The cabin on the net

The cabin on the net

For the love of horror

Welcome to the cabin For the love of horror

Welcome to the first ever issue of ‘The cabin on the net’ we are so please that you could join us.

The cabin has been a long time coming, for me at least. Simply put I love horror. Horror films, novels, documentaries, directors, make-up, plays, actress/actors but more than any of these things I adore bad horror. Give me a film with a one-star rating and I’m going to no doubt love it.

I can always find something to love and that is how the first issue came into being something tangible. What the F**k did I just watch? You’ll find a film review under that title in this issue and every other issue going forward.

I didn’t just want to celebrate good horror, I wanted the bad too! And while the issues will not be littered with the bad, you’ll feel the under current in every issue. Well I hope.

Another reason I wanted to create the Cabin was because of the amazing people who are making horror their lives. Not necessarily the big Hollywood films that we know and we do tend to love but horror from afar, horror from a man in wales, horror from people doing what they do in the aim to bring their visions to life. These people are not any less amazing than a big Hollywood director etc but it’s hard for them to get seen.

While I won’t even pretend that I am big enough to get people to notice these amazing, talented people, what if I get one person to notice? That one person can do a whole lot of telling. Yes, I aim to celebrate all these people, Hollywood, Cardiff, Texas, Manchester, London, Florence, Paris. I don’t care where you are from, you dig horror? I dig horror! Let’s talk.

There is also nothing more amazing than the horror community. Sure we can be a dark bunch; we want to see someone lose an eye or read about someone being stalked by a horrific killer but support each other? Band together? Hell yes! That’s us. There is nothing in the world like a horror fan, trust me.

I am not alone on my journey, oh no and the more the merrier but so far I have two very talented and amazing gentlemen with me on my journey – Stan Williams and Jack Elfick. You’ll see their work in the magazine. You’ll notice our amazing first cover? That was Jack. Yes, I am in great company and I hope more of you can join us.

We hope you enjoy the magazine, it’s been the most crazy, fun and exhausting labour of love I have ever undertaken.

Enjoy!

Cassandra Regan Editor

David V G Davies

From the shadows comes David Davies.

You need to see this man’s IMDB page to truly to believe everything he has done.

Director, Editor, Writer, Special effects and that really is just the beginning. David is a man with a passion and it shows. His latest film is ‘Blaze of Gory’ which is 10 short stories adapted for the screen and brought to you through the eyes of 10 independent horror directors from the writings of BlaizeAlix Szanto. We were very pleased when David agreed to answer a few questions on himself for us.

The man is an inspiration.

It sounds like you have had a very interesting and fulfilling career, other than sheer hard work what advice would you give to someone who wants to follow in your footsteps?

It's not as simple as everyone thinks, when I set out I had not been given any useful advice and because of that I did stumble at a few hurdles but I also learned from my mistakes. Upfront and foremost is make sure everything is covered on paperwork, have contracts and make sure you are protected.

Secondly do not work with negative people, there are so many out there attempting to screw you over, try to steal your contacts or actually steal your supplies and try and sabotage your work. I have encountered my fair share of nasty double crossing people but at the same time I have encountered some truly amazing and talented people who I have worked with on numerous occasions and hope to do so again. Never let your guard down as this is a cut throat business and not everyone is nice. Also respect those working with you, never take people for granted and do your best to make sure no one is out of pocket which leads in to funding. It will always cost more than you expect. Ive funded my own projects as well

as attempted to crowd fund, neither are easy and more often than none you'll be dipping in your own pocket. Above all else, have fun with it, I enjoy working on each project and should that ever not be the case then it's time to change career.

You mention that you co-directed on a film, what was that like? On a day to day bases what did you do?

I was approached to proof read a script by a friend from my university days. After reading it, I immediately got on the phone and said I loved the idea and had the means to provide the equipment to shoot the film.

Through meetings and the planning stage it became clear that the other director, JAK, valued my input and welcomed my help and in no time at all I became a partner in the project and we divided up the tasks evenly.

JAK had already began working on props and sourcing the locations before I entered the picture so I took on the roles of camera, DOP, editing as well as working on a huge rewrite after we lost our two main actors after a week shoot and helped structure a kill scene. Animal soup was very much a learning curve and at the time myself and the other director were fuelled more by good intentions than technical know how. Saying that, the film was so much fun to work on and we pushed our limits every day and at all the challenges and hiccups that were put in front of us from cast deciding to break contracts and leave as well as weather conditions and continuity. Animal Soup

taught me so much about film and the distribution system and encouraged me to continue in the field.

My second co directing project was a comedy and was the first film in which i only directed. Both i and Lord Zion took the helm and employed a crew to tackle all other aspects of the film, for Zion this was his first venture in to directing and he wanted to work alongside me and learn as he went, he did a fantastic job and we worked well together, i look forward to seeing that film once its been edited.

You say the film was not allowed a UK certificate, is it pretty brutal?

Animal soup was completed in 2008 and I promoted the film at numerous events as well as send out screener copies to numerous magazines and distributors. The feedback all came back the same. The film was sick and disgusting but the pacing was off and there needed to be a kill in the opening few minutes to help grasp the target audience. Two months later I had a new tighter edit of the film which got picked up in the USA. The film contains so many sick and twisted scenes of Cannibalism and torture that it would have caused so many cuts to have been made for a UK release. I’m strongly against censorship and would rather not release a film than have it cut.

The film was loved by a UK horror magazine and they hired me to produce and direct a monthly horror show that showcased independent films. This allowed me to get Animal Soup released in the UK although I did have to make 7 seconds of cuts, but it did enable the film to achieve a UK 18 certificate although on a limited release. The film was introduced by Emily Booth, I'm a huge fan of hers and it was a pleasure to direct her over the year that the show ran.

Animal Soup is now available fully uncut from www.fts-ltd-uk.com You mention that films like ‘The Dark Crystal’ (pre interview) made you analyse the making of film. What is your opinion on

CGI VS puppeteering? (or non-computerized creations) I'm a huge fan of practical effects and believe them to be the superior method, if it can be done on camera rather than computer then it will always be a bonus, just look at an American Werewolf in London compared to its inferior cgi laden sequel.

But I also feel cgi has a welcome place in film, if it is done well. CGI is a tool that needs to be used correctly, I cannot stand the barrage of films that use CGI for the sake of it rather than doing it correctly, the numerous vs movies that are released through SyFy spring to mind. Practical effects are definitely an art form that i hope continues, there are some really talented artists out there and some films really benefit from their work. I loved the effects in the Evil Dead reboot and although some of the CGI blood was over the top the prosthetics in the Starz show Spartacus were amazing.

Tell us a bit about Blaze of Gory?

I was working in between films and got to know the staff of a cafe, having talked to them about what I do and that I was currently in the process of toying with the idea to create a website showcasing upcoming uk horror talent, in particular short stories, art work and short films. One of the cafe staff told me her daughter had written some nasty stories while at school and she'd try to get her daughter to show me them. A long story cut short the girl (Blaize) showed me a story that I absolutely loved and I asked permission to turn it in to a film myself, from that moment on the project escalated and more stories emerged from her imagination and the idea of an anthology was formed. I wanted to bring together likeminded film makers to create the film and we gained some exposure appearing in local newspapers and on the BBC news, three years later we now have a finished film written by Blaize and directed by 10 talented filmmakers all bringing her visions to the screen. An accompanying book is due to hit Amazon anytime now but I'm hoping the film gets picked up at a festival this year. Some scenes in the film are quite

nasty and very unpleasant to watch which is exactly what we wanted to achieve with a film called Blaze of Gory.

What does the future hold for you?

Since Blaze of Gory I have co directed a zombie comedy called Meet the Cadavers with Lord Zion that is currently in the editing stage and I also had the privilege to be head special effects artist on Six Hot Chicks in a Warehouse directed by Simon Edwards which is also currently in the edit I’m currently working independently as a prop maker and makeup artist while I begin pre-production a horror comedy web series that I wish to direct sometime next year.

Care to share your favourite horror film with us?

I hate being asked this question (ha ha we aim to please) as I find it very difficult to pin it down to just one film as so many horror films have inspired me over the years. I'm a huge fan of Jason Voorhees over any other slasher but I've always had a fondness for biological horror, films like Cronenberg's the fly, video drome and eXistenZ as well as the more recent film Splinter and Cabin Fever!

But if I had to pick just one film then it would be John Carpenter's The Thing, an excellent reimagining of a classic b movie, fantastic acting, suspense and uncertainty but more importantly the fx are unbeatable.

www.FTS-Ltd-UK.com/Twitter: @FTShadows Instagram: FTShadows FB: Facebook.com/FTShadowsUK IMDB if needed: www.imdb.com/name/nm3729042/

Blaze of Gory Twitter: @BlazeofGoryFilm FB: Facebook.com/goryblaze

Now for your chance to win a copy of Animal Soup signed by David himself! Just answer this question and let us know your answer by social media.

What type of film made David analyse the making of film?

Can Stan Survive...SAW?

Horror movies appeal to many people in many different ways. The way that most intrigues me as a fan of horror is putting myself in the position of the characters and wondering if I have what it takes to survive.

Would I escape the psycho killer intent on ripping my head off? Will I be able to stop a horde of zombies from devouring my brains?

Will I be able to escape that sentient rubber tire intent on running me down or using its psionic powers to murder me?

So the idea is to watch a bunch of horror or rewatch as the case may be and write about whether I would be up to the task of surviving in their worlds. So first things first, let’s give a little insight in to me so you have an idea with what I’m working with.

