Famous Monsters sat down recently to speak with director James Watkins about his influences and experiences while making THE WOMAN IN BLACK, the new feature produced by historically lauded Hammer Films, which opens today.

Since being re-acquisitioned in 2008, Hammer has produced a handful of independent movies (such as LET ME IN, the American remake of LET THE RIGHT ONE IN), but perhaps nothing so media-worthy as THE WOMAN IN BLACK—thanks in no small degree to the film’s star, Daniel Radcliffe, of HARRY POTTER fame.

Watkins had nothing but positive things to say about Radcliffe in our interview. “I thought that Dan played his role very well. He’s got a certain vulnerability about him that I thought would really speak to the character,” said Watkins, who was casual, well-spoken, and obviously very proud of the Hammer-worthy atmosphere and characterization in his film.

Don’t miss our full interview as featured in Famous Monsters Issue 260, which hits newsstands this week—and be sure to check out J. Astro’s full review of the film here.

Lianne Spiderbaby

BY LIANNE SPIDERBABY
Can you think of a better way to open a film than with Lon Chaney singing, “This cannibal orgy is strange to behold – and the maddest story ever told!” over rattling piano keys? Me neither. Jack Hill’s solo directorial debut, SPIDER BABY, or THE MADDEST STORY EVER TOLD (1968) has reached epic cult following heights, and filmmakers like Rob Zombie and Quentin Tarantino site it as one of their favorite films of all time. SPIDER BABY is a deliciously creepy tale about three orphaned, inbred siblings who suffer from Merrye Syndrome – making them demented, deranged, and dangerous. Ralph (Sid Haig), Virginia (Jill Banner), and Elizabeth (Beverly Washburn) are in the care of Bruno (Lon Chaney), a naïve chauffeur who loses control over the overgrown children as they partake in mischief, murder, and complete chaos.

SPIDER BABY orphan actress Beverly Washburn began acting at a very young age, and although she was directed by Cecil B. DeMille, and she has worked with actors Jimmy Stewart and Superman George Reeves, she claims SPIDER BABY as the best experience she has ever had working on a film. FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND caught up with Washburn to talk about SPIDER BABY, her new book REEL TEARS, and what it was like to work with Jack Hill, and horror icons Lon Chaney and Boris Karloff.

LIANNE: Everyone loves SPIDER BABY. What was it like to be part of such an amazing film, and how were you cast as the role of Elizabeth?
WASHBURN: It was a bit odd the way that I was cast. I was at the grocery store doing my shopping, and this man kept following me. Every time I turned a corner, there he was. Finally, he came up to me and told me that he was working on a film with Lon Chaney, and he wanted me to audition for a part. After hearing that, of course I was exciting to audition, I had never done that sort of a role, and I knew it would be a lot of fun to play an insane young woman. Shortly after my audition, I was told that I could leave. I was so upset, because I thought I hadn’t gotten the part. However, I got a phone call and they cast me!

LIANNE: So you got the opportunity to work with Lon Chaney! What was that like?
WASHBURN: Lon Chaney is so terrific in the role, and it was just amazing watching him work. There is a part in the film where he cries on the front porch, and we all watched him produce real tears, he was incredible. He was such a dear man, very soft-spoken and really lovely. It was a great cast. Of course, Jill was killed in an automobile accident, and Lon has passed away, and it just makes me so sad that they didn’t get to see how popular the film has become. It’s amazing to me that after all these years the film has such a following.

LIANNE: What was or has been your favorite film to work on, our character to play in your career thus far?
WASHBURN: I loved working on OLD YELLER, but I have to say that SPIDER BABY was my favorite because it was so much fun, it was so quirky and different from anything that I had done. Working with Jack Hill was such a treat.

LIANNE: You worked with Jack Hill on the set of PIT STOP (1969), as well.
WASHBURN: Yes, both Sid Haig and I worked with Jack again on that film! Jack is so terrific and he so easy to work for. He knows what he wants, but he would allow us to interpret our characters. When he got in touch with me for PIT STOP, which is about drag car racing, I was thrilled. He’s a fantastic director, and he has a very distinct way of writing. I’m so happy that after all of these years, I’m still in touch with Jack and Sid, and I get to meet so many wonderful fans, as well.

LIANNE: You also worked with Boris Karloff in an episode of the television show THRILLER, entitled “Parasite Mansion”. What was it like working with him?
WASHBURN: The whole THRILLER series is out on DVD now, and I did some narration and commentary for the episode I was in. I was on set in this haunted house for the episode, and Boris Karloff was the host of the show. He was very tall, lanky, and frankly quite scary looking – but he was so nice! In the episode, I play the granddaughter to a witch who treats me horribly. In one scene, I’m sitting at the dinner table – I scream and hold my hands up, and bloody claw marks appear all over my face; this effect was created with sponges and chocolate syrup! When I pressed the sponges to my face, the syrup left marks on my face that looked like blood. Black and white filmmaking allowed for some really cool, budget friendly techniques like that!

LIANNE: You wrote a book recently, called REEL TEARS.
WASHBURN: The book is available now, and the title is a play on words. In so many of my films, I played the crier. Some of the proceeds of this book will be going to an animal charity as well, which is something I’m very passionate about. The book is an autobiography about my life story, and you can read more about SPIDER BABY and Jack Hill in it, as well!

For more on Beverly and to pick up a copy of REEL TEARS, head over to her official site.

More on Famous Monsters scribe Lianne Spiderbaby at www.liannespiderbaby.com.

An almost spectral-looking 2011 portrait by artist Rich Bernal of Vincent Price as he appeared in THE RAVEN. Commissioned for the St. Louis VINCENTENNIAL.

2011 is the birthday centennial for Vincent Price, and the anniversary was celebrated by various magazines, blogs,  film screenings and other events that honored the late actor. It was most memorably observed in Price’s hometown of St. Louis, where the Vincentennial was marked by a series of events organized primarily by Price fan Tom Stockman. Local newspaper reporter Raymond Castile and I attended many of the screenings, interviews, museum and gallery events in the more-than-month-long observance of the multifaceted man many think of as the “King of Horror.”  

Raymond talked with a number of fans from around the world about their love of Price (including myself), and their encounters with him in life or on the screen. I later talked with a number of Vincent Price’s co-stars from film and television at the Monster Bash Octoberfest in the Pittsburgh area, where half a dozen films with Vincent Price screened over two days.  Our longer interviews are presented here as questions and answers.

We think the memories and emotions of a wide range of  Price fans and Price co-stars make for an especially warm tribute in the cold closing months of this Vincent Price centennial year. We hope you do too.

_______________________

 KIM MORTON

Kim Morton. Photo: RC

Kim Morton can never escape Vincent Price’s haunting gaze. It stares at her whenever she looks at her left arm.

That’s where Price got under her skin – literally. Fresh out of high school, Morton had Price’s moody portrait tattooed on her upper arm, a bat hovering above his head.

