Horror Hacker caught up with Robert Kirkman, the man behind The Walking Dead comics, at Baltimore's Comic Con and got the scoop on the origin of his zombie series and what made him say yes to an AMCtv adaptation.

Q: The Walking Dead is a stellar example of the zombie genre. Where are your influences?

A: My absolute favorite zombie movie is Day of the Dead. They're in the bunker, the zombies look the coolest out of any of the Romero movies and I really like the story, the misery that these people have to go through. Shaun of the Dead comes in a close second.

Q: What about Night of the Living Dead?

A: The Romero movies as a whole, I really adore. Day of the Dead has more action and gore in it, while I think Night of the Living Dead is probably the most sophisticated zombie movie. It's got excellent story, an amazing ending and it's really artfully put together. It's obviously been a huge influence. I like the Lucio Fulci Italian zombie movies... Holocaust movies inspired [The Walking Dead] a little bit, just to see people dealing with horrible things happening to them.

Continue reading "Q&A - The Walking Dead Scribe Robert Kirkman Discusses His Zombie Influences" »

Tom Noonan, star of The House of the Devil is impossible to categorize: He's played villains (Manhunter's serial killer), starred in offbeat indies (Synecdoche, New York) and even portrayed a classic movie monster (Frankenstein in The Monster Squad). We talked to Noonan about his creepy work in The House of Devil, creating memorable bad guys and a possible return to Frankenstein.

Q: The House of the Devil has a definite 1970s-early '80s slow-burn horror vibe. Are you a fan of that genre?

A: I love The Exorcist, but it's not really in the genre at all. There's this sort of feel to these Japanese movies that are out now, like [Ju-On:] The Grudge and the original Ring [Ringu]. Not showing a lot of horrible stuff, just continuing to build up the tension, which I enjoy. I don't like being grossed out or overwhelmed by slashing and killing.

Continue reading "Q&A - House of the Devil's Tom Noonan on Resurrecting Monster Squad's Frankenstein" »

Night of the Creeps (1986) wasn't an instant genre smash like The Evil Dead, but writer-director Fred Dekker's horror-scifi-noir-comedy subsequently developed a devoted fan following. More than 20 years later, Dekker looks back on his first movie, the little fright flick that could.

Q: The DVD version of Night of the Creeps is the director's cut. What's new for fans?

A: The truth is that an actual director's cut would probably involve me going back to all the original dailies and recutting from scratch. No disrespect to the editor, but there was a lot I didn't know then. The difference is that this version of Creeps goes back to the original ending, which was never shown theatrically.

Q: How did Night of the Creeps find its audience?

A: The Internet. I'd sometimes search Night of the Creeps or The Monster Squad  [1987] and I was stunned by how many appreciative viewers there were out there. That's what led to The Monster Squad being released on DVD and I think that Sony, in their infinite wisdom, realized that they had a title in the same genre by the same filmmaker, and figured it was worth giving it a release.

Continue reading "Q&A - Director Fred Dekker Is King of the Creeps" »

Texan actress Amber Heard describes the serendipity of being in two horror movies currently in theaters (Zombieland and The Stepfather), relates the horrors of the modern family and names her all time favorite fright flick in Horror Hacker's exclusive interview.

Q: You have two horror movies opening almost back to back. How'd that happen?

A: Have you looked at my resume? (laughs) Seriously, though, Zombieland is more a comedy and The Stepfather is a thriller I did right after Pineapple Express... or maybe Never Back Down. Either way, it was a really long time ago and for me it seems weird that it's coming out [in theaters] at all.

Q: Tell me about your Stepfather character.

Continue reading "The Stepfather Star Amber Heard Describes Her Terrifying Gamble to Bare It All" »

Onion editor and author Joe Garden (The New Vampire's Handbook) talks about his latest book, a how-to guide for the newly turned still learning to adjust. He talks to AMCtv.com about his favorite vamps and whether he's an Edward or a Jasper.

Q: I'm assuming you watched a lot of movies as research for this book. Is there one that sticks out as most influential?

A: What influenced us was the "vampire rules scene" that often pops up in the movies. Dracula had Van Helsing, The Lost Boys had the Frog Brothers, Blade had Kris Kristofferson, etc., and their role was to lay out the rules of vampirism. Crosses will repel a vampire but silver does nothing. Silver will burn a vampire but garlic is worthless. So on and so forth. If the protagonist was a vampire, he would look to his mentor to spell out these rules in the anguished "What's happening to me?" scene.

In Interview With a Vampire, Lestat is notorious for withholding this information from Louis. In The New Vampire's Handbook, we took the premise that there were plenty of vampires that had lousy mentors, and we created a paternal vampire guru named Miles Proctor who was making it his mission to provide advice and pointers. Subtextually, he was also trying to capitalize on their ignorance. This book is his sort of Tony Robbins self-help guide.

