the Black Friday gala ghoulishness is the UK premiere of THE SEED, a gut-bursting alien creature feature from Screen International ‘Star of Tomorrow’ director Sam Walker. Walker will be attending, alongside the main cast - Lucy Martin, Sophie Vavasseur and Chelsea Edge - and SFX maestro Dan Martin. This is followed by the UK premiere of BARBARIANS with Game of Thrones star Iwan Rheon. First-time director Charles Dorfman, who will be in attendance, alongside members of the cast, reveals his talent for Pinter-esque dialogue, multi-layered resonance and unsettling tone in this subtle shocker based around a birthday dinner party.

Bringing the evening’s thrills to a fitting climax is the UK premiere of THE POSSESSED. The director of Boar is back with a supernatural shocker inspired by true events and starring John Jarratt from Wolf Creek

Scary Saturday begins with the UK premiere of hugely informative in-depth documentary PENNYWISE: THE STORY OF IT. With contributions from Stephen King, Tim Curry and Tommy Lee Wallace, this is packed with little known details and rare behind-the-scenes footage, You could say, this is IT!      

Next up is the World Premiere of the uniquely visionary LAST SURVIVORS, an intense and ultimately tragic study of isolation and family bonds, starting Stephen Moyer and Alicia Silverstone. Director Drew Mylrea will be joining us.

The lonely, uncanny and often accidentally violent world of childhood is explored with chilling candour in THE INNOCENTS, which has its UK Premiere. Blind writer/director Eskil Vogt’s creepy art house horror has been winning major awards around the world.

Next up is the UK premiere of AMULET, the feature film debut of distinguished actor Romola Garai. Romola will be attending to discuss her freaky and frightening chiller, which marks her as an audacious new horror auteur on the scene..

The 9pm presentation is the UK premiere of VENECIAFRENIA, Spanish horror icon Álex de la Iglesia’s shocking fable about tourism, and the final film is the International premiere of MIRACLE VALLEY, the astounding directorial debut of Greg Sestero, survivor and star of the cult midnight movie The Room. 

Alan Jones, FrightFest co-director, said today: “It’s that time of year again, so shake off those summer cobwebs, throw on your Michael Myers mask and embrace the horror fantasy genre as Arrow Video FrightFest brings you its latest Samhain celebration, with nine brand-spanking new features”.

Passes and tickets go on sale at noon on Saturday 2nd October. 

Prices: Full pass - £69, Friday day pass - £30, Saturday day pass £50, single tickets - £15

To book: http://www.frightfest.co.uk/tickets.html

(Online booking only and all the tickets are plus fees.)

FULL LINE UP:

FRIDAY 29 OCTOBER

18:00 THE SEED (UK Premiere)

Director: Sam Walker. With: Lucy Martin, Sophie Vavasseur, Chelsea Edge, Jamie Wittebrood. UK 2021. 91 mins.

Synopsis: Three girls head to a luxury house in the Mojave Desert for a chill out weekend and film a once-in-a-lifetime meteor shower for their social media channels. But when a strange creature suddenly lands in their swimming pool, what was intended to be Party Central escalates into a weird tale of horror, death and alien invasion. A cool, surreal and modern sci-fi take on the status of social media influences and the impact it can have on our minds.

20:30 BARBARIANS (UK Premiere)

Director: Charles Dorfman. With: Iwan Rheon, Tom Cullen, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Will Kemp. UK 2021. 90 mins.

Synopsis: Interweaving timely satirical commentary about modern masculinity, greed and social media influencer culture with the more brutal, violent and primal aspects of a home invasion chiller,  ‘Game of Thrones’ star Iwan Rheon is the beta male who must rise up against alpha Tom Cullen as secrets are revealed, lives are ruined and chaos reigns. BARBARIANS with its deceptively simple initial premise wastes little time escalating into something altogether different, complex and horrifying.

22:40 THE POSSESSED (UK Premiere)

Director: Chris Sun. With: John Jarratt, Lincoln Lewis, Angie Kent, Lauren Grimson, Jade Kevin Foster. Australia 2021. 97 mins.

Synopsis: Jacob Chandler is just an ordinary man with an extraordinary gift. The epitome of the accidental exorcist Jacob and his nephew Liam have forged a career clearing demons from the bodies of their clients. Of late, something has changed as possessions have increased and when he meets Liam’s new girlfriend Atalie, he recognizes a like, untrained mind. Both must unite to uncover the multi-layers of deception to keep those he loves safe from death-defying harm.  

SATURDAY 30 OCTOBER

10:30 PENNYWISE: THE STORY OF IT (UK Premiere)

Directors: John Campopiano & Chris Griffiths. With: Stephen King, Tim Curry, Tommy Lee Wallace, Seth Green, Richard Thomas. UK 2021. 120 mins.

Synopsis: Why did Stephen King’s epic bestseller IT become a major pop culture TV event? The two-part miniseries about small town pre-teen outcasts battling a predatory monster made clowns a horror movie staple and Tim Curry’s portrayal of the sinister shape-shifter Pennywise a scary classic. In this absorbing in-depth documentary, cast, crew and experts, including director Tommy Lee Wallace, teleplay writer Lawrence D. Cohen and ROCKY HORROR star Curry, shine an incisive spotlight on the trials and tribulations of bringing King’s tale of phobic terror to the small screen.

