I am a huge fan of horror movies. Not just the blood and guts and gore, but the truly horrifying stuff, you know? The suspense. Those moments when you think you might be losing your mind.
So I was ecstatic to hear about a new VOD channel entirely devoted to this fantastic genre. And yesterday evening, I went along to the Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square to hang out with fellow horror buffs and get some sneak previews.
It’s looking good, guys.
The founders were both there, and kept bucking against people describing it as “like Netflix”. Of course it is, in a way – it’s a load of movies that you can stream online – but they really want to keep the cult feel that’s central to so many horror classics. When you open iTunes or Netflix and scroll to the Horror section and click “Download”, you don’t really get an experience, you just get a movie. Which is fine, if that’s all your after. But sometimes it’s good to have people who really get it behind the product you’re using. And that’s where The Horror Show comes in.
On top of which, it’s not just going to be all big flashy titles. Sure, there’ll be the latest Ring or Saw or whatever gorefest is currently gracing the cinemas, but they’re also planning on showcasing cult movies, short films from little-known directors; all the true gems that you can normally only find by raking around at the back of a dodgy-looking video store in that dead part of a Sunday afternoon.
We watched Him Indoors, a great little creation from Paul Davis – you can see the trailer here:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enjhsehhuGU&version=3&hl=en_GB]Twitch Film called it “Intense, disturbing and incredibly endearing”; I’d go along with that.
There was even a comedian: Richard Sandling, who I’d never heard of before, and I was a bit apprehensive, being someone who doesn’t often find stand-up comics funny. He was hilarious, though, and it can’t have been easy to write an entire gig around horror films, but somehow he managed to pull it off. If you get the chance, go and see Perfect Movie in Leicester Square. You won’t regret it.
We finished up with a screening of White of the Eye, which I remarkably hadn’t seen before. Chosen by Kim Newman, author of Nightmare Movies and video dungeon keeper at Empire magazine, it was a true classic, and one you need to watch if you haven’t already.
All in all, The Horror Show looks like it’ll be a worthwhile venture. You can access it now at www.thehorrorshow.tv and gorge on all your favourites to your heart’s content.