The Cabin on the net issue 2

Cover illustration by Jack Elfick

Website: thecabinonthe.net

Welcome to the cabin For the love of horror Welcome back to the cabin horror lovers!

We have had such a fantastic month, we’ve got to talk to some amazing people for this issue and there is no doubt our staff writers are very much at the top of their game. We certainly feel like we are home. So we thank you all for that.

So what have we got going on in this issue? Well now what haven’t we got going!

We’ve been talking to some amazingly talented people brining their horror dreams alive, including an interview with Dean Sills.

Stan is back to survive ‘SAW 2’ how will he fair this time? Read on to find out.

Jack takes us on a fascinating history lesson with ‘The history of fake blood’ and Stan and I go head to head once again in Jason Vs Michael.

Plus, much more!

Again, thank you all for your ongoing support. We truly hope you like what we are doing.

You can reach us via social media or drop us an email at: info@thecabinonthe.net

Enjoy!

Cassandra Regan

Interview Dean Sills If you are not acquainted with Dean where have you been! We are very honoured that Dean agreed to answer a few of our questions on where he has been and where he is going. Not only is Dean dedicated in all that he does, he is a real down to earth guy who is no doubt going on to bigger and crazier heights.

You have a very impression IMDB page and a quick type of your name in to Google and I get lots of results for you.

Given that you started your journey in 2012, I’d say you’ve come along way.

How has the journey been for you?

First of all, I would just like to thank you for this awesome interview. I am very grateful for your time. The journey has been awesome. When I first played a Zombie extra in THE ESCHATRILOGY: BOOK OF THE DEAD I never knew I would go on to play lead roles in a number of projects. I have found myself in London made times working on a number of things from commercial prints for Adidas to

music videos and feature films. I guess the most magical moment was when the director, Steve Call gave me the lead role of Trevor Wallis in his feature film TEARS IN THE DUST. I have worked with Steve before, he liked my passion and commitment so he gave me the lead role in TEARS IN THE DUST. Steve is a great director and helps bring out the best in you as an actor. I was drawn to the role of Trevor straight away because he is a character we can all relate to. This film gave me so much confidence and took my acting to another level. I then went from playing lead roles to producing and writing my own projects like Up North. I just keep living the dream, moving forward, never knowing where this will take me next. I love the long hours on set, the travelling around the UK and meeting many wonderful people. For me acting is the best job in the world because you get to be anybody you want. It takes you away from all the pressures of real life.

When I am on set I am like a kid at Christmas, so excited. It’s a true pleasure doing something I love so

much. I am just enjoying the journey so far!

Do you wish you would have started sooner?

Great question. I do get asked this question a lot and to be honest the answer is no. I know I am in my late 40s but for me the timing was perfect. I have more confidence now than when I was younger. I always have a positive attention now and if I want something I just go for it. In the past I would have been too nervous and worried what other people think about me. I know when I began acting back in 2012 a few people said I was too old, overweight and my voice was too northern. Well it's great that I didn't listen to them and to be honest the only person I do listen to is myself. I don't dwell on it, I just go for it and give it my 100%.

What advice would you give to someone who was perhaps trying to get a break into acting?

You need to be really passionate and patient about it because you find yourself in and out of work all the time. You need to ask yourself how much you really want this kind of work and how much you’re willing to sacrifice for it. If you really want to be an actor, just go for it and follow your dream!

I have to know, what was it like being ‘The sleazy Co-worker?’ from Blaze of gory. How do you prepare for a role like that?

Being ‘The sleazy Co-worker in BLAZE OF GORY was so much fun.

How do you prepare for a role like that? Great question, I just

visualized how I would play him in my head and come across on screen as someone really creepy. I loved working with the director, Antoni McVay and I asked him if I could wear glasses to make my character look sleazier? I was delighted when he said yes. I remember doing a scene where I had to sniff the hair of the lead actress in a perverted way as I helped her put her coat on.

Ashleigh Gloyne was that actress who had to put up with me for the day. It felt weird but that's what I love about acting going out of your comfort zone and doing things you would never do in real life unless you were a sleazy co-worker, haha!

I remember when we did this shoot in Newcastle for the segment YOUNG AND NAIVE in BLAZE OF GORY a few of the cast were questioning if I was really acting or like that in real life. Playing a character that makes you cringe was not easy and at the time I was only just starting out so I know my performance could have been better but looking back at it I feel the awkwardness really works on screen.

Ashleigh Gloyne was lovely to work with and a true professional. It was great to see you do a feature on David V G Davies, the Producer of BLAZE OF GORY in your last magazine. I was recently talking to Dave at Horror Con 2016 in Sheffield about the film and all the many awesome segments. I can't wait for the film to be released, I know it will be fantastic from start to finish.

What is the most fun you have had on set to date? Cos all work and no play can make Jack a dull boy.

The most fun I have had on set to date was on the pilot episode of UP NORTH. Steve Call, the director of UP NORTH and I laughed so much our faces hurt, especially during the filming of the barbecue scenes. I don't want to give anything away but if you watch the pilot episode of UP NORTH on ESSEX TV you will see why we laughed so much.

You can watch the pilot here: https://www.essex-tv.co.uk/up-north/ As a Zombie extra in ‘The Eschatrilogy: The book of the dead’ what was a typical day on set, or was there nothing typical about it?

A typical day on set was arriving on set each morning and standing around with all the other supporting artists along with the cast and crew chatting about the shoot. We had to line up in a queue and the make-up department would transform us all into realistic looking gruesome zombies. Most of the time it was make-up artist Anne Derbyshire or Pamela Clare who did my make-up.

After this one of the crew would cover us from head to toe in mud. some of us wore zombie contacts lens including myself and it was the first time I had worn contacts so it did feel weird when wearing them for the first time. The first day on set was a little different because we all had to go to Zombie school and learn how to act and walk like Zombies. It was funny looking around watching each group perform with the odd person trying to walk like

Frankenstein's monster instead of a Zombie. During each shoot we were split into small groups and placed in different areas ready for the cameras to roll. I enjoyed working on this film so much it inspired me to become an actor. I made so many friends during my 5 days working on THE ESCHATRILOGY: BOOK OF THE DEAD and I still see and work with a number of them including Steve Pollard who plays Jason Bottomley in Up North. Every day on set was so much fun, I loved every moment and would recommend it to anyone who wants to be a zombie extra in a feature film.

Here at the cabin we love Indie horror (as well as John Carpenter) Sometimes when something is indie, low budget, crafted to fit the tightest of budgets and deadlines you can see the magic on screen that can sometimes can be lost on really big pictures. What are your thoughts on indie horror?

As an avid fan of Indie horror my thoughts are all good. I know they get a lot of bad press due to crappy dialogue, bad acting and cheap gore done in bad taste which is not disturbing or chilling in anyway. A number of them do hit the jackpot and deliver on all levels. I take my hat off to anyone who works on Indie Horror films because they all have a true passion for Horror, they make the most out of what they have and

give us some outstanding gems, even in no budget land. One of my favourite Indie Horror director's is Mj Dixon, Mj directed SLASHER HOUSE which is awesome and just shows you want you can achieve with little money and hard work. I got to work for Mj last year when I played Sheriff Hoffman in CLEAVER:RISE OF THE KILLER CLOWN. It was only a small role but one that I am still buzzing from because working for Mj was a huge honour. I have been blessed with some of the talent I have met and worked with. Last year on Indie Horror Mj Dixon and this year on Indie Horror Emma Dark, it doesn't get any better!

CLEAVER: RISE OF THE KILLER CLOWN is scheduled to be the 5th Feature length production from Mycho Entertainment Group... It is a prequel to the movie SLASHER HOUSE. Featuring the return of Andrew M Greenwood as Cleaver the Clown and starring Stephanie Price (Shooting Clerks). The film is out to buy on DVD from http://mycho.moonfruit.com/cleaver/4 587768192 What’s next for you?

I am playing the lead role in SALIENT MINUS TEN which is a Sci-Fi/Horror short film from awardwinning filmmaker Emma Dark. In the film I play Adam Harper, who is an average man. And on an average day he suddenly finds himself catapulted into the strangest, reality changing game... A game of time and chance, where the stakes are a matter of life and death. We start shooting in September, with a view

to start festival submissions towards the end of 2016 or early 2017.

I am really excited about this project for a number of reasons. First of all, its Emma Dark, so this is a huge honour for any actor to work with such a talented filmmaker plus she is one lovely lady and a true credit to this industry. Secondly, the script just blew me away, it’s such a great script and I love everything about the story. Ok, so if you are reading this and you don't know who Emma is, where have you been? Emma's last film SEIZE THE NIGHT has been one of the most talked about short films on the independent horror scene over the past year. In its time on the festival circuit the film has won creator Emma Dark an MMBF Rising Star award at Ireland’s The Yellow Fever Independent Film Festival, garnered favourable reviews from a multitude of respected genre websites including Dread Central, Starburst and UK Horror Scene, and featured in comprehensive national print

articles in the UK’s leading horror magazine Scream, (Ouch Dean!) and indie filmmaking favourite Digital Filmmaker Magazine.

Emma is currently running a crowdfund campaign for SALIENT MINUS TEN with limited edition merchandise and special thanks credits on offer that would otherwise not be made available, the crowdfund campaign offers you, as a supporter and film fan, the chance to be part of something truly special. You can find out more about at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/s alient-minus-ten-short-film-horror#/ Also we have a Facebook page please give us a Like (facebook.com/SalientMinusTen) and follow us on Twitter (@SalientMinusTen) You can also check out Emma's awesome work on her website just visit emmadark.com. And you can watch her last film if you visit seizethenightfilm.com. Thanks!

I am also promoting the postapocalyptic film MEGAN. I play the lead role of Callum in this one and the film starts off as a love story in the present time and then moves forward 5 years and deals with the impact and consequences of what happened and Callum’s quest to find his girlfriend Megan. The film is directed by Ross Adgar and this is

my second film with Ross. I made THE RAILWAY CARRIAGE last year with him and the film has been screened at a number of film festivals including STARBURST in Manchester.

In THE RAILWAY CARRIAGE I play a character called John who finds himself on board a vintage style train. John is constantly walking along the train carriage not knowing what the train has in store for him, he finds himself living a nightmare!

Given all you have done so far (you don’t seem to be slowing down, which is great news!) what has been your proudest moment?

