What's Your Favorite Scary Movie? Interview Extracts (Part 1)

DARRIN MCDONALD

Filmmaker – The Horror Convention Massacre (2007), Out of Place (2009), She Devils a Go Go (2011)

What would be your favorite horror double feature drive-in choice?
My favorite drive in memory happened during An American Werewolf in London. I was in a car with three other guys, one of which wasn't a horror film fan and he was a little on the squeamish side. All of a sudden, some guy in a werewolf mask jumps up next to his window and howls. Soda went everywhere! Popcorn went everywhere! I was laughing! Werewolf guy was laughing! The whole drive-in was laughing! Everyone was laughing except our squeamish friend. A few minutes went by and he makes the statement that he had spilled soda all over his pants. About ten minutes after that, the car just reeked of urine.

MICHAEL A. SIMPSON

Filmaker – Funland (1987), Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988), Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland (1989), Kidnapping Mr. Heineken (2015)

What’s your favorite scary movie?

My favorite depends on my mood on any given day. I love Phantasm (1979) - I recently watched it again. I first saw it stoned in '79 with my brother and it scared the bejesus out of both of us. It was playing at a majestic old theater house in downtown Atlanta that had gone to seed. The place reeked of piss and alcohol. Street people were sleeping around us. There was so much petty crime happening inside the theater that the manager refused to dim the lights during the show. And the Tall Man and his flying orbs of death were still scary as shit. Great use of sound design with the spheres flying through the air. The dead shrunk down into dwarfs and reanimated. Classic insanity.

RICHARD STANLEY

Filmmaker – Hardware (1990), Dust Devil (1992), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), The Theatre Bizarre (2011), The Otherworld (2013)

What is your favorite horror movie franchise?

I'm not a fan of any of the existing franchises and only feel a deep sense of weariness each time a new reboot shows up. I do have fond memories of Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, which was the first film I got laid in, but after that the series went right off the boil.

MARK SHOSTROM

Special Makeup Effects Artist – Videodrome (1983), The Mutilator (1984), A Nightmare on Elm Street 1-3 (1984-1987), From Beyond (1986), Evil Dead II (1987), Prince of Darkness (1987), Phantasm II-III (1988-1994), Toolbox Murders (2004) 

What’s your favorite zombie movie?

Kerry Prior's The Revenant (2009), hands down. I knew Kerry from working with him on Phantasm III (he handled the silver sphere effects). To be honest, any time one reads a friend's script or watches his/her film, you never know what to expect. There's always that dread of 'will it suck?' But I was blown away by Kerry's film; it's great fun and a clever twist on the zombie-horror-comedy genre. It's also much funnier than the one or two zombie-comedy films that have been done (and in an odd way, more insightful). Kerry's script was tight, it was really well shot and the two leads were cast right. Also Kerry supervised all the visual effects himself, and they're stellar. Many first time directors fail at doing only the directing. I was impressed that Kerry not only wore many hats, he also delivered a terrific film. That's quite an accomplishment.

DAVID CHASKIN

Screenwriter – A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985), The Curse (1987), I, Madman (1989), Midnight’s Child (1992)

What has been your favorite Halloween costume? 

Years ago, when I lived in Manhattan, I used to make the scene at a friend’s annual Halloween party; it was a massively attended affair and everybody always went all-out on their costumes. One year, I went as a (now most likely extremely politically incorrect) “Shopping Bag Lady”. Wig, rags, latex stipple on my face, neck and hands. I wrapped my legs in dirty bandages to cover the oozing sores and there was a severed human arm in my shopping bag full of street-crap. I had hoped to hook up with a woman with whom I had a long-time telephone relationship. She was coming in from Ohio and she had a really sexy voice and I had never met her. Needless to say, when we finally met face-to-face she seemed visibly disturbed by my costume and, ultimately, I went home alone that night.

On my way to my neighborhood, I came out of the subway and broke a heel on one of my mismatched shoes. I sat down on a nearby stoop and tried to repair it - I still had a bit of a walk back to my apartment. A few minutes later, some lady handed me a buck. I didn’t "get lucky" that night but I ended up making eight and a half bucks sitting on that stoop.

Taken from WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE SCARY MOVIE? 

OUT TO BUY NOW FROM AMAZON

Killian H. Gore asks over 100 horror filmmakers and fans from all over the world the same 13 questions regarding their favorite scary movies.

Includes interviews with such horror legends as Joe Dante (Gremlins), Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes), Fred Dekker (The Monster Squad), Marcus Nispel (Friday the 13th), Bill Johnson (Texas Chainsaw 2), Jack Sholder (Nightmare on Elm Street 2), Rob Schmidt (Wrong Turn), Mark Shostrom (Evil Dead II), Richard Stanley (Dust Devil), John A. Russo (Night of the Living Dead), William Malone (House on Haunted Hill), Greydon Clark (Wacko), Jeff Burr (Leatherface), Chuck Parello (Ed Gein), Adam Marcus (Jason Goes to Hell), Tom Sullivan (The Evil Dead), Michael A. Simpson (Sleepaway Camp 2 & 3), Adam Simon (The Haunting in Connecticut), Victor Garcia (Hellraiser: Revelations) and Sean Clark (Horror's Hallowed Grounds).

Plus lots more from the makers of the Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hellraiser, Evil Dead, Night of the Living Dead, Child’s Play, Gremlins, Phantasm, Sleepaway Camp and the Wrong Turn movies, as well as some of the most hardcore horror fans on the planet!

Killian asks about favorite films, directors, sequels, franchises, monsters, remakes, TV shows plus favorite "bad" horror movies and Halloween costumes!

"A Very Entertaining Book!" - Tim Ritter (Truth or Dare?: A Critical Madness)