Let me first introduce myself. Well I’m Emily Booth obviously, but I won’t bore you with a long biography banging on about my career as most of you guys know it already! Suffice to say, I have loved horror as a fan since I was 12, and as an industry professional (horror actress, presenter, writer and producer) since I was 20. SCREAM MAGAZINE has always supported my career with articles and interviews so I can’t say how thrilled I was when they asked me to write for them so I can share my morbid thoughts and views with you!
Horror fans need to get their horror fix on a regular basis, I totally get that and as the face of Horror Channel I will be dishing the dirt on the best horror films, seasons, premieres and special events that air on the channel every month, and believe me, this is the only channel that’s equally happy screening Nude Nuns with Big Guns alongside Eraserhead. What we deliver to the fans is eclectic to say the least. We’re neither highbrow nor low brow – we are all brows, exploring every single kind of horror from the vintage to the barely-out-of-the-camera newest releases. You need Horror Channel in your life people, and here’s what’s coming up in March.
Friday the 7th is a date to put in your diary. Why? Because this night is all about Nightmares. More disturbingly, your nightmares. Let me explain. Horror Channel has launched their first iPhone App, but this is not your usual condensed version of a website on your phone, oh no. It’s called ‘Night Terror’ and is designed to infiltrate your subconscious as you sleep to induce a nightmare. It does this with scary film clips, stories and sound effects that randomly play out in the night, thus entering your dreams and manipulating their outcome. It’s a brave new world chaps, so come and join the experiment by downloading the App now and watching me all night on March 7th from 9pm as I introduce four frightfully nasty films that play with your fears, dreams and anxieties. Hold on to your cushions for NIGHT TERROR NIGHT…
9pm: GRAVE ENCOUNTERS (Dir The Viscous Brothers 2011)
You know all those ghost hunting reality shows where nothing ever really happens? Well this slice of found footage mayhem makes Poltergeist look like an episode of Most Haunted when a TV crew head to an abandoned notorious psychiatric hospital (always good) to shoot what will be the last ever episode of Grave Encounters! Very chilling stuff.
22.50: THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY (Dir Lucio Fulci 1981)
All good horror fans will know this one! From the legendary Lucio Fulci This is the third instalment of the unofficial Gates of Hell trilogy, the movie even making the infamous video nasty list in the 1980s which makes us love it even more. Deranged, dreamy and creepy with lurid colours and close ups this has all the hallmarks of a good Fulci flick. A family move into a crumbling old mansion so Daddy can continue the research of his deranged yet dead colleague. But just who or what is hiding in the basement?! This movie is also featured in the Night Terror App itself.
00.35: BLACK CHRISTMAS (Dir Bob Clark 1974)
Arguably a precursor to Carpenters Halloween this is an incredibly chilling Stalk and Slash set in a sorority sisters house as they prepare for Christmas. The girls are subjected to a series of bizarre and anonymous phone calls that get increasingly sick and threatening. Never before has the simple sound of a telephone ringing implemented such dread! As featured on the Night Terror App itself, dare to watch the movie, and then play the Black Christmas Night Terror as you sleep!!
02.30: PAPERHOUSE (Dir Bernard Rose 1988)
From the director of Candyman this movie is pitched perfectly for our evening of terror as we enter the mind of a disturbed bed ridden young girl who discovers whatever she draws in her sketchbook comes to life in her dreams. But fantasy and reality collide in the most frightening of ways when her visions get a little a twisted.
I will be on twitter from 9pm on Friday 7th March tweeting about the films and chatting about dreams and nightmares – one of my absolute favourite topics! Tweet me @horror_channel using the #nightterror to get in touch.
Once you’ve been suitably shaken by our quaveringly good quadruple bill, its off to bedlam with you. But remember, just like the little girl in Paperhouse you too have the power to control your dreams, so download the Night Terror App for free, and join our little bedtime experiment to open your mind!
Hammer Double Feature Season
Saturday nights are sorted for those of you who like your horror vintage and British as we bring you the Hammer Double Feature Season. Voluptuous vampire vixens, undead slaves, cobra-women, grisly murders and creepy aliens. Yes, Hammer heaven continues throughout March, as the UK’s number one TV destination for all things horror brings you five more Hammer horror double-bills; Sat Mar 1 – Sat Mar 29 from 9.00pm.
With 10 absolute classics on offer I simply don’t have the word count to go into each one but here’s a run-down on what’s on offer.
Saturday night Double Bills
March 1st 9pm: The Plague of the Zombies, followed by Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter at 10.45
March 8th 9pm: The Reptile, followed by Quatermass and the Pit at 10.45
March 15th 9pm: The Witches, followed by Demons of the Mind at 10.45
March 22nd 9pm: Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde followed by Lust for a Vampire at 10.55
March 29th 9pm: The Horror of Frankenstein followed by Rasputin the Mad Monk at 10.50
What a line up!
And slicing the head off March nicely comes the network movie premiere of Hatchet 2 from horror directing favourite Adam Green. The gore gang are back picking the action up right where the splatter-tastic original left us, although this time genre fave Danielle Harris replaces (rather controversially) Tamara Feldman in lead role of Marybeth. She’s joined by Kane Hodder (Friday the 13th Part 7 & 8) and Tony Todd (Candyman) Marybeth is pulled back into the Louisianna swamps when she learns the truth about her family’s connection to the deformed killer Victor Crowley. Expect even more outrageous gore and death scenes in this must see all American slasher, Friday 28th March at 10.50pm.
So there you have it, March in a bodybag. Till next month, let the nightmare begin!
Emily Booth banner image copyright www.beckphotographic.com