“He was an icon of mine that I wanted on my body,” said Morton, 21. “I like to wear things I love on myself.”

Morton discovered Price in childhood when her older sister – a classic horror fan – introduced her to films like “House on Haunted Hill.”

“I remembered being so frightened of him,” Morton said. “That frightened little girl ended up becoming mesmerized by him.”

In her hometown of Warren, Michigan, the tattoo draws attention – especially from older people. They tell Morton, “That can’t be Vincent Price. You’re too young.”

Young people tell her they like the portrait, but have no idea who it is. “Is that your grandfather?” they ask.

No one mistook Price for Morton’s grandfather when she visited St. Louis in May for the Vincentennial, a multimedia commemoration of the horror icon’s 100th birthday. The 10-hour drive wasn’t fun, but it was worth it for the chance to spend a weekend immersed in all things Vincent Price.

Morton expected a typical convention setup with events concentrated in one hotel. What she found was a city-wide celebration.

Price was born May 27, 1911 in St. Louis, where he attended St. Louis Country Day School. In later years he would speak fondly of the city, often returning to perform at venues like the Muny or the “Fabulous Fox” Fox Theatre.

The Vincentennial kicked off April 22 at the Sheldon Art Galleries with the opening of a museum exhibit featuring artifacts from Price’s life and memorabilia from his films. Another exhibit of Price-themed art debuted April 29 at the Star Clipper gallery. Both exhibits ran through the summer.

Autographed art by Ron Lazorty. Part of the Star Clipper exhibit. Photo: MC

But the Vincentennial’s main event was a film festival that ran May 19-28 at the Hi-Pointe Theatre, Missouri History Museum, Washington University and the Muny. The festival included screenings of 20 Vincent Price films, plus lectures and interviews.

All this came about thanks to the Vincentennial’s event director, Tom Stockman, a horror fan who screens Super 8 mm films one night a month at the Way Out Club, a St. Louis bar. A year earlier, Stockman began planning a special evening of Vincent Price Super 8 films on the actor’s 100th birthday. Like a mad doctor’s experiment gone out of control, Stockman’s idea grew and grew until, for one month, it practically took over the city.

Morton learned of the Vincentennial from a blurb in a horror magazine. It was just a snippet, but that was all it took to make her jump to her feet.

“I remember running to my mom and telling her we have to go; this has to happen,” Morton said.

She and her mom made the drive in one day, arriving in time to see a two-hour lecture by Price’s daughter, Victoria Price, at the Missouri History Museum. On the evening of her father’s birthday, Victoria held the packed house spellbound as she brought her father back to life through storytelling, personal photos and video clips.

“I figured that would be the closest I would ever get to seeing Vincent Price – to see his flesh-and-blood daughter,” Morton said.

At the Sheldon, Morton perused Price’s personal effects.

Photo of VP as a toddler from Jenni Nolan-O'dell; VP's baby album and mittens from the Robert Taylor collection. Photo: MC

“It was so much fun looking through things he held so close, like his wallet and baby book,” she said. “It was like looking past the actor and at the man.”

Price program souvenirs provided by Rick Squires. Cards/wallets from the Sara Waugh collection. Photo: MC

______________

BRETT HALSEY

Brett Halsey & Price fan at Monster Bash Octoberfest. Photo: MC

Actor Brett Halsey, who now more often inhabits the real-life role of author,  smiles when the name of Vincent Price is mentioned.

“Of all the actors I’ve appeared with in 98 feature movies and I don’t know how many television shows, Vincent’s probably my favorite actor I ever worked with,” said Halsey in October. Halsey appeared in the films The Return of the Fly and Twice-Told Tales with Price. The work was “hard but fun” the actor/author said, and attributed their camaraderie during shooting to having “artistic and personal temperaments that just meshed.”

Halsey had liked Price long before going into the same profession as the late actor. “I followed his career from when I was a kid, from when he was doing Dragonwyck. I’d been a fan since then,” Halsey said. “Working with him was a thrill.”

Halsey went on to describe Price as someone known for his sense of humor, and for being generous and unfailingly positive both onscreen and off.

“He was just wonderful on every level–as a colleague, as a giving actor. And he was cheerful, always ‘up’,” Halsey recalled. “I can’t imagine anyone ever knowing him ‘down.’ Of course, he had to be at times, but I never saw it, any of it.”

Halsey remembered an example of Price’s off-screen selflessness. Price was a noted art collector and the two discussed their shared interest in art.

“When I was living in Rome, we went to an art exhibit together. I was interested in this particular Swiss painter, Kurt Polter. And I asked Vincent, ‘What do you think?’ He pointed out one and said, ‘There. That’s the best thing Kurt has ever painted.’ I said, “Should I buy it?” and he said “Absolutely.” So I bought it. And I still have it. He could have bought it for himself.”

Halsey regrets that neither he or Price  ever visited each other’s homes, but stressed that they did socialize a good bit.

“Most of our socializing was away from Hollywood. In Europe, and in Munich and Mexico, in restaurants and so on,” Halsey stated.  ”"With his wife Mary we used to go down to Ensenada in Mexico, and just play, and drink tequila. Because he loved to have a good time. He was one helluva good guy.”

So Halsey never got to experience a Vincent Price-cooked meal. But Halsey added, “ I have his cookbook!”

_____________

PETER FULLER

You can live anywhere and be a Price fan.

Victoria Price and Peter Fuller. Photo: RC

It all started when Fuller saw Price on “The Tiki Caves” episode of “The Brady Bunch.”

“He scared me silly,” Fuller said. “It was his voice that really grabbed my attention. It was so rich, so articulate. For an Australian country boy like myself, I so wanted to have a voice like that.”

Fuller caught Price’s Edgar Allan Poe films when they were broadcast on local television. In the days before VHS, young Fuller tried to preserve the experience by recording the films on audiocassettes. He would spend hours listening to that resonant voice cutting through the analog hiss.

“We are supposed to put away childish things when we grow up, but I have never seen my fascination with Vinnie as childish,” Fuller said. “To me, he is a surrogate mentor to all his fans for all things artistic.”

He met Price in 1981 when the actor came to his hometown of Perth in a touring production of his one-man show about Oscar Wilde, “Diversions and Delights.” Fuller approached Price after the show and got his autograph.

“Although I was gutted when he showed more attention to my sister than he did his number one West Australian fan,” he said. A few years later, Price sent Fuller a postcard from the set of  The Whales of August.

“I always counted Vinnie as a special person in my life,” Fuller said. “When Vinnie died in 1993, I felt a huge sense of loss.”

Fuller said the Vincentennial brought him the closure he needed, celebrating Price’s life in the company of so many like-minded fans.

Victoria Price facing away from a photo of her dad and herself in his final days, surrounded by friends and family. Photo: RC

Fuller reported that he enjoyed the 35mm screenings of Price’s films and the two evenings with Roger Corman, but the “icing on the cake” was Victoria Price’s “Reflections from a Daughter” presentation delivered on Vincent Price’s 100th birthday.

