FrightFest unveils Glasgow Film Festival line-up

FILM NEWS (UK): Film4 FrightFest celebrates 10th year at Glasgow Film Festival with three World, two European and six UK premiere attractions

Kicking off with a special screening on Thurs 26 Feb and hosting eleven films on Fri Feb 27 and Sat 28 Feb, the UK’s favourite horror fantasy festival celebrates ten ‘gore-ious’ years at its second home at the Glasgow Film Festival with an all-exclusive slate of the freshest new horror films around.

The shocktacular line-up starts on Thurs 26 Feb in sumptuous Hammer-style with the UK premiere of the Edgar Allan Poe based ELIZA GRAVES featuring an all-star Hollywood cast, including Kate Beckinsale, Ben Kingsley, Jim Sturgess and Michael Caine.

Friday’s fearsome line-up kicks off with the European premiere of THE ATTICUS INSTITUTE, the paranormal activity shockumentary of the year, written and directed by  Chris Sparling, who wrote ‘Buried’. This is followed by the World Premiere of THE HOARDER, starring an on-form Mischa Barton who uncovers the worst horrors in the dank depths of a storage unit facility. Next up is the riotous WYRMWOOD, the zombie black comedy full of catastrophic carnage and over-the-top splatter. From Australian brothers Kiah and Tristan Roache-Turner, it’s the deadpan bloodbath everybody is talking about. The 9pm slot goes to 88, a glorious, gory and fast-paced homage to cult exploitation revenge thrillers. This is the World Premiere for April Mullen’s most graphic film to date, starring American Mary herself, Katharine Isabelle. Rounding off the evening in terrifying style is the European Premiere of THE ASYLUM (BACKMASK) – in which Marcus Nispel, director of ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ and ‘Friday The 13th’ remakes. takes us through a rampant landscape of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll possession.

Getting the Saturday programme off to a nerve-jangling start is the UK premiere of the much anticipated and very disturbing CLOWN, produced by Eli Roth.  This is followed by FrightFest’s popular retrospective slot which this year is Mario Bava’s BLOOD AND BLACK LACE, one of the most influential genre movies of all time. Next up is the World Premiere of THE WOODS MOVIE – a behind-the-scenes exclusive reveal to everything you ever needed to know about how ‘The Blair Witch Project’ was produced, shot and marketed to become a groundbreaking blockbusting classic. This has been directed, edited and scripted by Russell Gomm, who is a long-serving member of the FrightFest TV crew.

Saturday evening unfolds in gut-wrenching style. Mo Hayder is one of Britain’s most acclaimed crime authors, but it took the Flemish Film Industry to turn her bestseller THE TREATMENT into a smash Euro success and FrightFest is pleased to present the UK Premiere of this harrowing serial killer thriller. This is followed by a real treat…FrightFest unleashed the Spanish sensation [REC] onto unsuspecting audiences in Glasgow 2008 and  the organisers are delighted to host the UK Premiere of Jaume Balagueró’s [REC]: APOCALYPSE, the shattering visceral conclusion to the global horror phenomenon. And to end the FrightFest carnival of carnage is the UK premiere of the creepy, brain-freezing THERE ARE MONSTERS, an instant cult classic and one of the scariest ‘under the radar’ movies of the year.

Alan Jones, co-director, said today: It’s been a decade of the decayed. The Glasgow Film Festival has been an instrumental part of FrightFest’s ever-increasing success story in becoming the UK’s leading horror fantasy brand and we wanted to do something extra special to celebrate our prestigious tenth milestone. So it was important to us to showcase a whole range of brand new titles, many of which will not have entered the genre conscious yet, and have never been seen on UK shores before. Because our Scottish audiences have always admired FrightFest for its cutting edge quirkiness, and our 2015 line-up reflects that approach to the horror hilt". 

With special guests, surprises on screen and off, new short films showcase surprises and the festival’s unique community feeling, FrightFest at GFF has now become a must-attend occasion on the horror fantasy fan's calendar.

The festival’s guest line-up will be announced shortly.

To book tickets:

+44 (0)141 332 6535 / boxoffice@glasgowfilm.org / www.glasgowfilm.org/festival

Please note that FrightFest passes go on sale Thurs 22 from 10am. Price: £70. This covers all films on 27 & 28 Feb only.