13:10 LAST SURVIVORS (World Premiere)

Director: Drew Mylrea. With: Stephen Moyer, Alicia Silverstone, Simon Lees, Drew Van Acker, Mark Famiglietti. USA 2021. 98 mins.

Synopsis: Troy and his son Jake have been living off the grid for over twenty years. Every day is a fight for survival with Troy warning his son of dire consequences should he go beyond the barriers of the woodland Utopia they have built together as all interlopers are dealt with in the most brutal fashion. But the sheltered and naive Jake is naturally becoming curious about life outside their isolated wilderness. And a chance encounter with a beautiful stranger is about to see their world unravel in a shocking flood of secrets, lies and home-grown horror.

15:35 THE INNOCENTS (UK Premiere)

Director: Eskil Vogt. With: Rakel Lenora Fløttum, Alva Brynsmo Ramstad, Sam Ashraf, Mina Yasmin Bremseth Asheim. Norway 2021. 117 mins.

Synopsis: During the dog days of a bright Nordic summer, a group of pre-adolescents living in a suburban high-rise complex are left to their own devices. Slowly they reveal their dark and mysterious psychic powers when the adults aren’t looking and before long their playtime takes a dangerous and deadly turn. Soon their capacity for cruelty, loyalty and self-sacrifice reaches a terrifying conclusion in this remarkable and gripping supernatural thriller.

18:30 AMULET (UK Premiere)

Director: Romola Garai. With: Carla Juri, Alec Secareanu, Imelda Staunton, Anah Rudin, Angeliki Papoulia. UK 2020. 99 mins.

Synopsis: Homeless soldier Tomaz is offered shelter at a decaying house. Soon he’s falling in love with his other lodger, Magda, who looks after her dying, invalid mother in the attic. But he can’t shake the feeling that something truly sinister is going in this stylized neo-gothic body horror, its mysteries rooted in war, sexual violence and ancient evil,

21:00 VENECIAFRENIA (UK Premiere)

Director: Álex de la Iglesia. With: Caterina Murino, Cosimo Fusco, Ingrid García Jonsson, Enrico Lo Verso, Silvia Alonso. Spain 2021. 100 mins.

Synopsis: Tourists are blighting Venice and their arrogant behaviour has unleashed the rage of The Floating City locals fed up with sightseers pouring off enormous cruise liners. To halt the invasion, some have got organized, giving free bloody rein to their instinct for survival. And as Carnival season begins a group of Spaniards arrive determined to have fun, oblivious to the problems around them and the fact they will soon be fighting for their lives.

MIRACLE VALLEY (International Premiere)

Director: Greg Sestero. With: Greg Sestero, Angela Mariano, Rick Edwards, Louisa Torres, Tom Franco. USA 2021. 90 mins.

Synopsis: David is an obsessive photographer who wants to snap a picture of an ultra-rare bird that will make his fortune. Invited with his girlfriend Sarah to a desert getaway close to the bird’s habitat, they meet Father Jake who befriends them and introduces the couple to a bizarre community lifestyle. Soon fortune, fame and mending their fading relationship takes a sinister turn at the hands of Father Jake’s cult where they face demons from the past, present and future.

Interview With Artist And Author Daniel Charles Wild - By David Kempf

When did you first become interested in horror?

I’m a total bookworm and have enjoyed reading pretty much everything since I was a kid, be it non-fiction, westerns, sci-fi, fantasy, mysteries, thrillers, whatever. Still, horror seems to hold a special place in my black and shriveled heart. I read some creepy stuff growing up—Goosebumps, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark—then I discovered Stephen King in middle school. The Shining blew my mind, and I hunted down everything he wrote. Then I found Richard Matheson, Ramsey Campbell, Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker, Brian Lumley, Dan Simmons, and many more horror authors whose work undoubtedly traumatized me in the best way possible.

In high school, I accidentally met one of the authors whose work I enjoyed. I attended local poetry readings led by a guy named Mark, who I’d later find out was Mark McLaughlin, a published, Bram Stoker award-winning horror author. He’s been a friend, mentor, and fountain of creative ideas ever since. When I was clueless about what to major in in college, he encouraged me to channel my artistic talents into a career in graphic design. In my forties, when I began writing fiction, I am sure Mark’s example influenced my decision to write horror and to share my work with a broader audience. I recommend everyone check out his writing.

At what age did you begin to draw?

I’ve enjoyed drawing for as far back as I can remember. Three, probably? If I wasn’t reading, I was drawing. Typically cartoon monsters. One of my early childhood memories is drawing a Frankenstein version of Garfield the cat, over and over. It was a weird combination of obsessiveness, commercial art, humor, and horror—an early indicator of the work I’d be doing for the rest of my life.

Did you go to art school? 

I studied computer graphics and multimedia in college. It’s a combination of graphic design and fine and commercial art—good skills to have if you want to design books and create covers.

Why do some book covers capture the eye so much?

There is so much variation in book cover designs that it’s hard to generalize what works and what doesn’t. I’ll try to anyway. 

