INTERVIEW WITH GZ MAGAZINE EDITOR BRYN HAMMOND

1.  How old were you when your first became a fan of Horror?

Bryn: Gosh, i really don't recall. I have always been a horror fan since i was a child. My first horror movie i recall seeing was Brain Damage directed by Frank Henenlotter. I don't recall much about the movie but i remeber that there was a worm  attached to a guy called Brian and it rolled from there.

In fact Frank Henenlotter sent me a signed copy of the dvd last year but i still haven't gotten around to re-watching it. I do find that revisiting movies you are fond of as a child are always a let down.

But going back to your question, I've always been attracted  to the horror industry I found it an escapism
as i came from a very violent childhood my father beat my mother up and I witnessed some tragic scenes
so i just feel a relief  when watching horror  it's the buzz of entertaiment. I'm  sure there is some underlying mental issue but it hasn't done me any harm and I have not committed a murder yet, lol. Best way to
sum  my childhood up is the world  around me was kind of grim. I had to learn to pretend  in order to - I don't know- block the grimness. The whole world seemed  sort of closed to me . . .  [I felt]  on the outside of everything, and all i could do was to dream up any kind of pretend game and I escaped into the world of horror. Legend  was one of my favorite  movies, i wish  life was as magical  as that.

2. Can u remember the first Horror Movie u ever saw?

Bryn:  I really don't recall my first ever horror movie , i DO recall telling fibs to my auntie Sandra and  told her my mother allowed me to watch horror movies, so she rented  a Nightmare on Elm Street.  On that same night, my mum returned home from work, she worked at a school for  handicapped children, to find me rather Traumatized  and I ended up convincing her I had an appendicitis, so I didn't have to go to bed.
Mum wasn't very happy that she had   to spend the night in A&E  with me. The Birds also scared me, that really is an amazing movie, well shot and i think it's one of the best Creature Features to date.

But to answer your question i really don't recall what my first horror movie was.

3. What made you want to start GZ Magazine?

Bryn: I love horror and I also love sex  and there is nothing on the market that blends BOTH sex and horror and to be brutally honest I started work at a local  newspaper and saw how easy it was. GZ Magazine has definitely gone  from strength to strength  and we are one of  the only magazines that has increased it's sales  throughout the credit crunch which is a huge achievement, so I thank the readers so much..Must be doing something right, or at least me and my Team are. One thing people bitch slap me about  is how sexed up the publication is but Sex is a part of nature.I go along with nature. The human body is a beautiful thing, why not show it off?

4.  Who would be your Dream Cover Star or Dream Interviewee?

Bryn: Hell, where do i start?  Traci Lords is a MUST!!  as i find her such a complex character. She is amazing, she's  pure sex appeal  and  i  read her autobiography and I share a lot in common with her which is amazing, I also admire how she went from  Porn Star to Mainstream actress.
  Melinda Clarke from Return of the Living Dead 3, I have tried many times but she's  brutally rejected me and stated quite clearly that she's DONE with Horror. Pity...as she's so iconic.  To be honest,  I have really interviewed  everyone i have ever wanted to. I Know she's  not involved in the horror industry, but i would really like to interview Katie Price (Jordan)  and  also Hugh Hefner. I adore these two people, they really inspire me. They came from nothing and made a success of themselves, in fact I share a lot in common with Hef,  He started off  on his mothers dining room table, I did the same except it was in a converted chapel  my partner built and designed. He's a property developer and owns a security company  PLUS he is Company director of Gorezone aka GZ Magazine.

5. What are your Top 3 favourite Horror Movies of all time?

Bryn:  That's a difficult one I have loads of  favourite horror movies and it just depends what month and my mood. At the moment I love  Candyman  and Warlock The Armageddon. I'm so diverse when it comes to horror I become addicted. I must've watched Candyman  Daily for the last week.

I love The Wig ( a brutal Korean film)  which has many scenes that really disturbed me.  Oh gosh, I'm a  huge, huge fan of Friday The 13th  3D , i adore that movie. My all time favourite horror movie  has to be  Just Before Dawn, which is  the most underrated  horror movie of all time, which is a pity because it's so much better  than any slasher movie ever made, the final scenes are pretty shocking  and really left me gob smacked. I love Jodi O'Keefe's  Devil  in the Flesh 2, that's a cool  Thriller, really sexy and I also think Halloween 2 and 4 are the best in the Franchise.

I know i'll get butchered  for saying this but I love Howling IV!  I Know it's bad, but I  just think it's an amazing movie and the SFX are fantastic. Another one of my all time favourites is VAMP, that's the best vampire movie  ever made  besides Bram Stoker's Dracula and Fright Night which are also great vampire movies.

6. Are you a fan of any other movie genre  BESIDES Horror?

Bryn: Hell Yeah!  i adore Marilyn Monroe's movie Niagara , (it's one of the best movies of all time), Poison Ivy: The New Seduction, Just Friends, Hell the list is endless. I even loved  Dinosaurs  ( it was a show shown on Sundays before Bullseye) that was cool. I love Slums of Beverly Hills  ( an amazing coming of age movie)starring Heroin Addict Natasha Lyonne. I love the Original  BBC Version  of CS Lewis'  The Chronicles of Narnia, The Silver Chair is by far the best in the series. I wasn't impressed with the Movie adaptations,they just didn't capture the magic for me, unlike movies such as Labyrinth and  Legend ( starring Tom Cruise).
Being  such a fan of Natasha Lyonne,  i enjoyed  Her performance in the Camp film "But I'm a Cheerleader"
she's such a talented actress but the media puts such pressure on it's young stars, it's sad  that they find the need to escape from the pressures of the media by indulging in drink & drugs.