“Victoria gave us a moving, inspirational portrait of Vincent,” Fuller said. “Not only as an actor and cultural icon, but as a caring, loving dad.”

__________________

CHARLES HERBERT

Charles Herbert & young fan Johnny Forbes in a homemade Fly costume. Photo: MC

Charles Herbert, a former child actor, has over 60 credits in films and television. He’s well known to classic horror fans for his roles in 13 Ghosts and the Vincent Price film The Fly (made when Herbert was nine years old.)

Herbert readily states what set Price apart from many other adult actors he worked with as a child: “He spent time with me. We did a lot of talking. He always made sure that he took time every day to talk to me. ”

Asked about specifics of those chats, Herbert says ”I was very young, so I don’t remember all that much, but it was always a pleasure to see him in the morning. He had a great sense of humor and made me feel comfortable. He was very helpful; a very nice man.”

Herbert feels that Price was a rare performer who will always be appreciated both as an actor and a performer.

“Here we are nearly twenty years after his death and we’re still having tributes to him, shows for him.  There’s a handful of actors that are in that classification. You know, fifty years from now the people will be having tributes to Vincent Price,” he stated.

Pausing thoughtfully for a moment, Herbert added,  ”That’s the point. He’s a name that will live forever.”

Charles Herbert and Vincent Price.

____________

MAX CHENEY

Max Cheney doesn’t have to beat himself up anymore.

The Vincentennial healed a wound that has bled since 1981, when a then-19-year-old Cheney was attending Arkansas State University. One day, he noticed fliers posted around campus advertising the arrival of Vincent Price’s “Diversions and Delights” one-man show.

A monster kid since childhood, Cheney desperately wanted to see Price in person. But there was a problem. Tickets cost $8. He didn’t have the money.

“I was flat broke,” Cheney said. “I didn’t have eight lousy dollars.”

Cheney knew Price often met with fans backstage. So he was not only missing the chance to see the actor he admired perform; he was missing the chance to meet him face-to-face. Cheney tried to tell himself it didn’t bother him, but it did.

“All this time, I’ve been beating myself up about it,” he said. “I should have held up an old lady or knocked over a bank. If I’d just done something a little more creative or a little more desperate, I might have met Vincent Price.”

Now 50, Cheney lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Jane Considine. He met Vincentennial organizer Tom Stockman at the 2010 Famous Monsters convention in Indianapolis. Stockman told Cheney about his plans to honor Price’s 100th birthday in St. Louis. Cheney knew St. Louis well, having lived there 15 years.

“As a fellow film collector, I was acquainted with Tom, but he was a different guy when he started talking about his wish to create a hometown celebration of Vincent Price,” Cheney said. “He was far less laid back and almost like a Poe character in his describing this idea that was compelling him to act.”

Cheney gave Stockman advice and put him in touch with Price collector Robert Taylor. He watched with interest as Vincetennial plans solidified. When the festival opened, Cheney and Considine drove from Pittsburgh to spend two weekends in St. Louis.

Price fans Jane Considine, Max Cheney, and Robert Taylor. Photo: RC

“I wanted to participate in this unique event where a whole city and all these organizations would come together for a whole month to celebrate one guy,” Cheney said. “If he had been George Washington or Martin Luther King, well, that’s been done. But he was not a politician or statesman. He was a dead horror star. To my way of thinking, nothing could be cooler than that.”

Cheney said the “emotional heart” of the Vincentennial was Victoria Price’s presentation, which included family photos, videotaped memories and rare commentary from her media-shy older brother, Vincent Barrett Price.

Cheney thanked Stockman for erasing some of the unhappiness he felt for missing Price in 1981.

Victoria Price listens to her brother describe their dad. Photo: RC

“He provided me with something nearly like meeting Vincent Price,” Cheney said. “It presented all the different facets of this man – actor, father, friend. I feel like I was given a second chance to know him as well as possible, given the fact that he is dead.”

But Price’s legacy lives on, as evidenced by the broad cross section of fans who sacrificed time and money to take part in the Vincentennial.

“I just couldn’t believe what was going on,” Cheney said. “I couldn’t believe that all these people had come together – film lovers, horror lovers, younger people, older people, middle-aged people like me, St. Louisans, people from England and New York – all proud of this one guy, this actor who could be mordant and mirthful, playing villains and monsters with a gleam in his eye.”

______________

TERRY MOORE

Terry Moore, the female (and human) co-star of the original Mighty Joe Young (1949), is still acting in movies, and has a long list of television credits. She acted with Vincent Price on live TV in the 1950s (“The Clouded Image” on Playhouse 90) , and remembers Price very fondly. She sat down for an interview with me and talked about Price not just as a performer but also as a guest.

He was a great painter, did you know that? He did painting–he talked about that a lot–he loved to paint. And he was completely down to earth. He made me his friend; I felt like I had known him all my life. And he came home to dinner with me.

Max Cheney and Terry Moore. Photo: MC

Who cooked?

My mother cooked – he loved that. (I’d worked with Dame May Whitty – she came home to dinner!) I loved bringing these people home. My parents were just lovely, and whoever I was working with I always would invite ‘em home for dinner – I took Pat Boone, Marilyn Monroe – and Vincent really loved coming to my house for a home-cooked dinner. My family were very down-to-earth and wonderful; he loved that. And I remember his being a connoisseur of wines.

Did Vincent bring wine? What do you remember of the meals themselves?

He brought wine, and I can remember what we had because my father wanted steak and potatoes and salad with Roquefort cheese dressing every night. And so that’s what it would be. And we had ice cream for dessert.

 How did your family take to conversing with celebrities? And particularly Vincent Price?

Well, they’d kind have got used to it. They loved it when I brought home people. And he so charming. I mean, he was such a gentleman. I forgot he was born in St. Louis.  Isn’t it funny – he seemed more like he’d be born in England.

In terms of how he spoke and acted – was he as  articulate, with the same sense of humor and as graceful? Was he much the same off-screen as on?

Very much so, very much so. Most stars are, unless they’re doing a character role.

What did you like about him as a performer?

I loved him because he was so professional. He always knew his lines. As you know, Playhouse 90 was an hour-and-a-half show. It was live TV and you did it on the spot. I mean, a lot of actors didn’t dare do it. But he was so accomplished, he did do it. And I loved that. He was always there. You knew if you forgot your lines he would step in and ad-lib until you caught up.

What would you like to say about his films?

I sure enjoyed them. I enjoyed watching him.

