Behind the Couch

I recently wrote an essay on the 1981 Gothic slasher film Hell Night , exploring the influence of folklore and cautionary fairy tales on its narrative. Following in the wake of titles such as Halloween , Friday the 13th , Terror Train , My Bloody Valentine , The Prowler and Prom Night , Hell Night  was produced at the height of the 'Golden Age' of slasher films (1978 - 1984). While it strongly adheres to typical slasher conventions, it offers interesting variations with its eerie fairy tale subtext and social commentary on the dangers of rites of passage initiations and social indoctrination. If you're interested in reading more, my piece has been published in the latest issue of We Belong Dead and you can pick up a copy here . 

The small press magazine Hellebore is a collection of writings and essays devoted to British folk horror and the themes that inspire it: folklore, myth, history, archaeology, psychogeography, witches, and the occult. The publication takes its name from a poisonous plant strongly associated with witches and the water element – it is also said to have the power to alter perception and open portals to the Underworld and the subconscious. Founder and editor Maria J Pérez Cuervo’s fascination with archaeology, mythology, anthropology and magic stems back to her childhood, and led her to study Latin and Ancient Greek at school before embarking upon a MA in Archaeology for Screen Media. Her writing regularly appears in publications such as Fortean Times, Spirits of Place, The Ghastling, Rituals and Declarations , and Folklore Thursday . According to Maria, she decided to create Hellebore because “The idea of creating something that included all the themes I love was very appealing. Becau...

I have contributed an essay to a forthcoming book about Italian giallo films*. Giallo un libro sobre terror italiano ( Giallo: A Book about Italian Terror ) is the latest project from the Buenos Aires-based Colectivo Rutemberg (Rutemberg Collective), a multidisciplinary group of artists and writers dedicated to the creation of exciting audio-visual and journalistic content. This publication, which features work from over 20 authors from Latin America and Europe, is particularly unique as it will be the first ever Latin American book solely dedicated to Italian terror cinema. Exciting! With Giallo un libro sobre terror italiano , Colectivo Rutemberg will contribute to the dissemination and critical analysis of the giallo, which, at present, is the subject of a very limited bibliography in the Spanish language (the only other Spanish language book specifically dedicated to analysing the giallo was published in Spain in 2001 and is currently out of print). Giallo un libro sobre t...

Diabolique is a bimonthly magazine covering every aspect of the horror genre, including film, literature, theatre, art, music, history and culture. Lavishly illustrated in full colour, each issue is packed with entertaining and thought-provoking articles. After a brief hiatus, Diabolique is now back in print and better than ever. At the helm is a new team of editors ( Kat Ellinger, Samm Deighan, Heather Drain and Rebecca Booth ) whose knowledge of horror cinema is surpassed only by their passion for it; not to mention their dedication to resurrecting Diabolique in print form and building on its legacy of thoughtful, insightful and compelling content. "Diabolique Magazine is back in print with an entire issue dedicated to celebrating Japanese and Korean cult cinema at its most sublime, otherworldly, erotic and visceral. In our cover story we explore the darker elements of Japanese folklore; tracking the evolution of the ghost story from genre defining classics Onibaba, K...

Just taking a quick break from writing (procrastinating) about The Company of Wolves to share some good news. I've just had my first short story published! In a book! Carnacki: The Lost Cases is an anthology that takes the mysterious cases hinted at by ‘Ghost-Finder’ Thomas Carnacki (a fictional occult detective who appeared in a collection of supernatural stories written by William Hope Hodgson between 1910 and 1912) and expands them into their own stories. My story, 'A Hideous Communion', is based on a line from 'The Horse of the Invisible', in which Carnacki remembers a particularly terrifying case in which ‘ the hand of the child kept materialising within the pentacle, and patting the floor. As you will remember, that was a hideous business .’ Carnacki: The Lost Cases is published by Ulthar Press , an independent, small press dedicated to promoting, reading and understanding many authors of horror/fantasy/speculative fiction, such as William Hope Hodgson...

Diabolique is a bimonthly magazine covering every aspect of the horror genre, including film, literature, theatre, art, music, history and culture. Lavishly illustrated in full colour, each issue is packed with entertaining and thought-provoking articles. Issue 25 is now available. A very special issue indeed, it is entirely devoted to celebrating the life and work of Sir Christopher Lee . Inside you’ll find essays and features such as: A WICKER MAN’S MAN - Jennifer Blair examines Christopher Lee’s iconic role as Lord Summerisle in Robin Hardy’s 1973 folk horror masterpiece, The Wicker Man . COUNT PERVERSION, THE WHIP AND THE LIVING DEAD - Kat Ellinger champions Christopher Lee’s oft-overlooked mainland European genre films, from Uncle Was A Vampire to Horror Express and everything in between. CHRISTOPHER LEE: METALHEAD - Joseph Schafer speaks with Luca Turilli of the symphonic power metal band, Rhapsody of Fire, on Christopher Lee’s headfirst dive into the world of ...