I’m 25, I have a degree in Criminology, I’m not very athletic and I like to think I have decent problem solving skills.

I’m going to begin with a movie series, one that I’m sure a lot of people have seen at least a few entries and I think it is a good entry point to the kind of thing I am intending to do. Expect some slightly optimistic results and badly drawn paint pictures to illustrate some of my points. You have been warned.

The series I’m going to do first is the Saw series, as you can probably see in bold below.

Definitely spoilers.

How would I fare in every Saw trap from Saws 1-7?

Think of a number between 1 and 10. Got it?

Good. Now add 3 to that and providing your number was 1, maybe 2 for some of them, then you have a good estimate on how many times I have watched each Saw movie. Now, I’m not here to sell you on them. You may enjoy them or you may hate them. You may

think they are one of the worst things to happen to horror in recent times but the thing that keeps bringing me back to them is exactly what I discussed above. Do I think I could survive any of the traps laid out by John Kramer a.k.a The Jigsaw Killer?

There is one thing that you have to keep in mind when reading this, I have the incredibly useful gift of having time to think this through. I’m not waking up, drugged with some contraption attached to me and having a very little amount of time to save myself, that happened once and I have vowed never to speak of it. I have been able to watch each trap and think of the “best” escape route possible, this is less helpful than you may think but it does help.

Without further ado…

Saw 1: The Razor Wire Maze: The Game: Densely strung together razor wire which you have to navigate through in order to find an exit. Hidden somewhere in the fencing is a gap which is an exit to the maze. You can’t see the gap very easily and there is a time limit on getting through the maze. Take too long and the exit to the room outside the maze is sealed, trapping you there.

Plan of action? I don’t like being cut with razor wire, to be honest the cutting implement isn’t the issue, I don’t like being cut at all. I honestly think one or two

deepish cuts would make me give up so playing the actual game is off the table. This calls for some ingenuity and figuring out if I can cheat the system. The only course of action that I could think of would be to not bother trying and let the door close and hope somebody found me before I starved or thirsted, that may not be the correct term, to death. So not much ingenuity going on but I don’t think there is any other solution. This would be assuming Jigsaw didn’t murder me once the door closed forever. I wouldn’t have a food or water source so I would need to be found quite quickly.

Chance of survival? 3% on the off chance I can survive until I’m found.

The Flammable Jelly: The Game: So you’re stripped nude, you probably have your pants on, covered in flammable jelly, the floor is covered in glass, you have a slow acting poison in your blood and the combination to the safe with the antidote in is written amongst thousands of numbers on the wall. It’s pretty dark but don’t worry you have 1 solitary candle to help you.

Plan of action? Honestly, even with a chance to think on how to escape this one, I don’t think it can be done unless you get lucky. I, myself, am clumsy at the best of times, let alone walking on glass. I’ve stepped on a single slither of glass and it was awful. I’d be burned to a crisp almost instantly. The only plan of action would be to randomly guess at numbers on the safe until I died of poison or being burned. This one seems a big step up from the first trap.

Chance of survival? .1%, for if I get the combination right by sheer luck.

The Reverse Beartrap: The Game: You wake up in a dimly lit room, your head is trapped inside a hulking metal contraption, a video turns on explaining that it’s a reverse beartrap that will rip your head in twain unless you find the key that is in the dead guy’s stomach. You stand up and a timer goes off, you have 60 seconds.

Plan of action? This one doesn’t seem as bad as the others. You have to worry about the reverse beartrap on your head, for sure, but you don’t have to physically hurt yourself.

Sure the guy in the room isn’t dead, he just has a paralysing poison in him but you don’t know that. Now, I’m no psychopath but I think I could mutilate what I assume is a dead body to save my life. I’m no anatomist but I think I’d be able to locate the stomach, it’s in the stomach region of your body. I’m no surgeon but I’m sure I could use a scalpel to get to aforementioned stomach region.

The main issue with this is the time limit, a minute isn’t a long time and on a bad day getting your key in to the door can take a good 10 – 15 seconds let alone when you’re panicking and have slippery gut hands.

Chance of survival? I’m going to give myself a solid 60%, as long as you keep calm and hurry I think most could survive this. We also learned that I’m not a psychopathic surgeon who also doubles as an anatomist. I guess all surgeons do double as anatomists in a way and a high number of surgeons have psychopathic traits… I could have just said I’m no surgeon.

The Drill Chair: The Game: You are strapped to a chair, on either side of you there are drills that are progressively getting close to your neck.

There is a key to get loose but it is in a box of a lot of keys that all look similar you have an undetermined but short amount of time to get loose. As we don’t get to see the final product of this trap it could be that it is for someone else to save you which is what happens.

Plan of action? If you are strapped to the chair, you’re pretty helpless. You’re done for.

Kaput. Unless you are saved. From what we can tell this was intended to be a trap where someone else saves you, considering you can’t save yourself. That’s deductive reasoning right there. If you find this guy in a trap, you don’t have to hurt yourself but it is going to be tough to watch this guy die by being drilled through the neck. So plan of action for in the chair is hope someone saves

me. Plan of action if I’m the saver, try as many keys as possible and try and find some objects to get in the way of the drill. Unless it’s like in the movie where I have a gun and can stop it by shooting it.

Plan of Action? I’m going to break this down to each person. Firstly, though, I would listen to the tapes and do some looking about, we’d get the hacksaws, we’d most likely find the cigarettes and the tapes.

Chance of survival? 5% if someone else is saving me. 100% chance of survival as I’m not in danger, 5% for the person in the trap.

Lawrence: You have a few options; you can kill Adam. After some more searching, you have access to some cigarettes and poison blood. You have access to a gun and a few bullets. You have access to a hacksaw. I think it’s a utilitarian approach, kill one man for the lives of three. For my wife and child, which don’t exist, I think I might be able to. Although shooting him might be difficult if he moves about and I’m not subtle enough to trick him in to ingesting the poison blood. So maybe not that easy. Also it’s still killing a man. The other option is hacksaw and the foot, which is what happens in the movie and I’ll move on to this.

Zep’s Test: The Game: Not so much a trap but I’m including it anyway. You have to keep an eye on the Bathroom Trap (it’s the next one) and if one of the players fail you have to murder a woman and child. You have poison coursing through you and the only way to get the antidote is to follow the rules.

Plan of action? I wouldn’t be able to murder a woman and child, at least I don’t think I could. My plan of action here would be to leave and go to the hospital, you may be being watched but honestly this poison doesn’t seem too bad. There are no debilitating effects as far as we can see and the game lasts hours so the poison doesn’t seem too bad. Just high tail it out of this house you’re in and go get yourself checked out. There could be someone watching to kill me if I leave. If we’re going by the film and having hindsight as well, Jigsaw is led on the floor in the bathroom trap so you’ve got no-one watching except maybe Amanda but you can get out.

Chance of survival? 70%, I would have just left.

The Bathroom: The Game: You wake up in a bathroom, there’s one other guy with you and there is a dead man in the middle. You play your respective tapes and find out: Lawrence: You have to kill Adam, if you don’t your wife and child will be killed and you’ll probably die.

Adam: You have to escape.

Your leg is chained at the ankle to a pole, there’s a lock but you have no key.

Adam: Adam gets a terrible deal in this. The thing that really annoys me about this is the fact that his key was in the bath, of course he’s going to pull the plug out with his thrashing. He wakes up in a bath full of water for crying out loud, which is incidentally what I would be doing in all of these traps most likely. I would thrash as well, so the key is gone in my scenario as well. Once told at the end I might attempt to look in the u-bend if that is even a thing on a bath, I’m not a plumber. So looks as if it’s hacksaw time as well. I honestly don’t think I have the stones to cut my leg off but in that situation I might give it a go.

This is by the way the picture section because if I cut part of me off to get the shackle off I would do it like this:

The blue line is where Dr Lawrence Gordon cuts his leg. The green line is, I think, a better place to cut. The red line is where I would cut, sure it’s going through your heel and possibly achilles but it keeps more of your leg and you could just slip the shackle over the part you cut off. I don’t know why this isn’t a better option. Any of you out there reading this, if you can answer why the red line isn’t the perfect place to cut, or if you can think of an even better place to cut then email me on stanleyhorror@gmail.com

and I’ll add a little something about it to the next piece.

Chance of survival? 15%, I think if I could bring myself to shoot Adam then I might be able to survive. As for cutting off my leg, I would lose a lot of blood and probably pass out but there is a small chance it could work.

So that is the first Saw movie covered, there are a few things missed out. The quadruple shotgun trap, which is more a security device rather than a trap that you are put in. So a few that are survivable, some not so much. These all go on the premise that I wouldn’t be a blubbering mess almost instantly which is the most realistic scenario.

Next time I will be covering Saw 2, it’s a little less straight forward in its traps and there are a few curve balls but I look forward to seeing how I would cope. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this and if you have any suggestions in regards to movies I should cover email stanleyhorror@gmail.com

Tell us what you think of Stan’s chances! Will he survive Saw 2? Find out next time…

What the f**k did I just watch!?

SPOILERS

Where can you find a mountain of horror films? Some delightful, hidden treasures, down right strange and just plain rubbish? Head to Netflix of course! And to kick off this series, what better place to start the search. Littered with one star reviews it can only be bad but wait, was it?

Sobriety kills GRABBERS! When an island off the coast of Ireland is invaded by bloodsucking aliens, the heroes discover that getting drunk is the only way to survive.