____________

TIM LUCAS

Vincent Price's star in the St. Louis Walk of Fame. Photo: MC

For 21 years, Tim Lucas has published the bimonthly film magazine Video Watchdog with his wife, Donna Lucas. Vincentennial organizers invited Lucas to conduct two live interviews with legendary filmmaker Roger Corman before 35 mm screenings of two of his Edgar Allan Poe collaborations with star Vincent Price – The Tomb of Ligeia and The Masque of the Red Death – May 21-22 at the Hi-Pointe Theatre in St. Louis. The historic interviews covered Corman’s career and his observations on Price. The event culminated with Cinema St. Louis presenting Corman with a lifetime achievement award. I talked to Lucas about his Vincentennial experience.  

RC: How and why did you become involved with the Vincentennial?

I was invited by Cliff Froehlich and Tom Stockman, who conceived and organized the event. Cliff is the executive director of Cinema St. Louis. I believe it was Tom Stockman, a Video Watchdog reader, who suggested me for the job of interviewing Roger Corman. Cliff told me that, when he mentioned my name to Roger as apossible interviewer, Roger accepted with great enthusiasm. That made me feel terrific. It was a tremendously exciting opportunity, because Roger has always been a hero of mine; but it was also a great honor to be part of this tribute to Vincent Price, whom I once had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing.

How did you approach the Corman interview? Had you interviewed him before?

A: Roger is someone who’s been interviewed a great deal, and has a certain number of set answers in mind, which I knew would be very entertaining. But there were many other questions I’d always wanted to ask him, if I ever had the opportunity. So I pretty much let myself be guided by my own curiosity. I’d never interviewed him before, but we had spoken on the telephone a couple of times – for the first time when he read the screenplay I’ve written about him, “The Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes”, to which he gave his full blessing.

Give me some impressions from that weekend. What moments or anecdotes stand out in your mind?

Roger Corman recalling Price for Tim Lucas and the full house of the Hi-Pointe. Photo: MC

Some of my favorite memories of the Vincentennial weekend are of standing outside the Hi-Pointe Theatre, under a fully lit marquee – something I haven’t been able to do here in Ohio since the 1970s; being driven by Tom Stockman past Vincent’s childhood home and seeing the exact route he walked to visit the local art museum; attending the “psychedelicized”  Tingler screening and seeing The Tomb of Ligeia  in 35mm for the first time; going to the memorabilia exhibit and seeing, among other things, Vincent’s letter of condolence to Boris Karloff’s widow, Evie; and, of course, the interview sessions.

Lucas speaking before his Corman interview. Photo: RC

I look at photos from that evening and see Roger and me alone in that spotlight beam and I feel incredibly fortunate and privileged. I also got to interview Roger privately on one morning, just about his movie THE TRIP (for a possible book project), and I had dinner on our last night with Roger, his wife Julie, Tom and Cliff. The conversation never stopped.

When I got back home, I wrote to Elizabeth Shepherd, who is a Facebook friend, and told her how warmly her videotaped message had been received, and how well LIGEIA continues to hold up. Parts of that film, especially the scene in the bell tower, I found incredibly moving in 35mm.

Did you see the exhibits or sample other parts of the Vincentennial? What did you think of the event?

I thought it was a splendid event. I only wish I could have attended the rest of it. I would have loved, for example, to see my friend David Del Valle interview Victoria Price and to see her presentation.

What did it mean to you personally?

It had the feel of a bookmark in my life and career, strangely enough. I met my wife because I went to a theater one night to see Theater of Blood, which starred Vincent Price.

Vincent Price was an early interview of mine, when I was only 19 years old, and when I told him this story he said, “I met my wife on Theater of Blood too!”

Some years later, when I was more established, I was invited to speak about him on an episode of A&E’s Biography which ultimately aired the week he died (he saw it in advance and sent me a lovely thank you note). When we were preparing a special issue of Video Watchdog in his honor, he sent at my request an inscription which we superimposed on a photo on our inside front cover, which said “For Video Watchdogs everywhere, Vincent Price” – which was very likely his final public gesture.

Today, and for the past 28 years, my wife and I have lived in an area of Cincinnati called Price Hill. So it was really very lovely and meaningful to me that it was under Vincent’s auspices, so to speak, that I would finally meet Roger Corman and have that unique time with him. It was Vincent’s birthday, but I felt like he gave me a gift, and it was one of the great times of my life, truly.

_______________

DAVID HEDISON

Like Terry Moore, David Hedison’s performing career spans the latter half  of the 20th century and continued through the first decade of the 21st. Also like Ms. Moore, Hedison talked easily, enthusiastically and at length with me about Vincent Price, whom he remembered well.

MC: You both starred in The Fly–can you describe getting to know him?

 On The Fly, I didn’t get to know Vincent that well because we didn’t really work together.

David Hedison clowning around with a toy fly. Photo: MC

When I was on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, he came on as a guest star. So we became great friends. And he’d come to work every day, and we’d laugh and kid around. He said, “Oh David, I remember you as being so serious.” And I said, “Well, I guess I was serious making The Fly, I didn’t feel like laughing much. But now I’m having such a wonderful time laughing with you and clowning around.” So he invited me to his house for dinner, and they were wonderful cooks. It was he and his then-wife Mary. And they cooked up this marvelous meal. And he had invited Richard Basehart and his wife, and me and Anne Baxter, the actress, and we went then and had the most wonderful dinner. And he became a great friend. I would see him every now and then, walk by his house, and we’d go in and talk, or look in his garden. So he was always there. He was always somebody that you’d admire, look up to, respect, and be inspired by.

I really loved knowing him, and I miss him very much.

Did he discuss his interests in art?

I knew he was very interested in art. We would discuss various artists and people like that, and I told him I was interested in buying a few things. And he suggested– There was a picture at the Kennedy Gallery by Alfred Bierstadt, [of]  the Hudson River School of painters. He does all these wonderful mountain pictures and whatever. And there was this one incredible painting, huge painting, and it was for 1500 dollars. So, you know, I thought, “Yeah, I’ll buy it, I’ll buy it.” So I did. And then after about a year, I saw another picture that I liked better by Streeter Blair, very colorful shot, very primitive. So I sold the picture that Vincent had recommended. Alfred Bierstadt.The picture now is worth millions, believe it or not. And this was like, 1965 or something. The  picture I would say is worth quite a lot of money. Into the millions. All of Bierstadt’s stuff now is incredibly high. But there you are – I was stupid.

If you came to Vincent’s house to socialize, did you go in the kitchen? Did he show you what he was cooking?

Of course he did! Oh no, he’d show me all the instruments, and this one, and this spoon is for this, and this is for that, the garlic cutters and you know…he was very enthusiastic. I mean he really loved it, and so did his wife. And then when I got married, I called him and said “I’ve just gotten married,” and he said, “Oh, how wonderful, dear boy. We must meet her.” And then in the mail the next day was a copy of his cookbook. Marvelous cookbook, you know. If you look at it today — it’s a little high in cholesterol. But –  wonderful recipes. There was one particular recipe there, it’s called “Calve’s liver with avocado.” And it was absolutely marvelous. And I cooked it and made it. And it was fabulous. Really good. But you know, again, a little high in cholesterol. But it was really great. He was such a wonderful man.