My proudest moment is UP NORTH, thanks to Steve Call and ESSEX TV. I wrote a comedy script called UP NORTH and showed it to Steve last year whilst we were filming TEARS IN THE DUST. Steve loved it and to be honest I knew he would because we both have the same silly sense of humour, haha! I asked Steve if we could make it into a short and Steve said yes after we have finished filming TEARS IN THE DUST. Once TEARS IN THE DUST was finished we started filming UP NORTH and it turned out to be really good, we even got funny man Bernie Clifton in the cast. The funny short film was then picked up by a new TV station in Essex called ESSEX TV, this was

thanks to my good friend Emma Dark who told me ESSEX TV were looking for new shows. The short film suddenly became a pilot and it air on ESSEX TV on 28th April 2016.

We were getting around 2,000 views a week on demand so ESSEX TV have kindly given us a broadcasting contract for 5 more episodes. We have already filmed the first one at Barnsley Football Club and the episode is called FOOTBALL UP NORTH. We are now working on the second episode which is all about fishing. The show is all about two neighbours who show us how society live up north, one family is posh and the other is common as muck. I play the lead role of Mick Smith and the series also stars Carley Motley and Kuljit Singh. Steve Call and I are releasing the pilot episode on DVD very soon and this will be available to buy at Amazon.

If you could work with anyone, writer, director or actor, dead or alive – who

would it be and why?

It would have to be Clint Eastwood because I am a huge fan and have over 60 of his films on DVD. I just love his acting style. He is a man of few words and lets his facial expressions and body language do the talking on screen. You can say a lot with your actions, eyes and body.

Actions really do speak louder than words!

We have to ask! What is your favourite horror film?

THE THING (1982) I love this John Carpenter classic, its pure movie magic from its moody atmospheric settings to its great fusion of Sci-Fi

and Horror. I love the fact the paranoia feels so believable and Kurt Russell is outstanding in this film. I love the excellent old-school special effects that really scared the crap out of me when I first saw the film back in the 80s. The film works on every level and I believe it’s the greatest horror movie ever made.

Thank you so much Dean, it’s been a real eye opener and pleasure reading all about you and talking to you. I’m going to be keeping my eyes on you not from the bushes though.

Haha! You are very welcome, thank god or that would have been real creepy! Thank you for your time it was fun!!

You can find out more about my acting and projects here: https://www.facebook.com/DEANSILLS-Actor457478424320885/?fref=ts&ref=br_tf&qs efr=1 http://www.imdb.com/name/nm5088823/

Plus, when I am not acting I write for UK HORROR SCENE.COM sadly I have not done much for Andy Deen, my fantastic editor for a while due to all the filming work but you can check my interviews out with actors like Luke Goss http://www.ukhorrorscene.com/aninterview-with-luke-goss-by-deansills/ When I find the time my favourite interviews at UKHS will be getting published in a book.

SPOILERS After my last attempt at finding rubbish gold on Netflix and I ended up coming away loving the film I watched! I thought long and hard about the next film, again I looked for a nice one-star review and also I spotted Vinnie Jones face staring out at me I thought yep! This is it. This is going to be pure rubbish, let’s roll! But alas no, I've found another film I ended up liking.

The most terrifying ride you'll ever take A photographer, Leon's obsessive pursuit of dark subject matter leads him into the path of a serial killer, Mahogany, the subway murderer who stalks late night commuters, ultimately butchering them in the most gruesome ways imaginable.

Before I clicked on the load button I couldn't help but notice the name Clive Barker attached to the film, well there was no going back after that.

Something is immediately wrong. A commuter awakes on a train to find he is alone, he walks down the carriage only to slip in a pool of blood once he gets himself up he walks to the carriage door and what greets him is blood. All of the blood. Everywhere and in the darkness of the flickering lights we see a man beating the life out of someone, the fake (dare I say CGI) blood squirting everywhere. Run title!

The film stars Bradley Cooper, now I’ve not seen many of his films but the bits I've seen, he's an actor who’s got his shit together so I was looking forward to seeing him in the film. However, for most of the beginning film he annoyed me. I think perhaps his character annoyed me. I did struggle with is obsession at first, how it came from nowhere and then took on a life of its own and Leon started to dig up all records but I went with it. I am not sure if that was the point but I came to memorised by him before I realised I was. I struggled with his obsession at first but then I was right there with him as he followed Mahogany around.

I found the suspense fantastic and it is rare I sit shouting at the screen 'He's behind you!' and trying to hide behind my hands but that is completely what happened during the tense meat-house cat and mouse game. Of course he was going to be behind him but it was beautifully done. The whole cat and mouse between Leon and Mahogany is tense and kept me on the edge of my seat.

Leslie Bibb plays Leon's girlfriend Maya, and as girlfriends go she's a keeper.

Not only does she want him to be happy when he starts raving about the Butcher she joins him to uncover the truth. Perhaps to get him to calm down but she goes to the Butcher's apartment all the same (Butcher = Mahogany) very sweet indeed. Even if it does end up in the death of her friend.

The horror really takes places on the empty train. Unsuspecting commuters settle in for the ride only to be battered to death with a massive metal meat hammer. The killer never saying a word the whole time. It's pretty brutal. One scene shows Mahogany removing the hair, teeth and nails of a corpse which was hard to watch if I’m honest because he kept going. Not one tooth and look away, you saw it all. I imagine if the person had been alive the camera would have looked away. As he's doing it I’m saying out loud. He's preparing the meat and that is exactly what he is doing.

Remember I mentioned Clive Barker? Yeah so there is more to the film than you first think. You get a little taste when Leon has a nightmare and a black creature appears to be all over him, it is no nightmare.

Leon decides enough it enough and he's getting on and he's ready to fight. The scenes that follow are gory, gripping, crude and a little disrespectful to the dead bodies that line the meat carriage. He and Maya huddle together after getting rid of the Butcher and the train stops, the area is disused and then they come....

Oh no I can't tell you the rest! Spoilers or not. You are going are to have to watch it. The ending is amazing, you thought you were watching a film about a serial killer but you had no idea! (well you do now) Sure it's not flawless and some things are left so open you may find yourself on the internet after the film trying to make sense of it all (that was the fun part) and the last scene of the film is played out like a surprise but unless it was edited wrong it’s not a surprise at all.

I found Vinnie Jones to be a wonderful choice to play the butcher. He moved with purpose and gave enough facial expressions to really convey himself along with his stony stare. I found all the parts well-acted and I could have only hoped for a bit more backstory but sometimes that can be too much and it will kill a film. All in all, I liked it, which I know I’ll be watching again. However, I cannot say how true to Clive's work this film was and as I am known for my poor taste in horror make sure you can afford to lose just over an hour and a half of your life.

The midnight meat train 2008, Directed by Ryuhei Kitamuar, Written by Jeff Buhler (Based on The midnight meat train by Clive Barker) Staring: Vinnie Jones, Bradley Cooper, Leslie Bibb

The Evolution of Fake Blood in Horror – Jack’s Way And the History that Surrounded It

It’s 1981 and you’re watching Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams driving a chainsaw into a

demon; the lights go red and gore coats the scene, but what is it about the scene in ‘The Evil Dead’ that you may be taking for granted? Perhaps further back to 1922, when a man cuts his finger and is advanced by the vampire Nosferatu in F.W Marnau’s film of the same name.

What is it we’re not all considering? The answer: the blood. From being used sparingly in a more conservative age to being used by the gallon in modern cinema, fake blood is a long standing staple of performance art, and has an interesting history beginning with its roots in, you guessed it, horror. It seems, looking back, that where fake blood in cinema and theatre has gone, deep history and controversy has followed, and has been at the epicentre of new and ground breaking movements in the arts, from the late 1800’s right up until now. It’s a fascinating story, involving the holocaust, censorship, cochineal beetles, and a rather yummy desert topping…

Searching for the roots of fake blood, you find yourself in a small theatre venue in Paris in the year 1894, a quirky man by the name of Oscar Méténier was hatching a plan for his new theatre, the theatre that would kick off the mainstream tradition of formulating new and inventing ways to show spilled blood and horrific injuries for audiences to gasp at. The theatre he created was called Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol, a naturalistic theatre with a reputation for the horrible, displaying a series of five or six short plays with real and disgusting practical effects. A famous clip from the theatre’s last performance shows a realistic depiction of man sawing the arm off a young woman.

Audiences would become so incensed by the plays vulgarity they would often heckle the performers, who would break character and respond, and the audience would also go so far as to pass out and vomit in the theatre in sheer terror.

In order to maintain the desired gruesome realism a perfect recipe for fake blood was concocted. An incomparable classic, the Grand Guignol fake blood was the perfect shade and consistency, and was an incredibly sought after recipe. While it was and still is an industry secret, it is known that its base was that of glycerine, a warm and shiny sugar alcohol base that was comfortable on the skin of performers, acted well under bright and warm stage lights, and importantly wasn’t toxic. The last director of the Grand Guignol Charles Nonen mixed seven shades of blood a day and kept the details of his mix very close to his chest. All we know is that the base was the aforementioned glycerine, and was coloured by a substance called

carmine, a strong red dye made from the cochineal beetle. We also know that, in a decidedly un-sinister move, the thicker blood was simply made out of currant jam.

Whilst popular in post-World War 1 France before the rise of the Nazi’s, the subsequent horrors of the second world war caused the theatre to decline in popularity, hanging on by a thread until it’s last performance, seen in the movie “Ecco”(1964). The director at the time said that while before the holocaust, the horrors on stage seemed impossible, the world now knew that reality was worse, and lost their appetite for the horror plays in this dark period.

Stage horror could not compete with that being created by the Nazi regime every single day so close to home. Fake blood one now would change hands into a different art form and a different era.

Fake blood would now be seen less and less as the world approached its strict censorship era in Hollywood, and for a while it was nearly not seen at all. In the early 1920’s, certain films seen as being relatively adult for a mainstream audience were being produced, and Hollywood stars were engaging in scandalous endeavours off screen, a subject not nearly as acceptable as it is today. Apparently, Hollywood’s image needed to be cleaned up and so a man by the name of William Hays was appointed to do just that as the president of the MPPDA1. Many in the religious community in America always believed the art of cinema to be morally questionable, and things like Fatty Arbuckle allegedly raping Virginia Rappe in the twenties agitated the religious and civic groups even further. Appropriately, William Hays himself was a Presbyterian elder, and was paid $100, 000 a year (a huge amount, even by today’s standards2), to make sure the world of Hollywood was in line. Politicians all over the country were calling to action and attempting to pass bill after bill concerning the censorship of cinema. It was a difficult time for Hollywood, so it came up with its own solution to the problem.