Tickets for ‘Eliza Graves’ and the Fri/Sat films will go on sale Mon 26 Jan from 10am. Prices: £9, £7 (concession)

Programme details

THURS 26 FEB – GFT Screen 2

21:00 ELIZA GRAVES (UK Premiere)

Synopsis: When young Doctor Edward Newgate (Jim Sturgess) arrives at Stonehearst Asylum in search of an apprenticeship he is warmly welcomed by superintendent Doctor Lamb (Ben Kingsley). At first, intrigued by Lamb’s modern methods of treating the insane, a series of events and warnings from the stunningly beautiful Eliza Graves (Kate Beckinsale) lead him to make a shocking discovery. It’s a revelation that exposes Lamb’s medical utopia and pushes Edward to the limits of his conscience. Nobody is who or what they appear to be. Based on the Edgar Allan Poe story ‘The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether’.

Director: Brad Anderson  Screenwriter: Joe Gangemi 112 mins USA 2014

Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Ben Kingsley, Jim Sturgess, Michael Caine

FRI 27 FEB – GFT Screen 1

13:00: THE ATTICUS INSTITUTE (European Premiere)

Synopsis: Dr. Henry West (William Mapother) founded The Atticus Institute in the 1970s to study telekinesis, clairvoyance E.S.P. and other unexplained psi-related phenomena. Thousands of subjects were tested using scientific methods many of whom showed abilities defying explanation by known physical laws. But just after West published the promising results of their research work, the small facility was mysteriously shut down in November 1976 by a concerned US Government. The reason? They met Judith Winstead (Rya Kihlstedt) whose supernatural abilities tested far beyond anything ever before witnessed.

Director: Chris Sparling Writer: Chris Sparling 92 mins  USA 2015

Cast: William Mapother, Rya Kihlstedt, Rob Kerkovich

16:00 THE HOARDER (World Premiere)

Synopsis: When Ella (Mischa Barton) discovers her Wall Street banker boyfriend is renting a secret storage unit, she suspects he’s using it to hide an affair. Enlisting the help of her best friend Molly (Emily Atack) she breaks into the facility only to discover something more terrifying instead. Now trapped in a darkened building with a group of neurotic strangers who start disappearing one by one, Ella soon uncovers even worse horror in the dank depths. Her life or death battle to escape eternal enslavement is about to begin….

Director: Matt Winn  Screenwriters: James Handel, Matt Winn, Chris Denne  84 mins  UK 2015

Cast: Mischa Barton, Robert Knepper, Charlotte Salt

18:30 WYRMWOOD  (UK Premiere)

Synopsis: A post-apocalyptic zombie invasion, caused by a wayward comet, turns personal for Barry, an Oz mechanic (Jay Gallagher) when his sister Brooke (Bianca Bradey) is abducted by a sinister team of gas-masked soldiers for flesh-eating experiments by a mad scientist. Sporting MAD MAX-style designs, a glorious sense of humour, energetic execution, new and outrageous zombie lore and KC and the Sunshine Band, this super-fresh spin on a favourite genre is a raucous riot of black comedy, catastrophic carnage and over-the-top splatter.

Director: Kiah Roache-Turner  Screenwriters: Kiah Roache-Turner, Tristan Roache-Turner

98 mins  Australia 2014

Cast: Jay Gallagher, Bianca Bradey, Leon Burchill

21:00 88 (World Premiere)

Synopsis: Gwen (Katharine Isabelle) arrives disheveled at a mysterious roadside diner. But who is she really because she has no idea where she is or how she got there in such an anguished state. Split between two timelines, Gwen gets taken on a violence-fuelled journey into death and destruction and becomes the most wanted woman in Tennessee seeking out the person responsible for her lover's murder.

Director: April Mullen  Screenwriters: Tom Doiron, April Mullen 88 mins  Canada 2015

Cast: Katharine Isabelle, Christopher Lloyd, Michael Ironside

23:15 THE ASYLUM (BACKMASK) (European Premiere)

Synopsis: Six teens throw a party in a rundown building and find a vintage record. Talk turns to ‘backmasking’ - subliminal messages recorded onto a music groove heard only when the track is played backwards – and they play the vinyl for a giggle. Soon a seemingly malevolent entity has infiltrated the group, wreaking havoc. However the spirit is actually trying to convey a message and the real source of horror is something - or someone - much closer to home.

Director: Marcus Nispel  Screenwriters, Marcus Nispel, Kirsten Elms 90 mins  USA 2015

Cast: Stephen Lang, Brett Dier, Brittany Curran

SAT 28 FEB – GFT Screen 1

11.00 CLOWN (UK Premiere)

Synopsis: When the entertainer hired for his son’s sixth birthday party is a no-show, doting father Kent dons a clown outfit himself. But after the festivities, he finds he can’t take it off – the bulbous nose is stuck to his face, the frizzy wig glued to his hair and the make-up permanently etched on his features. Too late he learns the costume is the skin of an ancient demon and his family must race to break the curse before the transformation into a homicidal killer with outsize shoes is complete.