You mentioned “clowning around” on the set. Do you remember him playing jokes or cracking wise?

No, not really. It’s just that he just took things very lightly any time anything was very serious.

Could you tell how Vincent approached his parts? Did he improvise, was he a stickler for having every line exactly right, or in-between?

No, he was professional. He’d done a lot of stage work. So he, when he learned his lines, he knew them — cold. He knew them backwards and forwards. And so therefore, he was very good that way. Not like a lot of actors who change their words or whatnot and make it sloppy or whatever. So he was really, really a pro.

Any last thing you recall or want to say about working with Vincent Price?

I wish I’d known him more and seen him more. But I have great memories of Vincent, and they’ll always be there.

The Hi-Pointe Theater, where many Vincent Price movies and memories were shared. Author Tim Lucas seen at right. Photo: MC and George Chastain.

More photos and comments on the Vincentennial can be found here, and video footage from Victoria Price’s presentation can be seen at this link.

We’re pretty proud of the first issue, and are quite happy with the positive reviews garnered thus far.  Now, Kaitlyn McAllister of Bloody Disgusting has a great interview with LUNA author Mark L. Miller, where he talks about the inspiration behind the comic, the unique take on werewolves in the story, and what to expect from future entries in the series.  Here’s a juicy clip:

KtMc: “One more thing I have to ask. I saw a fantastically “in-your-face” gore scene in this issue. Was this just giving us a taste of violence to come, and could there be different ways for these werewolves to kill?”

MARK L. MILLER: “I’m a huge fan of all kinds of horror, but given that this is a FAMOUS MONSTERS book, we definitely wanted to go the more classical horror route. So though there’s gore, it’s not over the top or gratuitous. There will be blood, but only when it serves a purpose. That’s not to say that it doesn’t get really gory as this conflict at the monastery gets going. I read FAMOUS MONSTERS as a kid and what fascinated me about the book were the monsters. It wasn’t until I was a teen that I developed a love for gore by reading GORE ZONE, FANGORIA, GORE SHRIEK, and magazines like that. I have a love for both, but LUNA is a more classical style horror story with a lot of focus on emotion and character and (of course) monsters. 

Click here to read the full interview over at Bloody Disgusting and here to pick up your very own copy of LUNA!

Though Doctor Who might seem like a primarily British phenomenon, the television juggernaut has invaded American shores successfully enough for the panel—featuring Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Piers Wenger, Beth Willis, and Toby Whithouse—to fill the largest hall at the convention.

“They’re really getting a foothold in the American market,” says Denton J. Tipton, series editor for IDW, the American source of Doctor Who comic books. “Brand awareness is growing. It’s the biggest brand on earth now, really. There have always been hardcore Doctor Who fans here, but we’re getting younger people now, and I think the panel is going to be a big part of that.”

If the mob of people at the BBC America shop following the panel was any indication, that foothold is well established—at least among comic book nerds. While battling the masses, FM was lucky enough to snag a copy of IDW’s ‘Con Special’, a comic that (appropriately) features the Doctor beaming the Tardis right down into the middle of… San Diego Comic-Con. “We wanted to do something Comic-Con related,” says Tipton. “So we got Matthew Dow Smith (no, not THAT Matt Smith), who had actually been an artist on the comic. He came up with the concept, and it was exactly what we were looking for.”

Given the new cast’s first SDCC visit, the concept is timely, humorous, and well-executed (a bit of dialogue even has the Doctor making a Comic-Con badge joke). According to Tipton, IDW tries to create story arcs that are not only timely and humorous but closely follow the themes of the television show, all the while preserving its inherently British flavor (flavour?). “We use all the British spellings and British grammar, so it’s still a very British book,” he says. “I come from [American] journalism, so I’m stepping back and re-wiring my brain.”

With any luck, IDW’s Doctor Who comic books will help to expand the ‘biggest brand on earth’ while exploring other—perhaps more experimental—avenues.

“[At the panel] they were asking about crossovers—like, what TV show the cast would most like to cross over with… Matt said TRUE BLOOD,” Tipton laughs, “and Karen said STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. The funny thing is that IDW owns both of those comic book properties!”

A Star Trek, True Blood, and Doctor Who crossover? Well, why not? In the land of comic books, anything is possible—and even more so with Doctor Who, which is a fairly limitless premise. “Doctor Who is so wide open that you can pretty much tell any kind of story you want,” says Tipton.

Anywhere in time. Anywhere in space. Why not San Diego Comic-Con?

FM spoke briefly with Kevin Eastman in San Diego about the future of a new HEAVY METAL film project. It was announced at the convention that filmmaker Robert Rodriguez had bought the rights, following on the heels of David Fincher, who was not able to get the movie greenlit.

“David poured his heart into making this picture a go, but it wasn’t able to work,” says Eastman. “It came off option, he went off to do DRAGON TATTOO… and through a connection, I said I always wanted to meet Robert Rodriguez. I’m a huge fan of his work. He’s a perfect HEAVY METAL guy.”

The respect turned out to be mutual, as Rodriguez expressed interest in directing a segment of the movie. Upon learning  that the whole movie was up for option, “he pretty much pounced on it,” Eastman says. “And now, here we are, seven months later… our deal is official, and we’re beginning production!”

He also insists that there will not be a shift in focus from the magazine (even if this comes on the heels of HEAVY METAL’s announcment that its print version will be downsizing to six regular issues a year, discontinuing the seasonal ‘specials’).

“The magazine is sort of its own beast, if you will… we get regular submissions from all over the world… with the movie, what Robert wants to do is go back to the fans as well, having them submit ideas, because you have all these original ideas that come in for the magazine, so there are great opportunities there that could also bleed over into the movie. We can sort of meld both worlds… it’s all in the same neighborhood.”

Fans who have ideas can submit them at http://www.badassdigest.com/heavymetal.

Who else thinks Rodriguez and HEAVY METAL are a perfect fit?

You can read more about the magazine’s future, as well as our 30th anniversary celebration of the original movie, in FM 257.

Friday was an evening of mayhem with all four directors of CHILLERAMA: Adam Green (HATCHET, FROZEN), Tim Sullivan (2001 MANIACS), Adam Rifkin (DETROIT ROCK CITY), and Joe Lynch (WRONG TURN 2).

CHILLERAMA is an outrageous horror-comedy anthology of roughly four segments, each with its own director. The fanboy jokes outnumber the actors, sex references abound, and nearly every famous monster is given its own satirical treatment: Frankenstein (“The Diary of Anne Frankenstein”), the Wolfman (“I Was A Teenage Werebear”), Godzilla (“Wadzilla”), and the Living Dead (“Zom B Movie”).

“Tim and I thought it would be great to make an anthology film, because we hadn’t seen one in a while,” says Rifkin. “Then we met these guys, and we would all hang out and talk about our mutual love of monster movies, sci-fi movies, drive-in movies, and B movies.”