Feeling the pressure from all of the organisations at its throat, Hollywood censored itself in the 1930’s with a set of rules appropriately named ‘The Hay’s Code’ after the MPPDA’s strict leader. The rule introduced here that affected the history of fake blood so was that “No brutal killings could be presented in detail”. Apart from the aforementioned cut fingers in the aforementioned ‘Nosferatu” and the later “Dracula” in the Universal Horror series, this new form of self-censorship allowed for tame and harmless horror films that were decidedly less gruesome than their theatrical predecessors and had to rely on the high contrast, expressionist style3 introduced by “The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari” (1920) to convey a deeper and darker sense of atmosphere without showing blood. This was the way things were set to be for the next twenty or so years, until 1952 when the Supreme Court overruled its decision to enforce the harsh Hay’s code. It seemed that Hollywood had no use for fake blood during this time, and so people much further away were getting ready to take up the mantle of mixing the gory concoction.

1

The Motion Picture Producers and Directors of America, later renamed the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) as we know it today. They are still responsible for the rating of movies in Hollywood.

2 Adjusting for inflation, this equals at about $1.4 million a year. A huge salary then and a huge salary now.

3 The st le is called Chiaroscuro , a d origi ated i a dra atic use of light a d shade i Ger a e pressio ist pai ti gs.

Over the pond in the United Kingdom, censorship on cinema was not nearly as strict as the God fearing mentality of North America. With the Universal horror cycle having ground to a halt, the opportunistic film makers at Hammer Production in the South of England seized the moment and exploited the knish in the market. They weren’t bound by the Hay’s Code and rather than banishing the blood, mixed their own concoction by the gallon. Their new mixture was amusingly named “Kensington Gore” after an area of London near the Albert Hall with the same name, and was created by a man called John Tinegate. Tinegate was a retired pharmacist who created the blood in the village of Abbotsbury in Dorset. Its base was more commonly found and much cheaper than the previous glycerine base, with Hammer opting for golden syrup, slightly watered down. Tinegate also added peppermint flavouring here, to make the taste not so unpleasant for the actor who happened to be splattered that day. These two features made Kensington Gore a more considerate mix for the performer, better designed with the actors in mind. Using this, the British film makers revelled in their ability to be more risqué than their American counterparts, and used their new mix of blood all over the screen. Their films were shown in colour, and this new blood worked to their advantage, the bright scary red and its common connotations increased a sense of terror for the shocked audience.

As Hammer Productions were creating their horror classic “(The Horror of) Dracula” (1958) starring the amazing Christopher Lee in a pivotal role, they famously utilised this new Kensington Gore blood mixture for a humorous purpose. The producers were concerned with audience members “nattering” and not taking the film seriously as it opened in the theatre.

As a remedy for this, a generous splatter of the new blood mixture was sprayed across the main title of Dracula that was engraved in a coffin lid. Apparently it shut the audiences up, and made them fear for the horrors that lay ahead. Kensington Gore made its way back over the pond and ended up being the name given to the common Hollywood fake blood, still a name given to it today. The Kensington Gore mix went on to later be used by the gallon over in America in 1980 as Stanley Kubrick released it from the doors of a scaled down red elevator for take after take after take. Kensington Gore was essential in creating an iconic image to be embedded in horror and cinema history. Also, in America another elegant solution for fake blood was being used in black and white movies, and this new solution was the sweetest of the bunch…

Twenty years before Kubrick would use Kensington Gore for The Shining in the late 1970’s , another legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock was making his horror movie”Psycho” (1960).

Within this movie, he took the bold move of killing off the leading lady mid-way through the film. The scene would go on to be a staple in cinema iconography, perhaps more so than the

aforementioned scene Kubrick introduced, with a woman being stabbed to death by a mysterious killer in the shower by whom we assume to be the deranged mother of the motel’s owner. The secret star here however, out with the legendary cinematography and performances was the sticky, gooey “blood” substance running down the drain. With Psycho being in black and white, Hitchcock had no need to focus on the colour of his chosen substance. Also, whatever substance chosen didn’t have to be the perfect consistency either; it would be immediately watered down by the flow of the shower water. So what could they use that didn’t have to be red, could be thicker than Kensington Gore or Grand Guignol and happened to much cheaper than Tinegate and Méténier’s, as well as more immediately accessible? The solution lay in Bosco chocolate syrup, the thick and sweet desert topping that was popular then and still is now (although I’m led to believe in my British ignorance that it faces some sort of rivalry in public preference with Hershey’s.)

Another ground breaking film-maker by the name of George Romero was making a black and white horror movie called “Night of the Living Dead” (1968) and famously used the very same chocolate syrup here to reach his gory ends. This time it wasn’t just shown dribbling down a drain, but in a much more frequent manner, his picture being decidedly more gruesome and graphic. All a step in the right direction for the world of horror. Film making was past the socalled “Hollywood Renaissance” in 1968, and films were getting past bowing down to any sort of right wing censorship, although it still would rear its ugly head. As things progressed, the Supreme Court ruled cinema in America as protected by their free speech amendment of the constitution, and film makers like George A. Romero would find it much easier to express what they wished without too much backlash. Romero even made the “daring” move of casting an African American in his lead role. It also meant that the business of fake blood would be booming and continue to boom from this point onwards.

As a part of this Hollywood Renaissance, films would begin to tackle more and more serious themes, and as horror followed along in this new vein, the traditional Kensington Gore was put to the side. While it was still very effective and favoured by some, many film makers were in favour of a new mix that was less of a bright cartoonish red, and behaved well alongside film makers new and growing abilities to tinker with their pictures in post-production. Tasked with creating this new mix of fake blood for a new era was a legend in the world of movie make-up called Dick Smith. In cinema he used his new mix in the horror classic “The Exorcist” (1973). This new Dick Smith mix was a certified piece of DIY science; it was much more complex than any mix that preceded it, with Smith and his knowledge covering all possible bases with its various ingredient additions.

To start, Smith followed Tinegate’s move by replacing the glycerine Grand Guignol base with something accessible and cheap, but instead this time with corn syrup, something also cheap but found slightly easier than traditional golden syrup in the states. Smith used Kodak Photoflo in this mix, a chemical additive usually used for printing photos that in this case helped

break up the surface tension in the blood and allow it to move a little more naturally. It was however a rather nasty mixture, not to mention poisonous, so Dick’s Smith blood would not be one eligible for consumption, an advantage the previous mixtures had on this particular one.

Smith also added Methyl Paraben, a powder mix preservative usually added to make-up to stop mould from forming. This would be a really effective additive if you were making large batches of the stuff and storing them before a shoot, increasing its shelf life and making it safer. It was coloured with Ehler food colourings and thickened, not with corn starch like all the previous red mixes, but with zinc oxide, a non-toxic food additive that gave the blood Smith’s desired texture. All of these new innovations in Dick Smith’s fake blood meant a safer practical mixture for a more progressive and experimental age of cinema, and became the standard go to mix for horror fake blood in the future.

So what then for the history of fake blood? Had production of the gooey gore hit a brick wall in terms of its innovation? For all intents and purposes, yes. Dick Smiths mixture, and simple variations of it would simply be impossible to improve on drastically for the following years of cinema. In Sam Raimi’s classic gore fest “The Evil Dead” (1981), the zinc oxide was replaced with powdered coffee creamer. The movie was incredibly low budget and this simple change saved Raimi and his small production crew a few pennies. Bruce Campbell famously ended up encased in a solidified and crispy shirt after all the sugar in Dick Smith’s blood mix crystallised as he sat by the fire place between shots. Now in modern cinema, most film makers and theatre makers stick to at least one, if not a mix of the previous concoctions when not simply opting to buy ready-made bottles of fake blood. Even the shelf bought stuff however, sticks to the templates of the above recipes.

Now as we look into the future and think about fake blood, or any practical gore effects for that matter, we see all sorts of new methods arise. Cinema is seeing a steady rise of the much easier computer generated blood splatters, avoiding the fun and hands on nature of mixing your own, and allowing the actors to feel it for real. Here’s hoping as we move forward that we remember Méténier, Nonen, Smith, Tinegate and the trusty Bosco Chocolate syrup, and stay close to horror’s roots in the unique and macabre alchemy that is fake blood mixing.

By Jack Elflick

Jack Elfick You might recognise Jack’s name for the magazine as he is one of our amazing writers along with being a kick arse designer (Just check out our covers) Jack’s love of horror is very infectious and his writing shows real a love and depth for the genre. Who is Jack? What do you really know about him? We decided to ask the man himself to tell us more about who he is and where is he going.

You are a talented young man. You have quite a few talents. What is the goal for you?

I’m leaving as many doors open as possible for myself at the minute!

I’ve just ventured into film making and I love continuing theatre, and I’m also a performing musician as well, hopefully one will leap out as being the chosen path soon! The most pressing goal however is to graduate well from university and do as much film, t heater and music along the way as possible!

Where does your love of horror come from?

I think it perhaps got started when I was sixteen and was playing Sweeney Todd in an amateur production. I was being a theatre nerd and doing a great deal of research into the production and its origins and stumbled across a documentary about Grand Guignol, an old style of gruesome French

horror theatre. From that I was led into the old Hammer movies and it just grew from there! I loved Edgar Allan Poe and that was a huge influence, one of his short stories was the basis of my first horror play. If you were to look back even further I’d probably pin it on my love for the Treehouse of Horror episodes of The Simpsons. I’d always be desperate for those ones to come on the TV when I was younger!

You’ve already written and director one play and you are currently developing another one at the moment, what is your role?

My role is writing and directing again! I have to give huge credit to my friend Kaat Marynissen who wrote and directed my first play with me in equal measure. We’re a wee bit of a double act when it comes to the plays, we like working on the projects together! She’s by far the sensible and organised half so she’s the perfect partner when creating something new! There’s nothing 100% set in stone with this new one, it’s currently being drafted and drafted to make sure the script is perfect to start working with, but we’re very excited.

Can you talk us through what you had/have to do in a day to get a production up and running?

Well, apologies if it ruins the magic for anyone, but it largely constitutes of emailing people and script editing.

Before you can start getting together

a cast and a tech team and doing really cool creative stuff you have to lay down the ground work and make sure all the troubleshooting and organisation is done straight away. That way when we get into rehearsal and directing we’re free to focus solely on that. This new play we’re looking at will involve some interesting practical effects, so I’m working through them (and their various issues!) at the moment! Our first play was a production we did with the University of Glasgow’s theatre society, who were kind enough to let us put on “The Fall of the House of Usher” last year for their festival.

For that we did a lot of research and even brewed our own recipe of fake blood, so this time around we’re really inspired to kick things up a notch in terms of what we can do in the performance space.