Director: John Watts Screenwriters: Christopher D. Ford, John Watts 102 mins  USA / Canada 2014

Cast: Peter Stormare, Eli Roth, Laura Allen

13:30 BLOOD AND BLACK LACE (Retrospective Premiere)

Synopsis: Six models at Contessa Cristina Como’s chic Rome fashion house are tortured and violently murdered by a ghost-like masked psychopath for a telltale diary containing incriminating scandal. A chiller way ahead of its time and considered the main evolutionary starting point for the entire giallo genre that would inspire Dario Argento, this key masterpiece of menace is presented here in all its restored glory.

Director: Mario Bava  Screenwriters: Mario Bava, Giuseppe Barilla, Marcello Fondato 88 mins  Italy 1964 (Subtitled)

Cast: Cameron Mitchell, Eva Bartok, Lea Lander

16:00 THE WOODS MOVIE  (World Premiere)

Synopsis: In October 1997, a group of filmmakers ventured into the Maryland woods to produce a low budget independent horror movie. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT would become a global phenomenon and began the ‘found footage’ genre that remains a potent force today. Now for the first time you can see how that record-breaking groundbreaker came into being.

From never-before-seen recordings of pre-production meetings, audition tapes and test footage to the actual shooting, first preview screenings and marketing at the Sundance Film Festival, all the key personnel guide you through the discussions and decisions that minted a shock sensation classic.

Director: Russell Gomm  Screenwriter: Russell Gomm  84 mins  USA 2015

Cast: Edward Sanchez, Daniel Myrick, Gregg Hale

18:30 THE TREATMENT/DE BEHANDELING (UK Premiere)

Synopsis: Nordic Noir turns frighteningly Flemish in Belgium’s top-grossing film of 2014 based on the serial-killer chiller by acclaimed British author Mo Hayder. Inspector Nick Cafmeyer (Geert Van Rampelberg) is haunted by the unsolved disappearance of his younger brother. A known sex offender was questioned but quickly released who now takes fiendish pleasure in tormenting Nick. Now another similar case comes to disturbing light involving a missing juvenile and Nick’s real nightmare begins…

Director: Hans Herbots  Screenwriters: Mo Hayder, Carl Joos 125 mins  Belgium 2014 (Subtitled)

Cast: Geert Van Rampelberg, Ina Geerts, Johan van Assche

21:30 [REC]: APOCALYPSE (UK Premiere)

Synopsis: Picking up the intense action immediately after [REC] 2 - expanding on the mythos from all three predecessors, plus referencing cult genre classics - TV reporter Ángela Vidal (Manuela Velasco) is extracted from the cursed apartment building and taken to a high-security quarantine facility aboard an oil tanker. There, in the bowels of the dark and desolate ship, Dr. Ricarte (Héctor Colomé) is experimenting with the infectious virus to find a cure before another living dead outbreak occurs.

Director: Jaume Balagueró  Screenwriters: Jaume Balagueró and Manu Diez  Spain 2014  96 mins

Cast: Manuela Velasco, Paco Manzenado, Héctor Colomé

23:30 THERE ARE MONSTERS (UK Premiere)

Synopsis: Monsters are taking over the world, slowly, quietly and efficiently, but you won’t see them coming until it’s far too late! Four film students embark on a road trip to obtain promotional interviews for their college. However en route they witness a series of odd events, strange behaviour, shocking actions and what seems to be surplus of twins. Their well-ordered universe literally changes before their camera lenses uncovering a terrifying secret lurking just under the seemingly calm urban landscape.

Director: Jay Dahl  Screenwriter: Jay Dahl  Canada 2014  96 mins

Cast: Matthew Amyotte, Jason Daley, Michael Ray Fox

For further information:  www.frightfest.co.uk

Film News: Horror Channel to screen ‘Mad Science’ Season

Plus, Harpoon: Reykjavik Whale Massacre gets UK TV Premiere

Head exploders, deadly serums, deviant doctors, radioactive dope…Horror Channel presents a MAD SCIENCE SEASON, an 80’s tinged collection of cult scientific shockers featuring the Network premieres of David Cronenberg’s SCANNERS and Stuart Gordon’s RE-ANIMATOR. Also guaranteed to get the horror sparks flying are BASKET CASE and CLASS OF NUKE ‘EM HIGH.