CHILLERAMA definitely tips its hat to each of these eras of filmmaking, sparing no splatter or poop joke along the way. It runs like a review reel of offensiveness and mayhem in the movies while simultaneously creating its own icons: a Rabbi Frankenstein, gay werewolf greasers, sex-obsessed zombies, and giant killer bodily fluids. With teeth.

Such ridiculous segments seem a natural outgrowth of their genre-loving creators, who found themselves wondering things like, “What if Zac Efron transformed into Ron Jeremy?”

The results are… well, we recommend that you watch the film! Don’t bring the kids, though…

CHILLERAMA will be touring, in theaters, and On Demand this fall.

Check out the interview below!

]]> http://famousmonstersoffilmland.com/2011/07/24/comic-con-report-chillerama/feed/ 0 media http://famousmonstersoffilmland.com/2011/07/23/comic-con-report-a-chat-with-ben-templesmith/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=comic-con-report-a-chat-with-ben-templesmith http://famousmonstersoffilmland.com/2011/07/23/comic-con-report-a-chat-with-ben-templesmith/#comments Sat, 23 Jul 2011 18:55:27 +0000 Holly http://famousmonstersoffilmland.com/?p=39671 [Continue Reading]]]> FM sat down with horror comic artist (and super nice guy) Ben Templesmith on Thursday afternoon to talk about early influences, how he feels about past works like 30 DAYS OF NIGHT and SINGULARITY 7, his upcoming projects, and possible future collaborations with FM (yay!). He also revealed that he will be contributing a volume to a collaborative H.P. Lovecraft art project. Given Templesmith’s own love of tentacled monsters, this seems highly appropriate.

And much to my excitement, Templesmith insisted that there would soon be more volumes of WORMWOOD: GENTLEMAN CORPSE, his cultishly successful comic series about squids and monsters and a corpse-inhabiting worm detective who says ‘bollocks’ a lot. “Wormwood is my favorite. There will be more Wormwood,” he says.

Watch this space and future issues of FM for our complete interview!

The new novel by Sheri Holman, Witches on the Road Tonight, is the first literary novel to feature a television horror host as a central character, and it makes an emotional impact as a story of  “lonely horror.” That’s the kind of horror that haunts Eddie Alley. Alley works as  “Captain Casket”, a monster movie host for an  independent television station. He has devoted fans but is deeply afraid of never being understood by his family. He describes his life as “a real ghost story,” which he sees as “colliding” with the lives of those close to him.

The first collision in the book is a literal one which happens early in the novel. Tucker Hayes, a writer driving through Depression-era rural Virginia as part of the Federal Writer’s Project, striking an eight year old Eddie Alley with his car. The boy is only bruised, and Hayes takes Eddie back to his ramshackle home. While waiting for the boy’s mother, Tucker brings out a hand-cranked projector from his car and shows him the 1910 Edison Studios version of Frankenstein, the first film version of Mary Shelley’s novel. This episode in the young boy’s life results in an emotional impression that stays with him into adulthood.

Taking place over several decades,  Witches on the Road Tonight shifts in time and place and point of view. Other characters include Eddie’s mother Cora, who may have been a murderous shape-shifting witch; Jasper, a sullen, homeless teenager who idolizes Eddie and helps him at the TV station; and Eddie’s daughter Wallis. Wallis grows up to work in television news, a source of horror more grounded in fact than fiction and folklore.

Wallis is haunted by her memories of Jasper, who was treated like a foster son by her parents. Wallis was the first to invite him into the Alley home, and this is the first step in the “fall of our family,” as Eddie describes it in a desperate letter near the end of his life. Adding in the complications and power of sexual desire,  Witches on the Road Tonight weaves a complex tale.

The novel’s power derives from charting that fall and may require two readings to be fully appreciated; the frequent change of POV, and place and time, distracts the reader and undercuts the power of Holman’s writing in a first reading. Also, the characters at times get short shrift with the sometimes staccato structure of the book, which lacks a straight-ahead dramatic trajectory. The prose style, though, is anything but rapid-fire; it’s best described as “thoughtful.” Reminiscent of more disciplined, softer Ray Bradbury mixed with John Cheever, the prose is never purple or heavy-handed.

Though quieter and slower than many novels present day genre fans are used to, and a little unusual for the Oprah set, it is a fresh work with many rewards for a patient reader. I highly recommend it. You can buy Witches on the Road Tonight on Amazon in a variety of formats here.

[Related Excerpt: ‘Witches on the Road Tonight’ (Google Books) ]

I was lucky enough to get an interview with Sheri Holman, author of this book and the well-received novels The Dress Lodger and The Mammoth Cheese. Here is our conversation, ranging in topics from the novel, to her background, to her fears.

Max Cheney: Where did you grow up? What ghost stories or superstitions were you told when you were young and who was the source of them most often?

Sheri Holman: I grew up out in the woods and swamps of rural Virginia and spent most weekends of my childhood with two old maid aunts who lived in a decaying old Faulknerian house, living only to snipe at each other. But the incredible stories they told! Not so much ghost stories as stories of human suffering and retribution.

Ghost stories came a little later at sleep overs and back yard parties. We kids would play a game (kind of like tag) called “Ghost in the Graveyard”, then eventually, the night would work its way around to ghost stories. Whoever could keep the other kids afraid commanded the audience, and of course, I always wanted to be that powerful young girl. To this day, my cousins still tease me about the ways I terrified them when we were children. I would make up all sorts of spooky stories of love and revenge and suicide, that always took place sometime long ago, but always on on this very night. Horror loves anniversaries and always returns to the scene of the crime.

MC: In the pre-Internet Age, we had a common literary culture. How are authors going to thrive in a TV, YouTube and Twitter age?

SH: This is all authors talk about! Writers are scared, publishers are scared. They are less likely to take risks, especially on fiction. They don’t know how to market anything anymore because they see the internet as a vast swamp into which all their books might sink. It’s hard, because while I love playing around on Facebook, etc. if I spent too much time on it, I’d never write another book. YouTube was enormously helpful in the research of this novel. I practically lived on George Chastain’s fabulous E-Gor’s Chamber of TV Horror Hosts. The clips fans sent in let me see how hosts in other markets behaved. It’s amazing how similar so many were, even springing up without knowledge of the others. I’ve read that many come out of the Spook Show tradition, which probably accounts for a lot of it.

In this new age, I think a lot more voices will be heard, but the audience for any one voice will get smaller as the world fragments into little niches of interest. My goal with this book is to bridge the gap a little between people who love stories that are a little more supernatural and spooky and those who crave a good, meaty read that touches on human vulnerability. That’s why it was important for me not to just send this book to all the usual suspects (New York Times, etc.) but to introduce myself to this community since we share so many interests.

