My Life In Horror

Every month, I will write about a film, album, book or event that I consider horror, and that had a warping effect on my young mind. You will discover my definition of what constitutes horror is both eclectic and elastic. Don’t write in. Also, of necessity, much of this will be bullshit – as in, my best recollection of things that happened anywhere from 15 – 25 years ago. Sometimes I will revisit the source material contemporaneously, further compounding the potential bullshit factor.

This is not history. This is not journalism. This is not a review.

This is my life in horror.


My Brief Career As An Eleven Year Old Slave Trader


It’s my final summer of primary school. And depending on when it fell, I’m either ten or eleven. But it’s been elevens all round so far, so let’s suppose that’s right for this too. At a certain point it seems like synchronicity has its own gravitational pull, and the notion that my biggest formative intellectual and artistic experiences all came within a couple of months of turning eleven pleases me. And anyway, like it says up top – this isn’t history......

As far as horror movies with a casino theme go, The Haunted Casino works pretty well. Sure, it’s only a B movie and went straight to DVD, but that’s not to say this niche gore-fest isn’t a great film to watch with friends on a Friday night fright-fest.

The film is directed by horror extraordinaire, Charles Band and stars horror film veterans Sid Haig, Michael Berryman and sees young man Matthew Dragna inherit a rundown old casino from his recently deceased uncle. This sparks Matthew along with his girlfriend JJ and several of his other close friends to take a trip to the old building to check the place out.