The season jolts into action from Friday 6 Feb @ 22.50 with the Network Premiere of David Cronenberg’s hugely influential sci-fi horror SCANNERS (1981).

Synopsis: The product of an experimental tranquilizer given to them during their mother’s pregnancies, a group of people have telekinetic powers that not only allows them to read minds but gives them the ability to destroy others.  The ‘scanners’ are now adults and have become outcasts from society.  Darryl Revok (Michael Ironside) wants to create an army of scanners to take over the world and the only person who can stop him is his brother Cameron Vale (Stephen Lack), himself a powerful scanner.  Now seen as a top 50 horror classic of all time, the film also stars Jennifer O’Neill and Patrick McGoohan.

Bringing the season to an electrifying conclusion on Friday 27 Feb @ 22:50 is the Network 
Premiere of Stuart Gordon’s RE-ANIMATOR (1985)

Synopsis: Herbert West (Jeffery Combs) is a mad scientist with an extreme messiah complex focused on cheating the gods of death. He has discovered a serum which when injects in the brain of the recently deceased makes the dead stand up and walk. Realising Herbert's potential, his professor Dr. Hill (David Gile) is determined to get his hands on Herbert's discovery and steal credit for his work. While forcefully trying to convince Herbert to turnover his findings, Hill's head is viciously separated from his body. Herbert than decides that now is the time for the final test of his magical elixir and re-animates Hill's head and body – with hilariously shocking consequences…

Also in the season….
Fri 13 Feb @ 22:50 – BASKET CASE (1982) Directed by Frank Henenlotter
Fri 20 Feb @ 22:50 – CLASS OF NUKE ‘EM HIGH (1986) Directed by Richard W. Haines
Sat 28 Feb @ 22:50 – HARPOON: REYKJAVIK WHALE WATCHING MASSACRE – (2009) *UK TV PREMIERE

A group of tourists embark on a sightseeing trip aboard a whaling vessel with none other than Captain Gunnar (Leatherface) Hansen himself. When the ship breaks down the day-trippers come under attack from a crew of deranged Fishbillies hell-bent on mayhem and slaughter. Let the bloody sea battle begin in director Julius Kemp’s horror comedy with a strong surreal flavour, the first exploitation film made by the Icelandic Film Industry.

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

Enter the Dangerous Mind - Trailer

Enter the mind of Jim (Jake Hoffman)—a socially awkward EDM musician with a traumatic past, a tenuous grip on reality, and voices in his head. When he meets Wendy (Nikki Reed), he thinks he might finally have a shot at happiness. But as long-buried memories begin to stir, and his crush turns into obsession, Jim finds himself looking into a violent abyss… and he won’t be going alone. Pulsating with raw energy and an intense electronic soundtrack, Enter the Dangerous Mind is a pitch-black psychological thriller that doesn’t let off the gas for a second as it twists to its shocking conclusion.

ENTER THE DANGEROUS MIND Trailer
A Movie directed by Youssef Delara & Victor Teran
Cast : Jake Hoffman, Nikki Reed, Thomas Dekker, Jason Priestly, Scott Bakula, Gina Rodriguez
Release Date : In Theaters & on Itunes February 6th, 2015
Genre: Horror, Thriller

WYRMWOOD Trailer

Zombies invade the Australian Outback in this brain-splattered, Mad Max-meets-the-undead thrill ride. When an apocalyptic event turns everyone around him-including his wife and daughter-into marauding zombies, everyman mechanic Barry arms himself to the teeth, soups up his car, and hits the road in order to rescue his sister from a deranged, disco-dancing mad doctor. Bursting with high-octane car chases, crazy-cool homemade weaponry, and enough blood-and-guts gore to satisfy hardcore horror fans, WYRMWOOD: ROAD OF THE DEAD takes the zombie flick to bone-crunchingly berserk new heights.

WYRMWOOD Trailer
A Movie directed by Kiah Roache-Turner
Cast : Jay Gallagher, Bianca Bradey, Leon Burchill, Luke McKenzie, Yure Covich, Catherine Terracini, Keith Agius, Meganne West
Release Date : In Select Theaters on February 13th

Competition: Win Bloodshot on DVD

To celebrate the release of Bloodshot [DVD] on December 26th, we have got a great competition for you and 1 copy to give away on DVD

Synopsis:
Danny Dyer (TV’s Eastenders, The Football Factory) stars as Phillip, a horror and action film worker who falls in love with the mysterious, gorgeous Jane, a model who has just arrived in the UK from America. Philip becomes infatuated with this beautiful stranger, and Jane soon reciprocates his affections, but behind her glamour hides a dark and moving secret. Following a torrid night of passion, Philip is soon drawn into a nightmare more terrifying than any of the horror films he has worked on as Jane’s shocking past threatens to destroy them both.