In my opinion, good cover art should be simple, eye-catching, reflect the book genre, and quickly convey the book's name and author. It should also use universal design elements, like good contrast between the copy and the background, and display a clearly defined information hierarchy. For example, are you an unknown author? Then make your title larger than your name. Regarding the title and author name, the fonts used should be fresh, stylish, and legible. Nothing is worse than an illegible decorative font. Also, make sure your title and name are visible when the book is viewed as a thumbnail image. Also, a good cover should work as a good poster. Would you want to display your cover as a poster in your home? If not, maybe rethink it, or change it. In my opinion, there should be few things more beautiful to an author than their book covers. But as a designer and author, I’m biased.

That said, great designs violate some—or all—of these rules. I’m not the final say on book cover design—no one is. It is art, and art is subjective. I recommend that authors research other covers in their genre and read up on effective book cover design. 

What do you see as the main difference between British horror and American horror?

Well, fear and horror are primal things transcending national boundaries. At heart, we’re all primates scared of the other, the monster, disease, death, and being alone. As long as we’ve been able to talk to each other, we’ve shared stories about what we fear to warn, educate, console, and entertain. Now, instead of sharing stories around the fire, we share them around the world. 

But U.K. horror does seem to have a richer history than American horror. America is just a few hundred years old after all; we’re practically newborn demonic spawn! So, it makes sense that American horror owes an enormous debt to U.K. horror. Modern vampire novels seem influenced by Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein seems like the inspiration for every story about re-animated corpses, zombies, and science and technology out of control. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the precursor to countless stories about crazed killers. So many concepts that American authors work with were explored by European authors first, who borrowed them from earlier sources and cultures, reaching back to our earliest ancestors.

Almost all my favorite horror authors—other than Americans Stephen King and Dan Simmons—are from the UK: Neil Gaiman, Kim Newman, Clive Barker, Brian Lumley, Ramsey Campbell, Alan Moore. To me, these writers seem more idea-focused, and less action-focused than a lot of American authors I’ve read. Their writing style seems mature, their wit subtle and perverse, and their main characters are often slightly resigned to the events occurring around them. These authors also often seem interested in telling meta stories about stories. It feels like a higher level of storytelling. They all seem to have a strange and slightly skewed perspective, but maybe that’s just my perspective as someone from a similar but different culture.

What cover are you proud of?

While I’ve been a designer for over 20 years, I’ve only created five book covers so far. I’m proud of all of them, but my favorite is for my latest short story collection, Stories For Imaginary Friends.

The front cover is a fairly elaborate collage. Perhaps it violates the rule about keeping covers simple since it’s such a complex illustration. But, even viewed as a thumbnail, the title treatment implies horror, the person on stage is the central focus, and what we can see of the audience looks disturbing. The seats are full of imaginary characters from the stories in the book, and there’s an empty seat reserved for the reader on the back cover, because I’m always looking to expand my audience. 

The cover for my ebook Horrible Writing: 10 Horror Stories You Probably Shouldn’t Read screams horror, with bloody letters spelling out the title. Of all my books, it’s sold the most copies and appeared on an Amazon UK Horror Short Stories Hot New Releases list, so I like it a lot too. My other cover designs include my novella Little People, Micah Edwards’ Y’all Hazred, and your book, They Laughed at Me. Your cover is simple, bright, bloody, and makes an eye-catching thumbnail. Thank you for picking me as the artist to create it!

What motivated you to write Horrible Writing and Stories For Imaginary Friends?

I wrote some short sci-fi and horror stories in middle school and transitioned to journaling in high school. But in my late twenties, after my eldest brother’s death, I stopped. I just wasn’t up for the introspection journaling required. For the next dozen years, as a designer and art director, the only writing I did was for advertising. 

In 2016, I stumbled across Reddit’s writing community. Intrigued, I started posting writing prompts on the r/WritingPrompts subreddit and submitting my short sci-fi, fantasy, and horror stories as well. I discovered that through writing genre fiction, I could indirectly face some of the issues I had been suppressing. The stories were frequently about brothers, grief, depression, and loss. They were well-received by the Reddit writing community, and many of them became creepypasta, which is a term for online stories that are copied and pasted by readers and shared across other social media platforms. Five of the stories were translated to other languages, and so far, over 60 multimedia productions have been shared on YouTube and other social media. Ten of the most popular horror stories are in Horrible Writing: 10 Horror Stories You Probably Shouldn’t Read. I compiled all of my Reddit stories, and 25% new material, in my recently published collection, Stories For Imaginary Friends: 50 Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi Stories, and Essays. It’s available on Amazon as an ebook, paperback, and hardcover, if you’re classy like that.

My experience with posting fiction online—the majority of which occurred between 2016 and 2019—still seems surreal to me. I was just passing time occasionally typing short stories on the Notes app on my iPhone. To have these stories embraced and shared was thrilling. It gave me the confidence to write my novella, Little People, which I published in July 2019. It also helped me work through my grief, and I was able to begin writing a memoir about my brother and his passing. I don’t know if I’ll publish it, but it’s the most honest writing I’ve done.

Does writing or illustration give you more artistic satisfaction?

The most physically satisfying form of creative self-expression for me is live caricaturing at events. It’s engrossing, hours fly by, people are thrilled by what I create, and when I’m done, I am completely exhausted. That said, the art I’m making is super simple. A caricature only takes a few minutes, and while it’s reflective of skills it’s taken me decades to acquire, and it’s drawn in my style, it contains very little of me and my personality. Commercial illustration and design is similar—a great challenge, but the final result is ultimately something I create for someone else.