With a synopsis like that, I thought yes! This will be rubbish gold. However as I type this I can confirm I was too hasty in judgement. Let me walk you through it oh and yeah SPOILERS! Intentional or not the first thing that grabbed me (he he) was the feeling of 'Hot Fuzz' Garda Nolan travels to the island to cover for Sergeant Kenefick who is taking his annual holiday. He can't leave Garda O'Shea on his own for two weeks, in place where nothing happens because well he's a drunk, although he does appear to be a highly functioning one at that. So Garda Nolan steps off the boat I am expecting a peace lily to accompany her.

The banter from the off is hilarious, full of Irish charm and delivered perfect from all members of the cast. So I'm pretty much guaranteed laughs and laugh I do. The whole film is not funny. The alien it's self is ruthless and the opening scene sees a way with three fishermen quite quickly and gruesomely.

I must take a moment to applaud the character of Irene Murphy. Irene is in her dressing gown when her husband is taken and she has the sense to try to close the doors and close off the chimney, she is unsuccessful but here is a woman who is in her slippers and she doesn't just stand there and scream, she actively tries to do something. Either a testimony to the writers or to all Irish women, either way I found it refreshing.

The film's setting is beautiful and we get quite a few shots of coastline and the sea, it adds to the idyllic feeling that is about to be shattered.

A surprise for me was the introduction of Russell Tovey who I hold in high regard. His character while a bit if a bubbling idiot, brilliant drunk and cleaver while trying to make eyes at Garda Nolan was a wonderful addition to an already wonderful cast! It was from Dr Adam Smith we learn a little bit more of the Grabbers.

Garda Nolan: What is that thing?

Dr. Adam Smith: I haven't a clue. I've never seen anything like it before. It's a completely foreign species. I can't even begin to originate or class it.

Paddy Barrett: A 'grabber' When it transpires that what Paddy (brilliantly played by Lalor Roddy) has got is the female and the male is larger and will be looking for her, my mind went straight to 'Attack the block' which was IMO rubbish but I couldn't help but see the link.

On realising that the 'Grabbers' can't stand a high level of alcohol in it's victims blood a large party in the local pub ensues. The party goers unaware of the monster outside and the landlords horror when the barrels run dry. A plan is in place and it is time for our unlikely heroes (although they are the law so if anyone was going to be a hero) to put an end to the killing. What follows has got to be one of the funniest endings to a film I think i've ever seen. A drunk Garda Nolan driving the van, who like most of us when drunk believes she is invincible and it is this drunken stupa that delivers the best line of the film, not hiding the fact it was truly inspired by 'Aliens' Garda O'Shea is in trouble, the Grabber heading straight for him (Our drunk has not been drinking so yeah he's good to go) and over the mud hill comes a yellow digger, a drunk Garda Nolan behind the wheel heading straight for the Grabber and then this......

Garda Lisa Nolan: Get away from him, you cuuuuunt!

As it plows into the Grabber.

I was crying with laughter because it seems so plausible (minus the Alien) Your drunk, you see a large yellow digger, you feel like Sigourney Weaver, you charge but in your drunkenness the word bitch doesn't quite do it. Full steam ahead.

So this wasn't quite the horror film I thought it would be but I enjoyed it very much. I found it beautifully shot, the cast where all amazing and hats off the script writers who came up with some of the best lines I have had the joy of hearing in a film. Here are a few for you to enjoy (of course it pays to watch them in context)

Dr. Adam Smith: I need a photograph with it for National Geographic! And Facebook.

Garda O'Shea: What killed him, Jim? Dr. Jim Gleeson: The fact that he's just a head. You bring me someone with a head cold or a headache and I can do something, but you bring me just a head and you're taking the piss. Jesus, they could bury him in a shoe box.

Garda Nolan: Doctor, we need to know.

Dr. Jim Gleeson: He was mauled in some way by some...animal or...something. I dunno. A tiger?

So there we have it Horror lovers! While not 100% horror, if you are looking for a fast past, funny and CGI alien with witty banter and well-drawn characters, give it ago. Worst case scenario you will only lose about an hour and half of your life and as a horror fan that’s nothing at all if ends up being gold!

Grabbers 2012, Directed by Jon Wright, Written by Kevin Lehane.

Staring: Ruth Bradley, Richard Coyle, Russell Tovey, Lalor Roddy.

Stephen Manley and the Ghosthunters

Here at the cabin we got super excited when we reached out to veteran actor Stephen Manley about his new film Ghosthunters and he replied! Good man.

You might recognise him as young ‘Spock’ from Star Trek III but you could know him for any number of things, he has after all got a very impressive resume.

He totally got under our skin in Ghosthunters, he is clearly a man with some awesome acting chops and more.

Q. You have quite the resume! And while I appreciate it’s not fair to ask, what is your favorite genre to act in?

A. Being an actor any role that you get becomes your favorite genre when you book the job. I’ve enjoyed every role that I have ever played. I enjoyed working with Johnny and Roy in “Emergency,” Pon-farr with Robin on the Genesis planet, selling dope to Michael Madsen, and riding with Billy the Kid. All of those genres are wonderful! I had never done horror, so “Ghosthunters” was a new genre for me to experience. But, if nailed down who doesn’t like being a cowboy? I love Westerns.

Q. What was your favorite moment on set?

A. My favorite moment on set was accidentally scaring our lovely PA girl Shelby Murphy while I was getting into character in the scariest darkest room of the house we shot in. I would use this dark, windowless, pitch-black room to get into character before a very heavy scene. While I was in there, Shelby walked past on her way to the production office. She heard “voices” coming from this black room which was sunken below the floor. As she crouched down to look into the darkness, I emerged slowly from the room to calm her fears.

Q. What drew you to the role in

Instead, terrified, she backed up into the

Ghosthunters? And the story for that matter?

wall and then realizing it was me came out

A:. Dr. Henry Tanner was a tormented scientist who had suffered loss and had pain I could identify with. The movie was directed by Pearry Teo, who has a beautiful body of work and I was enthusiastic to be able to work with him on his film that felt like a gothic horror stage play with a small, close-knit cast.

with a heavy “Whoa, Oh...god” and ran to the production office. I told her at the premiere, she is now famous as this story has gotten out to the delight of crew, cast, fans, etc.

Q. What was the hardest thing on set? If anything?

The film was an emotional piece for everybody involved. My character in particular had a lot of upset layers that constantly had to be accessed. So, the hardest part for me was keeping all my emotions within reach during the duration of the shooting of the movie to keep the character consistent without becoming exhausted.

Q. What plans do you have next?

A. “Rogue Warrior: Robot Fighter” is due out at the end of summer, a science fiction film.

The movie stars Tracey Birdsall, William Kircher, Daz Crawford and was directed by Neil Johnson. I also play a scientist in this movie, but with different objectives than “Ghosthunters.” Also in development is filmmaker Kris Krainock’s surreal comedy

Q. It seems like a refreshing way to look at

series “The Idiot,” where I play Joel Wolcott

ghosts and really reminded me (in a great

the eternal panglossian who is forced into a corrupt world.

way) of the ‘Thirteen Ghosts’ with the goggles and the science behind it. Would you say that it feels different from a lot of horror out there at the moment?

A. The definition of horror seems to have changed over the years. When I think of horror, I think of Max Schreck as “Nosferatu,” the Universal horror movies we

Q. I can see that the film is planned for a premier on the Syfy network soon, I remember watching the Japanese Ring on there a long time ago, it’s a great place for films. Are you excited for it?

all love, British Hammer films, the Overlook

A. I’m pleased to hear you say that, I would

Hotel, and now “American Horror Story” and

look forward to it being broadcast on Syfy

“The Walking Dead.” “Ghosthunters” shares

Channel, Fear.Net, or Fuse. I know that

elements of those films, but also the more

The Asylum has released some of their other

recent flavor of horror seen in “The Ring,”

films on I believe all three of those networks.

“The Grudge,” and “The Conjuring” which

I know people who have bought the DVD

have Asian influences that Pearry Teo is

already, and every day I am hearing from

influenced by. So “Ghosthunters” seems to

more people who have watched it on demand.

be a unique combination of both flavors of horror.

Q. How has the film, been received so far?

Q. You really have had such a varied career,

A. I think it has been a surprise to people,

what advice would you give to others trying

being that it is a release from The Asylum

to carve their own in the big world?

which is most known for their tongue-incheek mockbusters. They engaged Pearry to make a straight dramatic horror film and so the horror community seems to be very taken with it.

A. Making a decision to be an artist of any kind takes guts. The ups and downs of any art form can be very hard to endure for most people. That being said, stick with what your passion is. Train with the best teachers you can find and give it all you’ve got. You don’t want to have to say later on, “I could have, would have, should have.”

Q. What is the best thing you have ever done?

A. I believe the best is yet to come. I’ve

Q. Everyone who comes to the cabin gets

enjoyed all the roles that I’ve done. When

asked I’m afraid….what is your favorite horror film

you are an actor or an actress you cherish every role that you get and craft each one with passion and enthusiasm. So I am grateful for all of them and have enjoyed working on all those different parts.

A. If we are to go with my favorite "Horror" film it would have to be "The Exorcist" I'm a big fan of Dick Smith and I think the way William Friedkin shot and cut the film is phenomenal.

