Simon Powell

I've been fascinated with horror films ever since I snuck off to a friend's house at the age of 12 to watch “Nightmare on Elm Street”. Shortly afterward, my parents bought a VCR and I began taping Hammer Horror and old Black & White films from the BBC and Channel 4 (as well as re-runs of the original Twilight Zone). I've since expanded my tastes to take in silent films, zombie films, “video nasties” (even if most of them are DULL DULL DULL), Asian gorefests, and cheap Turkish remakes of Hollywood Blockbusters. I now live in England, in the West Midlands (aka “The Birthplace of Heavy Metal”) with my wife and two black witches cats. I think the most pretentious piece of film writing I've ever read was somebody suggesting a shot of David Hemmings playing piano in Argento's “Deep Red” raised questions about Marxist theories of work and leisure. My only other claim to fame is that, apart from my long suffering spouse, I'm the only person I know to have sat through Guy Ritchie's “Swept Away”. Forget snuff films - THAT's a truly horrifying experience.