My writing, on the other hand, is mine. I write what I want to write. I pour myself into it. I explore ideas and get lost in flights of fancy. Writing is cathartic, therapeutic, and can be thrilling. It’s emotionally and intellectually satisfying. Unlike quick caricatures, the result is a finely crafted piece that took time and effort. And I can use my illustration skills to create the books, covers, and promotional graphics, which is also satisfying. 

What are some of your favorite horror books? 

The Stand is great. I’ve probably read it about five times, maybe more? The Earth Abides is another wonderful book in a similar vein, though it’s not really horror. 1984 is fantastic, and while many wouldn’t consider it horror, it has some horror elements to it.

I’ve read most of Neil Gaiman’s books and comics more than once. While there are elements of horror in them, something about his authorial voice is comforting to me. Anno Dracula by Kim Newman is great as well. I’ve enjoyed the whole series. He’s just so clever and subtly witty. Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and Blood Meridian are objectively post-apocalyptic fiction and westerns, but they have horror elements too, and are both haunting and beautiful books. His language really sticks with you, and no one I’ve found writes like him.

What are some of your favorite horror movies?

I’m ashamed to admit it here, but while I read horror, I’m generally not a huge fan of horror movies. I grew up in a home without a television, and I didn’t start watching TV and movies until I was in my late teens. Maybe that‘s why I’m more of a reader than a watcher? Still, there have been a few horror movies that have stuck with me over the years. 

An American Werewolf In London is funny and dark. This ordinary guy is backpacking with his buddy, and he suddenly finds himself having to deal with an ancient curse. It reminds me of being young and discovering the real horrors of adulthood: heartbreak, debt, career disappointment, etc. The transformation scene is still in my head too—that a physical transformation into a werewolf would be so agonizing seems realistic to me. 

The remake of The Dawn of the Dead is amazing. The opening credits! And the characters seem like real people—like being trapped in the mall and living with the boredom while zombies wander around outside reminds me of jobs I’ve had. I often find myself thinking of that movie when I see crowds, joggers, ambulances, malls...

Vivarium really stuck with me. It’s about a couple trapped in a soulless subdivision and forced to raise a kid they didn’t ask for. When I see streets of all the same houses, misbehaving kids, or deliveries from Amazon, I often think about that movie.

What are your current projects?

My most current project is promoting Stories For Imaginary Friends, including a reading and book signing on October 22 at The Literary Bar in Champaign, Illinois. I also have two writing projects waiting in the wings. Over the last year, I’ve written the beginnings of a non-fiction memoir about my childhood that I plan on developing further. I’m also working on a sequel to my dark fantasy novella Little People.

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

I’m an illustrator, designer, caricaturist, and author. I publish my writing under my full name Daniel Charles Wild (so as not to be confused with another Dan Wild writing science fiction). Over the last few years, I’ve posted fantasy, sci-fi, and horror stories on Reddit under the pseudonym Becauseisaidsotoo, which have been shared widely online, translated into multiple languages, and made into over 60 multimedia productions on YouTube, SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. In October 2019, I published a 10,000 word ebook of the most popular stories titled Horrible Writing: 10 Horror Stories You Probably Shouldn't Read. In August 2021, I published all my Reddit stories plus 25% new material in a collection called Stories For Imaginary Friends: 50 Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi Stories, and Essays. Check it out!

List of books and links for Daniel Charles Wild

Little People: A Fantasy Story About Fathers, Sons, And Monsters

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1077098758/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_1077098758

Horrible Writing: 10 Horror Stories You Probably Shouldn't Read

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07Z76PLM7

Stories For Imaginary Friends: 50 Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi Stories, And Essays

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09DQDZZDJ/

Personal Website: 

https://www.danwild.com

Artist Portfolio: 

https://danwild.myportfolio.com

Amazon author page: 

http://amazon.com/author/wilddaniel

Facebook Author Page:

https://m.facebook.com/DanielCharlesWild/

COMPETITION: Win Psycho Goreman on Blu-ray

Psycho Goreman - Released from 4th October

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

Synopsis: 

E.T. Meets Troma in Psycho Goreman a madcap intergalactic sci-fi  comedy from director Steven Kostanski, which arrives on Blu-ray on 4 October 2021 from Acorn Media International in association with Shudder.

When siblings Mimi (Nita-Josee Hanna – Books of Blood) and Luke (Owen Myre – They Don’t Know) discover a strange, glowing stone while playing outside, they unwittingly resurrect a blood thirsty ancient alien overlord (Matthew Ninaber – Transference: Escape the Dark). 

Entombed on Earth millions of years ago after a failed attempt to destroy the universe, he’s back to wreak havoc, but the children quickly learn they can control the bad-tempered blue creature with the gem and rename him Psycho Goreman. After the initial fun and taunting using their new-found powers,  they begin to panic when it dawns on them they could be in mortal danger…

The overlord’s reappearance has drawn the attention of intergalactic friends and foes from across the cosmos, and a frenzy of alien combatants descend on the small suburban town to battle for the fate of the universe…

Get ready for a galaxy of gore and guffaws with Psycho Goreman.