Interview by Cassandra Regan

You can watch the trailer and buy Ghosthunters here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/ghosthunters

Find out more about Stephen here: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0542603/ http://www.stephen-manley.com https://www.facebook.com/StephenMichaelManley http://www.twitter.com/StephenManley12 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Manley

Photos by: RuCo Photography

Ghosthunters – A Review

By Cassandra Regan

What do you get if you mix science, ghosts and a serial killer? Well you get Ghosthunters. A film that doesn’t waste any time getting into the action. The plot (we will try for minimal spoilers) a man has lost his wife and daughter, murdered by a sadistic serial killer called the NightStalker, which is an unfortunate name given the history of the man associated with that name. He and his team have been trying to turn paranormal energy into ectoplasm and try and identify who that person once was, it is a very clever idea and even more so when they turn it in to sound. They best place to test it? In an active serial killer site.

The production on this film is great and the make-up effects are beautifully done. The whole film is a mix of science, gore, paranormal and ghosts, it really is delightful. It gives you almost a mixed bag of all the good bits of horror.

The house is indeed haunted by restless murder spirits, the death scenes which we see in a flash back format is very reminiscent of Seven or Saw taking away the why’s from those films it makes them its own with the killer trying to induce stress in the human heart. These scenes were shot in such a wonderful way, they had a jarring feature, the screen was grainier and it just felt eerie and unpleasant. It really felt you were in a paranormal film and then you were in a slasher film.

It was like I’ve said a mixed bag and it worked so well.

The cast do a fantastic job in the film. Stephen Manley plays the scientist Henry, who has lost his wife and daughter, David O’Donnell as Neal, Liz Fenning as Jessica, Francesca Santoro as Amy and Web Crystal as Devon. One thing I really liked about them was how well they worked together and everyone was needed, for me at least no one felt like a spare part. The acting was wonderful and while everyone did a great job it was Stephen Manley as Henry that really grabbed me and stole the show. He plays a dedicated man with a vison and his team really want to help him get there, he needs to get his wife and daughters spirit out of that awful place, which was very touching and very hard for Henry as he struggles with entering the room where his family were murdered.

The ghost’s scenes were what one expects and wants from a ghost in a film. Right there when you turned around, broken, not very forth coming with information and well-acted. Yes, I had a few jumps and I didn’t mind one bit! Jump scares in a film are great when used very little and this was great for that, I was to be terrified with tension not jumping every two minutes and as a person going about my daily life I am very jumpy!

Overall this film is a must view! I find it quite criminal I didn’t know about it until recently and it’s available from Vimeo to rent or buy. I enjoyed the film greatly and while it had a few little niggles that bothered me, like the repeating of information, it was the science so It can be forgiven and a few little unanswered questions for me but none that I can voice as I am not going to give anything away if can help it, you will need to watch it and make up your own mind.

You can see the love and care that everyone has put into this film, it’s not a remake, it’s not a rip off. It’s an original horror film encapsulating all the good things about horror films from the past.

Go watch it and report back horror lovers. Let’s celebrate the unknown.

Directed by: Pearry Reginald Teo. Written by: Pearry Reginald Teo

Horror Quiz!

Welcome to our first issue horror quiz! We love quizzes, we actually waste a lot of time on them. Well it’s always good to know How long you would survive a horror film or even do you really know horror?

As it’s the first issue, we wanted to start the ball rolling with a nice easy one for you. If you play fair you have a chance of winning a classic monster horror DVD. (Best UK only guys, not sure it would play on another DVD region – Sorry!)

Can you name the official first ever horror film?

Extra point for the year?

Which author penned ‘The Golem?’

Which studio made ‘The Devil rides out?’

Which actress played Rosemary in ‘Rosemary’s Baby?’

How much did the original Halloween cost to make? (Approx) Who designed the Xenomorph?

What language is the film ‘REC’ in?

Can you name the films from Dario Argentio’s ‘Thee mothers trilogy?’

‘All work and no play’ makes who a dull boy?

Which film was released first; ‘The Howling’ or ‘An American werewolf in London?’

Who wrote the book ‘The Exorcist?’

How to enter: Simply answer all the questions and email us the answers info@thecabinonthe.net –With Quiz in the subject line. Simple.

Slashers VS Monsters

Slashers are undeniably scary. The reason you speed up when you hear footsteps behind you isn’t because you might be being followed by a werewolf, those aren’t real. Even when you doubt it for a second as some overly hairy man walks past you know in your heart that they aren’t.

When you come home to an empty house and you mentally take stock of what is available to use as a weapon it isn’t because you fear a mummy may be lurking around the corner. Monsters can be scary and the unknown is certainly something that can terrify you, they’re something other and go back to primal fears. In this modern age of increasing knowledge though it’s not the other that scares us, it’s what’s closer to home. That is why Slashers are for me the winner.

So as briefly discussed above my first and arguably main point is that it’s the fact that a slasher villain is more human than a monster, sure classic slashers have a supernatural element.

Michael Myers is an unstoppable killing machine but he was human, he was created not in a lab but by others actions towards him.

Picture this, you come across a monster. Whichever creature you conjured in your twisted mind is easy to spot, tail maybe? Wrapped in bandages? Large pointy teeth and no reflection? You see them in real life you know to run away. Now picture a slasher, sure he is maybe wearing a mask but he might not be, he might be disfigured but you can’t assume he will be, he might just look like a regular person. There is no way to tell and that’s what makes them so scary. He isn’t just out at night or in a secluded area, he’s right behind you at Tesco buying some milk and going home to eat a bowl full of fingers.

Let’s first look at possibly the first slasher, or at least the movie that paved the way for all slashers. Psycho. Norman Bates is a regular guy on the surface, he is charming and happy to help but dig a little deeper and there is something not quite right. You don’t know what it is about him but there is a sense of unease. Then he murders you in the shower. It’s scary because it could be anyone, there is no concrete way to tell before the killing starts. The same in more

modern movies such as You’re Next, it isn’t an obvious killer. It’s someone you don’t expect, it’s someone regular. That is scary.

Let’s look at slashers with a more supernatural element though because sometimes they aren’t regular people, sometimes they are your Freddie Kruegers and your Jason Vorhees. They are unstoppable. You think you have killed them and then there they are, at the top of the stairs plodding on, looking for you. Once you’ve seen the monster it loses a bit of it’s magic, a bit of the suspense. Now that is a generalisation and by no means the case for all monsters, there are some truly terrifying creations but it’s when the monster is out of sight that my heart is racing. With a slasher though, you don’t need that, you know what he looks like, he isn’t hiding, he doesn’t need to. He is coming, one step at a time and he is going to get you. You can run all you want but when you turn, there they are still coming.

The thing that links both the supernatural and the natural slasher movies though is that the victims very rarely are aware of what is going on until it is too late. You might get one or two of the final victims fighting back but the majority of the pack are going down before you are even aware there is a threat, that’s what you get for splitting up you fools!

In slashers the deaths are sudden, unavoidable. The chase may build up but when the actual act of the killing happens, it doesn’t generally linger. You have a group of people, they are much like the target audience, they are like you or me going camping or on a road trip. Death is quick, one

second a character is frolicking in the water, the next there is an arrow through the breast, Wrong Turn 2. That is scary, there is no warning, there is no playing with its food like a monster would. It taps in to our innate fear of the suddenness of death.

Now, I’ll be honest with you, I can’t argue that with a monster what is great is the back story and with Slashers you very rarely get a great back story. It generally hinges on some trauma, perceived slight or that is just who they are.

Monsters have definable weaknesses and I guess so would non-supernatural slashers, being all the weaknesses that we as non-supernatural people have. Slashers with a bit of the supernatural however don’t. Shoot them, stab them, burn them and all it does is make them more determined and angry. You can tell that Slashers have a hard time dying, look at all the sequels they get.

How many Friday the 13ths have there been? (The film not the actual date) Wrong Turn is up to 6 movies and it wouldn’t surprise me if there were more to come.

Essentially the things that scare us, well me, now are things that are viable. Not necessarily completely believable but a guy wielding a chainsaw who has been raised in a messed up family coming after you when you trespass in his house for some stupid reason. I know that movies are meant as a sort of break from all the trials and tribulations of the world and I agree that Monsters can be scary but there’s just something about Slashers. Something that you can’t shake for a few days after finishing it. I may run to the bathroom after a monster movie but it won’t be the reason I walk a bit faster or lock my door. I’ll be doing that to stop Michael Myers and guess what? It still won’t stop him.7 By: Stan Williams

Slashers VS Monsters

Monsters and horror. They’ve been going together now for a very long time. When I think horror and what terrifies me the most, it’s always been a monster. Sure there is always the risk that when you see the monster it won’t do it’s self any justice and that certainly has been true of some of the films I’ve seen but when done right…ah the night time run to the bathroom, perhaps you know it? You’ve watched the film, it’s time for bed. You are a grown up so you know it’s just a film. Then in the middle of the night you need to make a break for the bathroom, half asleep you head down the wall and when if you are unlucky enough to have the stairs stationed just outside the bathroom, your eyes move to it and for a second, said monster is climbing those stairs. You rush to do your business then fling yourself under the covers, all of you because everyone knows the blanket will save you. Just me then huh?

Let’s think of some of the monsters that are just lurking in wait for you: The Xenomorph for Alien, The Thing from The Thing, The Predator from Predator. How about the monsters that lurk in paranormal films? Oh yes those are monsters. While they do not look like the morphed Seth Brundle and a fly from the film The Fly they are the monsters of your nightmares. They are vast, they are everywhere but no. These monsters do not scare me. They look too human for my mind to see them in the dark.