Do you have any advice would offer to others wishing to follow in your footsteps?

Well I don’t know what advice I could offer, as I’m just starting out myself; but I’d say to anyone writing a script to submit it to a society or their school or a theatre to make sure that the script is well thought through and has a solid structure.

Even though some gruesome scares

or special effects may make your story really special, it only really pays off if the story itself works well.

That’s what Kaat and I are working really hard to get right at the moment. When I was writing scripts at high school, (which scarily was only a couple of years ago if that!) I always let my friends and my drama teacher read them to get as much feedback and advice as possible. Collaborate! Two or three good minds working together can be better than just one!

What does the future hold for you?

Just doing more and more and more and getting butt loads of experience!

Plenty more research to be done also!

Care to share with us your favourite horror film?

Tricky question! I can narrow I down to two, the first being ‘The Shining’.

I’m obsessed with Stanley Kubrick and it’s a beautiful film, a shining example of how really simple shot composition and sound design can make things so terrifying. The second being the classic that is “The Curse of Frankenstein.” I love that old fashioned Hammer Horror charm and that was the one that started it all!

The horror crossword Put together by our very own Stanley Williams. Test your horror knowledge with a good old crossword. Prizes to be won. Come on, what have you got you lose?

Send your answers to: info@thecabinonthe.net

Interview The Mare from Norway Let’s get right down to business!

With both the director and producer from The Mare from Norway. An indie horror film about sleep paralysis and the origin of the word nightmare. In freaking Norway!

So filming is complete for the film, what was the atmosphere like on set?

Directors answer: Well for me as a director it was fantastic. It was unbelievable for me as a low budget filmmaker to have the opportunity to take so many great people and friends with me to make a horror film. They were all fully focused and committed to making the film, and made every sacrifice necessary to do so.

At one of the recordings we were filming outside during -20 degrees celsius, the main character had to walk around in only a t-shirt, it was freezing. But we had so much fun!

I wanted my cast and crew to have the best time they could, both on and off set. I believe that having a good set environment, a happy cast and crew is crucial to the process.

For me as an executive producer the atmosphere on set is extremely important.

The days on set was hard, believe me. It was long days, I slept for only 2 hours a night for 16 days. And when I finally had time to sleep I was dreaming about filming, and I had nightmares of everything that could go wrong on set. I could never have done this film without my amazing crew. Although some of them where freaked and scared sometimes, because let’s face it; it was one freaky house at our shoot location!

The film is shot in the most beautiful location; Norway really is stunning.

Would you say that the landscapes play apart in the film?

Directors answer: For me it has always been about the claustrophobia of it. The main character feels alone and abandonment, the landscape strengthens the story and the feelings of the main character. He feels isolated, all of the mountains closing in on the village underpins that feeling.

The shoot location is unbelievably beautiful and we hope that we are

able to show how beautiful it actually is. But this is a horror film, so the main character is going to feel more like he is in a prison, than in a beautiful Norwegian landscape.

What can you tell us about the folklore of the ‘Mare’?

Directors answer: The folklore of the "Mare" is from the word "nightmare", and concerns the phenomenon "sleep paralysis". To me it has always been kind of personal, because as long as I can remember I have always struggled with nightmares, sleepwalking and talking in my sleep. Although the funny thing is that I can always remember what I have said and done. By now I have gotten so used to it, that I am just in this limbo between wide awake and dreaming. But I don't see them as nightmares anymore, now they are an inspiration to me.

When we started talking to people about this phenomenon, and the fact that we were going to make this film about it. There were SO many people that were like " I have experienced that"; among the crew, the cast and also family and friends. So it is not as uncommon as one would think, and it can be scary as hell, (so I am told).

The experience is different for everyone (same as nightmares), but the thing that is most usual is that you wake up in your own bed, but you can't move. Although your brain is still in some kind of a dreaming stage.

Imagine that your awake up in your bed at home in the middle of the night, it is dark and you can't move a single muscle in your body, you look

around the room and then suddenly your WORST fear is coming into your bedroom and walks slowly towards you. But you can't do anything to stop it, you can't even scream. You just have to wait and see what happens.

So its not that hard to believe that many people though it was something demonic happening, before we got the logic explanation.

The film is personal to the director; does this add pressure when making the film? To ensure that his vision and personal experiences are respected and shot with care?

Directors answer: I personally worked on the script and the preproduction alone for about a year and a half, before I got my producer and director of photography involved.

But of course I felt pressure, this was my first feature. I have never learned so much during a project before, I am a "learn by doing" kind of guy! I have a passion for making feature films, so thats what I do. In that way I will get better and better as a director and storyteller. For me it is important to make the film the way WE want to make it, it is a team effort. But the thing about making a film that is so low budget as ours, is that you have to be patient, and understand that "things take time".

While we were on set, I only had 14 days to shoot the main story.

Therefor we had to pick out the most important shots, and focus on the things we had to take our time with.

So it’s kind of a "give and take", only time will tell if spent our time well.

Perhaps a question for the director.

The sleep paralysis that is very personal to you and this shows on the care you have spent on your campaign page explaining it, is as you say quite an untouched subject for film, could you speculate at why this might be?

Directors answer: I believe that "sleep paralysis" is an untouched subject because it has something to do with you as an individual, it is personal. What we dream about and think in our sleep is really personal.

We think and do stuff in our dreams that we would never have done if we were awake. And when it comes to "sleep paralysis" it gives you a feeling of a presence in your room, although you think you are awake.

You as a person truly BELIEVE that this is what is happening when the phenomenon occurs, even for some when you actually wake up.

I therefor don't think there is too many that would go out and say that they have a real "boogieman" under their bed. That is also why I say that I am not surprised that this were believed to be a "demonic" phenomenon, when this kind of stuff happens in our very own bedroom "while we are awake". It is not just something you make small talk with your neighbour about while getting you’re the mail in the morning.

Tell us more about Broadstone, this is your production company I believe?

Directors answer: "Broadstone" is something me and some friends back home used to call ourselves when we were kids and experimenting with making silly videos. The funny thing

is that it is directly translated from the word "Breistein", which is the name of the small town where I grew up. The name "Breistein" originates from a tall mountain that stretches out on the side of the small town, so it is a "broad-stone".

Although now I hope and believe that I have moved pass the silly videos.

Among my childhood friends and "crew", it was only me who went on further with the filmmaking. I moved on to studying the art of filmmaking and made it into my career. But I took the name with me, and now I have a great new team with me; we are the "new Broadstone".

Producers answer: Today Broadstone is a small company with one two main goals.

One is to make movies on our own terms, the one we think is sourly missing from Norwegian cinemas. I mean we are a country full of folklore about trolls, goblins, Vikings, mythology, devils playing the violin and demons who kidnap your kids in to the forests. We should be in the lead of fantasy movies!!! Instead we keep doing the only thing we know, and that is to make Norwegian films for Norwegians.

We have so many things we could make movies about that would in capture a whole world of fantasy and horror lovers…

I mean did you know that the “Kraken “actually was a Norwegian creature that was a part of Norway’s list of animals within the kingdom

during the 1700 th? Its most “seen “between Trondheim and Greenland, and that it actually only one of two mayor sea monsters that roam those waters. (second one being a whale so big it’s often mistaken for a Island) So off course Broadstone is writhing a move about it and it should be a finished screenplay in about 4 years, being that we get the right people behind it. Currently we are working on the screenplay for our next movie about the Bjørn West resistance in Bergen. (yet another epic story nobody ells dare to touché) Second goal is to become an ambassador for all indie production companies that wishes to film in Norway. The incentive is finally here but it is still very low and only for the biggest of productions, and Norway is a very expensive country to even just to visit.

So why not contact the people who already knows how to make a movie

in Norway on a low budget, and use our already established networks.

There is a golden opportunity for us to show off our country and use the same secret gateways we used to get things done, way cheaper than when going through a bigger company that is expected to pay out the big amounts.

And so to make it as simple as possible: If you want to shoot a scene or even an entire movie in Norway, send us an email or contact us on Facebook and we will do our best to assist you in any way possible. You would be amazed on how much you actually can save just knowing the right people.

Brodstonefilm@gmail.com , Broadstone.no & Broadstone film on Facebook or just look me up directly on Facebook for Q& A at Tor Kjetil Leknes

I think it’s great that you decided to fund the project on your own terms, rather than making a film that the state had a say in. How has this process been?

Directors answer: The really fantastic thing about making a film out of your own pocket, is that we did not have anybody saying "No you can't do it". We are our own bosses, and we get to decide what to make and how to make it.

watching the movie, because let’s not forget; It is a horror film.

We hope that it will show what we can accomplish with so little. As I mentioned, this is what I want to do.

I want to make feature films and tell great stories, and I truly hope this film helps us do that. I hope that "The Mare" will provide us with opportunities to make more films in the future!

How will it be distributed?

But of course it has its ups and downs, I as a director have used all off my savings to be able to make this film. I have worked extremely hard and dedicated for that that money. One could say that "film pays for film", because those savings came from other projects that I have worked on. I had a part time job during the evenings almost every day after film school, in addition to that I took on EXTRA freelancing film jobs to make enough money to make this project into a reality. By making the film without public founding we are making the film indie, it makes the film more personal to us.

What are the hopes for the film?

Directors answer: Well, me and my crew of course hope that people will want to see it and enjoy it. I also hope that this will get the phenomenon of sleep paralysis to see the light of day. However, we also hope that people will get scared

Producer answer: The short answer is simple; we are going to show it to everyone. In Norway this is an untraditional way to do a movie. It is also a somewhat untraditional genre, however popular the horror-genre is elsewhere in the world.

So how are we going to convince the Norwegian cinemas to screen our movie? By spreading the word to every single county (there are about 400 of them) our self, personally. In a RV equipped with a projector, a couple of speakers and a pre-set GPS. That’s right, we are insane and this is a map to illustrate it…

The great RV Plan This insane plan will take us about 6-8 months to complete, but it is the only way to make sure that everyone gets a chance to see our fantastic, nongovernment-funded, non-drama, non-comedy, horror film. The trip will of course be made into a documentary, and will be a big part of the marketing plan later on. And we welcome you to follow us in a daily video blog while we try not to kill each other with sharp objects or something blunt...

You see we plan to travel to every main town EXCEPT the biggest cities, this way we can go to the movie cinemas later on and tell them that half of Norway has already seen this movie, however nobody from the big cities, which is where they get their main audience/ customer’s.

So we start with the places that don’t normally get this kind of happening, and then we use the blog and documentary to build up the expectation’s.