MC: Witches on the Road Tonight is not strictly a genre or pulp novel–there’s no plot-heavy, face-paced narrative line, but it does have horrific and supernatural elements. Will that make it harder for it to find its readership?

SH: My fears are exactly as you’ve described: it’s too literary for one crowd, too pop-culture for another, but I keep hoping it will appeal to those who give it a chance and are looking for something to take them out of their comfort zone a bit (on both sides). I wanted to get at the existential horror of human relationships and interactions — from the personal to the political. It was a pretty big gamble for me.

This book has lots of elements of horror in it, but one reviewer called it “A thoroughly modern ghost story, [it] is also a tale of the ghosts of real life: the ghosts we cannot shake, the memories and choices that haunt us.” I don’t think I could have described it better. Basically, I don’t think we have to look very far out of ordinary human experience to find our witches.

MC: We see into the inner life of everyone but Cora and Jasper. Comment?

SH: Cora and Jasper are the most vulnerable characters in the book, the ones the others project onto, and, not coincidentally, the ones the others most fear. They’re basically mirrors for all the others and reflect back the monsters they hold inside. Tucker sees what he wants to see in Cora about his own bravery and cowardice – which is what I think we all have a tendency to do to each other. We want to see our best selves reflected back in the eyes of those we love or admire, but what we sometimes see is our worst. And then we want to destroy the one that shows that to us.

MC: One of the themes of the book is secrets. Without giving too much away, the character of Eddie has a secret that, if known, would have made him an outcast to his  fans.

SH: I wanted to write about the ways we hide from ourselves, and the danger of not being able to face who we really are or what we really want. Most people are good people who honestly want to please each other, but often do so at the expense of their own needs and desires – resulting in a weird power dynamic. Who is giving up more? Who is keeping score of all the little sacrifices we make and the resentments that build up over time? Eddie has a part of himself that even he can’t bear to acknowledge, because if he does, it will mean losing everything he has built up over the years and still loves, even if imperfectly. So the “dishonesties” accrete and create their own monster in the form of Jasper, a creature ultimately out of Eddie’s control.

MC: We live in an age where we learn an awful lot about a celebrity’s personal life. Is this generally better than the old days, with all the made-up publicity, or a bad thing?

SH: How we treat our celebrities today! I personally find it really distasteful and harmful. They are not allowed to be real people. Fans project their own hopes and dreams on to them, building them up to inhuman proportions, and then are surprised and disappointed when public figures act out or break down. A lot of people want to be famous, but I think fame is a heavy burden and when taken to extremes very dangerous to the soul.

MC: Cora and Wallis are both interested in the power of magic. I found them to be fascinating characters. Any personal similarities with either of them?

SH: I was also a very witchy little girl. My next door neighbor had a crush on Shawn Cassidy (remember him from the Hardy Boys?) I thought he was dumb and I’m sure I was jealous, so I went out to the woods and carved his face into a tree with a nail, then hammered that nail between his eyes. The next day I read in the newspaper that he’d been performing at a concert when he was attacked by a group of fans who pulled out all his hair. Who would have known I was so powerful!? I wish I could say I swore off spells after that, but I cast my fair share all through my adolescence. Mostly on boys. It’s what we do to try to feel in control at times of great powerlessness.

MC: Cora and Wallis both have very violent urges, but both seem to deplore that urge in men. Comment?

SH: Hmmm. That’s a very interesting observation. I’ll have to take that up with my shrink.

Wallis is a modern woman, and probably the most like me. (Though I try not to behave so badly!) She’s conflicted about her career and motherhood. She is a news anchor whose ratings (and salary and fame) rise with the amount of panic she creates. She is the inevitable offspring of ghost stories in the mountains, because fear, like a drug, must always be ratcheted up to feel the rush. She no longer knows the difference between what she is reporting versus what she is creating by the fear she calls into being. She is a modern, media Doctor Frankenstein. And of course, this is the world she is creating for her own daughter.

MC: Your character of Eddie is a performer–a horror host. Who was the horror host from your childhood? Some writers have described themselves as frustrated performers. Ever bitten by the acting bug? Any theater in your background?

SH: I started watching Bowman Body at about age 8, staying up past my bedtime when my parents were out. Later, I studied Theatre at William and Mary, but when I got to New York, I found myself going to more poetry readings than auditions.

Those ghost stories and horror hosts never left me and after a period of pretty profound personal anxiety (one of my twin boys was diagnosed with cancer at 3 months — he’s fine now, thank god) I started thinking a lot about how we as a country had gone from one that “had nothing to fear but fear itself” to one determined to keep itself perpetually panicked. It seemed to me those horror show hosts made their careers by de-fanging terror, not cultivating it, and I decided to explore that power dynamic through Eddie — where his family came from and where it was headed. I took a lot more risks with narrative structure in this one.

MC: Do you believe in a literal power to witchcraft, or only a figurative and psychological power?

SH: I believe human beings have the power to shape their own realities, and I believe that psychological phenomena often manifest themselves literally. If you’re asking whether or not I believe in agents of the Devil, I really can’t say. I have had enough weird stuff go down in my own life not to discount it. My young daughter has even seen ghosts in our house. My kids and I have just moved out of that huge old house and into a manageable 3 bedroom apartment in a really peaceful and pretty neighborhood. I’ll miss my fireplaces and pocket doors but I won’t miss the ghosts and rats.

As I’ve grown older, I’ve learned not to discount the power of evil, but I tend to think of it more as an abyss in the human psyche – usually put there by inhuman parenting and abuse that has been passed down from parent to child through generations. This is one of the reasons I’m so passionate about issues of education and poverty. We create our own witches when we ignore suffering or tell ourselves those in trouble have only themselves to blame, or alternately, “they like it like that.” What is visited on the father passes down to the son, and a cycle of violence and neglect is almost impossible to break. It’s what I meant in the book by the line, “Once witches slip in, they’re hard to get rid of…”

MC: Could you have written this novel at 21?

SH: Absolutely not. I thought I was quite sophisticated at 21 but I was completely clueless. I did write the first draft of a novel around that age. It had a lot of similar themes: mythology and stories within stories. Standoffs between men and women, how impossible it is to ever know what is “real” when perception shifts so greatly with understanding. In some ways, the seeds of Witches were probably there way back then, but that first book was a mess. And anyway, I was too busy trying to get dates. Which is what all self-respecting 21-year-olds should be doing!

MC: Is there a significance to the fact that “Wallis” is a gender-neutral name? You balance your cast of characters in regards to gender very well. I think your novel’s real “witchcraft” is the way each gender can use sexual and psychological need as a form of power.

SH: It’s very perceptive you picked up on that! I chose Wallis for that exact gender-neutrality. I also liked the echo of Wallis Simpson, a very sexually dynamic woman whom some considered a witch for luring King Edward VIII off the throne. Wallis (and Sonia for that matter, and Cora, too) are all very aggressive, independent women. They wield their sexuality almost as a weapon, both to dominate and to insulate themselves. And yet, they are all quite vulnerable. Everyone in this book is vulnerable – the extent to which they feel powerless, determines the ways they seek to control their situation and the people around them.