They can be anywhere, they can come from anything and they can hide just about anywhere.

Ready to give you a jump scare, a feeling of terror or perhaps enough to hold your hand close enough to your eyes so you can hide at a moment’s notice.

There is no pleading with a monster. They don’t speak our language. They don’t care if you are a child, a sinner or hell a virgin. They are going to kill you unless you can take them down first.

The good ones anyway.

Honestly for me, the monster is truly scary when it has been made with such artistic flare and love that It is truly terrifying to behold and that is down to the FX team and this day it’s a lot more common to see computer generated monster which can hold their own to some degree they can’t hold a candle to some of the masters who walked before them.

Great slashers can come from a great script and acting but a monsters needs more to terrify the audience of today and I think when they do it makes the 10% more scary and threating. Really adding to the horror as it unfolds in front of you.

One of my favourite things about a monster is, its back story. They seem to be great potential for well-done back stories on these things and for the most part there are, so are good, others not so much. While it’s not necessary it gives me the audience time after the film has finished to ponder on it. Where did it come from, how did it get here? I love to think these things over and a good film should leave you feeling this way when it’s turned off. In my humble opinion of course.

Let’s go into a film shall we? It’s a dark ally, you are alone and you hear a noise. On turning something flashes past you. You stand for a moment, unsure. You carry on. You hear it again a low rumble. You spin around and there in front of you is….

A dripping, massive, not of this world monster. It’s teeth gleam in the dim light, it’s eyes wild.

It’s feet long and clawed. For a moment you are frozen by the time you have recovered your sense, it doesn’t matter. It too leaps it’s on you and rips you apart.

A man, he’s masked (of course) a large knife in his hand, it may or may not be blood you can see dripping from the blade. For a moment you are frozen, then he moves towards you. You turn and run. He’s on human legs after all.

While of course this really does depend on the director and screenwriter and how they want their slasher to be if you really strip it back, one you might out run, the other you know nothing of and it could fly for all you really know.

When you are alone, walking the streets at night. It is man that is the scariest thing out there.

The drunk yobs looking for a fight, killing a father or mother of two for fun, a serial killer with a love of brunettes, a drunk driver swerving on the pavement and killing you. In the real world there Is no monsters and humans become the ultimate killer but in the world of film? Nah, come at me bruv. I know how to run in heels.

By: Cassandra Regan We’ve stated our cases and now we want to know what you think! Get in touch. https://www.facebook.com/cabinonthenet/ https://twitter.com/cabinonthenet

The Curse of Frankenstein – Jack’s way

When it comes to vintage, classic horror, most people look no further than the creepy creations of Hammer studios. But more specifically, their flagship picture “The Curse of Frankenstein”, which rose from the dark depths of Britain’s rapidly expanding film-making scene. The film is charming, iconic, and launched 50’s, 60’s and even 70’s Britain into their reign of terror over the cinema ‘nasty’. In the early nineteen fifties, the black and white era of Universal’s iconic monster movies was coming to a close, and the sun was setting over their monopoly on the genre.

They had birthed the horror movie as we know it today, with their staple pictures The Wolf Man, The Mummy, Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein (including bride), Bela Lugosi’s iconic portrayal of Count Dracula, and all the combinations of the former.

However, America was seeing the arrival of science fiction, and the audiences were becoming more and more adventurous.

People were becoming more liberated and wanted more: more colour, more blood, even more sex. With films like their classic scifi/horror “The Creature from The Black Lagoon” in 1954 acting as last ditch attempt to revive the dying breaths of the once great universal horror, the doors closed, and it seemed like the monster movie was gone forever.

What certainly wasn’t to be expected was the resurgence, and the seemingly unlikely place from whence it came. Over in Bray Studios in the home counties of England, just a matter of miles from London, Hammer Productions were planning to resurrect a monster in their own special way, and in glorious, gory technicolour. Hammer realised that there was still a very large audience for horror in the mainstream market, and that they wouldn’t be so quick to abandon what Universal considered to be a steadily sinking ship. Hammer refused to give in to the so-called new reign of science and spaceman movies, even going so far as to use their very own sci-fi/horror feature “The Quatermass Xperiment (The Creeping Unknown)” to bridge the gap from the new sci-fi market back into horror. While Hammer began stitching together and reanimating their new horror flick, a somewhat mysterious television advert went out across England, looking for an actor to play their new creature in their soon to be classic feature. In a few months their prayers were answered and their star was found, a tall and almost menacing war veteran who was a relative unknown, who went by the name of Christopher Lee. Joining him in the cast was Hammer’s poster boy, the incomparable legend that was Peter Cushing. Along with the equally amazing Hazel Court and Robert Urquhart, “The Curse of Frankenstein” was well and truly alive.

So rather than going through the picture with a fine toothed comb and just telling you the plot beat for beat, I’ll talk about the points in the movie that stand out for me, and the ones that I think make it special.

The first being how the film begins, with a dishevelled Cushing sporting his trademark British elegance in a dank and dreary jail cell, awaiting the guillotine for his supposed crimes, playing the eponymous Baron Victor Frankenstein. Even in this dressed down manner, everything about Cushing oozes Hammer iconography, his high hairline and widow’s peak, his razor sharp cheekbones, his dashing and suave English accent. As he is visited in his cell, Frankenstein recalls just what it was he did which led him to his fast approaching sticky end, and kicks off the story. We’re then treated to the young and precocious Victor being played by Melvyn Hayes, hurriedly and callously escorting the attendees of his parents wake from his home. Then arriving at the house is man named Paul, who is to be his new tutor.

What then follows is one of the most charming sequences in the movie, with Paul and Victor growing and learning together.

But what’s charming about this for me isn’t the thematic elements and the character development, although that features well, but rather the practical and hands on approach to the scene. Pauls costume doesn’t change, but instead Robert Urquhart appears to just remove a layer of his costume, and simply add some five o clock

shadow as the montage progresses. I imagine the reason for that is the low budget, and I like seeing that on screen, it’s part of the appeal of this movie and the ones that would follow. The hands on, low budget approach that they created, born out of necessity.

What merges well with this continuing sense of overt practicality in the picture is Peter Cushing’s performance. His character truly is unlikable in the film, with him cheating on his bride to be and cousin Elizabeth (the beautiful Hazel Court) with his house maid Justine. But when she reveals to him later on in the story a secret he doesn’t want to be let out, he sends his gruesome monster to deal with her himself.

Frankenstein ends up losing the trust and patronage of Paul, told his mission is too evil, grotesque and against nature.

Frankenstein proceeds to murder people to meet his ends and get the body parts he needs. It’s in this quest for brains that another truly charming and frankly hilarious bit of film making comes along.

Frankenstein leads someone up his staircase to show them a painting on the landing, and advises the gentleman to step back closer to the bannister to see it better. The obvious separation in the stunt bannister gives it away instantly and rather than being disappointed I await the campy murder to follow. Of course right on cue, Frankenstein pushes the man through the bannister and he lands on the floor… and the lino laid down to make it look like stone creases as he

lands. Another golden moment that, again, makes this film so charming.

then was pure terror. In an effort to battle the monster, he is shot in the face.

Despite the differences and nuances that this version has, we all know the story of Frankenstein, and it doesn’t take long for us to arrive at the true moment of shock, the reveal of Christopher Lee as the creature.

The issue with literally creating the monster that they faced in production was their cinematic predecessors Universal, with them even having copyrighted Boris Karloff’s iconic makeup. Hammer Productions were challenged with creating an almost entirely new look for the creature. Anthony Hinds, one of Hammer’s producers at the time, said about the threat of Universal that; “If we used anything from their film that wasn’t in the book in our film, they would have come at us.” The result is definitely interesting, with them creating something different enough to make their own mark (and not be sued by a huge movie studio), and something similar enough for us to know easily that we’re looking at Frankenstein’s monster.

Lee is distinctly wirier and thinner that Karloff. While Karloff was hunched over with huge shoulders, his large flat skull and ape like arms, Lee is much more human. His milky-blue, lifeless eyes, blistered and rotting flesh and embalmed spindly limbs adds Hammer’s own touch to the mythos of Frankenstein.

Now your average eight year old buried in a session of Call of Duty is aware of the concept of being shot in the face and what happens as a result, but to the sensitive cinema goers of 1957, the attack on the creature was like nothing they’d ever seen before. An then the colour, a fountain of bright red, glorious Kensington gore pouring from his face as the creature clutches his head and falls to the ground. Kensington gore was a staple for Hammer pictures, it was the name given to their own brand of fake blood. It was a syrup based concoction named after the two streets running adjacent to the Albert Hall in London, and was invented by John Tynegate, a retired pharmacist. It’s used later in Hammers cycle of films as it’s splattered across Dracula’s coffin lid in the pictures chilling title sequence. This moment when the creature is shot almost summarises the movie and its effect on me. It screams everything the audience needs to know about Hammer and what can be expected from the studios future instalments. It’s practical, it’s creepy, it’s a little bit silly and more importantly it’s totally ground-breaking. Hammer weren’t bound by Hollywood’s rules, it was set and ready to change to the game of film making, and it went on to do just that. Numerous film makers have gone on to site this as a massive influence, huge stars of film making like John Carpenter and Martin Scorsese.

This film be elusive, may not be so consistently popular in the mainstream market, but like the creature it’s always there, and is ready to strike the next aspiring film maker or film lover with its horrific influence and style.