Our cliché and trademark question, what is your favourite horror film?

Producers Answer: I am still in love

Directors answer: My favorite horror film is definitely "Misery" with Kathy Bates (although that is not really a horror film, but it is freakishly terrifying), on the other hand I am also very fond of "The Omen" from 1976, I can never decide!

with Bram Stokes `Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola (I choose to ignore the British accent failures attempts from Keanu Reevs.) I just love the onset special effects and its fantastic visually satisfying. Hahaha I’m just a sucker for vampires I guess.

Lucio Fulci I was in a local dvd shop, scanning the horror films as I do when I came across a dvd with a white sleeve and a little window showing the dvd art.

It was an Arrow video dvd but more than that it was Lucio’s ‘The Beyond’ I had never heard of Lucio or the film (I’m pretty sure I was a late bloomer to the Lucio films) the price was more than right, so I paid and set off to watch it. Little did I know that it would start a very gory love affair.

Accidents indeed! From the off this film is painful and shocking.

The film starts Louisiana 1927, we arrive at the Seven Doors Hotel with a lynch mob. Some come by car others by boat. I can only assume there wasn’t enough room in the cards for everyone. What follows has got to be one of the most violent torture scenes I have ever seen and Lucio does not shy away from what he shows you. Getting you right up close with the camera to see the pain and wounds inflicted on the artist Schweick who they mob believe to be a warlock.

The film is the second film in Lucio’s unofficial gates of hell trilogy, along with City of the living dead and the house by the cemetery. The murder of Schweick opens the door, allowing the dead to cross into the world of the living (Yes! Zombies whoop)

A young woman inherits an old hotel in Louisiana where after a series of supernatural 'accidents', she learns that the building was built over one of the entrances to Hell.

Decades later Liza inherits this hotel and wishes to reopening it but all that tinkering around activates the portal and well…shit goes down and it goes down in a shower of blood and suspense. Joe the plumber who is Type equation here.investigating the flooding in the basement has his eye gouge out by a demonic looking hand and is later found by Martha, the hotel maid.

The beautiful and over the top effects were down to the artist Gianetto De

Rossi, who joined Lucio on Zombi 2 and The house by the cemetery.

He truly creates gore and cringe moments. You’ve got to cringe a little when a nail is driven into Schweick’s wrist.

The film has such a darkness and I mean that aside from the gore and deaths. The atmosphere is one of decay and lost hope. As the film drives on you get a glimpse of the hell that is going on. If you listen to the dialogue (It’s dubbed by you’ll get over it) everything you need to know starts to shine through. The end of the film is beautiful and so terrible.

For me at least it really is one of his best films and certainly one of my top five.

You want more? Hell yes you do.

How about ‘City of the Living dead’?

Now there is a film with some nasty deaths and plenty of tense moments.

While for myself I do prefer ‘The Beyond’ you can’t deny that ‘City of the living dead’ isn’t full of horror mastery and magic. Of course the most notable death is that of the vomiting of guts.

Which according to Lucio in an interview from 1983 was fresh sheep guts, from a sheep killed only ten minutes before then passed to the actress to swallow and puke back

up. On so many levels I hope that it is not true. You can watch just that scene if you like, it is on YouTube.

It’s grim mind. As is the drill scene, oh what beautiful effects! It’s just amazing to watch, even if it is through your fingers.

Now let’s move to a cosy little house by the cemetery (Rude not to cover all three) With this film there are a few more niggles than in the others mentioned. The biggest for me is the scene where Ann is cleaning a very large blood stain in the kitchen and Lucy Boyle doesn’t really kick up a fuss at all. It seems normal perhaps but I don’t honestly think it is supposed to be that way. That aside I adore this film. It really takes me back to ‘The Beyond’ you have the nasty deaths, the suspense and ultimately the ghostly end to the film. The secret in the basement is well worth waiting for and while I noticed the dubbing more on this film than before it really adds to its charm. The little boy who plays Bob is fantastic and just the cutest thing. This film has it all it really shows Lucio’s style and vision. Just how I like my Lucio films.

So who was Lucio? I’ll tell you who is was. A man with a passion, a vision such drive and determination. His films often being ripped apart by censors that they bared little resemblance to the film

he had made. Those damn British putting three of his films on the video nasty list. Which when we look back at some of those films today we wonder why that was ever the case but with Lucio’s graphic deaths you can see why at the time they were scared.

Lucio’s life was plagued with darkness and sadness. His heath failing him later on in life and the passing of his wife would have been enough to break anyone but he still tried, he still wanted to do something big before his own light went out.

the Godfather of gore and there is no denying why. He was not afraid to shove his camera in every corner, to show every blood drip, every eye gouge, every haunting ending. This is a man that I greatly admire and I will continue on in my search to watch all his horror films. For his films are the only films that I have ever held my hands over my eyes.

That dear reader is something that I look for in horror and boy doesn’t Sir Fulci deliver.

According to Wikki he met with Argento in 1995 and they agreed to work together on the film ‘The wax mask’ which was a remake of the ‘House of wax’ featuring Vincent Price but while he wrote the screenplay due to set backs and in his ill health this was never to be and the finished film bore little resemblance to anything Lucio had started. With the script being rewritten by Daniele Stroppa after Lucio’s death in 1996, where he died in his sleep. He was only 68 years old.

So what of his legacy? Well a quick internet search and I can buy a few of his films at the click of a button, and some are very pricy! And nowhere near as many as he made but I think if you want to make a start on his films these would be a great place to start. He is considered

Share with us your love and memories of Lucio’s films. Shape your childhood? Make you laugh? We want to know. It’s good to talk.

We’ve got

our eye on

Fox Trap After a terrible accident leaves a young girl disabled, five years later, the group responsible are invited to a remote manor house in the countryside for a class reunion.

Little do they know; they are being targeted by a masked maniac hell bent on revenge.

I am not a serial killer In a small Midwestern town, a troubled teen with homicidal tendencies must hunt down and destroy a supernatural killer whilst keeping his own inner demons at bay.

Webcast When two young filmmakers suspect their neighbours are involved with the abduction of a teenage girl, they begin to run surveillance on them, and that’s when things start to go wrong.

Jason Vs Michael Jason Voorhees, tall, dark and terrifying. How many horror movie antagonists can

boast such a history as he? Sure the first movie doesn’t really include him as a villain but the sequels, and there are a lot of them, do. Bullied as a child whilst the camp counsellors were slacking. He has a shrine to the decapitated head of his mother and wants revenge for the death of aforementioned mother. He is silent, undead and unstoppable. Also you’d be hard pressed to find an antagonist who has travelled to hell and space in their franchise and become a ‘protagonist’ to fight Freddy Krueger.

So we have an undead, unstoppable killing machine who wears a burlap sack initially before moving on to his terrifying hockey mask which is now an iconic symbol for terror, a classic Halloween costume vs Shrek in a William Shatner mask (I know I’m being facetious) but for me Jason Voorhees is scarier and cooler than Michael Myers.

You just have to look at the names, Jason Voorhees sounds scary and cool, I think it’s the V and the fact that Jason is the name of the red power ranger.

Sure I’ve given my opinion and a bit of background but where’s my evidence you ask? Well buckle up boys and girls because here goes.

Jason’s kills rank at a mighty 158 to Myer’s, still impressive, 111. But Stanley my boy, kills don’t necessarily count towards scariness or a good antagonist you say thinking that I am going to finish there. Part of it has to be the method of killing. A machete is Jason’s weapon of choice but wasn’t necessarily limited to it.

The weapon that was used to kill his mother is what he uses to murder everyone he seems to blame, there’s a poetic justice to that, it’s not the best of weapons but it is still good. Scary too.

I’ll admit that Jason and Michael are tough to call, both are super durable, super strong, can appear from nowhere, seemingly unkillable and can set traps and arrange bodies et cetera. They are very similar but as Cassandra mentions, Michael Myers doesn’t seem to have a motivation. Jason does and that gives him purpose, he is out to kill everyone he sees as responsible for his mother’s death, he doesn’t seem to have particularly lengthy criteria for considering someone to be partially responsible for this but the fact he has purpose means you know that he won’t stop until he has completed his task and he will seemingly never be done.

Within the Jason sequels, things get a bit muddled. Jason gets his own copycats. I’ll not lie to you but keeping track of everyone who kills someone, be it Mrs Voorhees, Jason or a copycat is a task. There is a rich story interwoven, however loosely that just shows how terrifying he is and how encountering him can cause you to go insane if he doesn’t murder you.

His victims are standard cliché camp goers but they are clichéd because of the Friday the 13th movies. The movies are the reason a lot of horror tropes are what they are.

Like Cassandra I don’t really care for the victims, at the end of the day they’re cannon fodder to show us what the killer can do, obviously there is the protagonist and they

have to win every now and then but no-one watches the movies for the victims. You do get a quality moment owing to his mummy issues of Ginny wearing his mum’s sweater to trick him though and just goes to show that underneath it all he just wants to violently slaughter everyone because he loves his mum. Awww.

So, how does he go about this slaughter? Is it standard, boring stuff or is it merciless and brutal? Luckily I took the time to write it out for you so you can make an informed decision. Look upon the variety of ways that Jason goes about killing his victims:    

A personal favourite – he squeezes a guy’s head until it is crushed and the eye pops out He pushes someone’s head through a mirror leaving an imprint of the victims face on the outside of the RV He slams a guy in a sleeping bag against a tree with someone inside He cleaves someone in twain with a machete. (I would love to see

  

Machete vs Jason, make it happen Hollywood!)

He punches someone’s head off of their neck He shoves someone’s face in to liquid nitrogen He impaled Freddy Krueger with his own arm

We could go on, there are 9 movies to choose from each with a plethora of killings. As you can clearly see though, he has a wide array of killing methods. When this guy can appear next you and then crush your head in his hands or punch your head off you start to wonder why he even bothers with weapons though.

Now, each movie doesn’t end with Jason just killing everyone and going on his merry way, we have to have the protagonists win otherwise where’s the happy ending, where’s the closure? Jason has ‘died’ a number of times and a number of ways. You can’t just let him die in a boring way though, no-one wants to see this monster go down easy so let’s have a gander at how it has happened in some of the movies:  

Start off nice and simple, before he became supernatural he drowned spurring on the whole franchise.

A child hacks him to pieces (I guess that’s begrudgingly a point for Myers)

  

Being literally dragged to hell Melted by toxic waste Incinerated by re-entering Earth’s atmosphere from SPACE.

Our Jason is a durable thing though and I’m sure he is alive and well just waiting to gut some campers.