Pre-Order from Amazon at https://amzn.to/3idBYR1

For your chance to win just answer the question below.

COMPETITION CLOSED

Quick Terms and conditions - For full T&C click here
1. Closing date 11-10-21
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.

5. Entries that come directly from other websites will not be accepted.

Win Night of the Animated Dead on Blu-ray!

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releases Night of the Animated Dead, which is out now on digital and available on DVD and Blu-ray from the 4th October. To celebrate, we’re giving away three Blu-rays to three lucky winners!

Night of the Animated Dead is an animated adaptation of George A. Romero’s 1968 horror classic and the new star-studded recreation includes never-before-seen, exclusive scenes not found in the original live-action film. 

Siblings Barbara and Johnny visit their father’s grave in a remote cemetery in Pennsylvania when they are suddenly set upon by zombies. Barbara flees and takes refuge in an abandoned farmhouse along with stranded motorist Ben and four local survivors found hiding in the cellar. Together, the group must fight to stay alive against the oncoming horde of zombies while also confronting their own fears and prejudices. 

Night of the Animated Dead features the voice talents of Josh Duhamel (Jupiter’s Legacy, Transformers) as Harry Cooper, Dulé Hill (The West Wing, Psych) as Ben, Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps) as Barbara, James Roday Rodriguez (A Million Little Things, Psych) as Tom, Katee Sackhoff (The Mandalorian, Battlestar Galactica) as Judy, Will Sasso (MadTV) as Sheriff McClelland, Jimmi Simpson (Westworld) as Johnny and Nancy Travis (Last Man Standing) as Helen Cooper. 

Answer the below question correctly, for a chance to win this incredible prize. 

COMPETITION CLOSED

Night of the Animated Dead is out now on digital and available on DVD and Blu-ray 4th October. The Blu-ray is exclusively available at HMV.  

Quick Terms and conditions - For full T&C click here
1. Closing date 11-10-21
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.

5. Entries that come directly from other websites will not be accepted.

Interview with Brandon Scott by David Kempf

 

When did you first become interested in writing?

In the fourth grade, I had scribbled outlandish things down prior to that, but in the fourth grade…I was ten I wanna say, but we had our first ever state graded writing test and of course it came with a prompt. It was something to do about summer vacation, a very cliched so I wrote a short story about a haunted house at the end of some derelict street with my friends and our bikes and all of that…pure make-believe, but the graders contacted my teacher and said that not only did I pass, but I entertained them and wanted to thank me for breaking the monotony.

So, after that I was hooked and began writing small tales here and there. It wasn’t anything major, but that was the moment that I felt confident enough to do more scribbling.

 

How did you get involved in fantasy/horror?

As a kid, like every other kid in my age group I started on Hardie..or Hardy…Hardy Boys and although those were cool, they were lacking a whole lot of something, then there was Goosebumps. Something about those dark worlds Stine created, however light and humorous, was marvelous and I found myself needing more of it. Honestly, I think my first Goosebumps book convinced me that I might want to take the writing thing serious, but to take it to a darker level.

I was never huge into fantasy, not high fantasy, I liked The Hobbit as a kid, but the Lord of The Rings trilogy lost me by the middle of the two towers. Now, the Harry Potter books were great, but they had a level darkness that was well crafted. When I got older, I found a huge appreciation for Neil Gaiman, Stardust was a book that made fantasy more digestible for me.

How would you classify the genre you write about?

Multi-Genre. That’s not an easy question, but the Vodou series is supernatural suspense…The Duchess series I’ve embarked on is dark fantasy. I have a new novel, that will be released in serials, I’d say is dark sci-fi. So, all in all, I stay in the realm of horror or at the very least I keep the horror elements there, but I try to drift into layered storytelling and slow burn intrigue. The Vodou series moves fast and punches, but in contrast, The Duchess series is deeper into fantasy mode with mystery and slow burn intrigue.

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

People like being uncomfortable, they like not knowing what’s next, but what we need is another Jack Ketchum. Dallas had a way of storytelling, however graphic, was driven with a cadence and pushed the boundaries of what the reader could take. Ya know, the good guys die at the end sometimes, bad things happen, not everyone can make it. Before him, no one was really doing that, the hero is supposed to save the girl and stop the bad guy, but not in a Jack Ketchum novel.

I remember when I saw Jeepers Creepers, it had that ending where the good guys lose, Justin Long’s character screaming in torment as the credits roll. I thought it was genius, it wasn’t highly received or praised, but I think we need more of that in books, especially from higher profile authors. The good guys lose in the end and they lose dramatically.

What inspires your stories?

Folklore, or creating my own folklore and add a dash of real events in a way. By the end of the new series, I plan the final book to take place in the lore I’ve created, something about that is appealing to me. I’ll take real events or people from my home town and make real built fiction out of it.

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

From the authors I’ve read, Catherine McCarthy and Ramsey Campbell for examples, the mood in British horror is more steeped in lore. The descriptors are very different as Brits use adverbs a lot more steadily than the American author, here we’re told to edit them all out, redraft a complete sentence to avoid them if need be. American horror seems to have developed a taste recently for splatterpunk or splattergore, which isn’t my cup of tea. I’ve tried reading some and just can’t get into it.