With the pink and red sores on his face to that creepy blue tint in the eyeballs, Hammer really utilise their new ability to wield technicolour here, even without the monster being green as we would expect from your standard Frankenstein Halloween mask. As I learnt from Mark Gatiss’ documentary ‘A History of Horror’ (a highly recommended watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HbrQB Exxvw), Hammer’s designer wanted to show off colour as much as possible, saying Hammer went so far as to paint berries and leaves in the fore ground of exterior shots, simultaneously increasing a sense of threat.

My final favourite point in this film may be the most iconic of all, the films boldest use of colour and the films turning point into what

A final note: I really recommend the three disc Blu-ray copy of this film, the special features are amazing, the blu ray restoration is impeccable and it’s a great item for the DVD collection of a film buff.

Want to get in touch? Email me at: Contact: jdelfick@gmail.com

The Thing

By Cassandra Regan

I grew up with horror, the mothership was and still is a huge horror fan. My father worked nights so I was often left with my mother and we would watch horror films together. My brothers too. It was a strange thing what I could and couldn't watch. It was totally ok for me to watch 'The Entity' about a rather rape happy ghost that brutalised a woman in her own home but I wasn't old to go to bed when 'IT' was on. Of course I was forbidden to ever watch 'The Exorcist' until I was 18 years of age. I watched it with a bunch of giggling girlfriend's when we were shock! 13. Ah we enjoyed quoting that line to each other for weeks.

I remember watching John Carpenter's 'The Thing' when I was younger. I even tried to put the vhs on when we had company round once. “You'll love it!” I remember saying to my mother's friend’s daughters. It was swiftly turned off by my mother. I guess that was for the best.

I won’t lie, 'The Thing' is the film I compare all horror films too – Hey you want to call it Sci-fi that’s cool with me but it leaves me horrified so I class it as horror. Hell I compare all things to 'The Thing' You'll even hear me quoting it and watching it again and again. We are old friends that film and I. Have you seen it? This film called 'The Thing' directed by Mr John Fucking Carpenter, based on the novella 'Who goes there?' by John M Campbell. I hope so because this is going to contain spoilers my friend!

Of course I'm totally biased and you won’t be reading a natural article. Nope sorry I have an agenda like most of the world, I'm not

standing on the side lines. I love something, I'm going to share it. I don't like something I'll be honest about that too.

Where to start? Well the beginning always seems the best place doesn't it? The music, oh the music on that film! How it builds the tension. The slow dum dum when the camera closes in on Jed the dog. Jed's stare.

It beautiful. The long and sweeping shots of the empty hall ways and empty rooms.

Macready sat with his back to the door talking into a tap player. Don't sit with your back to the door! It freaks me out every time (and I know nothing happens) There is something vulnerable about sitting with your back to the door, I don't know what it is. Too many horror films maybe?

What I really like about this film is it unwinds at a great pace, there is not one scene where I am board, waiting for the next bit of action and I think that comes from such a great cast and script. You can feel the tension when it all goes down and even before then. Not everyone is friendly. I mean poor Windows it picked on nearly the whole film – Did you know his character was originally called Sanchez? The actor who ended up playing him didn't much look like a Sanchez so he became Windows.

Being barked at to reach someone, anyone on the radio. Then when Blair goes nuts after realizing that 'The Thing' could be anyone and he’ll do anything to stop it’s escape (hence killing the remaining dogs' smashes up the control room and Window's looks pretty beaten and cowering in corner and oh how he dies! (we'll get to that) The characters and actors are all so well placed and balanced. It truly feels real.

Okay quick confession before we go on. I cannot watch the dog scene in the kennel. I

have seen it but now I skip it. I cannot deal with those dogs going out the way they do.

Real or not I can't take it. While I am a horror lover I cannot abide by animal death/killing in film or rape which makes up a lot of horror so I have to be particle on what I watch. It's a wonderful scene and once it's attacked the dogs I can watch it transform and open up it's strange mouth made of dog teeth and get blasted. That is an actual sticking point for me, they put it out to quickly.

Another thing that baffled me on a recent viewing and this is not slight on my fav film at all however when they go to the Norwegian camp after the helicopter scene at the beginning. They see the madness that has clearly happen but they still decided to take a lump of burned flesh back with them which of course turns out not to be so dead, who knew! Scientists a? What can you do with them?

By now they are all pretty rattled. They are trying to figure everything out. They do some pretty impressive guess work; we will allow it. Who's who? Ah that tension comes again in waves. Let’s rattle them some more and have Norris have what appears to be a heart attack. One of the best moments of this film is the chest of Norris opening and chomping off Doc's hands. It's amazing and done by my hero Rob Bottin. I watch anything I can get my hands on where that man has worked his magical hands.

Rob worked on 'The Thing' seven days a week for a year and five weeks and after the film he had to be put in the hospital. In an interview he said he's not done it since. Yet I do not doubt that without Rob's enthusiasm and vision I wouldn't love the film like I did.

In interviews he is so endearing and passionate, I cannot but help smile.

While we are talking about Rob let’s have a few facts on film.

1 – They used a double amputee to replace the Doc after his hands got bitten off – using a mask over the guy’s face. Have a watch it is hard to spot.

2 – The actor who played Norris was inside the table on the chest scene.

3 - The one takes needed for the chest buster didn't happen. The chest ripping open the first time looked too comical and like a water fountain in Las Vegas (say they who was there) and the head ripping off also exploded due to the fumes in the room.

4 – The dog transformation in the kennel was not done by Rob Bottin.

5 – The end monster was going to be done by stop motion however you could tell and It was cut The whole chest buster scene is just one of the many bests from this film with a cracking line delivered by Palmer just after.

'You gotta be fucking kidding?’

As the Norris head spider makes a break for the door. I quote that line a lot. Another mention I have to say is the noise/scream the creature makes it is so flipping haunting. Oh its horror gold!

I am not walking you through the whole film you realise, just a few bits that I love most of all and that of course I can't leave out 'The Test' scene. By now a few people are dead and everyone is tied up and our hero Macready is sticking a hot needle in everyone's blood (drew by the same scalpel! wiping on your trousers would not be enough!)

The feeling in that room is palpable, breath in throat, hand on heart. Who is it!? Well if you've never seen it but are savvy enough to know film it was always going to be the one that no one is paying attention to. Macready and Childs are arguing (I do believe it is Childs) while Macready pops the needle into Palmers blood and a high pitch squeal and the blood makes a jump for it. Cut to Palmer who is vibrating, while tided to Childs and Garry, then cut again and his face is leaking sort of how you would expect your face to reacted if you were sucked into space. Then shit goes down! Because the blow touch has been warming up a needle it won’t fire when needed. Windows (who's clean by the way!

Yay) has the other but he can't move, frozen

in terror and then he is devoured right in front of his friends and let me tell you that is one nasty death. Palmers head has split open and it's trying to chug Windows in, the blood, the body movements it’s all a bit fabulous and nasty! At last Macready uses the flame and up in flames it goes, which was a stunt man on fire who couldn't breathe while on fire otherwise he would have fucked his lungs. Once he's out, we turn back to a pathetic, whimpering Windows/creature on the floor – bye Windows.

Gosh I guess I really wanted to re-live that!

It's a smashing scene.

They did shoot a different ending for the film to cover themselves because the test audience felt the end was too bleak so they had Macready live. I am so glad that John stuck to his guns and did not use that ending. Macready nearer the end of the film tells them all know one will make it. They will die, it's for the best and then for him to have suddenly lived? It wouldn't have sat right. Besides how do we know they didn't live? The sit in the burning remains of the camp (that’s Childs and Macready) and share a drink and just wait a while to see what happens and cut. Anything could have happened! They could have been rescued or died together. Would you really want to go

back to the real world after that? Not knowing if by some change you had it, you could infect everyone? Blood test or not? Or what if there were more out there?

Imagination people just because the screen goes black doesn't mean you have to stop thinking.

The Isolation in this film for me is truly key, being up in the real snow (not all the time sure) but it adds a real soul to the film, oh and having the spaceship be a painting?!

Just genius. There is so much I adore about this film that I could go on forever, sure ok as I've written this there are no doubt a few holes but hey It's john – he can do what the hell he wants.

You ever notice the landing in your house right above the stairs is always super creepy after watching a horror film and you have to run a little and shut the door to the bathroom really quickly? Just me then huh?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(1982_fil m)

The Last With Nathaniel Barber

Seriously the world is full of amazing

Q. If you recall, how did the idea of 'The Last' come to you?

people, doing their own thing and with the help of the internet we get to discover them and that is just what happened with The Last. I stumbled across it and watched the trailer and that was it. Sold. That’s why I reached out to Nathaniel Barber of Barber motion pictures to see if he had time to talk to us. He did indeed!

A. I conceived the concept of the picture while listening to the soundtrack from The Alamo (2004) by Carter Burwell. A question popped in my head which was “what if today was my last day.” That notion alone can make a very powerful and emotional ride for the audience.

You can watch the trailer here: http://www.vimeo.com/163955933 Q. What can you tell us about the film?

A. It’s about a terminally ill man who spends his last days coping with death and who is struggling to undo his past sins.

While headed to a remote location, he stumbles upon a woman. The two become stranded from civilization. Secrets and lies quickly force them to be suspicious of each other's intentions. They soon discover that they are not alone. The movie is very emotional and a non-stop horror thrill ride.