At the end of the day Jason and Michael are very similar and so the ways that they are scary is similar. That unstoppable nature, the fact that they have no compassion, they don’t speak and you know that once locked on they aren’t going down without you giving them a hell of a beating. There’s not much in it but I prefer Jason mainly for his sequels. They’re silly but still have that scariness to them. You have him fighting other horror monsters, you have him in space far in the future. You’ve got him in hell possessing other people. He is an icon, you ask about horror movies, you’ll have Jason

come up before Myers almost every time. He encapsulates all that campy 80’s horror with such perfection you just have to root for him.

To come full circle, I know William Shatner is terrifying and Michael Myers has made some terrifyingly bad movies but combining the two doesn’t make a scarier villain than Jason ‘The Horror’ Voorhees. Yes, I gave him a middle bit that I made up on the spot.

Jason Vs Michael They are tall, strong and the silent type but this is not an advert for a dating website, this describes two of our favourite killers and in this month’s issue we have pit them against each other to see who can come out on top.

How scary is Michael Myers? Pretty fucking scary to be honest. Forget what you know as Myers. The tall, looming mass with the white mask. Think back to a 6-year-old Michael Myers. Who kills his big sister after I think she had the quickest sex session ever. He grabs the knife and makes his way up stairs and plunges the knife into her chest. Ok sure I still think she could have fought him off he was only a 6-year-old child, what sort of strength could he have had? Well that is the ultimate question is it? He is awfully strong, almost super human strength. What’s that Jason? You drowned? Holy Smokes! You ok little fella?

How about grown up Myers? Still pretty terrifying. One moment he is there watching you, then the next gone. He looms up in the darkness. His mask a beacon of light. He walks with purpose. He’s going to get you. His strength seems to be unbridle and is how he incapacitates his victims. In the first film anyway.

What makes him a great villain? Well now the fact that we have no idea why he does what he does. What he is thinking, what motivates him. I’m not talking about any other film than John Carpenters Halloween at this stage. Perhaps something traumatic happened to him one night when his sister was supposed to be looking after him. He was unable to take it out of the abuser so killed his sister. Perhaps he is just pure evil?

The possibilities are endless, well sort of. His silence also makes him terrific. There is no pleading to be done with him. You can try by all means but he’s not going to talk to you back. Nope.

He’s just going to strangle you then plunge that silver knife right into you. He’s also as swift as a fricking swallow. He is everywhere. He certainly plans ahead.

For instance, when Laurie goes to investigate what is going on at Annie’s, on discovering Myers and the blood bath she runs down stairs but the back door has been wedge with a garden how (It looks like a hoe anyway) meaning Myers had to wait for her to come in then block her in before joining her upstairs to try and kill her. He’s nifty on his feet is what I’m getting at.

How do we feel about his victims? Honestly couldn’t care less! The ‘kids’ from the first film are awful. I’m sure it was the intent to show what most teens get up to buy nah,

that was never me so I couldn’t really feel for them. They were air heads, dumb and selfish and they died. Shame. Of course Laurie is different. The virgin, the girl scout, the good baby sitter however this didn’t make me like her anymore. I simple realised I didn’t want her to die when she grabbed the two children and called them babies.

Making sure they were ok. (After leading Myers right to them) this got me. If you want anyone looking after your children it was going to be Laurie. She survived a lot.

Falling down those stairs looked super painful but it was lie there in pain or die. She made the right call.

Now let’s talk sequels. In short, he just keeps coming back doesn’t he! And each time he has a little more fun doesn’t he. His choice of weapon goes from good old sturdy knife to well whatever appears to be at hand. While the list is not extensive we’ve had a look back at some of Myers’s kills.   

Death by power station Death by boiling water drowning Death by impaled on a spike

 

Garden claw to THE FACE! Death by shot gun (impaled non the less)

The grisly list could go on and on but one thing that does seem to remain is his Spock like grip on people. A choke to the throat and they are done for. That super human strength taking away any chance they have to survive then wham! Take your pick of weapon.

Now then how about Michael’s deaths? He has certainly had a few. Or at least a few close calls that would slow us mere mortals down.   

  

Knitting needle to the neck Multiple knife stabbings Shot at with a pistol and a shot gun, and a whole lotta guns in one scene!

Beating by plank of wood Beating by metal pole Ran over

     

In a car crash Hung Electrocuted Squashed by a van Head chopped off Falls off of a balcony or two

They guy is indestructible! Just how you want your creepy killers. Is he dead? Can he come back? Oh who knows….

There really is any number of reasons that Michael can survive this, with his super human strength. The films touch on it, in The Curse of Michael Myers (if memory serves) that it could be due to a Cult that he is the way he is but I for one don’t like that. I like to think that something terrible happened to him as a child and the darkness ate at him until his humanity was no longer there and he became a shell. An empty shell and hell moved in but hey that’s just me (totally ignoring any offering from a film as an explanation)

While you cannot deny that the first Friday the 13th has some of the best death scenes out there oh wait that wasn’t Jason though was it? That was his mummy. Shame.

Well he does ok in the other films, I guess. Michael gets our vote.

By Stan Williams and Cassandra Regan

So who gets your vote? Who has swayed you in the face off that is slasher Vs slasher? Let us know. Email us or connect with us via social media.

Don’t be shy we don’t bite.

Pick your side….

Video Production Services reddogproductions.co.uk

Interview Hector Pasillas The Shadow in the bed

We can’t lie to you, we defiantly have a soft spot of Hector Pasillas and his monster. We found Hector’s film ‘The Shadow in the bed’ whilst hunting around Indiegogo and we were blown away but his trailer. The madness of it, the monster itself and how simple the location was. The location really did remind us of ‘The Pact’ film which gave us all sorts of horror feels. So we had to speak to Hector and he was very obliging to answer our questions.

The film has been 10 years in the making, how have you stayed focused all this time?

Two years after I finished the movie, about seven years ago, I suddenly decided to abandon the project and start another, and I was just thinking in turning the old film into a short. The biggest problem I faced was just the entire look of the monster and I just never found a good enough reason to go back to it, and the truth is the monster we recorded on set was just kind of like a stand in, I never really wanted to use it in the final product.

Thankfully I recorded the monster scenes without the stand in so if I ever did come across means of creating a digital monster I can just add it in, so it wasn't until 2015

which I finally realized that I had the means to create a digital monster and add it in and that finally encouraged me to finish the movie.

What prompted the idea for the film?

I love when a movie makes you cry or laugh, but I especially admire when a movie scares you, and that's what I want to accomplish. I want to frighten people with my films, I want them to feel alive and forget that the earth is spinning and just focus on the art I've created. My goal is to just continuously spit out movies until I've mastered the art of frightening people with more so physiological horror and not gory horror.

I personally love monster films, and your monster is no exception. He really does look terrifying. You say that you always wanted to make the monster digital due to your background being an animator. Does having the monster animated have more challenges than if he was a man or woman in costume?

A person wearing a costume can interact with the actors and is easier to handle as long as make-up is done well enough and everything was shot correctly, it can work out and just treat it how you would any other scene, and some filmmakers turn to

this option also because it is more practical and cheaper. Also, a monstrous made digitally can be manipulated in so many more ways than a person dressed in a consume.

One of the many difficult things is having the proper lighting and making the monster seem like it's actually there but anything is possible with today's technology in an indie filmmakers budget.

What can you tell us about the feel of the film?

A couple married 15 years happily living together up until the "man of the house" loses his job. Since he is now unemployed he spends all day at home with his wife, and she later comes to realize that she despises him. With all of the newly found time the husband, Eduardo, spends in his house he comes to realize that there's something living under the house.

When he tries to confront his wife about he's newly found discovery she completely brushes him off and thinks he's insane. Eduardo also discovered that the monster only attacks under certain circumstances and later puts his wife out as bait without knowing that in the end he'd be the same situation as his beloved wife.

The Tagline for the film is ‘You never know who you live with’ does this allude not only to the monster but the characters themselves? We can see from the video on your indiegogo page that the wife is abusive towards her husband.

Exactly, not only are the characters discovering that a huge and disturbing beast lives under their home but also the main character discovers his married to a monster.

So in the end when his wife gets killed it's a little justifiable because she's a nasty character.

Have you always had a love of horror? Or is the monster merely the media you chose to get the films message out there?

I've always enjoyed both Horror and Science fiction, but since making a Sci-Fi movie is a bit more expensive I decided for the latter, although I do hope my next film will be a Sci-Fi horror type movie.

I love the look of the film, from what I have seen. The smallness of the house, how close and intimate it all is. It isolates the characters and that brings amazing tension. Was this intentional when having the film take place in a house on any street?

The home in the movie is my own home, for five weeks, Monday through Saturday, it was nonstop filming. We also intended for the house to seem a lot smaller and it a little difficult structuring everything but we managed. Around the time of filming, HD was barley starting to make its debut and the norm was Standard definition but thankfully I stayed focused and recorded the entire thing in HD. I have a few colleagues that also filmed movies of their own that same year but

recorded in Standard Definition and couldn't necessarily finish it because times change so quickly.

What does the future hold for you and the film?

I need to finish the movie by the end of this year and the campaign I'm running at the moment is to aid me in finishing all the special effects quicker, I can do them all myself but that take ages to finish. I just want to wrap up this epic project and move on to the next and apply all of the experiences and new found knowledge to new things.

Can you share with us your favourite horror film?

Terminator 2, Aliens, The Thing 1982, and also Jurassic Park are tied at the top of my list. I've probably seen each one of those movies a hundred times I have many more favourites but those are the few that impacted me over the years.

Check out the trailer here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/t he-shadow-in-the-bed-movie#/

Can Stan survive Saw 2…

Let’s have a bit of preamble first so I don’t just rush straight in to the body of the text and you somehow get confused at the basic premise, think of it as a recap. Glad you enjoyed the first issue, if you did. I think the quality of all the pieces was great and definitely worth a read if you’ve not read all of it.

Saw 1 I fared better than I thought and also fared awfully and would have died in many of the traps. So Saw 2 or Saw II as it is also known. This one is a bit different than the first, the setting is a house rather than a bathroom meaning that the claustrophobic nature of the film is dampened a little bit. We also get a bit more backstory on Jigsaw and an introduction to the new police force who will be a focal point of the sequels.

Anyway you’re not here for the preamble or a review of the actual film, are you? You know the deal, would I survive the traps of Saw 2? The traps are less linear in this film and there is an overarching trap that all the ‘contestants’ are in but I’ll try and lay it out so that you are able to follow, you’re all bright people.

