1.) When Did Horror/Sci-fi first enter your life?
When you become as ancient as I am a lot of memories tend to get lost in the mists of time
but some of my earliest horror/sci-fi memories revolve around my television viewing habits
back in the day. I was always intrigued by anything scary or with monsters and spaceships;
Doctor Who, Children of the Stones, Sky, Changes, Shadows, The Tomorrow People and
various monster movies like THEM!, Incredible Shrinking Man, and This Island Earth.
2.) You are the founder of both The Classic Horror Campaign & Frighten Brighton.
What made you want to create both the campaign and the one day festival?
The Classic Horror Campaign was my reaction against the homogenisation and blandness
of today's television channels which show an endless loop of reality shows, recent (mainstream rubbish)
films and repeats of boring programmes that i never watched the first time around. I just wanted
to try and get the BBC to sit up and take notice of classic film fans and then highlight how great
these older horror films still are and bring them to the attention of a new younger audience, which
I partly achieved through film screenings in London and the Frighten Brighton Classic Horror Film
Festival. I wanted to host all day horror festivals in Brighton simply because it's where i live and
there is absolutely nothing like that in the city. I proved that there is an audience for it as the festival
sold out and was a massive success. One of the great things was the amount of young people in
the audience, some of whom came up to thank me for introducing them to classic horror - they'd
never seen a horror film before 1980 before! Of course, one of the main attractions was our guest
co-host Emily Booth, but she is the perfect bridge between the classics and contemporary horror
as she actively champions both.
3.) What do you think of modern Horror/Sci-fi movies? Are they better or worse than the classics?
I'm not against remakes per se but these days the studios are just lazy and greedy. Years ago
remakes were made by directors who wanted to either improve on the original or tell the story
in a different way; it was about the art. Now it's only about money and corporate greed which
is why most modern remakes are just shit. And yes, I include YOU Evil Dead!
4.) Can you remember the first Classic Horror/Sci-fi film you saw?
To be honest, no, not really. I think one of the earliest classic horror films i saw must have been
part of the BBC2 horror double bills - something like Dracula's Daughter or The Mummy (1932).
5,) Do you have a favourite Horror Film Studio?
I love Amicus and Hammer, but any of the British Studios I have a certain fondness for - Tigon,
Tyburn, Planet...all made entertaining genre films. And of course Universal and RKO in the States.
6.) Who are your Top 3 favourite Horror Actresses?
Caroline Munroe, Emily Booth and Eileen Daly - all are beautiful, all are talented and all are lovely
people; I'm very lucky to know them.
was this something you always wanted to do and why?
Yes, I've wanted to produce my own Horror/Sci-fi mag since i was a kid and used to make comics
and magazines when i was little. I was inspired by Starburst and House of Hammer in particular and
basically wanted to be Dez Skinn (editor and publisher) when i was ten years old. I chose to make
"Space Monsters" geared more towards classic sci-fi because there are already so many classic horror
magazines out there but nothing that really caters for fans of old movie and television sci-fi.
Of course, the emphasis is still on monsters, B-movies and scary stuff, but there will be a great deal
of variety in what we cover.
8.) So what is next for you? Any other upcoming projects you want to mention (If you can)?
Hmmm...there are certainly things in the pipeline but nothing i can mention outright.
Let me just give you a few hints and you can make of them what you will....a NEW horror film festival,
a couple of movies, a radio show and a Christmas ghost story fund-raiser.
9.) How can people find out more about you, the Classic Horror Campaign and the magazine?
OK, I guess this is where I give you a whole heap of links to various pages and websites!
Twitter -http://twitter.com/cyberschizoid
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cyberschizoid/386004161495028
Cyberschizoid - http://www.cyberschizoid.com/
Classic Horror Campaign - http://www.classichorrorcampaign.com/
Space Monsters Magazine - http://spacemonstersmag.wordpress.com/
10.) Finally, What would you like to say to all the people that have supported your campaign and
to fans of Horror/Sci-fi in general?
I'd like to say a huge thank you and give massive horror hugs to the literally thousands of people
who have supported the Classic Horror Campaign - you've all made the hard work worthwhile.
Just keep on talking about and watching the classic sci-fi and horror movies, introduce them to
your kids and teach them that black and white is alright! Oh, and please keep buying print movie
magazines - especially Space Monsters of course!
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