Q. You mention that you took advice from Bruce Campbell's book 'If chins could kill: Confessions of a B movie actor' to turn your initial idea into a feature, what was that advice? and why do you think it resonated with you so much?

A. I don’t remember the exact quote but Bruce essentially said if you’re going to put all the work into a short film you might as well make it into a feature. A great deal of truth comes from that statement because in film school you are taught how to make shorts however, a feature film is a completely different beast. We are going into the industry to make features so might as well make one. The original concept for The Last was that it would be a 20-30 minute short but thanks to Bruce it’s now a feature.

Q. What has been the most exciting thing about writing 'The Last'?

A. I wrote the script over three months which is fast for me. Another feature script I’ve been polishing and rewriting for five years. The joy of writing The Last was that I knew where the film was going to end but the journey was unwritten. The journey is what makes the climax work.

Q. Do you have a typical day when writing/producing?

A. I usually write at night so all the distractions of daily life can vanish.

Q. I've seen the trailer from your indiegogo page and not only can I see that the footage already shot is great quality but your leading man also has me intrigued already.

Who is he?

A. I wish I could say we hired a big time actor but that’s me. I’ve done alot of acting classes and I wrote the character with myself in mind.

(The Cabin feels silly for not noticing this) Q. What has been the hardest thing you've found running your production company 'Barber Motion Pictures'?

A. Our company includes myself and my brother, Matthew Barber. This makes it very difficult because we are full time college students. In reality Barber Motion

Pictures is just what we call ourselves.

Maybe someday we can have people working under us.

Q. Why did you decided to start the company?

A. My brother and I have been making movies in one form or another since we were 11 years old including a feature length western while we were in high school.

Barber Motion pictures came about simply because we needed a way to identify ourselves and to pull all of our movies under the umbrella of one identifiable name. Our last name is Barber so Barber Motion Pictures just seemed to make sense.

Q. How have you found the reality of being an independent of today? and with that how do you market yourselves?

A. The biggest issue is that as a filmmaker we’re diving into an industry that calls for us to compete against Steven Spielberg for the same job. Also it seems that modern audiences tend to look down on independent films because they are desensitized with these two hundred and fifty million dollar films. The Last has a budget of $16,000 which is very close to the budget of Robert Rodriguez’ El Mariachi which is an amazing film for such a low budget. I market myself like Rodriguez in that I’ve worked with everything including audio, lighting, acting, producing, screenwriting, directing, editing, and as a foley artist.

Q. I'm sure you can't give anything away but I'll ask all the same, do we get to see the monster in the film?

A. It’s going to be something new and very cool. That’s really all I can say for now.

Q. How is filming going at the moment?

A. The official production will begin in January of 2017.

Q. How are you planning to distribute the film?

A. We are going to see what happens. The film is super low budget but that doesn’t mean it’s lacking in quality. The future is the only one that holds the answers to the question of distribution. I’ve been involved with a lot of projects that will never be known to the general public and you really can’t tell what will hit and what will miss.

Q. We have to ask; do you have a favourite horror film?

A. My favourite horror films range from John Carpenter’s The Thing to The Wolf Man (1941). Both of these films explore elements of the human condition which I think can make a really scary movie. This is what we hope to do with The Last.

A little more on the man himself: The Last will be my second feature film. I work alongside my brother, Matthew Barber who will also be directing the film. While in high school, my brother and I spent those four years making our first feature The Lawmen (2011).

Afterwards we studied film at Colorado Film School and received our Associate degree in Screenwriting and Directing. Then we transferred to the University of North Texas. We made the short horror film Windigo Origins (2014) which was an Official Selection at the 2014 South Dakota Film Festival and an Official Selection at the 2016 UNT Media Arts Festival.

Then we made Windigo Revolution (2015) which was also an Official Selection at the 2016 UNT Media Arts Festival. In December we are going receive our Bachelorʼs degree in film. The plan to make the film after we have graduated is loosely inspired by Robert Rodriguez and Sam Raimi who did the same.

Scott Lyus Director, Writer and Producer talks to us about the Passed.

What really excited us when talking to Scott was not only his new horror short but also his motivation for what he does. Not only is he a real gentleman to talk to, his passion is infectious. With a ever growing resume, of course he is one to watch!

What really is exciting for me is ‘Leaving behind clichĂŠ cheap jump scares to bring you real human horror that will leave you reeling’ While I find jump scares can be good when used correctly they seem to everywhere at the moment. Was this a conscious decision to show horror can be horrifying without jump scares or did the story really not need them?

The no jump scares rule was a very conscious choice. I'm a fan of really old school horror and feel that jump scares are so boring and overused now. They genuinely annoy me when i see them. Haha. I saw a short last night that had a really great concept, and built it perfectly. Then the short ends in a really cheap jump scare which completely ruined the film.

I feel films have lost the ability to tell a truly horrifying story and bring the terror from that. Jump scares today are so forced and so over used that by the time you get to the end of the film and that last, big meaningful scare hits you it has no impact. You already know it's coming, there's no tension anymore.

You mention older horror stories and character driven (post interview), what film for you brings that to life?

Character driven horror for me is trying to bring the horror from the thoughts and motivations of the characters themselves.

There is nothing more terrifying then human nature. Ordinary, everyday folk suddenly turning and committing horrible

insane acts. Or the fear of the unknown, which is something older horror stories do so well. They don't need to reveal everything, they build the tension and let your imagine do the rest. You have to trust your audience; they don't need everything spelt out for them. Fear doesn't come from seeing the monster under your bed, the fear is the build, it's the wait, the unknown of what may lurk beneath you. As soon as you see the monster the fear is over because you're now in control. When you're left in the dark, it's that uncertainty that is truly terrifying.

What drew you to directing this film?

I was invited for an interview with UK Horror Scene by their presenter of the YouTube show Hanging With, Tony Sands.

After the interview we got talking and become good friends. He and his producing partner of Hanging With, Ivan Trooper, then pitched the idea of the film to me. The story hit me straight away, I loved the dark human nature of the screenplay and it's paranormal setting. I was looking for an original screenplay to direct, having wrote all my previous films. We talked ideas, Tony's vision for the film, my vision for the film, we went through 2 or 3 more drafts and finally changed the title to Echoes of the Passed. And here we are.

How have you found using a crowdfunding site? Do you find it helps connects with the fans more?

My last picture, Silently Within Your Shadow was partly crowdfunded and while

we only made a quarter of our goal, the people that did back us have been amazing.

Each one has stuck by the film this past year and most have returned to back Echoes. With that said I never thought we'd receive the support we have. The love for Echoes has been overwhelming, the indie horror community seem genuinely excited about this project, with giants like Scream Horror Magazine and Dread Central featuring articles on the campaign. It's so amazing and I'm humbled by all the support. Crowdfunding isn't easy, you have to spend all day pushing your campaign for the month or so it's live but the benefits are incredible. Connecting with films of the genre and having them become a part of film is something special.

What is the process of taking an idea and turning into something tangible?

A lot of hard work. That's why I always have so much respect for anyone that gets a film over the finish line. So many films die in pre-production, production or even post production that when you deliver a film, that's something to be proud of. For me the process starts with putting together the right team. Surround yourself with talented and genuine people and life will be so much easier. Having the support of Tony, Ivan, Chris Nials and Andy Dean my coproducers, Zoe Rose Smith my Marketing and PR manager, Sharad Patel my DOP and even our amazing cast has made the preproduction process as smooth and easy as possible. Give yourself time and work every detail out. Plan like an insane person, and then plan some more. And make sure everyone is happy with their role. Your cast and crew are the life force behind the film so ensure everyone is singing the same tune.

What is it like on set for you? On a day to day basis?

Extremely long days but super fun. I love being on set and seeing everything come together. An idea that you've spoke about for months, finally coming to life before your eyes. It’s the one place where everyone shines. As a director it's my job to bring the best out in everybody however I'm extremely lucky to have a crew that pushes me to be the very best I can be also. I like to keep a very calm, laid back set. Everything is well planned out and every knows exactly what they're doing, but I want people to have and enjoy the process.

What do you hope is the future for the film?

I'm really hoping to go one step further than we have with Silently Within Your Shadow.

I'm always trying to push myself and my team to create the best film possible and to get that film in front of as many people as possible. After all a film is not really a film until it finds its audience. We've been extremely lucky with Silently, 24 official selections to date, and the film has played all over the UK, the US and Canada, so with Echoes I want to go one step further. I want to play the festivals that rejected Silently.

For those big name fests, Silently wasn't good enough, so I need to go one step further and make a film that is good enough.

How will the film be distributed?

Our plan is to hopefully go on a really good festival run. I'm hoping to play a few really great horror festivals around the world and even travel to those festivals to support the film. Then later on we'll release the short online for free.

Once you have the campaign funded what’s next?

Next up is our shoot. Which is scheduled for mid-September. With so much support early on, it allowed us to get the ball roller and start putting things in place. We have our

location locked, with our amazing production designer Rochelle Le Poullain already hard at work creating the best set design imaginable. Screenplay readings are under way, as are production meetings between myself and the rest of the crew.

How will the film be distributed?

Our plan is to hopefully go on a really good festival run. I'm hoping to play a few really great horror festivals around the world and even travel to those festivals to support the film. Then later on we'll release the short online for free.

Once you have the campaign funded what’s next?

