The Fear

Things that scared me as a child...

The face in my toilet

Yes, it's a funny one this. I mean, there wasn't really a face in my toilet. It was just a few bumps in the finish of the porcelain at the bottom of my childhood WC. With a little imagination they could be thought to resemble a face, and I was unlucky enough to have a lot of imagination. At some point I got the idea (possibly from my dear old Nan) that it was the face of the devil, so I suppose I'm lucky it didn't put a permanent end to my toilet using days really.

Worzel Gummidge



'Nuff said, surely?

The Children of Green Knowe

I have several frightening memories of The Children of Green Knowe but by far the most paralysing is of a statue of St Christopher carrying a stone child through a river during the night. It still sends a shiver down my spine. I've not seen the programme since and would really like to revisit it.



Blake's 7 series 4 episode 6: Headhunter

The memory that really chills me is of the robot, Muller, pursuing our anti-heroes through a corridor while carrying his head under his arm. Hell's teeth but that scared me, and put me off Blake's 7 for years. Of course, when I came to rewatch the episode years later I found it wasn't all that scary after all. Here's a clip -



A recurring nightmare

Each time the scene would be different. Eh, you splutter, how can it be a recurring nightmare then? Well because each time it would be accompanied by a horrifying, throbbing droning noise and a perspective that zoomed in and out on the action while never really focusing on what was happening. The events of the dream weren't what scared me. It was the way the nightmare was, if you like, shot. I would wake up in quite a state.

Imagine my surprise when, years later, I watched Irreversible and saw the precise same methods used in the opening sequence. I think Gaspar Noe may have had the same nightmare.

Hands coming from under the bed

I think this is probably a common one. I was always convinced that something was under the bed, waiting to grab my ankle as I climbed into bed. Why I thought it couldn't creep out and get me in the night while I slept I don't know. This same fear preoccupied me when using the stairs in my house. I would run up the stairs like a mad thing in case a clammy hand reach between the balusters and grab my leg, then I would leap onto the bed so that no ankle grabbers got a grip. Every night. Sheesh. I should have been well fit.

So these are some of the things that scared me as a boy. I guess it would be odd if I didn't ponder what scares me now?

Being a rubbish father, or husband. Anything at all bad happening to my family. Our new government. Never getting anywhere as a writer, or worse yet feeling like I never fulfilled my potential.

It's important for writers to recognise what scares them, and what the root of their fear is. Not just horror writers either, fear and irrational reactions are a strong motivation for characters as well as for people.

Doctor Who

Getting very bloody excited now...

A Proclamation

Although I’ve mentioned this elsewhere already I haven’t really properly announced it. I don't want to make a big fuss but as it’s likely to come up quite a lot in the future – and for the rest of my life - it’s time I made some sort of proclamation...

My lovely wife and I are expecting our first child in a little over seven weeks. We're very excited and so far all is very well indeed with Mother and child. The baby can certainly kick and seems to enjoy listening to us reading Thomas the Tank Engine and The Gruffalo. There has also been some indication that our imminent child favours the works of Rage Against the Machine and Radiohead. Should fit in just fine then.

Here are some pics...

The Silent House

I recently received an email from Gustavo Rojo, the Uruguayan actor and producer (and star of The Valley of Gwangi, a favourite film of mine as a kid (seriously - Cowboys and Dinosaurs - what's not to love???)). This was very unexpected. At first I thought he was going to ask me to take a couple of million quid off his hands to help him out, but no. This wasn't spam, this was NEWS!

He was writing to tell me all about a new horror film coming out soon called La Casa Muda, or The Silent House. Now, I wouldn't normally turn the blog over to someone I don't really know but I figure three things; a) this film looks pretty interesting, b) it's nice to be picked out as someone who might spread word of mouth about a new horror film, and c) who knows, maybe Mr Rojo might like to take a look at my horror feature script and think about producing it next? This business is all about networking, after all.

So without further ado, here is some product placement about The Silent House...

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The film is directed by Gustavo Hernandez, photographed by Pedro Luque (renown for his worldwide success in “Ataque de Pánico”) and produced by Gustavo Rojo, at an amazingly low budget which amounts to U$ 6000. “The silent house” digs deeply into the unexplored subject of psychological terror, and the story runs through a terrifying story through a single continuous shot. This makes the film unique in the audiovisual market since it was filmed with a SLR digital, to be more precise, a Canon EOS 5D Mark. The film is therefore the first one in Latin America and the second one in the world to have been filmed by a photograph camera. This makes it the first film of horror in the world to have been filmed with this particular narrative language.

To be filmed in one single shot implies that the sequence is filmed in one go, without cuts, and the camera movements need a prior careful and meticulous planning which leads the viewer to share each one of the experiences of the character.


Laura ( Florencia Colucci) and her father ( Gustavo Alonso) settle down in a cottage which seems to be off the beaten track in order to update it since its owner ( Abel Tripaldi) will soon put the house on sale. They will spend the night there in order to start the repairs the following morning. Everything seems to go on smoothly until Laura hears a sound that comes from outside and gets louder and louder in the upper floor of the house. Wilson goes up to see what is going on while she remains downstairs on her own waiting for her father to come down. The plot is based on a true story that happened some time ago in a small village in Uruguay. “La Casa Muda” focuses on the last seventy eight minutes, second by second, when Laura intends to leave the house which hides an obscure secret and she hopes to leave unharmed.

REAL FEAR IN REAL TIME, this is the most remarkable underlying feature of the film which will not go unnoticed by all those who may be willing to experience this different and disturbing filming experience.

A few days after the Spanish Teaser Trailer was released, executives from some of the most important production company of Hollywood have shown interest in seeing it once it is finished and acquire the rights. The film is still at audio post production, and is expected to be finished in march. "The silent house"teaser trailer with Engish subtitles has come. Perhaps we may see the remake soon!!!