It’s that old truth that a bully at school is often a victim at home. People act out when they feel threatened, and the opposite sex (or I should say the objects of our desire) always produce the strongest feelings of both yearning and anxiety. We give those we let deepest inside the power to take us down. That’s more terrifying to me than all the vampires and werewolves in the world put together!

MC: What writers in the fantasy and horror genres do you enjoy?

SH: I love Shirley Jackson, Ray Bradbury, Neil Gaiman. I just bought Kelly Link’s new collection of short stories and can’t wait to dive in. I’m drawn mostly to psychological horror, and while not genre books, there are few novels more disturbing than Mishima’s The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea or Hans Fallada’s The Drinker. These are books of internal horror surrounding the madness of World War II.

MC: You’ve said you “drew heavily on Mary Shelley…” in writing this novel. Can you describe that a little more?

SH: I became obsessed with the Shelleys (Mary and Percy Bysshe) through Richard Holmes’ brilliant biography, Shelley: The Pursuit. He writes their lives almost like a ghost story, vividly conjuring that Year Without a Summer that saw Mary Shelley’s conception of Frankenstein.

Understanding the power dynamic between husband and wife (including her mother’s death, his first wife’s suicide, the death of their young son William, the sexual iconoclasm of their whole set) deeply informed my reading of Frankenstein and Mary’s early work.

Real loss is almost always at the center of any writer’s life. That’s why they are so often compelled to keep searching.

MC: What horror films shaped your preparation for this novel? And tell us about choosing the 1910 Frankenstein as the film that shapes Eddie’s imagination?

SH: I watched a lot of early, silent horror movies like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which references the madness of the first World War and how the government sought to control young men.

I can’t even remember when I first learned about that original Frankenstein and its creepy history. (Alois Dettlaff, who hoarded the one extant copy, died alone in his apartment, undiscovered for weeks.) As most of your readers probably know, the film is now in the public domain now and available on YouTube. When I watched it, I was especially struck by that mirror image you describe. The maker and monster reflect each other, so that you can’t say who has created whom.

I found the parallel in our current media fear-mongering – by our demonizing, we help to create our own enemies, whom then we learn to fear so that the whole cycle can repeat itself. In Edison’s silent Frankenstein, there is never any attempt at understanding between the monster and the man who called him into being. There is only fruitless wrestling until ultimately “The Creation of an Evil Mind, Overcome by Love, Disappears.” The monster is reabsorbed back into the mirror, but we’re under no illusion he’s not still there, waiting to be seen whenever we have the courage to look fully at ourselves.

MC: Have you imagined your book as a film? If so, any casting ideas?

SH: With three little kids at home, I hardly ever go to movies! I have a good friend, Michael Emerson, who played Ben Linus on Lost. I need to talk him into playing Eddie. Wouldn’t that be fun? I did watch Winter’s Bone on Netflix and loved the way Debra Granick brought the Ozarks to life without cliché. But don’t ask me about modern movie stars – I’m hopeless!

MC: Best comment or question you’ve gotten on the book tour so far?

SH: An old, toothless man in a CVS in Atlanta, Georgia: “Pardon me, young lady, but those are some kick-ass tights you’re wearing.”

No, really – I had a great conversation with an early reader about the challenging structure of the book (it moves between different eras which some might find jarring). I have characters disappear in this novel and I wanted to leave their whereabouts unresolved, because when people really drop out of your life, you don’t have any answers. You’re left with only tortured, nagging questions and projection and hope and dread. To me, that Unknown is the essence of horror, and what makes it so compelling. But for a reader to feel it, the writer must be willing to let some questions hang in the air.

And of course, everyone doesn’t like that. Some people demand answers. After our talk, that early reader said to me: “You’ve changed the way I read books forever.” What more could an author ever hope to hear?

Been wondering if the pop infatuation with rom-zoms (Romero-style zombies)  is on the skids in the United States. I mean, wasn’t their fifteen minutes up some time ago?

Happily, I have to say I don’t think so.  “Zombie walks” and other zombie events are increasingly popular. The Walking Dead comics have had enormous sales, and a second season of the show based on them begins in October. The zombie apocalypse of Resident Evil keeps gamers busy. Undead flesh-eaters just keep a-comin’.

Perhaps the reason for the enduring power of the zombie in the zeitgeist is an economic one.  “Zombies are an apocalyptic threat, we are living in times of apocalyptic anxiety [and] we need a vessel in which to coalesce those anxieties,” World War Z author Max Brooks was quoted as saying in 2009.  We have still not fully recovered from the Great Recession  and America is increasingly pessimistic about the economy.

Maybe  it’s partly a guy vs. gal thing, and mens’ fears are getting more attention right now. That’s the view of  writer John Devore, who said around the same time that

“Dudes just don’t dig bloodsuckers, since vampires pretty much look like girls. We prefer zombies, because we love chainsaws, flamethrowers and samurai swords.

“And because on some level, we know that besides being vehicles for sperm, our other important, if lesser, genetic imperative is to defend our loved ones from hordes of unthinking, flesh-eating metaphors for current social anxieties.”

Well, that sounds about right.

David J. Schow, the noted horror writer and author of the powerful zombie book Zombie Jam (buy it here!) let me ask him a few motley and even impertinent questions about flesh-eaters and blood-suckers. And because he has a weakness for severed heads, he even gave me answers!

Which has more power in the zeitgeist now, zombies or vampires?

Zombies are the new vampires.  Expect a wild flurry of meaningless zombie programming that will over-saturate, then ebb, soon enough.

Which would disgust you less: drinking blood or eating human flesh?

I have no preference.  After all, you need something to wash down the meat, right?

Favorite zombie movie and favorite vampire flick?

For reasons described in ZOMBIE JAM, probably DAWN OF THE DEAD.  [Schow has compared it to getting a whack in the head.] There are so many vampire variants you’d have to pick one in each subcategory, but for general overall watchable-ness, I’d pick THE NIGHT STALKER.

If they never made another movie featuring a____ monster, you’d never notice or care.

Right now, right here, I don’t care if I never see another flick with vampires OR zombies … unless somebody is smart enough to film John Farris’ book FIENDS.

Are the zombies of voodoo lore a completely spent force in film?

Absolutely not – it’s the greatest untapped reservoir of zombie lore, and a possible salvation from endless reiterations of the Romero ethos.

The real-life person you’d most like to see eaten onscreen by zombies is _______.

It’s a long list, composed mostly of production executives and TV hacks.  From a pop culture standpoint, Justin Bieber can’t get disemboweled soon enough – just as long as it’s a live feed.

* * * *

Here’s a pic I think you’ll like, David:

Image source :

http://www.destinationcreation.com/informatives/?p=740