Written and directed by Raoul Girard, BLOODSHOT is a refreshingly direct, chilling thriller that underlines Dyer has more strings to his bow than the much-loved Mick Carter. Also starring Keith Allen (24 Hour Party People, TV’s Robin Hood) and featuring a striking performance from newcomer Zoe Grisedale as Jane, BLOODSHOT is the most surprising thriller you’ll see this year and the perfect Boxing Day antidote to all that familial bonding.

Win This
Bloodshot [DVD]

Competition Closed

Film News: Horror Channel to premiere Stephen Moyer’s DEVIL IN THE WOODS

Horror Channel’s highlights for January include the UK TV premiere of DEVIL IN THE WOODS, a brutish supernatural chiller starring Stephen Moyer (‘True Blood’) and directed by Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II, III, IV, REPO! The Genetic Opera).

There is also a first-time TV showing for JULIA X, a disturbing serial-killer thriller starring Kevin (‘Hercules’) Sorbo and directed by P.J. Pettiette.

Plus there are three Network TV premieres to usher in the new year on a bloody note:  WRONG TURN 3: LEFT FOR DEAD and WRONG TURN 4: BLOODY BEGINNINGS both directed by Declan O’Brien, continues the globally successful cannibalistic franchise which started in 2003 and is still going strong, with ’Wrong Turn 6’ screening at FrightFest 2014.  Then there’s THE RATS. John Lafia’s gruesome vision of a rodent-invested New York City.

Sat 24 Jan @ 21:00 – DEVIL IN THE WOODS (2012)  * UK TV Premiere

‘True Blood’ star Stephen Moyer takes the lead in director Darren Lynn Bousman’s Jersey Devil-themed nightmare, playing Richard Vineyard, who eagerly takes his new wife (Mia Kirshner) and their combined family on a vacation to the reclusive Pine Barrens. Desperate for real solitude, Richard leads them deeper into the woods, where it quickly becomes clear that all is not well as animals are found mutilated and horrifically killed. Struck down by illness, Richard and his family are stranded as the local legend of the ‘Jersey Devil’ starts to haunt their thoughts and what started out as a peaceful family trip ends up being a deadly nightmare.

Sat 31 Jan @ 22:45 – JULIA X (2011) *UK TV Premiere

In the unpredictable world of internet dating Kevin Sorbo plays an available male known only as “The Stranger”; a notorious serial killer who lures girls onto dates, murders them, then brands them with a letter of the alphabet. Julia (Valerie Azlynn) becomes letter “X,” and the night is going well for The Stranger until he realises that Julia is also a predator. Along with her sister, Jessica, she targets men to take out the aggression that stems from an abusive childhood. The tables are turned, the hunter becomes the hunted.

Sat 10 Jan @ 22:50 – WRONG TURN 3: LEFT FOR DEAD (2009) *Network Premiere

Three Finger and his disturbed family of inbred cannibals are very much alive and very hungry. The main course for the bloodthirsty family comes when a group of campers arrive, realising only too late that ticks aren’t the only things that bite in these backwoods. But when some of the most vicious killers in the country escape into the woods from a bus transporting them to prison, Three Finger and his family may have met their match. Will justice be served on the convicted murderers or upon the mutant killers? Starring Tom Frederic, Janet Montgomery and Gil Kolirin

Sat 17 Jan @ 22:50 – WRONG TURN 4: BLOODY BEGINNINGS (2011) *Network Premiere

In 1974, in the Glenville Sanatorium in West Virginia, three dangerous lunatics escape from their cell, release the other inmates and kill the doctors and staff. Fast forward to 2003, and a group of college friends from the Weston University ride their snowmobiles to the cabin of a friend. However, they get lost in a storm and just about reach an abandoned asylum where they decide to spend the night. However, the three cannibal maniacs are still living in the place and they are hungry for human flesh. Starring Jenny Pudavick, Tenika Davis & Kaitlyn Wong.

