Understand this:

Just because I have been writing for FANGORIA for 29 years, when I was designated the magazine’s first—and only—official British correspondent, and have possibly have had more cover stories than any other scribe who has contributed to the red-soaked publication…I am not a gorehound.

As much as I can appreciate the artful use of splatter, I typically find the use of bloodletting a cheap copout for true terror.

As much as I have been criticized for pulling no punches in my fiction—translated into over 16 foreign languages over the past 23 years—I will confide:

I am not a fan of the FRIDAY THE 13TH flicks;

I stopped watching the HALLOWEEN franchise after H4;

I dislike remakes of classic ’60s/’70s movies and refuse to watch the reboot of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (Platinum Dunes couldn’t even get the spelling correct); Tobe Hooper’s original, alongside George A. Romero’s DAWN OF THE DEAD, are my favorite horror flicks of all time, next to James Whale’s BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and Jacques Tourneur’s NIGHT OF THE DEMON, a.k.a. CURSE OF THE DEMON;

I love the atmospheric films produced by Val Lewton for RKO in the 1940s. And since I have seemingly become the world’s leading expert on Amicus Productions, it should come as no surprise that I adore their anthology movies; like our new editor, who is a decade younger than me but has great taste when it comes to the rich, dark wine of cinema we call horror, I love the movies made in the 1960s and ’70s—and believe me, none of the shit you are currently spending your hard-earned cash on at your local multiplex comes close:

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET remake? gag!

A FRIDAY THE 13TH remake? puke!

(For the record, wild horses could never drag me to see the update of THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE [correct title/spelling]; but that said, I really like Zack Snyder’s DAWN OF THE DEAD.)

Here are 10 movies you should watch if you haven’t already done so:

HORROR OF DRACULA

THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN

THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS

THE HAUNTING (the original Robert Wise version, 1962, not the Jan De Bont debacle with Liam Neeson)

THE OTHER

THE LITTLE GIRL WHO LIVES DOWN THE LANE (an early Jodie Foster flick, made before TAXI DRIVER; Martin Sheen’s performance as a pervert will make your skin crawl)

MESSIAH OF EVIL (the recent Code Red DVD release is a revelation, remastered and finally in its correct aspect ratio, with great extras!!!)

THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD (soon be released in a definitive edition by Severin Films)

DEATH LINE (a.k.a. RAW MEAT)

DRACULA A.D. 1972 (the worst of the Hammer Drac flicks, but a perennial favorite—Peter Cushing and Sir Christopher Lee square off for the first time since HORROR OF DRACULA…plus major Hot Babe factor: Caroline Munro, Stephanie Beacham and Marsha Hunt; plus it has a groovy ’70s soundtrack, now available—finally!—on CD)

I shall rant, and I shall rave—and take no prisoners.

I plan to entertain you, educate you and hopefully piss you off—because there’s nothing like a lively debate (one thing I will not do is slag off the tons of shit cluttering up your local video store or Netflix queue; I believe in only talking about the good stuff).

I freely invite your brickbats and bouquets…

—The Nutman

WHAT I AM READING RIGHT NOW

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO—Stieg Larson

 

MOOMINSUMMER MADNESS—Tove Jansson (my favorite book when I was a preteen)

UNDRESSING EMMANUELLE: A MEMOIR—Sylvia Kristel

STILL DEAD—poetry by Hart D. Fisher

 

PLAYLIST

THE ISLAND YEARS—John Cale

DARKLANDS—The Jesus and Mary Chain

MIND BOMB—The The

GREATEST HITS LIVE (King Biscuit Flower Hour Archive Series)—Uriah Heep

 

Philip Nutman is a multiple award-nominated fiction/screenwriter (co-writer/associate producer of the award-winning feature THE GIRL NEXT DOOR). His first collection of short stories, CITIES OF NIGHT, will be published May 15.

 

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