Name a person who was instrumental in getting you into horror.

Bill Cunningham - DISContent

I guess that would have to be Forrest J. Ackerman whose Famous Monsters inspired me.

Don May, Jr. - Synapse

Well, absolutely positively, that answer is George A. Romero. If it wasn’t for him, and the others involved in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, I probably wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing. NIGHT was my first project and George and Co. had faith enough in me to let my company restore his original classic (at the time, I was just a young guy right out of college, with no job!). From that point… the rest is history.

Sean T. Collins - Attentiondeficitdisorderly Too Flat

I’ll give credit to my buddy Dave (the cartoonist currenty known as Davey Oil). Davey turned me on to Clive Barker and, thanks to his intrepid-cum-suicidal project of renting his way alphabetically through the entire Blockbuster Video horror section, served as an excellent guide in terms of what to watch and, perhaps more importantly, what not to watch. He was also present at a certain cataclysmic viewing of The Blair Witch Project, my scariest horror-movie-related experience of all time.

Billy

My mom. Every friday night while my dad was at work me and her would site down together and watch the friday night horror movie on Fox 19 out of Buffalo. The only one I can really remember was SSSSSSSSS a movie about some crazy doctor feeding this guy his mad scientist snake juice so he can grow his arm back, but it goes a little too far and turns him into a snake. What was even better is my mom is petrified of snakes.

Tim - Mondo Schlocko

I have inspired by the standard list such as Tobe Hooper, Joe Dante, John Carpenter, and the like. However, the three that made me want to make flicks was Eric Stanze and the Polonia Brothers. All three indie and doing their own thing on zero budgets. It is because of them that I am following my wish to make low grade horror flicks.

Jeff O’ Brien

Corny as this sounds, my Dad. We used to stay up together on Friday nights and watch Nightmare Theatre out of Seattle. LOTS of old AIP films and Hammer stuff they played back in the mid Seventies. Sparked my love of drive in and exploitation cinema. He took me to the drive in and I recalle seeing Battle and Beneath The Planet of the Apes and he took me to my first R rated movie as a kid… Alien. Took me to Barbarella too but he made us leave when he found out it was no Star Wars. The horror writer that most influences my writing is Robert R McCammon.

JA - My New Plaid Pants

My grandmother, who refused to allow me to watch Scooby Doo as a child, because it was witchcraft.

Warren - 150 Days of Sodom

Back in perhaps sixth grade I had a friend named Reza who was really into horror movies. At the time a bunch of us would draw comics in the cafeteria and in study hall or in science class. Mine were rock-bottom the worst, but I would claim they were great, it was part of my gimmick. Reza’s were not bad, but were highly frowned upon by the two better comic artists, who hated him. They would even say my comics were better than his, though I knew they were not. Mine were 2-D, his at least used some techniques to show perspective.

Anyway, Reza and I would draw horror comics while the better comic artists drew superheroes. I remember Reza had a comic where a bunch of horror icons, Freddy, Jason, Jaws, etc, were killing off the Marvel heroes. Reza would also draw a character called “Teddy” who was a killer teddy bear. I would draw Teddy too. Why the hell not? I also stole a character, Ostler the parrot, from a kid who was very serious about his Ostler comic strip. He would put the copyright circle next to the “Ostler” title which I though was wicked lame. I said “check out OstLAR, he is not Ostler, he’s different and legal!” I drew “Ostlar” comics to piss him off. These were made to be disposable. I’d whip together something crappy to show him, Ostlar “copyrighted” and “trademarked”, and he would destroy my comic strips in a fit of rage.

Anyway, I got into the horror movies since I was into making violent drawings with Reza. It was an “us against them” thing. I guess the other comic drawers were into Batman and the direct-to-video Punisher movie. I don’t know.

David Z. - Tomb It May Concern

Chas. Balun all the way. His Deep Red and Gorezone articles are fantastic with his tone of gorehoundery and his editorial skills at bringing some really good writers together for his mags. I got my first copies of Cannibal Holocaust and Tenebre from him WAAAY back in the day. His taking of an article on Fulci by a younger and far less entrenched in trash film than I am now me for Deep Red Alert is still one of my favorite items in my fanzine collection. Of course, I actually used a different name on the damn thing, but it sure does read like a younger me, slightly dumber and less casual all at the same time. While I was already “into” horror movies, he made me insane for them.

Tim Paxton, Craig Ledbetter, Bob Sargent, Dave Kosanke, My Mom and Rev. Rick Sullivan, Steve Gerber, Fritz Leiber, Mike Ploog, Bernie Wrightson and all of the artists at Warren in the 70’s sure did help though.

Stacie - Final Girl

Without a doubt, my mom. She’s a huge horror fan and taught me early on the joys of Hammer movies. My parents indulged my appetite by bringing me to the drive-in with them and keeping me current with Fangoria and Famous Monsters magazines. Mom and I still regularly talk about horror flicks, keeping each other up to date and trading titles…it’s awesome! So awesome, in fact, that I had to give my mom props for her influence on me in an interview.

Doug Nagy

My heavy metal baby sitter Karen.

Red Hawk - Happy Horror

I’d actually have to say my mom, probably. She would let me watch horror movies growing up, starting with the original Prophecy when I was 2. She always made sure I knew that it wasn’t real, so I didn’t grow up completely afraid of what I saw in the movies. She also got me into Stephen King, and bought me my first Richard Laymon book when we were on vacation one year. She’s also an avid zombie movie fan, herself.

Casey Criswell - Cinema Fromage

Dear old dad. Starting me out about age 12 with Faces of Death, we proceeded into dusk to dawn Drive-In marathons of Friday the 13th and lord knows what else. Without him reminding me constantly ‘It’s just a movie!’ I’d probably be traumatized by horror flicks and hooked on Lifetime Originals.

Gary Wintle

That would have to be my big brother Steve.

It was with him and all his friends that I still remember the nights of watching just crazy amounts of movies (mostly horror) that friends of mine wouldn’t even be allowed to see in years. Although I never understood why Steve wouldn’t EVER let me watch Watership Down, “It’s just about bunnies, Steve, C’mon!!!”.

I remember eventually watching Friday the13th (whichever number featuring Jason) with my school friends. Later that night they would be whimpering in terror due to the forthcoming nightmares, while I softly fell asleep to decapitated camper’s dancing around in my head. To this day, I still can’t be scared of anything I see on TV, thank you Steve.

You’re welcome, Gary. We’re all just a bunch of softies, aren’t we? This is definitely one of my favourite Roundtables so far. Thanks to everyone for sharing their stories, and thank you to all the people mentioned for helping to shape so many the impressionable minds. Do you have someone you’d like to give a shout out? Don’t be shy. Leave a comment.

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