Sat 3 Jan @ 21:00 – THE RATS (2002) *Network Premiere

In Manhattan, a shopper is bitten by a rat in the dressing room of the Garsons Department Store and contracts Weil's disease. The manager Susan Costello (Madchen Amick) hires the best exterminator in New York, Jack Carver (Vincent Spano). Jack and his assistant find a colony of mutant rats and it’s a race against time before the colony breaks out and threatens to colonise the whole state – and beyond…

TV: Sky 319 / Virgin 149 / Freesat 138

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

Interview with Jason V Brock - By David Kempf

Jason V Brock  is an American author, artist, editor, and director. He is the CEO and co-founder (with his wife, Sunni) of JaSunni Productions, LLC, whose documentary films include the controversial Charles Beaumont: The Short Life of Twilight Zone’s Magic Man,The AckerMonster Chronicles!and Image, Reflection, Shadow: Artists of the Fantastic.

He is also the author of Totems and Taboos, a compilation of his poetry and artwork, and an editor, along with William F. Nolan, of The Bleeding Edge: Dark Barriers, Dark Frontiers and The Devil's Coattails: More Dispatches from the Dark Frontier anthologies published by Cycatrix Press. Brock shares story credit (he was Lead Story Consultant and Lead Designer) on the Logan’s Run: Last Day and related comicbook series from Bluewater Productions. In addition, he is also a writer for the comicbook/graphic novel, Tales from William F. Nolan's Dark Universe (again from Bluewater).

He served as Managing Editor/Contributor and Art Director for Dark Discoveries magazine for over four years. His novella, Milton’s Children, was published by Bad Moon Books in early 2013.His poetry, short stories, nonfiction articles, Introductions and essays have been widely published internationally online, in books and in numerous horror, science fiction and fantasy and scholarly print magazines (Fangoria, Dark Discoveries, Calliope [Official Publication of the Writers' Special Interest Group (SIG) of American Mensa, Ltd], Comic-Con International's Souvenir Book, the Weird Fiction Review, American Rationalist [an organ of the Center for Inquiry], and others) and multiple anthologies (Butcher Knives and Body Counts, S. T. Joshi's Black Wings series, Like Water for Quarks, Animal Magnetism, and so on).

With a large personality and gregarious nature, he is a popular panelist at many horror conventions (such as MythosCon, Orycon, Crypticon, World Horror Convention, World Fantasy Convention, and others) and film festivals (including the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival, Buffalo International Film Festival, Lovecraft's Visions, etc.) and has been compared in intensity to Harlan Ellison and Charles Beaumont by his friends and colleagues. He has received praise from Ellison, William F.Nolan and the legendary Ray Bradbury. It was very generous of him to take time out of his busy schedule to talk to Masters of Horror U.K

By David Kempf


Tell us how you became involved in all things horror?

I have been fascinated with the esoteric and macabre since I was a child. Who knows where that impulse and gravitation originates? I was sort of melancholic, I suppose, as well predisposed to a cynical and morbid worldview. I’ve had it ever since.


Did you enjoy horror movies and dark fiction during your childhood?

I loved them, but my parents divorced when I was five, and my mother had custody. Horror wasn’t her thing. She was not cool with it at all, in fact, so I was restricted to watching the old reruns of Twilight Zone and a few Hammer films at my father’s place when I visited him on the weekends and in the summer. He had a love of old EC comics and old paperbacks, too, so that’s where I was able to cultivate my interest in these things… things were scarce then, as there was no Internet or cable in the South in the 1970s when I was growing up.


What inspired you to make your documentary about the late Charles Beaumont?

Initially, we set out just to do a film about Forrest J Ackerman. At the time we began, there hadn’t been one. It veered slightly off-course when we interviewed Marc Scott Zicree (The Twilight Zone Companion) and he suggested we do a film on Beaumont as well. There was one in the works, but it has apparently been shelved; at the time, however, it was a go, and I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes. Marc said that with a person as dynamic as Charles Beaumont, there was always more than one angle, and I felt he was right, so after a bit of thought, we decided (meaning my wife, Sunni, who is my partner on the films, and my editor for them) to pursue both projects at the same time, as many of the people we were interviewing knew them both (Ackerman was Beaumont’s first literary agent).

Beaumont was an intense, driven, fascinating man. He crammed 80 years of life into basically ten years of productivity. As I have written before, imagine becoming the top writer for Playboy in your twenties... Imagine being a mainstay for the groundbreaking Twilight Zone... Imagine verging on the cusp of a major film-writing career... Then imagine a mysterious illness stealing your mind and youth... It’s a perfect recipe for drama, but sadly it was his life: He died in 1967 at the age of 38. Beaumont will be remembered for the way he lived, I think, and the tremendous, though unfulfilled, talent he had, gifting us with Roger Corman’s adaptation of his novel The Intruder, as well as over 100 short stories, and many other films and teleplays.


Tell us about your earliest inspirations.