What are your favorite horror books?

The Rising series by Brain Keene, Red by Jack Ketchum, Summer of Night by Dan Simmons, Tangerine by Linda Crockett Gray, The Midnight Sun by Ramsey Campbell, anything from Robert McCammon and Sarah Pearse wrote a great book called The Sanatorium.

What are some of your favorite horror movies?

The Serpent and The Rainbow, Frailty, The Mist was cool and so was 1408, Romero’s Dead series. Dawn of The Dead remake was great and is my favorite remake. The best to me was the first I ever saw at the age of three or four and that was Phantasm. The cemetery scene really messed with me as a kid and when I grew up, I really appreciated the film as a whole.

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment as an author?

So far, being featured on the front cover of an anthology (25 Gates of Hell) alongside Brian Keene, Catherine McCarthy Jill Girardi—made me feel like I’ve made it. Probably another was when my first novel, Vodou was a finalist for the Maxy Horror Novel of The Year, because at the time I really didn’t believe that the book would ever see the light of day.

Do you have any advice for new writers?

DO NOT READ YOUR REVIEWS! I can’t stress that enough. Reviews are a determent to the writer and they are not written for the writer, but for the consumer and by ingesting them you run the risk of becoming lost in your own fanbase. It takes a hundred 4-5-star reviews to build confidence and a single 1-star review to wreck it, conversely too many 4-5-star reviews and you get too much confidence and set out to write the great American novel only to fall way short of that glory.

My advice is to pick a handful of people you love and who’s opinion matters to you and write for those people, first tell the story you want to tell, not what you think the fans want, don’t pander to the masses, you’ll lose your soul real quick—but to those handful of people, in my case I write for eight people; eight. Those eight people are my judge and jury and sometimes the executioner, so if they’re happy then I’m happy and if they’re not then I work on it until they are. If you operate that way, then the rest of the world’s opinion won’t matter much.

I recommend to write the first draft by hand, if you can, it slows the process down to a point where you think each sentence and you’re still in the phase when you don’t have to get it right, just get it down and when it’s time to get it to the computer, read every sentence out loud and not just recite them, treat your draft like a Broadway production, read the narration like Orson Welles, read the dialogue with intent and dialect, this is the best way to finds flow errors and bad sentences, you’ll rework a whole paragraph like this and this is something I wish I would have known years ago.

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

It’s great that there is that options and that the author can recoup majority of their money, I think the only issue is that books are being published that shouldn’t be, or they need a lot more work and maybe they were books that were rejected by a lot of other places and the author decided to put it out into the world anyway, believing their work was good enough, when maybe—it wasn’t. I think that’s where the stigma around self-pub is there, the consumer has read too many bad books and most won’t read self-pub for that very reason. We have gate keepers for a reason and with self-pub there is none.

On the other side, it’s a good benefit to those who are great writers that don’t want the hassle of subbing to agents only to wait six to seven months for a reply or to a small press that may fold in a year. It’s all about money at the end of the day and self-pub is the best way to maximize your cash in a fast-tracked time table. (As long as your clutch at marketing!)

Some incredible self-pubs:

Christy Aldridge (These Ghosts Bleed, Seth and Kill, My Darlings)

Catherine McCarthy (Door)

Edward Lorn (Cruelty, Bay’s End and The Sound of Broken Ribs) – (these are brutal)

Joshua Marsella (Scratches and Severed)

Brian Scutt (Korean Road)

Last, a non-horror book, but a book I love:

V.F Sharp (The Forest of Arrows)

What are your current projects?

The third installment of the Vodou series has been pushed back till October. I’m in the middle of a commissioned short piece about zombies, that’s a new topic for me. I’m deep into a three-book series, with extensive work done to all three, but it’s a dark fantasy series called The Duchess and I’m about to launch the first part of a serial novel called Serum, with part one titled, The Death of Pine Street. 

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

My name is Brandon Scott and I’m an Active Member of the Horror Writers Association. I live in the mountains of North Carolina. I spend my free time hiking in the Linville Gorge, playing golf and running around thrift stores. I use to play guitar in a punk band or two back in the day. Now, I collect old and odd books, antiques and Funko Pops! (weird, I know!)

My work crosses several genres, I’m labeled as a Horror Writer, but I’m more into Supernatural Suspense and Dark Sci-Fi, the horror elements are there, but I’m into slow burn intrigue and character development. Although I’ve written some gory scenes, (the short story, A Child’s Game and soon Carnival Fantasmagoria, Book 3 of the Vodou series.) I choose to stay away from Splatter Punk or Gore outright, unless it serves the story’s plot, which in my usual case, it won’t. Neither will over the top sex scenes. I think my work fits in most people’s comfort zones and is paced enough to keep the reader engaged.

COMPETITION: Win Violation on Blu-ray

Violation  - Released from 27th September

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

Synopsis: 

The critically acclaimed Violation sees Madeleine Sims-Fewer in lead role as well as writer and co-director alongside Dusty Mancinelli in their big-screen writing and directorial debut.  This daring and disturbing film is set to arrive on Blu-ray and digital in the UK from Acorn Media International in conjunction with Shudder on 27 September 2021.