The Head Trap The Game: Two masks opposite from each other angled down from the victim's head. The masks had nails protruding inwards from the interior. If not removed in time the masks would clamp together on the victim's head, driving the nails through the victim's skull. You see an x-ray of your face,

there’s a key behind your eye and there is a cut mark on your cheek. You’re provided with a scalpel.

Plan of action? Ok, a nice easy one to start. Sure this would be painful but you know where the key was inserted and you can see the wound that made it possible to put there so you can just go in through there. You only have 60 seconds which is not a long time. The one thing I noticed was the number of items left in the room with you, just put one of those beside your head and it will hit those first. Even if the force is high a few of the items could definitely hold it until you could get the key out. Also, I think I could pop my eye out pretty easily to remove the key. Not bragging but I am confident I could.

Chance of survival? I’m going to give myself a solid 75% on this one. Maybe I’ve grown overconfident…

Ok so that’s the first, because of the nature of the rest I’ll just do a bit of set up. Most of the rest are set in a house where you have woken up and been informed there is poison in your veins.

You’re looking for antidotes as well as to escape and the games are focussed on getting these antidotes. You’re also in the house with 8 other people trying to get out.

The Magnum Eyehole

The Game: Consists of a locked door with a gun attached on the other side of the peephole, and a pulley and chain to the doorknob on the other side of the door. The barrel of the gun was aimed directly at the peephole. When activated, a bullet will be fired through the peephole and into whosever eye was in the line of fire. There’s a note that says not to use the key on the door.

Plan of action? So Amanda is back and she tells you she has been in this sort of thing before. I assume I’ve heard of Jigsaw on the news, he’s going to be someone that is being talked about a lot.

The note says not to use the key, Amanda says not to use the key and you’re in a trap by the infamous Jigsaw.

My plan of action is not to use the key.

Even if others plan to use the key, I stay away and I don’t use the key. I may be stupid but I’m not an idiot (that’s a saying, I think and I’m not going to google it because it’s better to wing it) Chance of survival? 95%, I might get hit by a ricochet.

The Furnace The Game: There is a huge furnace in front of you and hanging inside are two vials of antidote. You have to crawl to the end and grab them. Once you grab them the door swings shut and the flames start. There is a shut off but it requires going through the flames.

There is a little picture of a devil next to the switch off.

Plan of action? So in the film, Obi just grabs the vials without looking around.

First thing to do is scout the furnace, the tape said something about a devil and you would spot the valve. Then you can grab the vials, switch the valve off and get out. Sorted antidote taken and you can focus on getting out. You might get a bit burnt but you should be able to get out. Ok, I’ll admit that I can have a tendency to rush in to things so I can’t

say I would definitely do this but that’d be the plan of action.

Chance of survival? 60% the flames don’t take a massive amount of time to get going and burning hurts so I might recoil and not reach so I’m going to mark myself down.

The Needle Pit The Game: You have to jump into a pit of dirty, broken needles to find a key to the door. The key was attached to a glow stick hidden among the syringes.

The key opens a door that provides you with an antidote. There’s not much to this one.

Plan of action? To start, I think this is one of the worst games. Sure it might not be the most painful or deadly but the first time I saw it I couldn’t help but recoil and get that weird feeling you get when you see something you don’t like.

It’s like cringing but it isn’t quite cringing. Plan of action then? Try to get someone else to do it for me? Just give up and realise I am not going to find the key. Maybe use something in the room to scoop and dig the needles out of the pit and do it that way. I can’t really think of any other plan of action.

Chance of survival? 6%, very unlikely I’d be getting the antidote although the actual trap wouldn’t kill me necessarily.

The Hand Trap The Game: A box suspended from the ceiling, inside was an antidote accessible by two holes under the box big enough to fit a person's arms through. Once they did, however, the person would realize the corners of the holes were fitted with blades that would push up if something was inserted. If the person put pressure on the blades in order to take their hands out, the blades would dig into their arms. The harder they pulled, the deeper the blades would go.

Plan of action? According to the Wikipedia page (I don’t do these purely

from memory, although I think I could especially after writing about them) there is a key on top of the box that actually opens the box. I would have looked around before sticking my arms in so I should be ok with this one.

Essentially my plan of action is look around a little bit.

Chance of survival? Let’s go with 80% because as mentioned before, I do have a habit of rushing in to things.

Eric’s Test The Game: So your son is kidnapped, you think he is in the house mentioned above and Jigsaw offers you a deal – Sit and listen to him for 3 hours and you’ll get your son back, don’t and you won’t.

Not a great deal but you just have to listen to him.

Plan of action? Knowing that Jigsaw’s games are all winnable and if you follow the rules then you have a chance of winning then this should be pretty straight forward. Now Eric Matthews is a hot headed cop, one of many in movies.

He sets up criminals and isn’t afraid to use a bit of force in his questioning like a cross between Mike Tyson and John Humphrys. The bits that are crossed are the violence of Tyson and the question asking of Humphrys, not the lisp and the age obviously. I’m a mild mannered guy, sure I lose my temper at people walking really slowly in front of me or waiting for the bus but I bottle it up like most people.

Chance of survival? 100%, I got this.

So that’s Saw II, I think I’ve done quite well in these. Since the first piece I may have got a bit confident or the traps and danger in this movie is a lot more mellow. Saw 3 is even less easy, a lot of the traps are to do with saving other people, I’m sure I’ll be able to manage it. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the issue, there’ll probably be a competition.

Interview Foster Bridge With Sara Parliman

Urban legends, creepypasta and the bunny man. We talk to Sara Parliman about her vision and how the bunny is set to terrify us in this short horror film.

The film is based on the urban legend of the Bunny man, but what gave you the idea to turn it into a film?

I’m currently a Film student at Full Sail University, and our school has one month of scriptwriting techniques where you’re asked to write a five-page script about anything you can possibly imagine.

My friends and I spent a long time pouring through old creepy lullabies and urban legends from around the world when my co-writer—also a long-time friend—brought up Creepypasta. We used to read the stories online when we were young kids and I remember Bunny Man specifically sticking with me. As a group we noticed the potential in making this story haunting and creepy and it was something we felt has never been done before the way that we plan on doing it.

What can we expect from the film?

You can expect to feel tense and curious. I try not to give too much away in talking about the film, but I will say that the appeal of this film is that you never really know what’s going to happen next. We’re also excited to see how the audience will feel about the actual Bunny Man and his mannerisms. It’s a very mysterious being, even to us.

The chemistry between Tyler and Tommy from the campaign video alone is wonderful, they seem to be completely at ease with each other.

When two people gel like that, do you think it leads to great interaction on camera?

Oh absolutely! They’re both phenomenal to work with; they have a very open dialogue with one another at all times and you can tell that they really respect each other as professionals. They have a friendship that makes for working well together

and subsequently with me as well.

Whenever I feel like it’s time to get down to business and quit messing around, they both tend to calm each other down and get the job done. You couldn’t tell that only five minutes before, they were crying from laughing so hard at one of their ridiculously inappropriate and hilarious conversations. They’re a fun group of guys to work with!

The character Luke seems to have similarly vital role in the film, what can we expect to see from the recluse roommate?

Luke ended up being a much bigger part in the story than we had thought, and we love it. Luke will be played by Isaac Sotero, a talented friend and colleague, who also happens to be our producer, interestingly enough. We want Luke to be that guy you’ve met on the street where there’s just something off about him despite how ridiculously nice he acts. It’s the kind of nice that puts you on edge and makes you want to cross to the other side of the road and I’m excited to tap into the psychological aspect of this character and his effects on the audience.

With your campaign you are hoping to raise funds for the film and for the costume of the Bunny Man, we love a creepy creature/human here at the Cabin, what is your vision for how he will look?

The Bunny Man will be something that you can’t unsee. He’ll be tall, slender, and completely unnatural, with long sharp fingers and a mean pair of teeth. His eyes will be lifeless, his fur will patchy and covered in

blood, and you’ll never fully know who or what he is just by looking at him.

This isn’t your first film, if I’m correct. What other works have you done?

I’m actually excited to say that this will be my first film! I have made short, terrible videos back in high school and junior high, but none that I would claim as my first. This is my first time working with a decent sized crew and a real cinema camera, and I’m ecstatic and anxious to show my peers and everyone else what I can do.

Can you tell us more about yourself?

What drew you to writing, directing?

Oh man, where do I begin; when I was younger, my family really encouraged creativity and storytelling. I even made my own web series at 10 years old which I’m glad to say is hidden away from the rest of the world. Skip forward to high school, and my best friend Bri and I started to combine our love for both writing and movie watching. We started talking about potentially going into film one day together.

Now I’m all the way across the country from my hometown pursuing the career of my dreams at a school I have always loved and I couldn't be happier! It's the one job I know I can do where I'm excited to go to work every time.

We are going to assume that you love horror, what do you love about it? Do you have an opinion on why we love to be scared?

Vimeo for a while before that happens, but until then, we want our fans to enjoy it and share it as much as possible!

I’ve actually recently come to love horror! I hadn’t actually watched any horror films until late last year. But now that I’ve started, I’m completely hooked. I think what I love about horror is the reaction it receives from its audience. You don’t see as much interaction from any other genre. I love how it connects everyone, and while you’re sitting in a theater with a room full of strangers, you all gasp, jump, and laugh at the same time, as if you’re glad you’re experiencing it together. I think people love to be scared because we’re all kind of secretly that character in the movie who walks toward the creepy noise.

People are really curious and intrigued by what-if scenarios, and horror is definitely a big what-if!

Horror shorts, we love them. We can sit down on our lunch break and be scared, that quick shot of terror.

What made you decided that the film would be a short film?

How long will the film be?

We’re thinking anywhere between 10-20 minutes.

What are your hopes for the film once it’s been filmed?

A. First and foremost, this film is for all who have shown such a keen interest in the Bunny Man. It's for all the people out there who have shared in our vision and have done everything they can to make this happen for us. We’re also hoping to submit it into film festivals anywhere we can. We want to get the name out there in hopes that maybe someone will believe in our vision enough to give us a feature length film. We’re sure it’ll probably sit on

There’s no feature length film that can achieve the same suspense of a short horror. Feature length movies have a lot of time to fill with story and character development, (which I love, don’t get me wrong) but sometimes horror can lose its edge when things are explained too much.

We like the idea of leaving things up to the imagination. What scared you more when you were a kid; the movie or the thoughts you had afterwards when trying to go to bed at night?

Our cliché question for you! What is your favourite horror film?

That is definitely a tough question.