I love every form of literature, art, film, and music, and draw inspiration from them all. With respect to cinema, I am a student of film, and love documentary films, as well as Universal and Hammer horror flicks, sci-fi, dramas, and TV shows such as The Twilight Zone, True Detective, et cetera… Some of my favorite directors include Dan O’Bannon—a personal friend and mentor—David Cronenberg, George A. Romero, David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, Alfred Hitchcock, Luis Buñuel, Kurosawa, Stan Brakhage, Roger Corman, Oliver Stone, and Dario Argento.

In art and literature, my influences are Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Ernst Fuchs, Botticelli (we share a birthday, March 1), Wolfgang Grasse, William Blake, Beksinski, Böcklin, Vesalius, EC Comics, Francis Bacon, H. R. Giger, Minor White, and Helmut Newton. Writers include Jorge Luis Borges, H. P. Lovecraft, Kafka, Rod Serling, Bataille, Kurt Vonnegut, W. S. Burroughs, J. G. Ballard, Emily Dickinson, George Orwell, Dante, Percy Shelley, Homer, Poe, Robbe-Grillet, Richard Selzer, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Aickman, Shirley Jackson, Gabriel García Márquez, Ray Bradbury, William Blake again, Faulkner, and a host of modern masters, such as Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson, William F. Nolan, and others.


How did you meet William F. Nolan?

I was interviewing the writer George Clayton Johnson (Star Trek) for our documentary about the late Charles Beaumont. We were at this place he’d picked to do the interview, a restaurant. We shot it outside, but it was what I’d characterize as the loudest place on Earth. It was on the corner of an interstate and two other busy roads. Moreover, the interview lasted seven hours! George is now a dear friend, but one of the most talkative people in history, I think. He said many great things, but it was a challenge, and I finally just ran out of tape…

At one point, however, he asked me: “Would you like to interview William F. Nolan?” I was taken aback, and said, “Sure. Is he still alive?” After George confirmed that Nolan was indeed alive, he revealed that he was living in Bend, OR—about three hours from where Sunni (my wife and editor of the films we’ve done) and I lived! George supplied Nolan’s phone number and I called to see if he was available to be interviewed regarding Beaumont. Nolan agreed and we went to his place a few weeks later: After that visitation, we became fast friends.


What do you feel is your greatest accomplishment as an artist so far?

I’d have to say winning the 2014 Rondo Award for our film The AckerMonster Chronicles!, though the huge premieres we’ve had in Los Angeles are right up there. In addition, the publication of A Darke Phantastique—Encounters with the Uncanny and Other Magical Things… an incredible anthology of all unpublished or new horror and science fiction that intersects with Magical Realism. It’s over 720 pages of illustrated content, and contains an unpublished foreword from Ray Bradbury, as well as long pieces by a diverse coterie of new and veteran authors, including William F. Nolan, Ray Garton, Joe R. Lansdale, Dennis Etchison, Mike Allen, Erinn L. Kemper, Lois Gresh, Nicole Cushing, Cody Goodfellow, Richard Gavin, S. T. Joshi, Marge Simon, Paul Kane, and literally dozens of others. Fifty writers in all!

I am also very proud of my recent (2014) nonfiction collection, from Rowman & Littlefield, called Disorders of Magnitude: A survey of Dark Fantasy. This book is an overview of the horror (and sci-fi to some degree) field as it pertains to the past 100 or so years. It covers the important figures and trends of this period and delves into why these twin aspects of multimedia (comics, art, and film are covered) and literature have grown in stature during this interval from a fringe thing that mostly appealed to young men to the dominant expression of modern popular culture. It is a mix of interviews, analysis, profiles, and essays going into some theory and criticism along the way, and there is much in there for the enthusiast of Frank M. Robinson, Al Feldstein, Ray Bradbury, H. R. Giger, Forry Ackerman, Twilight Zone, Roger Corman, and other creators and their works.

Disorders is a continuation and expansion of the work I’ve done with our professional journal, Nameless Digest. We are semi-regular as a biannual publication as well as a website, and have featured outstanding scholarship, interviews, fiction, poetry, reviews, and artwork from top talents in the field. S. T. Joshi (Unutterable Horror) is my managing editor, and we’ve covered George Romero, artist Kris Kuksi, and the field of weird literature, just for starters.


Name some of your favorite books. 

Books? That’s a hard one. I feel that Dante’s Inferno, All Quiet on the Western Front, the stories of Richard Selzer, The Martian Chronicles, the works of Gabriel García Márquez, all of E. A. Poe, Borges, and Kafka, Lovecraft’s best offerings, and a large selection of poets such as Ted Hughes and Emily Dickinson are essential. Many others, of course, but that’s a good start. I also love all forms of mythology and folk tales from across the world.


