They’re here! Uber Rock’s 13 Days of Halloween return from the grave to count down the devilish days until October 31st and our teaming up with the Market Hall Cinema for the second Halloween All-Nighter. The first victim of this year’s H13 is Doc Horror of Liverpool’s living dead-cool Zombina and the Skeletones. Read on…if you dare…..

 

1.) What are your most vivid childhood memories of Halloween?

 

I remember the costumes my mum made for me: Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, a mummy (I ruined that costume by trying to force cake into my bandaged mouth) and, best of all, a Ghostbuster. Venkman I think. The next year my family was going through a hardcore Christian phase so it was kind of a taboo festival for a while and I wasn’t really allowed to take part for a few years after that, which I like to self-psychoanalyse as the reason I started this band.

 

2.) Why do you think that the worlds of horror and metal/punk have always been so closely linked?

 

I think there’s been an affinity between rock in general and horror since the start. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins was capitalising on the moral panic over kids listening to ‘voodoo devil music’ before it was even recognised as rock… a rebellious soul will always be drawn to music presented through a heel or villain type character rather than the sweet matinee idol archetype. Johnny Cash, Alice Cooper, The Ramones, Old Dirty Bastard – they mark themselves out as ‘other’ by adopting a bad guy persona. The more cartoonishly tough the music, the more comic book the image. Hence GWAR.

 

3.) Has there been a horror remake yet that has bettered the original movie?

 

I know this is a cop out answer as everyone goes for this… but John Carpenter’s The Thing was a remake… And David Cronenberg’s The Fly… And there was Night of The Living Dead 90 which wasn’t better than the original but was still amazing. The art of the remake died with that I think.

 

4.) What’s the greatest ever horror movie kill?

 

I was thinking earlier that the hammer kill in Texas Chainsaw Massacre is very effective. There’s a weird realism to it, the way it’s so sudden and feels so hopeless, and it’s shot in such a passive way which just makes it all the more horrifying. It feels like you’re actually witnessing a murder in the street… it’s not the ‘greatest’ anything, but it’s a really nasty moment.

5.) Who is the baddest ever horror movie villain…and why?

 

Today I’ll say Freddy. I like that he was born in the movies. He’s not adapted from literature, or any kind of folk tale or anything, but he’s got a fully developed mythology behind him. There’s not many monsters who can claim that. Also he’s real to all extents and purposes, since the rules state that he exists in dreams – he could very easily appear in your nightmares and then you’ve technically had a real encounter with a fictional character. Which is cool.

 

6.) Who is the greatest ever Scream Queen?

 

I don’t know, it’s an odd category of actress. I’m never sure who really qualifies. I’ll hedge my bets and say Linnea “Trash” Quigley as she’s pretty much the standard setter. I don’t know of any other actress to release a ‘Horror Workout Video’ so I’m betting she’s a popular answer.

 

7.) Name your Top 5 favourite horror movies of all time…and tell us why!!

 

I don’t have a top five, but I always go back to Suspiria (the prettiest film ever made), Return of the Living Dead (hilarious, great punk soundtrack), City Of The Living Dead (teleporting zombies), Phantasm (mainly for the Scrimm) and, er, Carrie (because no oddly pedestrian list of horror films would be complete without a bit of Stevie King)… yeah, I’m not feeling that imaginitive tonight as you can tell. What next? Evil Dead? Good grief.

 

8.) What underrated horror movie would you recommend to our readers just in case they have never seen it?

 

It’s definitely an acquired taste but I think the Ramsey Bros. Bollywood horror movies are some unique, crazy underrated things. Try ‘Purana Mandir’ or ‘Veerana’ for a strange experience.

 

9.) What is your guilty pleasure, the trashy horror flick that you hold dear but everyone else runs away from?

 

Most of my VHS collection fits that description. Impulse starring William Shatner? Absolute rubbish but I can’t stop watching it.

 

10.) What is the greatest ever horror movie poster?

 

This one – http://tinypic.com/m/igafls/4

 

11.) Have you ever had a ghostly supernatural experience?

 

Not personally but I heard a very compelling account recently which is as follows – An entity was spotted by a family member in the Penny Lane area of South Liverpool about 10 years ago. He managed to make a quick sketch of the creature from memory and claimed that it communicated with him telepathically. It’s name was MANGO and it was in Liverpool on a fact finding mission. He says that whilst it didn’t harm him, he felt it was possibly a malevolent being. http://tinypic.com/m/igaflj/4

12.) What ‘star’ of the music world would you like to see slaughtered in gory horror movie style?

 

I’m not feeling very vindictive tonight but at a push I suppose it would be quite satisfying to see Gene Simmons in a HG Lewis Blood Feast scenario. He has a very large tongue so it’d probably be very good for summoning Egyptian deities from a distance.

 

13.) What are your plans for Halloween this year?

 

Playing live with Zombina and the Skeletones! Something we don’t do very often these days. We warmed up with one in Bristol on the 10th, a great big charity zombie walk in London on the 11th, then it’s a hometown show on the 30th, a Halloween party in Leeds on the 31st and finishing up with the Zombie Pride event at Tranarchy in Manchester on Nov 1st.

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/Zombinaandtheskeletones

 

To visit the Zombina & The Skeletones store on Amazon – CLICK HERE