Q: What do you make of the whole Twilight phenomenon? Are you more Edward or Jasper?

Continue reading "Q&A - Onion Editor Turned Vampire Expert Shares His Favorite Bloodsucker Movies" »

MTV reality starlet Audrina Patridge (The Hills) makes her big-screen debut this weekend in Sorority Row, a remake of the 1983 campus-slasher movie The House on Sorority Row. Horror Hacker caught up with Patridge to discuss her budding career as a scream queen, favorite cheesy horror movies and even a little Hills gossip.

Q: How has the transition been from The Hills to the big screen?

A: It's my first feature film, so it's really exciting. I have a small role, but it starts the movie off. My character is mentioned throughout the whole movie, and you don't know if I'm the killer or if I'm not.

Q: Tell us about your character.

A: I play Megan. Her boyfriend cheats on her, and basically, if you cheat on one Theta Pi, you cheat on all Theta Pi. So all my sorority sisters get together to play a prank to get back at my cheating boyfriend [Matt O'Leary]. And it's a prank that doesn't go according [to plan]. That's what starts the movie off...

Continue reading "Sorority Row's Audrina Patridge Talks Scary Movies and Frenemies" »

If you're looking for the inside scoop on Halloween 2, you've just found it. Now head on over to the AMC News blog for a video interview with Wayne Toth, the lead makeup effects designer, and the man responsible for Michael Myers' new mask. Afterward, watch on-set interviews with Rob Zombie and actor Tyler Mane.

Read more here.

With the critically acclaimed Breaking Bad now in its second season and Last House on the Left about to hit theaters, you'll be hearing a lot about Aaron Paul this week (Click here to read him talk about Breaking Bad.) The actor recently took time to speak with me from, of all places, Disneyland. I think we can all agree that it's totally awesome to talk about extreme violence in the middle of the Happiest Place on Earth.

Q: Is this remake more palatable than the original? Wes Craven's movie is one of those movies you don't want to experience more than once.

A: I really believe that the true fans of the original will like the remake. The original was rated X, and ours was NC-17 for so long -- we had to cut out so much of the assault scene and many other moments to finally get an R rating. The movie is very artistic -- it's an artistic home invasion thriller more than a horror movie.

Continue reading "Stacie Ponder - Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul on His Other Project (Last House on the Left)" »

This week Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert's Ghost House label goes direct-to-video with their release of eight (!) movies on DVD. "Over the years we were sent various movies so we could check out certain directors," says Tapert. "Later we'd check back in on some of them and find out that the movie had been picked up by some company, never released and the filmmakers had gotten ripped off. So we decided to go into the DTV consumer business ourselves." Tapert has been Sam Raimi's producer since Evil Dead; he's the executive producer of TV shows Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess and he produced The Grudge and 30 Days of Night. We've ranked the eight Ghost House releases from worst to best, with added commentary from Tapert.

8. Brotherhood of Blood
Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead) and Sid Haig (House of 1000 Corpses, Foxy Brown) play vampires with teeth so big they can barely close their mouths in this vampire action flick that, like a vampire, spends most of its time sucking. Haig and Foree deliver big, bloody beefsteak performances but the rest of the movie tastes like sawdust. Says Tapert: "Anyone who can actually make a movie in twelve days -- the time in which this one was made -- I'm not against trying to get that movie out there."

7. Trackman
This Russian flick kicks off with a high-octane bank robbery gone awry, but then immediately loses steam. The heavily-armed thugs retreat to a tunnel system underneath Moscow and are stalked by a killer who collects eyeballs. Like the old Soviet Union, it's bleak, boring and involves walking around aimlessly in endless corridors for untenable amounts of time. By the time the flamethrower attacks appear in the last reel, it's far too little and way too late.

Continue reading "Ghost House Underground Review - Eight Movies Handpicked by Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert" »

S&MAN director JT Petty returns to the Toronto Film Festival with his latest film, The Burrowers, and talks to AMCtv.com about why he traded in the world of snuff films in his last feature for the cowboys and creatures of this one.

Q: When you look at your previous films, particularly S&MAN, The Burrowers is a completely different sort of film for you. What made you want to make a western?

A: It started as much about making a western as making a horror movie. I've always loved the hell out of westerns and a lot of what went into The Burrowers is that when you think about how to try and scare people now, you have to figure out how to break the genre conventions a little bit. It's like how Hostel killed off who you think will be the main character at the thirty-minute mark and let the funny sidekick be the main character. I thought that was a really effective way of throwing you off balance. Or like Audition, which seems to be like a romantic comedy...

Q: ...Until the bag jumps.

Continue reading "JT Petty Talks Cowboys and Monsters in The Burrowers" »