“I think it’s true to say,” says horror wunderkind Stephen Volk . . .

. . . kicking off this week’s movies special Newsletter, "that many of us horror writers of a certain generation have treasured memories of Hammer Films, Amicus Productions and their ilk. In fact, their output of genre classics is so important that some of us have secretly longed for a way to relive and recapture the excitement we had when we first experienced them."

"That was my exact impulse when I first talked to Mark Morris about a book proposal entitled The Blythewood Horror Film Omnibus—"

"—an unashamed homage to John Burke’s Hammer Horror Film Omnibus, a fat paperback that came out in the sixties, comprising four novellas based on upcoming horror films. 
 The difference being that our “Blythewood” would be a studio that never existed. Our four films would be movies that we’d invent from scratch. Movies we wished we could have seen as feature films when we were growing up. And now we can—in book form—thanks to PS."

"Mark was highly enthusiastic to write one novella, as was yours truly."

"Tim Lebbon was already fully on board to write a third. We all had Chris Golden top of our list next, and luckily he loved the idea and came up with a snappier title—STUDIO OF SCREAMS."

"Furthermore, he suggested, brilliantly, that we involve Stephen R. Bissette, a huge film fan with encyclopaedic knowledge of the Hammer/Amicus era, to do a mock history of our fictitious studio as part of the package: which he did. And more.
 The final icing on the cake was getting the legendary Graham Humphreys, the man behind so many iconic horror film posters, to illustrate the cover. 
 After reading it, I hope horror film fans and horror fiction fans alike might start to believe Blythewood Productions must really have existed—and wonder what other celluloid concoctions they might have created up there on the silver SCREAM!"

Click image (right) to view video.

'The Writer's Life' on HC Media's YouTube Channel

You can catch a fascinating discussion between Christopher Golden and Stephen R. Bissette discussing their love of all things horror as well as talk about their collaboration on STUDIO OF SCREAMS.

Click image (right) to see video intro with Neil Snowdon and Sean Hogan

How could I possibly resist?

A History Of British Horror detailing the ways in which the lives and histories of characters from our favourite genre films connect, interweaving to form a bigger narrative? That would be a delight on its own. But, when it’s constructed so that those same connections also work as a profound comment on the genre as a whole, the way it feeds on itself, the way each film is inspired by what came before? Then we’re entering Cinephile Heaven!

Click image (left) for a new sample vignette (not included in ENGLAND'S SCREAMING)

That’s what ENGLAND’S SCREAMING is.

You might remember Sean Hogan as the author of our Midnight Movie Monograph on DEATH LINE, in which Sean (a screenwriter and director himself) climbed inside the film frame, and inside the life of Inspector Calhoun (Donald Pleasance), to find out what made the cynical heart of the movie tick.

In the process, Sean picked apart elements of British history and culture, and he does so again here. But ENGLAND'S SCREAMING goes more than one step beyond, digging deeper, exposing the jet black strata occultism and savagery that lie beneath our green and pleasant lands; the network of lives through which it flows.

How does the Duc De Richleau (The Devil Rides Out) connect to Julian Karswell (Night Of The Demon) and Damien Thorn (The Omen)? . . .

You'll have to read to find out.

A searing, inventive, compulsive book.

With glorious cover art from Graham Humphreys, and a foreword by genre historian Jonathan Rigby, this is a must have for any fan of British Horror Films.

Enjoy it. I know I did!

SLEEPING BEAUTIES Signed Limited Edition Artwork Portfolio

Jana Heidersdorf's artwork for CD's special edition of Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King in one giant artwork portfolio, personally signed on a unique signature page.

Each piece of artwork is printed on 11 inch by 14 inch sheets archival quality, acid-free paper stock. The portfolio that holds and protects the artwork features hot foil color stamping on the cover.

We have a dozen left and once they're gone, they are gone.

Before closing, I have to admit that I have a special fondness for this week’s brace of movie-related tomes

I read Dennis Wheatley’s THE DEVIL RIDES OUT (mentioned by Sean Hogan earlier and erroneously recorded elsewhere as ‘Duke’) when I was twelve years old and that book alone led me to immerse myself in Robert Goldstone’s SATAN’S DISCIPLES when it appeared from Ballantine the following year (1962) and then once again on to Aleister Crowley. Heady stuff indeed.

And so we move once more to the end of this week’s letter. I hope you’re all managing to cope with the virus that has played—and is still playing—such havoc and that you’re spending time with each other and following the Government’s instructions. Nicky and I—and, of course, the rest of the entire PS team—wish you and yours the very best of good wishes.

Love and stuff from the greensward . . .
Pete xx