Like I said, I’m a newer horror fan, so a lot of the movies that I’ve come to love have been recently released in the last 5’ish years. I’d have to say my favourite would be tie between Insidious 2 and the Conjuring 2; I could watch them both over and over again. Plus, I am a HUGE James Wan fan and he is a significant influence to me as a director!

Be sure to check out the campaign and trailer here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/f oster-bridge-urban-legend-shorthorror-film-thriller/x/12971423#/

Interview Fear - A horror web series With Devon Talbott FEAR is a horror web series that's inspired by true macabre NYC history. FEAR is about two brothers at odds with each other who find themselves living together in a haunted apartment. We caught up with Devon to talk about this exciting project.

Where did the idea for the series come from?

Well, I live two streets away from the real Greenwich Village House of Death- purported to be one of the most haunted places in Manhattan.

The history of this city provides a lot of inspiration. I am also a huge horror fan- Kubrick, Argento, Hitchcock, Lynch, Ryan Murphy.

Having worked as an actor, I have had the opportunity to understand dramatic structure; how to tell a compelling story. Working with Carl Wolfe, who plays my brother (the main character of the series) has also helped create many of the ideas and themes in FEAR. Not everyone turns their ideas into something tangible, I've been there.

What made you decided to just go for it?

Having worked as an actor in every medium, I understand how brutal this business can be. I realized that I had the technical capability, the

story, the actors with which to make something I could be proud of.

Additionally, it became more and more apparent to me that actors who are perfect for a certain role may not even get into the audition room given the politics of this industry. It was important to me to provide the actors in my cast the opportunity to shine in a role that they may not get the chance to play otherwise. And their work has been wonderful!

It was also so rewarding to get the endorsement of one of my favourite (and award-winning) authors, Mitch Horowitz. He said: “FEAR is one of the most beautifully produced web series yet seen in the genre – and as a work of suspense it deserves that overused but in this case richly deserved appellation: Hitchcockian. Oh, and I did I mention that it’s scary as hell? A hugely satisfying work of fact-based horror and a breakthrough in the maturation of the web series field.”

–Mitch Horowitz, PEN Awardwinning author of Occult America So yeah- we were all very happy about that!

Did the idea come to you as a web series of was it a choice to do it this way?

The Internet lends itself to episodic binge watching. I saw the original content that Netflix has produced and that seemed like the perfect direction to go in. The episodes of the series are akin to watching television season online- in both quality and length. We are releasing all of the episodes at once so people can binge watch them- I know that I love to do that!

As a horror lover, what type of horror terrifies you? (if you can indeed be terrified) Well, the themes we explore in FEAR do scare me! Some of these are isolation, addiction, betrayal of trust.

I do not like paint by number horror movies; the lazy slasher movies that the genre is oversaturated with. Wes Craven's Scream is an important work- it helped create a sensibility among horror filmmakers that the key to success was the characters commenting in a “meta�-way on the genre itself, poking fun at it. I think that we have taken that approach as far as possible. I can become invested in a story when I care and relate to the characters, when I am entertained and surprised. That is what we are doing with FEAR. How are you finding the whole fundraising campaign?

We are very, very grateful for all the support that people have shown!

That being said, I think any filmmaker finds the crowd funding process to be a bit brutal. How do you stand out from all the white noise? That being said, we are having fun with it!

As well as a director you are also an actor, can you tell us more about your acting?

I have been fortunate enough to have acted in every medium now. I've worked with celebrities, seeing my face on the big screen, on television, heard my voice in video games, audiobooks, commercials. It's been quite a ride!

I think it's important for the actor to consider his/her function within the scene, with in the entire story – what purpose do they serve? As an actor and director, I have always been drawn to horror. I believe that the genre provides one of the greatest opportunities for catharsis possible when it is handled the right way.

Do you find being an actor helps you at being a director also? as you've been on both sides of the camera.

Absolutely. As an actor, I know how to communicate with other actors. I have been in their position and I have worked with directors who did not know how to effectively communicate with them. I want my actors to be comfortable and having fun, taking acting chances. I do not

believe in the approach of playing mind games with actors to get the results you want. If you are working with an experienced actor, you can get those results by communicating with them. While filming can be an intense process, it should be an enjoyable one that's a creatively fulfilling as well.

How long will the series run for?

I am expecting 7-8 episodes (each the length of a television episode) released at once.

Is the series free to watch?

Absolutely free- that is the plan!

What are your hopes for the future?

That FEAR delights and scares the audience. I would love to continue to direct/producer/act.

Basically, to continue telling great stories with high production value and work with a great cast and crew.

Our cliche,trade mark question - what is your favourite horror film?

The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It pulls no punches!

What you need to know.

“The goal is to scare and surprise the audience with a great story, filmed and produced with professional quality. We are filming in 4K, which helps us create some great special effects. Another aim is to provide talented and experienced actors to

play a role that they will shine in.

And we have a talented and devoted team of actors and crew. I wanted to give actors an opportunity to shine in roles they may not have the chance to normally audition for- to tell the story of a character that is perfect for them. Another goal was to deliver intelligent horror, explore and deconstruct the tropes of the genre.”

Devon Talbott is an actor, filmmaker and voice over artist in New York City. An honours graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and a member of AEA, he has performed alongside such talent as Patrick Swayze, Kathleen Chalfant, and other dedicated artists. He has worked as an actor in every medium, from films, Nickelodeon TV shows, Off Broadway, and animated, commercial, and audiobook voiceover.

Devon Talbott Website: www.feartheseries.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/feartheseries/ Indiegogo: www.indiegogo.com/projects/fear-ahorror-web-serie devontalbott.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg pdJKf5500 – Trailer for the web series.

Interview Halloween The night evil died With Kohl Bladen

Halloween is the film that keeps on giving. With the original a staple of many a horror fans collection to the dark remake by Rob Zombie. Michael Myers just won’t quit. Now Michael comes to you courtesy of Kohl Bladen who is bringing this fan film to life.

We’ve got to jump straight in with this. You have Tony Moran returning to play Michael Myers, that has got to be the coolest thing ever. While you do say that he is a friend, how do you feel that he is going to be in YOUR film? Your Halloween?

The reason I brought him on is simply because he is the original Michael. Not "The Shape", which was played by Nick Castle, but Tony was Michael Myers...he was the face. So I got to thinking, if this film is truly going to essentially be another entry to the series and an "officially" unofficial ending to the story, we need to do it right. I don't want another man playing Michael Myers....I want the original. Fans will want the original. It's the only way to truly make this film feel like it's part of the original franchise, which in my opinion is Halloween, Halloween II, and H20.

What drew you to making Halloween your film? You say in your video on Indiegogo you had watched a few fan films and then what happened? What was the next step for you?

Halloween was the film that made me want to be a filmmaker. And with this trend of fan-films being a way for new filmmakers to get discovered, it was a no brainer. They say to do what you know. I know Halloween inside and out. I love the franchise. I love Michael Myers. To me it's truly the only horror film that captures the fall time feel, which says a lot since it was filmed in late spring.

There is no denying that Michael Myers really has transcended time with audience, I know when we think slasher, we think Michael Myers. In your opinion why can’t we get enough of him? And why does he work so well?

It's his presence. His blank face is so menacing. The way he moves so easily, without hesitation...he truly is an unstoppable force. And the fact that there is truly no reason for his rage. He's terrifying.

The film has also received Steve Miner’s blessing; Mr Miner is the director for Halloween H20. With so many ties to the earlier Halloween films do you feel that really adds something more to the film?

When writing this film, I knew I was continuing the storyline of H20. But I wanted it to also have the same feeling of the original. So I have a predominantly female cast, I kept my script to the same pacing as the original, and having Tony involved...will really drive this film home. We will also be filming in and around Pasadena, which is where the original was shot. So it again will keep with that "Haddonfield" feel. I'm also (lighting wise) going to keep things warm like the original. Things will only begin to get colder and more contrast as Michael becomes more prominent.

You are currently raising funds for the film and you have an amazing raffle perk, where for $10 dollars you have the chance to be killed by Michael Myers. Whose idea was this? I only wish I lived closer!

We are offering this perk to anyone who lives in the United States. With this being a fan-film, we want to get all fans involved. We want this to be THE fan-film of all fan-films. I want to get people involved who don't have the privilege of living in Los Angeles where things are filming on every street corner. I want to bring them to the magic and have them be as much a part of this film as we are.

What can we expect for the film? (without spoilers).

Expect to be reintroduced to the Michael that everyone loves and remembers.

We're going to make Michael that unstoppable force he once was. We also "fingers crossed" will be recapturing the magic of Haddonfield and bringing the viewers and fans back to a place that horror calls home.

The scene that we can currently watch on your campaign features Juli Erickson who plays the great grandmother of Emma Tate (John Tate’s daughter), Juli has quite the catalogue and in the short time we saw her on screen, she is a very commanding presents. What was it like to work with her for this scene?

I know I keep using the word magical, which is a word you don't use to describe a horror movie. She has been a working actor since the early 1960's and she KNOWS her stuff. She has paragraphs of dialogue that actors would normally look at panic...but she delivered every line like a pro. She's also playing a very iconic character, one that has not been formally introduced into the original

series, until now. Getting to finally meet Laurie Strode's Mother is something I think the fans will truly enjoy.

What advice would you give anyone about to embark on their own film?

Peter Saphier, who is responsible for the Munsters, Jaws, Scarface, Carrie (and more); is a family friend of mine. He has told me the only way to truly gain success in this industry is to walk through the No's until you get the yes that you're looking for. You truly have to be ambitious and have that "never say die" attitude. I'm still using this technique to this day and I feel like it will be something I use until I one day retire or die.

This isn’t your first film; can you tell us about your other films?

I have made other shorts with friends and colleagues. I like to make a couple of shorts a year to keep myself sharp. I believe in the saying that practice does not make perfect, but it does make permanent. Almost as if you're studying for a big test, which I think Halloween is my biggest test yet.

What is the hope for the film?

Firstly, to entertain horror lovers and Halloween fans alike. Also as I mentioned, fan-films are a way for independent filmmakers and up and coming talent to get discovered. So I'm also hoping to gain exposure from this film. But I am also making this movie for myself. I have been waiting years (15 to be exact) for another sequel to be made and well, this is the one I've been waiting for.

And of course! What is your favourite horror film?

It is a tie between Halloween and Psycho. Halloween H20 also holds a special place in my heart. Alfred Hitchcock and Carpenter really hit home runs with these films and I think they still have strong relevance in today's world, just as much as they did 40-60 years ago.

Check out the campaign page here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/halloween-the-night-evil-died-fan-film--3#/