We're all big horror fans in my house - me, my mother and my sister. I'm the real fanatic, although it was actually my sister who first introduced me to it - when I was about six. I'm not sure what the first film I ever saw was, but the one which really sticks in my mind as terrifying is The Thing, directed by John Carpenter. That scared the s**t out of me!
I've been running role-playing games with a horror theme on the Net for a couple of years now. At the moment I do a vampire story. People come into the chat room, and I fill them in on the story line and the history of the various characters. It's a bit like getting involved in an ongoing novel, where you write your own character and his or her history. The chronicle I'm involved in is based in San Francisco, so anyone who participates has to invent a reason for being in San Francisco, and take it from there. I get home from college around five and within minutes of me logging on, the game starts. I get the feeling the other players would like me to be chained to the computer! It's a hobby, I suppose, but I do it for hours every night and there's a certain responsibility, so it's more like work in a way. I tend to finish around 9.30 p.m. each evening, but it depends.
The story itself gets quite graphic, so players have to be about 18 to play. There are exceptions, if the person is very level-headed. But it's a story based around portraying a monster world, set in a dark shadow of this one, and you have to get to grips with that - so it's better to be old enough. The company which publishes the story is White Wolf. They sent me the source book with the details on the vampire world and I write around that. The chronicle is basically written around their rules. It has a bit of everything - some gore, some psychological fear. At the moment I would tend to spend a lot of time writing background characters and descriptive stuff. I get into college early in the morning and, as soon as I've the chance, I'm surfing the Net checking out web-sites. I have my own page up, relating to the game, but it's quite basic at the moment. It gives hints to the plot and you have to go around the page finding clues.
Splatter movies, psychological fear - I love horror in all its aspects (though after a few years of watching, you don't get quite so affected). I suppose the scariest stuff is the psychological thrills, the ones based on something which really could happen and there is nothing you can do to stop it.
I've spent most of my life collecting, and watching, horror films. I've loads of books on horror, and I'd be into some of the comics too. I've been to the odd horror convention; I'd have been to more if I wasn't so forgetful! It's hard to say what my favourite film would be. Near Dark was brilliant, but, then again, The Exorcist is a masterpiece. Most of my friends weren't very impressed when they saw the re-release recently, but I just reckon if you're not into it, there's something wrong with you. I first saw it when I was about 12, and seeing as how it was about the exorcism of a 12-year-old, it was particularly terrifying for me.
Once you get into horror, you just never look back. Certain films jut grab you, the sound, everything is used brilliantly to make it as scary as possible. I don't have nightmares anymore - I've learned to control my dreams for many years now. But the terror is the good part, getting the adrenaline going, and it's very productive for your imagination.
I want to spend my life writing horror - films, books, whatever. I'd love to be able to immerse my life in the genre.
In conversation with Jackie Bourke