Madeleine Sims-Fewer gives a multi-faceted and highly compelling performance alongside Anne Maguire (The Hummingbird Project) and Obi Abili (21 Bridges, Billions) in this darkly enthralling, deeply unsettling rape revenge-thriller.

With her marriage about to implode, Miriam (Sims-Fewer)  returns to her hometown in remote Canada to to seek solace in the comfort of her younger sister (Maguire) and brother-in-law (Jesse LaVercombe). But one evening, a seemingly tiny error of judgement, leads to a catastrophic betrayal, leaving Miriam shocked and devastated. Believing her sister to be in danger, Miriam feels she must protect her at all costs,  but the price of revenge is high and she is about to unravel emotionally and psychologically.

What follows is unflinching in its exploration and portrayal of one woman looking for retribution.

Violation displays the depths of depravity which humans will go to try and overcome grief and turmoil.

Pre-Order from Amazon at https://amzn.to/2XtTGbt

For your chance to win just answer the question below.

COMPETITION CLOSED

Quick Terms and conditions - For full T&C click here
1. Closing date 04-10-21
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.

5. Entries that come directly from other websites will not be accepted.

COMPETITION: Win The Power on DVD

The Power - Released from 27th September

And to celebrate we have a great competition for you 2 copies on DVD to give away.

Synopsis: 

Feel The Power the chillingly poignant and shocking British Shudder Original from rising star Corinna Faith in her writing and directorial debut. The film is set for its UK Blu-ray debut from Acorn Media International on 27 September 2021 and will also be available on DVD and digital.

 

Rose Williams (Sanditon, Reign) pulls out all the stops in a compelling, complex performance alongside Amy Beth Hayes (Black Mirror, Bridgerton) and Emma Rigby (Catlevania, Prisoners’ Wives) in this spine-tingling, terrifying horror.

January, 1974. Amid the UK blackouts, a newly trained nurse, Val (Williams), starts her first job in an old hospital in London’s East End and is instructed to cover the ‘dark shift’. Inexperienced and afraid of the dark, Val is forced to confront childhood trauma and abuse as she battles the evil entity haunting the hospital and lurking in the places that never see light.

With wounded patients in need of care, a suspected possession, and rampant racism and misogyny, can Val survive the night?

Switch on The Power and feel the fear.

Pre-Order from Amazon at https://amzn.to/3CpI88k

For your chance to win just answer the question below.

COMPETITION CLOSED

Quick Terms and conditions - For full T&C click here
1. Closing date 04-10-21
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.

5. Entries that come directly from other websites will not be accepted.

Interview with Tom Paton

Ahead of the Horror Channel premiere of his sci-fi action thriller G-LOC, director Tom Paton reflects on why making movies is like solving a puzzle, his passion for survival stories and being compared to Roger Corman.

Horror Channel will be broadcasting the UK TV premiere of your Sci-fi adventure G-LOC. Excited or what?

It’s honesty so strange to me every time Horror Channel debuts one of my movies. The channel has been such a big part of my life growing up and informing my taste in films, that it’s always a “pinch myself moment” when I see something that I’ve made appear on their TV listing. G-LOC is much more of a SCI-FI adventure than any of my previous movies, so it’s great that Horror Channel is supporting it and bringing it to UK audiences.

How difficult was it getting the film off the ground? It was shot in Yorkshire, right?

Films are always hard to get off the ground to be fair, I’ve just been incredibly lucky that there are people out there who have believed in me and the stories I want to tell and so that’s made my journey through filmmaking slightly less painful. We shot the film in York in a town called Bubwith and I was there for around two months by the time we wrapped and really felt like Yorkshire had captured a bit of my heart. I’ve spent a lot of time there since.

One of the interesting layers in the film’s narrative is the issue of ‘space immigration’ – the fact that Bran, the main character (played by Stephen Moyer), is banned from settling on another planet because he’s a refugee from Earth. How did that idea form?

One of the things I’ve always loved about science fiction is the power to tell a very relatable story in a completely fictionalised setting. I’ve never been a fan of lecturing an audience or being lectured to myself when watching a film, and so I feel like my job as a writer is to create something that you can enjoy on its own or take away something from it that could change your perspective if you so wish. The idea of a planet being entirely built on immigration that suddenly decides it doesn’t want any more immigrants arriving really came out of the situation in America and the plight of South American immigrants trying to cross the border. The concept was to switch that to a character who you wouldn’t traditionally see trying to go through that type of journey so that the movie would act as “how would you like it?” cautionary tale.

It’s got a great cast. Are you personally involved in the casting process?

I was very involved in this one yeah. I’d been a big fan of Stephen since True Blood and he’s such a great actor that he really brought so much to the film that would not have been there had he turned it down. Casper Van Dien was always on my bucket list of actors to work with because I’m such a huge Starship Troopers fan. Landing him felt like a big deal for me and we’ve literally just finished another film together called Assailant (it’s a return to my Horror roots so hopefully we’ll be doing another one of these interviews for that one down the road.) Tala, John, Emily, Shayne and Mike were all an absolute pleasure to work with too, so I had a real blast on set with this one.

You’re famously a self-taught filmmaker. Is that why you can easily move from directing and writing to producing and company-building? Some might call you a film entrepreneur.