Next up is our shoot. Which is scheduled for mid-September. With so much support early on, it allowed us to get the ball roller and start putting things in place. We have our location locked, with our amazing production designer Rochelle Le Poullain already hard at work creating the best set design imaginable. Screenplay readings are under way, as are production meetings between myself and the rest of the crew.

film I've made I look back and see where I went wrong, but we made them. They're there to watch and I'm extremely proud of that. Start small, always learn, always be open to conversation and push yourself a little more each time you get behind the camera. We're storytellers and the tools we use to tell those stories should never be more important than the story itself.

Spill! What is your favourite horror film?

The original Frankenstein with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre a very close second.

There is still time to help Scott and his team reach their goal to see ‘Echoes of the Passed’ meet its target: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/echoesof-the-passed-paranormal-horror-film--2#/

Some links for Scott: youtube.com/CrossroadPictures http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4185808/

What do you love most about directing?

For me its bringing a story to life. I'm a storyteller first and foremost. To take what was once words on a page and eventually see not only your vision, but the vision of your whole team come together on screen, in front of live audience. That's magic.

We at The Cabin really love people following their dreams and visions and turning them into reality. What advice would you give someone trying to do what you do?

Go out and do it. Today people trying to break into the industry are so obsessed with gear. About having this camera and that equipment, and we have to shoot in 4k, and 6k. None of that matters if you can't tell a story. Learn your craft, learn what everyone else around you does as well, respect everyone and go out and make a film. As I said, so many films never make it to the final stage, people wait for that perfect moment, but it's never going to come. Every

Still from Silently within your shadow

Video Production Services reddogproductions.co.uk

Steven Deighan was born in Edinburgh in 1983. He is the author of THINGS FROM THE PAST and STAGES OF UNDRESS, and the original, indie graphic book, FEELS LIKE STEPHEN KING. Steven was kind enough to let us read his graphic novel ‘The Tent’ which left us feeling rather unsettled but as Steven explains he wouldn’t be doing is job right if it didn’t! We caught up with Steven after reading the tent, we wanted to know more about the man behind the words….

I think – when I dig deep in my memory – that the reason I turned to creating horror stories was the desire to learn of this unusual, unearthly existence of the unknown. There had been no bad accidents or events from which I couldn’t recover; nor were there any deaths around me that sparked the fascination with horror fiction and the beyond. For me it seemed like a whole new world – cue Aladdin! – bled out when I picked up a Pan Book of Horror Stories volume, or a doorstep edition of something by this American guy named Stephen King I was in primary school when the bug bit me, if you like. Suddenly gone were Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and He-Man cartoon re-runs – now there were vampires (The Light at the End, ‘Salem’s Lot), werewolves (Cycle of the Werewolf, Wolfen, The Howling); aliens (The Tommyknockers,

War of the Worlds), and demons and the supernatural (The Hellbound Heart, Phantoms, The Phantom of the Opera). All these incredible sci-fi and horror writers I found before I was ten years old and I was only clawing at the surface – with both hands! I must note that most of these paperbacks were purchased at car boot sales, often without my parents knowing! I can remember, though foggily, my fingers skipping over the rows of books in a dim, Edinburgh underground car park, selecting the ones with the best-looking covers or the ones with standout names across the front: Barker, Campbell, King, Koontz, Skipp, Spector. There were undoubtedly countless other writers I had spotted from all over, each with their own fictitious worlds within their novels; worlds that I could join and be a part of; situations/characters/monsters that I would never encounter in real life (at 10 that’s mostly exactly what you believe, isn’t it?). And to me, that was the allure – the pulling into of these worlds with the descriptions of the eerie towns, the cities with spiked tower buildings, the demons from Hell suddenly loose on earth! And it wasn’t just books – films played a massive part in my development, too. The Lost Boys, both The Fly movies, Warlock – too many others to mention, but the majority of them doing exactly what the paperbacks had done/were doing, and that was involving me.

I’ve been writing these kinds of stories for about 15 years now, and I’d imagine like a

lot of others out there who’re all still scribbling away we’ve all amassed a decentsized collection of our penned nightmares just begging to be discovered! My last published story was in the Scottish The Weekly News, and it was their Halloween centrepiece just last year, around the same time I announced the printing of my indie 3D horror comic book, The Party. It’s nice to know that even if I’m not a professional writer or represented by an agent yet, I still submit my stories which often get accepted by a publication that goes out to tens – possibly hundreds – of thousands of readers every week.

What do I love most about horror? Hmmm.

I’ve partially answered that already; I guess: being involved in the unknown. Even if we’re part of a film audience, a book readership, we’re encountering the unknown that is appealing to us on a different level we’re comfortable with. For me, it’s not right that stories have to have a happy ending. With the horror field we see that often sacrifices are made in the end – lessons have to be learnt. I think that the monsters in the fiction are there sometimes to remind us that maybe as humans we’re doing things wrong. Stories where we’re playing with nuclear weapons or genetics, or interfering with folklore and disobeying and being ignorant of cultures and [their] beliefs.

Horror is a checklist of the dos and don’ts to survive! ‘Do not leave your doors unlocked at night’; ‘Do not pick up that lonely hitchhiker with the rucksack’; ‘DO arm yourself with years of martial arts training, a bible, a personal alarm, some Pro-Plus!’

Let’s not forget that stories of the unknown have been around since Time began. In fact, didn’t all things begin in the dark?

I’ve completed 2 private indie projects in the last year: The Party and The Tent. The Party is a comic book story in 3D and can be purchased from www.theparty3d.co.uk for a very low price! It even comes with free anaglyph glasses so you can experience the

3D terror from the moment you open the pack! It’s based on a 1999 short story winner that I penned in high school. It was supposed to have been drawn a lot sooner, but the right artist never came along. I found Kate Evans online and we got to work on it right away. Her vision of the story in art form is amazing; each page was fully painted before it was scanned and resized for the printable PDF. I’m proud of that because a lot of comic books and graphic novels are created either from scratch digitally, or during the process they have digital enhancements. We went proper old school with our approach to it and so the only digital effect we used was to create the 3D, which I did using my own perception of how each page should appear to the reader wearing the glasses. I think we did a wonderful job and I urge everyone to snap up this limited indie gem before it’s gone for good. In fact, Glasgow comics/toy shop A1 Toys in Parnies Street has an amount available for your Scotland-based readers.

The Tent is a story that you’ve had access to and, in your words, left you “unsettled”. I’m sorry you felt that way, but I wouldn’t be doing my job right if you finished it and felt the opposite! I first got the idea a few years ago while on the train to Edinburgh; we passed the Gorgie area of the city on our approach to Haymarket, and sat upon an embankment concealed by a jungle of grass was this random green tent! I mean, it was just there – that was it. You wouldn’t have been able to see it from any other point save this rail line. So, it got me thinking: What was in it? Who ‘lived’ there? Why was it there? I combined the overall idea with a graphic novel script I was writing – Bethany Chiller® – a trademarked-titled raperevenge horror with a demonic twist. I decided that this tent should be from Bethany’s past, and that it helps set in motion the dreadful fate that awaits her.

And to make it more appealing, I created 20 specially signed, illustrated hardbacks of this tale that I sent out to prospective publishing houses and to the artist involved.

Some likely remain upon those unsuspecting

editor’s desks as we speak; perhaps one day we’ll see one or two touted on eBay! In the meantime, the full-length script of Bethany Chiller® is without an artist and sits in limbo on my PC until he/she comes along.

I remain hopeful that with each package I send to the publishing houses in and out of the UK, someone will open it and like what spills out. I scent each cover letter with a special pheromone spray to influence their decision! I’m not just looking to be a star writer – I’d also love to join a creative team, share what I’ve learnt about desktop publishing; of the many hours I’ve spent creating the comics and the hardbacks I’m sure I can pass something on or use those skills to create further projects, preferably horror ones. And I’m not closed to working with other indie collaborators. If anyone out there is in the same position as me, or at any level, get in touch; let’s see what we can create. There’s a world of opportunities in our chosen field – games, books, comics, films – and others are enjoying their successes because they’re going for what they want. We can do that, too! But we need to be active in our approach – in our assault. Why wait?

My favourite horror film, eh? Hmmm. I love Cronenberg’s The Fly and Warlock, starring Julian Sands. Those were the early horrors I watched when I was younger.

Modern horrors just aren’t doing it for me nowadays. The ones I’ve seen – admittedly, they’re straight-to-DVD horrors – have all been formulaic. I did like Dark Was the Night starring Kevin Durand, but for me the arse fell out of it at the end when we see a horde of monsters descend on the church. I felt it would’ve been more hard-hitting if Durand’s character had died and that was it, no more monsters. Go ahead, watch it.

Think about what I wrote! Oh, but a really good movie to see – and all the more due to the recent tragedy of its main star – is Odd Thomas. The late, tragic Anton Yelchin puts on an amazing performance, and I defy anyone – hard-hearted or not – too not cry at

the end! The books are great, too. I became a Koontz fan after this film.

So, that’s it, guys. My hopes and dreams. I hope you’re still awake and have developed an interest in the things I’ve mentioned. A lot of folk say that what they do, they do it for their fans, their family, their agents, etc.

Horror is special to me because it’s sometimes a no-go area where we do what we do for ourselves. If it scares us, the creators – the writers, the animators, the artists, the readers, the filmmakers – then it’s almost guaranteed to scare our audiences. There’s no other way that this can be done. It’s when horror takes us by the hand do we realise its nails are talons, its arm is skeletal, and its face veiled.

Ladies and gentlemen, I’m bringing horror home.

Win a copy of ‘The Tent’ just answer this question and get in touch!

How many years has Steven been writing these stories for?

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