Behind the Couch

The Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award nominations have just been announced. Now in their thirteenth year, the awards honour ‘the best in classic horror research, creativity and film preservation.’ Much to my surprise and delight, I’ve been nominated (for a second time) for an award in the Best Article category. The article, 'Family Man' (a look at Tobe Hooper’s meaty representations of the family unit in all its deadly, dysfunctional and dynamic forms), was published in issue 20 of Diabolique Magazine in March/April, 2014. If you feel like it, please vote for me. You can vote for as many or as few nominees/categories as you like. Check out all the nominees here . Please also consider voting for these fine folks; then just copy and paste the below into an email to taraco@aol.com. Remember to include your name to ensure your vote counts. Polls close at midnight on Sunday 19th April. Good luck, everyone! 11. BEST BOOK OF 2014 - SUBVERSIVE HORROR CINEMA: Countercu...

Directed by Tobe Hooper and produced by Steven Spielberg, Poltergeist (1982) is a slick, big budgeted, special effects laden extravaganza. It is also a well-written film – now considered a classic - with a sly commentary on the corrupting influence of television, the tribulations of suburban life, colonialism, the ill-treatment of Native Americans, the break-down of the nuclear family unit, and the damaging excesses of capitalism and consumerism. The influence of Spielberg is overwhelmingly evident in the film’s representation of the all American family, and their pursuit of the American dream. With Hooper in the director’s chair however, these moments appear almost satirical, and cracks soon begin to appear. To the central family’s horror, they realise their white, middle-class American dream is built upon the graves of indigenous people, and their suburban ideal crumbles when vengeful spirits abduct their young daughter, Carol-Anne... Head over to Eye for Film to read my ful...

Issue 20 of Diabolique is now available to order. The overriding theme of this issue is Family... The Family. What is it? How does it shape us? Strengthen us in the face of horror? Scar us? Destroy us? The mysteries and dysfunction of the family unit have been ripe for examination in countless contemporary and classic horror releases. Diabolique 20 takes a look underneath the surface of the family, featuring exclusive interviews with acclaimed filmmakers Adrian Garcia Bogliano ( Here Comes the Devil ), Mike Flanagan ( Absentia, Oculus ), Jim Mickle ( We Are What We Are ), and Navot Papushado ( Big Bad Wolves ), as well as my own ‘meaty’ exploration of familial themes in the films of Tobe Hooper. All this and more rounds out this fresh look at a crucial trope of horror culture. Diabolique 20: it’s a family reunion, and you’re invited… Pick up a copy here .

Nestled amidst the wildly uneven yet marvellously unrestrained film work of Tobe Hooper is Lifeforce , his 1985 adaptation of Colin Wilson’s cult 1976 novel, The Space Vampires . An audacious amalgamation of sci-fi and horror, Lifeforce revolves around the discovery of slumbering humanoid aliens in the tail of Haley’s Comet and the terror they unleash when brought back to earth for study. A critical and commercial flop upon release, Lifeforce has undergone something of a reappraisal in recent times. Co-written by Dan O’Bannon, it’s a solid B-movie that mesmerises with its sheer audacity, abundance of effects, intriguing ideas, bizarro chutzpah and, well, space vampires! Head over to Exquisite Terror to read my full review of this cult classic. While you’re there, why not pick up an issue of Exquisite Terror , an independently produced periodical with an academic, analytical approach to cinematic horror. Issues 1 - 3 are available now, and issue 4 is available to pre-orde...

Dir. Tobe Hooper 1981 Disobeying her parent's orders, teenager Amy sneaks out to visit a sleazy travelling carnival with her friends Liz, Buzz and Richie. They decide to spend the night in the carnival funhouse, but after witnessing a gruesome murder, are stalked by the maniacal, disfigured offspring of the carnival barker. Tobe Hooper’s masterpiece The Texas Chain Saw Massacre needs no introduction. One of the most highly regarded, visceral, provocative and controversial horror films of all time, few films have matched it for its raw intensity: not even many of Hooper’s own subsequent offerings could live up to the extreme intensity it generated. That said, much of his earlier work still retains an edgy grittiness to it; the sweaty bijou snuff-atmospherics of Eaten Alive and the nasty underbelly of Spielberg produced Poltergeist , all display the  kind of intensity Hooper specialised in mustering. Even in the creepy Prime-Time vampires-invading-a-small-town Stephen King...

Adapted from Stephen King’s best selling 1975 novel of the same name, Tobe Hooper’s supremely creepy TV mini-series follows writer Ben Mears (David Soul) as he travels back to his hometown of Salem’s Lot in order to write a new novel and research the old Marsten house. The house’s latest tenants are causing quite a stir in the town. One of them, sinister Richard Straker (James Mason), runs a small antique shop in the town; the other resident, the mysterious silent partner Kurt Barlow, has yet to be glimpsed by anyone. It becomes clear as the series unfolds, that Barlow is an ancient master vampire and is gradually turning the residents of Salem’s Lot into vampires. One of his first victims is a young boy, Ralphie Glick. Glick disappears soon after Straker and Barlow move into town. His grisly fate becomes clear later in the series in a scene that makes the blood run cold and hairs prick up… Ralphie appears floating outside his brother Danny’s bedroom window, feebly scratching at t...

2000 Dir. Tobe Hooper A group of teenaged friends having a party on a boat are menaced by a giant crocodile. Written by Adam Gierasch and Jace Anderson (who also wrote Toolbox Murders and co-wrote Dario Argento's Mother of Tears ), Crocodile is a low budget, by the numbers creature feature. While it certainly has the potential to be a grimy, taut throwback to exploitation flicks of the 80s, particularly with Tobe Hooper directing, it sadly emerges as more of a ripple, rather than the tide of terror it could have been. Featuring a buffed and polished cast of thirty-somethings playing teens, and some very tedious dialogue and partying scenes, the screenplay paints the characters with the broadest of strokes. Sure, they’re having fun, but we just aren’t invited to care, even remotely, about them. When they steal crocodile eggs, we know their fates are sealed, so it doesn’t seem to matter if we still can’t tell them apart. Brief sojourns to other parts of the bayou where we see th...