Well, I appreciate the compliment. I think being self-taught certainly had its advantages in terms of teaching me the business side of filmmaking. Truthfully, it’s about lateral thinking – making movies is a puzzle that you’re having to figure out and the more aspects of the process you can master the easier it becomes in terms of finding your path to bringing it to life. It’s very similar to a game of chess and if you move the wrong piece early in the game then it will come back to bite you in the ass later.

All your films flirt with the horror and sci-fi genres. Is that a space you feel particularly comfortable in?

I’ve always been in love with films as a form of escapism, so I think that’s what attracts me to genre movies in general. But I think my real love is in survival tales - my two upcoming movies are both still in that survival genre but move away from sci-fi concepts entirely. I think my thing is to apply what makes a person tick in survival situation to different genres and see what happens. I have a comedy and a post-apocalyptic project in the pipeline, that whilst entirely different tonally, still explore what it means to survive in a tense situation that is beyond your control.

What advice would you give aspiring filmmakers just starting out?

With the technology available today, I honestly believe that if you think you’ve got something thematic to explore then there is nothing stopping you from getting two actors together and shooting something. The best way to become a filmmaker for a living is to just go and make something and prove to people that you’ve got the chops to hold a story together. We made my first film ‘Pandorica’ for hardly anything and if we did it today it would’ve cost even less with the available tech. Not only did just having the resolve to go and do that signal to the wider industry that I was capable and someone worth working with, but to this day it’s still the most fun I’ve had on set and will always be one of my favourite things I’ve ever done. So go do it, you’ve got nothing to lose.

You’ve been called Britain’s answer to low budget movie legend Roger Corman. A fair comparison?

I love hearing that. It was first said to me by a journalist that doesn’t like my work and was clearly trying to insult me, but it was music to my ears and has kind of stuck. I love the idea that Roger Corman carved his own space within the industry and maintained that output for over fifty years. It was reading his autobiography that made me get off my ass and go and make my first film. So, to be in a position where I can even now get that comparison is a huge compliment to me and I can only hope that one day someone will read a book about my journey and set off on their own adventure.

You’ve already shot your next movie 400 BULLETS, an edge-of-your-seat military action thriller. What are the release plans for that?

‘400 Bullets’ is very much for you if you like ‘Assault On Precinct 13’ and drops in the UK in September after a successful US run earlier this year. I’m really proud of the movie and if you love action then hopefully, you’ll have a blast with this. I’ve also just wrapped on a movie called ‘Assailant’ with Casper Van Dien, Chad Michael Collins, Poppy Delevingne and Jeff Fahey that is a return to horror thrillers for me and should drop in 2022.

G-LOC airs on Horror Channel Friday Sept 17, 9pm.

 

COMPETITION: Win Terrified on DVD

Terrified - Released on DVD and Blu-ray from 13th September

And to celebrate we have a great competition for you and 2 copies on DVD to give away.

Synopsis: 

You’ll be Terrified as writer/ director Demián Rugna’s (The Last Gateway, You Don’t Know Who You’re Talking To) nightmare inducing horror makes its UK Blu-ray, DVD and digital debut from Acorn Media International in conjunction with Shudder on 13 September 2021.

Voices in the kitchen, furniture shaking at night, corpses moving seemingly of their own accord… in a quiet suburban street in Buenos Aires, strange occurrences convince the residents that they’re being haunted. Following levitating bodies and murderous threats from an unseen entity, neighbours Clara, Walter and Alicia get together to tackle the problem. But as things get more and more sinister, they start to see how truly dangerous the presence really is.

When a paranormal investigator is brought in, they hope he’ll get to the root of their neighbourhood nightmare… but dark spirits don’t like being disturbed and things take a dark and deadly turn.

Get Terrified, evil is here.

Pre-order on Amazon: https://amzn.to/38G7DFL

For your chance to win just answer the question below.

COMPETITION CLOSED

Terms and conditions
1. Closing date 20-09-21
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.

5. Entries that come directly from other websites will not be accepted.

COMPETITION: Win Belzebuth on DVD

Belzebuth  - Released on DVD and Blu-ray from 13th September

And to celebrate we have a great competition for you and 2 copies on DVD to give away.

Synopsis: 

Pray for mercy, evil has risen in Emilio Portes’ Belzebuth, a chilling Shudder Original gore-fest that descends to the depths of hell. The film is set for its UK Blu-ray debut from Acorn Media International on 13 September 2021 and will also be available on DVD and digital.

 

Horror legend, Saw’s Tobin Bell (Mississippi Burning) stars alongside Narcos: Mexico star Joaquín Cosio (Quantum of Solace) and Tate Ellington (Sinister 2) in this darkly disturbing, gruesome Mexican/English film that will strike the fear of God into you.

After the loss of his own child, Special Agent Emmanuel Ritter (Cosio) is called in to lead an investigation into a spate of deeply disturbing deaths involving young children. Things take an ominous turn when a former Vatican priest (Bell) is enlisted to help.  When he uncovers a link to an ancient demon – the most evil one of all – the descent into twisted terror begins.

Belzebuth is a dark, terrifying new work of demonic possession.

Pre-order on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3zOIC78

For your chance to win just answer the question below.

COMPETITION CLOSED

Terms and conditions
1. Closing date 20-09-21
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.

5. Entries that come directly from other websites will not be accepted.