Behind the Couch

The horror community has suffered a sad and sudden loss with the death of Richard Gladman, founder of the Classic Horror Campaign and editor/publisher of Space Monsters . Richard was battling cancer and undergoing treatment when he passed away in hospital at the weekend. Perhaps best known to some by his online username, Cyberschizoid, Richard was, amongst many other things, a huge advocate of the UK horror scene; he founded the Classic Horror Campaign, which sought to reintroduce vintage horror double bills to BBC 2, and Frighten Brighton , an annual horror film festival based in, you’ve guessed it, Brighton. A life-long fan of horror and sci-fi cinema, Richard contributed to myriad print publications such as Shock Horror, Scream and Rue Morgue, as well as many online publications like Haunted and Spooky Isles, and he hosted various film screenings in London, Manchester and Brighton.  While I never met Richard personally, we exchanged emails over the years and I was always...

RIP Wes Craven (1939-2015) Filmmaker Wes Craven, best known for intelligent and provocative horror titles such as A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream and The Last House on the Left , has died at the age of 76. He had been diagnosed with brain cancer and passed away at his home in LA, leaving behind his wife Iya Labunka, and his two children Jonathan and Jessica. Craven’s impact on the landscape of shock cinema came early in his career with searingly gritty and subversive titles such as The Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes . These films presented levels of violence and graphic realism in ways rarely seen before. What became clear though was that despite the brutality of his work, Wes Craven’s films were intelligent and strangely philosophical; he frequently addressed themes such as familial strife, generational conflict, class, race, teenage angst, dreams and man-made monsters. While at college he studied literature and psychology before moving on to earn a Master...

British horror author James Herbert, whose blood-curdling novels include The Rats and The Fog , passed away last night at the age of 69. The writer died at his home in Sussex, and is survived by is wife and three daughters. The cause of death has yet to be disclosed. Herbert exploded onto the horror scene in 1974 with his debut novel The Rats - the nightmarish tale of mutant, flesh-eating rats and the bloody havoc they wreck throughout a squalidly depicted London. It sold 100,000 copies in the two weeks after it was published. His follow up, The Fog (completely unrelated to the John Carpenter film) told of a mysterious fog that spreads across Britain mutating those who encounter it into homicidal maniacs. Often bleak and downbeat, Herbert’s stories were uncompromising in their depiction of the violent demise of humankind in the face of unspeakable evil - often of an environmentally created bent. Born in London in 1943, Herbert studied graphic design at college before going on...

Actress and author Ingrid Pitt, best known for her roles in horror films from the 60s and 70s, such as the Hammer Horror productions The Vampire Lovers and Countess Dracula , has passed away at the age of 73. The Polish-born star died from heart failure at a hospital in south London where she was admitted after collapsing a few days ago. Pitt’s death comes just several weeks after that of Roy Ward Baker, who directed her in The Vampire Lovers .  Of all the bewitching, beguiling actresses whose presence graced various Hammer Horror productions throughout the years, Pitt is one of the most commanding – and even though she only appeared in two Hammer titles, was still certainly one of the most memorably compelling leading Hammer actors. Indeed, according to Hammer historian Marcus Hearn, Pitt was a "talented actress and fine writer" who was also "partly responsible for ushering in a bold and brazen era of sexually explicitly horror films in the 1970s; but that should ...

Whilst pouring over the latest issue of Sight & Sound I came across an article commemorating the life and work of film scholar Robin Wood, who sadly passed away in December, 2009. Wood had a profound influence over critical readings of films - particularly horror movies, (and in particular again - slasher films), with his groundbreaking work focusing on the concept of the ‘Return of the Repressed.’ Wood stated ‘The release of sexuality in the horror film is always presented as perverted, monstrous and excessive; both the perversion and the excess being the logical outcome of repression.’ These ideas were fleshed out in the three part essay ‘ An Introduction to the American Horror Film ’ (Part I: Repression, The Other, The Monster ; Part II: Return of the Repressed ; Part III; The Reactionary Wing ). This essay was published in The American Nightmare: Essays on the Horror Film , which was edited by Wood and his partner (academically and romantically) Richard Lippe. Wood was o...

Actress Brittany Murphy, star of films such as Clueless, Girl, Interrupted and Drop Dead Gorgeous , has died after collapsing at her home in Los Angeles. According to the coroners report, Murphy appeared to have died from a cardiac arrest. She was only 32. I'm a big fan of Murphy's film work, and was saddened to hear of her death. An always interesting character actor, Murphy will be remembered for her portrayals of oddball outsiders in films such as Clueless, Freeway, Girl, Interrupted, Don’t Say a Word and Spun before she went on to star in the likes of Riding in Cars with Boys ,  8 Mile and Sin City . No stranger to darker, unsettling films, Murphy made a number of memorable forays into outright genre territory in her too-short career, with roles in the darkly comic slasher Cherry Falls , The Prophecy II and  Deadline . RIP Brittany. I hope not sporadically x

Dan O'Bannon, the screenwriter of classic genre films such as Alien and Total Recall and cult favourites Dead and Buried , Dark Star and Return of the Living Dead , has died at the age of 63 in Los Angeles following a short illness. O'Bannon attended USC film school in the early '70s where he met director John Carpenter and the pair collaborated on Carpenter's debut feature Dark Star . O'Bannon co-wrote, edited, supervised the special effects and portrayed Sgt Pinback in this existential sci-fi comedy. O'Bannon soon quit his job on the visual effects team on Star Wars to begin screenwriting full time. His first project after Dark Star was a script titled Star Beast - co-written by Ronald Shusett - which would later be filmed as Alien by Ridley Scott. The writer would also go on to work with Tobe Hooper on Lifeforce and Invaders From Mars. O'Bannon is survived by his wife Diane Louise Lindley and their son Adam. He made significant contributions...

Cult actor Edward Woodward, best known for his roles as a virginal policeman in The Wicker Man and a former secret agent turned vigilante in the 80s TV show The Equalizer , sadly died on Monday 16th November at the age of 79, after suffering from a number of illnesses including pneumonia. The actor died in a hospital near his home in Cornwall and was said to have been surrounded by family and friends. Woodward made his mark in cinema with his portrayal of celibate and devoutly Christian Police Sergeant Neil Howie, in British Horror film The Wicker Man. The film has quite often been referred to as "the Citizen Kane of horror movies", and both Woodward and Sir Christopher Lee have said they were "enormously proud" of their roles. According to The Guardian the director of the The Wicker Man , Robin Hardy, paid tribute to Woodward, saying he was 'one of the greatest actors of his generation, without any question', who was 'an absolute star of The Wick...