 I’ll be honest, knowing now the differences between British and European horror, it served as a perfect gateway for a kid my age. Of course, it was slightly macabre and no one would forget that hideous faced, iconic greyish zombie, but it was all just so British. THE HORROR OF MY LIFE BY MAREK Z. TURNER THE FIRST HORROR BOOK I REMEMBER READING When I was a kid, I used to love reading the Point Horror books, but that was so long ago that I wouldn’t be able to tell you a single title. Then, as I entered my mid-teens, reading became displaced as a hobby by other things, and it wasn’t until a far few years later that I picked up fiction books again. When I did, I was devouring anything to do with zombies, and I remember picking up The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks. This obviously didn’t follow your average narrative structure, nor is it strictly horror, but its uniqueness in the genre certainly made it stand out and provided something different to get me back on the reading wagon. THE FIRST HORROR FILM I REMEMBER WATCHING As a kid, I was obsessed with horror and the more ghoulish shows. I imagine everyone reading this was the same, and I remember being about ten and getting my mum to tape any late night horror off the TV. One of these, in fact the one I remember first and the most, was the Hammer Horror film Plague of the Zombies. Everything about it was perfect and I’ll be honest, knowing now the differences between British and European horror, it served as a perfect gateway for a kid my age. Of course, it was slightly macabre and no one would forget that hideous faced, iconic greyish zombie, but it was all just so British. Maybe a year later, once I had progressed from taping whatever was on the TV to actually having films bought for me, I remember my mum brought back two video tapes from the store - Wolf, with Jack Nicholson. No thank you, and a random Jean Rollin film put out by Redemption Films. Which one it was, I have no idea. I watched it once and thought, ‘what the fuck is this’. Nowadays, though, it would be a different response. THE GREATEST HORROR BOOK OF ALL TIME Well, it is a clear cop-out answer, but the Necronomicon release of tales by H.P. Lovecraft, which contains around 36 tales I think. Because of this, it’s a fantastic contender for the greatest horror book simply because of the amount of quality it contains within. If I had to pick one particular book, then I would go with Slugs by Shaun Hutson, which for me is just a proper slice of humerous British horror and helped inform me in what sort of horror I wanted to write. THE GREATEST HORROR FILM OF ALL TIME This is something where my opinion has, understandably, changed over time, depending on where I was in life. But one film has constantly remained in my top three and I’ll stick my neck out and say probably (although using that qualifier word probably negates my claim) is the greatest horror of all time - Zombie Flesh Eaters. The film is a testament to everyone involved in that film, not least Lucio Fulci, for which I would argue it gave a fresh shot of life to his career. It is also ironic that a film that set out to cash in on the success of Romero’s Dawn of the Dead would in many ways surpass it. For me, this is because it doesn’t rip off Romero in the way you would expect. Sure, it pretends to be a sequel of sorts, hell just look at the Italian title, but in reality, the story has its basis more in the Tex Willer adventure comics and somehow Fulci (and De Rossi) push the gore and violence resulting in an irresistible combination. Not to mention there’s a zombie vs a shark. WTF! THE GREATEST WRITER OF ALL TIME Actually, I’m going to have to go off-piste here and name the French crime writer Jean Patrick-Manchette. During my long-lasting zombie obsessed phase, I tried my hand at writing some short stories, with no luck, but it was only when I first read Manchette it truly inspired me to write. There is something about his style, his cynicism, and his social awareness that draws me in and lifts him above others for me. I always believe that the purpose of art, with writing and film being a part of that, is like a triangle. In the bottom two corners, you have entertainment and intellectual stimulation (be that social commentary, posing a question, etc.) while at the apex of the triangle, where the lines of the two corners converge, you have the combination of the two. This is where the fantastic books, films, artworks that truly inspire in life. For me, Manchette completes the triangle. That said, not everything seeks to make this type of art. The Italian b-movie director, Bruno Mattei is quoted as saying “movies are supposed to be entertaining. So, they have to be made with that kind of spirit.” In that vein, two of my favourite reads do just this extremely well - and perhaps this is because they only set out to entertain. These books are Slugs and Breeding Ground by Shaun Hutson. It was his style I had in mind when I wrote Killerpede. THE BEST BOOK COVER OF ALL TIME Quite frankly if you don’t see the cover for John Christopher’s The Little People and immediately try to find a copy of it, well I don’t know what’s wrong with you. It immediately screams…’what the?’ More recently, the cover of Pupille by Luigi Musolino that was put out by the Italian publisher Zona 42 was fantastic. The use of red on black was striking and the book cover just had a nice, perhaps slightly raised feel that really impressed me. THE BEST FILM POSTER OFF ALL TIME The Ghanaian poster for Jurassic Park is pretty special, and certainly keeps in line with my love of the creature feature sub-genre, but I would have to go with something trashy like The Nail Gun Massacre which perfectly embodies the violent promise and sleazy nature of that style of film. It might even be better than the film, as was often the case (I’m looking at you Mardi Gras Massacre and The Toolbox Murders). THE MOST UNDERRATED FILM OF ALL TIME I’m not entirely sure underrated is the right word, but Dellamorte Dellamore aka The Cemetery Man deserves a lot more love and recognition than it gets. Based on the Dylan Dog comics, this film runs the gamut of human emotions from love and loss, to camaraderie, humiliation, friendship and jealousy. Everett is simply fantastic in his role as Francesco Dellamorte, and it really was worth the producers time holding out for their man rather than taking the first bit of money that was offered and compromising (rumours of Matt Dillon being in place for the original proposed investors). However, Creatures from the Abyss aka Plankton by Al Passari is an underrated gem, and considering you can watch it for free on YouTube or pick up the DVD for only a couple of quid it deserves more people, who like gross out creature feature horror comedy, checking it out. I was fortunate to speak to the director a few years ago, and he seemed a bloody nice man, too. THE MOST UNDERRATED BOOK OF ALL TIME Well, from a non-horror perspective, it is either S.F.W. by Andrew Wellman (which was turned into one of the ultimate 90s slacker films alongside Mallrats), or No Room at the Morgue by Jean-Patrick Manchette. Both have UK releases but I think they must have been short run (S.F.W.) or muted (No Room…) as I don’t think either have had much impact. However, if I had to pick a horror novel that I feel was never given the wider love or attention it merited (I didn’t even know it was put out on Verotik), then I would choose Header by Edward Lee. This story should have received more lasting coverage and achieved more widespread acclaim (outside of the immediate community - where, in fairness, it is always held up as an example). Also, I sound like a stuck record would like to give a quick shout out to Breeding Ground, by Shaun Hutson, which is the sequel to Slugs. I never see it get talked about on its own merits, but along with the first, it was instrumental in my love for fun animal horror/creature features. THE MOST UNDERRATED AUTHOR OF ALL TIME Well, it’s clearly the delightfully named Jonathan Gash who penned the Lovejoy mysteries. Gash created a terrific bastard of a character and some inventive stories (which then spawned a toned-down but equally terrific TV series), even winning the John Creasey Award in 1977 for The Judas Pair, the debut in the Lovejoy series. In reality, Mr Gash was a doctor specialising in tropical medicine, so to find the time to pen around 24 Lovejoy novels along with several other series is humbling. Back on topic, however, I picked him because he draws you into this bastard’s world with humour and a touch of mystery, and that is where Lovejoys charm lies. The characters are both recognisable and exaggerated and clearly put on the page to entertain us. Which they do. We should talk about Thomas Ligotti a lot more too, and so should the more mainstream press. THE BOOK / FILM THAT SCARED ME THE MOST As a young kid, it was Poltergeist and even to this day my mind has taken what I saw and amplified it so much that I still say that this film is the one that scared me the most. Although the Turkish film Baskin comes a close second, and so far is the only film that has left me slack jawed in the cinema. In terms of books, I would like to give another shout out to the disquieting and eerie Pupile by Luigi Musolino which slowly built up the tension and creeped me out more and more as I read. THE BOOK / FILM I AM WORKING ON NEXT I am currently working on two projects. The first is another creature feature novella, this one with a single monster and set in a beautiful Italian location. I’m hoping this will be out by the start of next summer. The second is a historical noir that is in the final stages of editing (finally) but will probably be completed after the creature feature. Killerpede |
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