Name some of your favorite films. 

I’d say a couple of my favorite films would be Freaks and To Kill A Mockingbird. In the more modern era, I’d include Carnival of Souls, Burnt Offerings, Network, Planet of the Apes (the original), Alien, The Return of the Living Dead, Jaws, The King of Comedy, Badlands, The Thing, Citizen Kane, Videodrome, Gods and Monsters, Blow Out, Dead Ringers, An American Werewolf in London, The Dead Zone, Duel, and Man Bites Dog. There are more, of course. I make no real distinction between made-for-TV and cinematic films in my favorites.

I think what appeals to me varies with what I am feeling in the moment, but the common factors are: strong characterization, great direction, respect for the audience, intelligence, good writing, tight editing, subtle music, creepiness, and mood. Atmosphere and tone are important for me. Also, I much prefer practical make-up and physical effects over CGI.


Name some of your favorite plays. 

The Crucible and Death of a Salesman are excellent, and I adore most of the plays of William Shakespeare. I think experimental theatre is interesting and have written several short plays myself.

Why do you think horror books and movies remain popular?

I think that genre fiction and other artforms in general—whether rooted in horror, sci-fi, or mainstream literary convention—have a certain relevance whether folks realize it or not, and always will. They allow us to analyze things with our preconceptions stripped away, at least while we are in the creator's world.
From a writing perspective, which could also be generalized to cinema, art, and music, I personally feel that horror is an inwardly focused form of literature. It lets us look at things that are personally threatening with a certain amount of distance to help us feel safe. Science fiction is more externally driven, its concerns encompass political struggles, the environment, social mores, and so on. Literary takes the threat/horror elements away while remaining mindful of the individual in the social context, but without the overt machinations of technology, as sci-fi would. In a way, good literary—and there's not much of it—can straddle the two parts of the self I am describing, the individual and the society that they are existing in.


What are your latest projects?

My literary agent has been after me to complete four novels, so I’m at work on those at present, and there are several other publications, including my second short story collection called The Dark Sea Within and Other Macabre Revelations, that I have pending between now and the middle of 2015, in addition to numerous appearances at conventions and film festival screening invites across the US. Things are busy, and it appears that they’ll be getting busier between signing events (we had a couple recently, in fact—one in Los Angeles on 11/6/2014 at Mystery & Imagination Bookstore in Glendale, and another in Seattle on 11/23/2014 at the University Book Shop) and industry cons, such as the World Horror Convention, local horror and S-F shows, and World Fantasy, where I frequently appear as a guest.

As to our output, people can find out more about the Charles Beaumont movie on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Official.Charles.Beaumont.Documentary

As well as the Forrest J Ackerman film: https://www.facebook.com/AckermonsterChroniclesMovie
Our third documentary, on Fantastic Imagery, entitled Image, Reflection, Shadow: Artists of the Fantastic (showcasing H. R. Giger, Alex Grey, Roger Dean, Robert Williams, and about twenty other artists from all over the world): https://www.facebook.com/FantasticArtDocumentary

A Darke Phantastique: https://www.facebook.com/DARKE.PHANTASTIQUE.BOOK 
And our digest and website, Nameless: https://www.facebook.com/Nameless.Digest


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

I hope to continue for many years as a writer, editor, filmmaker, composer, and artist. I’ve been fortunate to have been published in a wide array of venues—online, in comic books, magazines, and anthologies, such as Qualia Nous, Simulacrum and Other Possible Realities (my illustrated fiction/poetry collection), Fungi, Weird Fiction Review, Fangoria, S. T. Joshi's Black Wings series, and many others.

From my time as Art Director/Managing Editor for Dark Discoveries magazine for several years, I decided to stick with publishing by expanding into the pro journal called [NameL3ss], which can be found on Twitter: @NamelessMag, and online at www.NamelessDigest.com. We also run Cycatrix Press (our books include A Darke Phantastique, and The Bleeding Edge, to name just two anthologies, and we are planning several collections and novels in the next couple years in addition), as well as our technology consulting business.


Of course, there are the film and music projects, as I mentioned, and the various personal appearances, signings, film festivals, and conventions. Along the way we make time for our friends, and our family of reptiles/amphibians, travel, and vegan/vegetarianism. Folks can keep up with our travels and appearances on social sites such as Facebook and Twitter (@JaSunni_JasonVB), and our personal website/blog, www.JaSunni.com