7. What do u think of Horror Remakes? Are they a good thing?

Bryn: I'm not sure what I think of remakes I  like to keep an open mind and  give them a chance, there HAS been some stinkers, but then again  i think u get that from any movie. Take for instance,  Friday The 13th  was rotten as was Night of the Demons, but  then of course there are those remakes which are pretty cool such as  Texas Chainsaw Massacre  and The Amityville Horror. Don't get me wrong, i didn't HATE Night of the Demon's Remake  but i wish they hadn't  attached  it to one of my favourite movies of all time, if they hadn't done that , then i would've liked the remake better, but because i put the Original on such a high pedestal, i found the remake a huge disappointment. As far as the Friday 13th remake is concerned, I was suffering from flu and  i went out  and  mixed a glass of wine with medication ( Bad Idea), I spent the whole evening with my head down the toilet, so i missed the movie, but what i saw of it i was less than impressed.

The Nightmare on Elm Street remake was by far the worst remake ever made and the people behind that film need shooting!

8. Who is your favourite Horror Director of all time?

Bryn:  I have so many, I love Richard Wenk, Howard Hawks, Otto Preminger, Joshua Logan, Roy Baker, Henry Hathaway, Jeff Lieberman, Steve Miner and Anthony Hickok. Gosh you put me on the spot here, there are so many directors i admire. I like Kevin S Tenny, He's really amazing, he created  my all time favourite  Franchise  Night of the Demons. I have such a collective taste in movies and directors so it's hard for me to be able to say who i really like.

9. What is your Highlight of 2010?

Bryn:  Gosh  my highlight of 2010 was Gorezone Magazine  (aka GZ Magazine)  increasing it's sales  month by month. I know i get bashed a lot by ignorant people who expect Horror to be  all about Guts and Gore, but what about the stars of the movies?  Vogue isn't  going to do a pictorial on them and they certainly won't make the cover of  Cosmopolitan, but i try to avoid reading  feedback online as it can be really hurtful. I literally put 24 hrs into the magazine Monday to Friday and all i seem to get is Narrow minded people critizing me because we aren't the norm.
For me there's already a Horror Hound, Rue Morgue, so why would i want to follow in their footsteps?  I want to create something totally different, I want to create a magazine that I am happy with.

 I have learnt two things: To ignore what people say about me and  that  as long  as my readers are happy, I'm Happy and while sales increase i Know i'm doing something right, so here's a middle finger to all the people that pre-judge me and my magazine. I have learnt a lot  about myself this past year, so that's been my Highlight, learning about myself  and taking no notice of  what bloggers have to say about me. I make the magazine for me and for my readers who are my extended family. I knew i belonged to the public and to the world, not because i was talented or a genius, but because I never belonged to anything or anyone else, so the magazine really makes me happy and the readers are my family and i thank them.

I read online apparently we have such a low female readership which is false. I'd like to say we have  72%  male Readership and 28%  female Demographic and not just that, I have some of my female readers on speed dial  and get their feedback on what they think of the mag. Jenny Bright is a huge supporter, so that's what i have learnt and while bloggers pick up on our female covers, they seem to forget we have had  Jesse Metcalfe, Johnny Depp and up and coming male covers including  Jamie Kennedy. But the Horror Market is DOMINATED by  Females, so it makes sense we have MORE female cover stars than male ones.

Oh well, Uneducated people just make themselves look stupid  as they don't  know what they are talking about and I'm happy for them to contact me and give me constructive criticism on how to make the magazine better, but they don't, All I get is " I Hate the Magazine".  How is THAT helping us as a publication?

My email for people with constructive criticism is b.hammond@gorezone.co.uk and I always reply to ALL readers,  it may take me a while, but i DO get 1000's of  Horror  related emails, but PLEASE only emails with constructive Criticism. One thing i want to say is that many people have been unkind, mainly other publishers. One publication even forged fake documents to discredit us, sadly we are audited, so here is ANOTHER middle finger to them. Pity they can't just concentrate on their OWN magazine instead of getting jealous of GZ Magazine's success. If i say i want to grow as a publisher and editor, they look at me smugly. If i say i want to develop, to learn my craft, they laugh. Somehow they don't expect me to be serious about my work because of my age.

10. What do you have in store for Readers of GZ Magazine in 2011?

Bryn: Well, I'll Definitely be developing  the magazine more and really growing as a person and hopefully people will see me as an individual  person  and not compare me tp people like Anna Nicole Smith as i have been in the past. (Bloggers love me) they have a habit of looking at me as if  i am some kind of mirror instead of a person. They don't see ME, they only see their own lewd thoughts, then they White-Masked  themselves  by calling ME the lewd one.

So hopefully this year I can change peoples'  perceptions of my public image. The honest truth is I've never fooled anyone, i've let people  fool themselves. They don't  bother to find out  who and what I am. Instead they invent a character for me, i won't argue with them. They are obviously hating somebody I am not. That is my goal, To try and change peoples preconceptions of me and  hopefully  take over the world.

I also want to increase our 200,000+ worldwide circulation and make my supporters and family Happy and proud of me.

Thank u Soooooooo much for your interview, it means a lot and thank u for your support on twitter.

Please can you print the following websites as I feel  that people need to realize that there are a lot of people  who suffer from these diseases as well  as domestic violence & alcohol abuse ( which I have witnessed as a child). So please, can you post  these links as they are close to my heart?

http://www.womensaid.org.uk/

http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/

http://www.celebritytherapist.com/

Huge thank you to all the readers and  support you have given me,  and  if it wasn't  for YOU the readers, I'd not be doing a job I adore and love. Thank You! ( i really mean it).

GOREZONE  AKA  GZ MAGAZINE IS ON SALE MONTHLY WORLDWIDE  PRICED £3.85  UK  $8.99 USA

Thank  U