Dario Argento’s Suspiria needs little introduction. A nightmarish, hallucinatory carousel of a film, it is known to admirers of horror cinema for its exquisite cinematography, ear-shattering score, opulent production design and fiendish violence. Any sense of conventional narrative or characterisation takes a back seat to a full-on assault on the senses as the viewer is plunged head-first into a neon-Gothic nightmare of light, colour, sound and shadow. Regarded (and rightly so) as a horror classic, Suspiria is the subject of a new book by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, a film critic from Melbourne, Australia. No stranger to extreme cinema, Alexandra is the author of ' Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study ' (2011), and ' Found Footage Horror Films: Fear and the Appearance of Reality ' (2014). She is also co-editor of the film journal Senses of Cinema , and a critic on Radio Triple R’s film programme, Plato's Cave . Alexandra very kindly agreed to a quick chat ab...

Released just days after the end of the Second World War and a dozen years ahead of the first full-blooded Hammer Horror, the Ealing Studios horror anthology film Dead of Night featured contributions from some of the finest directors, writers and technicians ever to work in British film. Since its release it has become evermore widely regarded as a keystone in the architecture of horror cinema, both nationally and internationally. A new book from Auteur Publishing, written by Jez Conolly and David Owain Bates, marks the first time a single book has been dedicated to an analysis of the film. Co-author Jez Conolly has also written a monograph on John Carpenter’s classic chiller The Thing and is co-editor, with Caroline Whelan, of three books in the World Film Locations series (Dublin, Reykjavik and Liverpool) published by Intellect. He regularly writes for The Big Picture magazine and website and has contributed to numerous other cinema books and journals. He very kindly agreed...

As a literary genre, horror was primarily written for and read by women. As a cinematic genre, horror has always drawn a large female audience. And yet, in popular media and culture, horror is often branded 'male'. The Women in Horror Annual is an anthology of horror fiction and non-fiction authored by women writers. While there are of course plenty of horror anthologies out there, none are exclusively authored by women writers, meaning this annual is a first-of-its-kind. The goal of its editors - Christine Makepeace (author and former editor of Paracinema Magazine ) and Rachel Katz (former contributing writer for Paracinema Magazine ) - is to celebrate female voices, scholarship and opinion, and to provide a showcase of women’s contribution to horror literature, culture, and entertainment.  The works have been submitted, selected and edited. The next step is publication, and that's where you come in. With your assistance, the WHA will be made available in electronic ...

Fang of Joy is an independently published zine that focuses on European horror and gialli. The brainchild of the insanely prolific Richard Schmidt ( Hello, This is the Doomed Show ; Cinema Somnambulist ; Doomed Moviethon ), it’s a labour of love that should appeal to admirers of European horror cinema. From Argento, Bava, Naschy and Ossorio, all the way to Laugier, Bustillo et Maury and Wheatley; if you like your horror with a European flavour, this is a zine for you.  Issue 3 contains articles, reviews and features on the likes of The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Beyond the Darkness, The Black Belly of the Tarantula and The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism . There’s also an interview with Giovanni Lombardo Radice ( Stage Fright, City of the Living Dead ), an introductory guide to the films of Jess Franco, my own humble contribution - an essay on Irish horror cinema - and much, much more. Pick up a copy here . Also, if you’re the sort of person who just can’t get enough o...

Devil's Advocates is a book series devoted to exploring the classics of horror cinema. Contributors to Devil's Advocates come from the worlds of academia, journalism and fiction, but all have one thing in common: a passion for the horror film and for sharing that passion. Each instalment delves into a specific horror film, exploring everything from its conception to its impact on genre cinema and wider popular culture. Titles thus far include Let the Right One In by Anne Billson, Witchfinder General by Ian Cooper, SAW by Benjamin Poole, The Descent by James Marriott and Carrie by Neil Mitchell. Excitingly, a forthcoming addition to the series will peer into Dario Argento’s occult classic, Suspiria . Author Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is a visiting fellow at the Institute of Social Research at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. Her other books include Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study (McFarland, 2011) and Found Footage Horror Films: Fear...

Widely known for his graphic novel adaptations of classic literature, including collaborations on the acclaimed Sherlock Holmes series with Ian Edginton, INJ Culbard has also been making a name for himself with his adaptions of the work of HP Lovecraft. Having tackled At the Mountains of Madness, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward , and The Shadow Out of Time for SelfMadeHero, Culbard has now turned his attention to Lovecraft’s Dream Cycle, with a strikingly beautiful adaptation of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath . I had the absolute pleasure of talking to Ian recently about his Lovecraft adaptations, describing the indescribable, the far-reaching impact of Lovecraft's unique brand of cosmic horror, and his forthcoming adaptation of Robert Chambers’ The King in Yellow (!). Head over to Exquisite Terror to read our conversation .