1) What was your first experience with horror, and at what age?
I think it was after my parents got divorced. My Dad was into being the "cool parent," so we had a movie weekend where he and his girlfriend showed me Alien, Aliens and Alien 3 all in a row. Plus, he had HBO, which meant I had Tales from the Crypt anytime I wanted to stay up past ten. After that, I had TNT's MonsterVision; I guess I must have been 13 or 14 when it was on. But I remember it pretty clearly because it had Joe Bob Briggs hosting, and that cheesy set with the mobile home and the television on top of the cooler or the oil drum. Usually, they'd just show what I think a lot of people at the time considered schlock -- Tremors, They Live, Big Trouble in Little China -- stuff that now gets the much nicer classification of "cult classics," but I remember one late night they showed The Exorcist, and even with Briggs doing his usual shtick of lovingly making fun of the movie, you could tell there was a real admiration for the film and what it accomplished, and even though I wasn't a "movie guy" yet, that struck me pretty strongly.2) What attracted you to horror initially?
Well, I'm more of just a film and comic book geek. I even studied film history and screenwriting in college, and a lot of my interest in film came from the low budget indie flicks of the '90s. I was a huge Tarantino fan, so when he mentioned in an interview that Reservoir Dogs was basically just The Thing without the monster, I had to track that down, which really ignited my interest in the horror genre. But my real interest was in the low budget stuff, the stuff that felt doable as a wannabe screenwriter, so I started getting heavily into the early John Carpenter, the grindhouse scene from the 70s, exploitation films, later Ingmar Bergman and early Dario Argento.3) How did the people you were growing up around react to your blossoming fandom?
It varied. I had some friends who were totally up for watching Evil Dead 2 over and over again, and talking about how it was shot, and how the makeup and fake blood was done, and just talking about how Bruce Campbell's tumble into the basement was one of the best falls down a flight of stairs ever. As for my family, I mostly kept it a secret. Other than the Alien movies, Dad wasn't that big of a horror fan, and my Mom didn't even let me watch The Simpsons in her house. When I was older, it was cool. My friends in college didn't know a lot about horror, but were usually up for anything I wanted to find in the dark and dusty section of the local video store, and sometimes we'd get together just to watch horror films.4) What is your favorite horror film, star and director?
I think The Exorcist is still my favorite. There's just so much cool stuff going on in it, and while I know there's a lot about the movie people laugh about, I think it's just a really strong movie, not just a strong horror movie, and I don't think you're ever going to be able to make anything like it again. My favorite star is Bruce Campbell, because the Ash character is so great, and because I feel like Campbell has become the B-Horror icon. Favorite director is George Romero. He invented a whole genre practically by himself, and he's never okay just making a movie about something trying to eat/kill someone. He's always trying to say something, and that's what draws me to horror, how it can take a fantastic situation but comment on something real, something true-to-life.5) Do you have a favorite subgenre?
I'm a huge zombie fan, but I'd also take that a step farther, and say any kind of survival horror, things having to do with infection, or disease. A friend of mine also has me really into this mondo-revamp, documentary-style horror; The Poughkeepsie Tapes scared the hell out of me. I also really like horror-comedy, just because the genre skates pretty close to laughs anyway.6) Are there any films or subgenres you really do not like?
I'm not a big fan of the serial slasher horror from the '80s. Freddy, Jason, the Halloween movies -- they're not really my kind of horror. I also really don't like this torture porn craze, which is hard for me to admit because I'm a big Eli Roth fan. And I say this as a fan of the old school, grindhouse exploitation flicks, but those were made in a certain time, place, and climate. Now, when people remake those or make movies sort of in homage to them, it's the same glorification of violence and rape from the '70s, which I think misses the point of revisiting the subgenre in the first place. We've had movies that were just violence for violence's sake. What about a movie about why we need that violence, or what it might say about us that we use that sort of thing as escapism. But for now, it's just blood and guts with no context.7) What is the last horror film you saw? What did you think of it?
Survival of the Dead, which I really enjoyed, but was disappointed to see so much CGI. It was a lot for Romero. I didn't think it was as strong as his early stuff, but I got what he was going for, and enjoyed going back to that world he's created. Before that, it was Resident Evil: Extinction, which I only mention because the Resident Evil movies are huge guilty pleasures of mine, and since I feel like there's a lot about horror fandom that is very much about guilty pleasures.8) How do you express your fandom in everyday life?
I wear horror t-shirts. I really like horror-themed rock and roll, too. Rob Zombie, the Cramps, but also slightly more obscure stuff like Zombina and the Skeletones and Calabrese.