“The 3 types of terror: The Gross-out: the sight of a severed head tumbling down a flight of stairs, it's when the lights go out and something green and slimy splatters against your arm. The Horror: the unnatural, spiders the size of bears, the dead waking up and walking around, it's when the lights go out and something with claws grabs you by the arm. And the last and worse one: Terror, when you come home and notice everything you own had been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute. It's when the lights go out and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel its breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there's nothing there...” ―Stephen King

For all the Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror fanatics out there…this post was written just for you! I bet some of you notice how much of the content on the Horror Channel also contains Sci-Fi and even Fantasy through shows like Doctor Who, War of the Worlds, and even Xena: The Warrior Princess. And one might ask, ‘why is this so?’ Well, you came to the right person because I know a little something about horror and I want to take this opportunity to show to what extent fantasy/Sci-Fi influence horror.

First things first, I want to beg the question as to whether anyone of you can truly categorize and define these film genres from one another because I sure can’t. Obviously, Sci-Fi shows like Doctor Who tend to fuse science with fiction, while Fantasy shows like Xena focus their settings and narratives completely around the supernatural and the imaginary. But when you think about it, there are sooooo many aspects between Sci-Fi and Fantasy that overlap.

For instance, both genres try to recreate worlds that differ from this one in ways that push the boundaries between what is real and surreal. This grey space between the real and the imaginary by no doubt gave way to the Horror flick. Just about every Sci-Fi/Fantasy involves a heroic protagonist who faces the great dilemma of protecting his or her people from an extremely-evil force, villain, or monster. I’m sure we all at one point of time in our childhood found ourselves getting scared sh*tless, while watching people on TV get zapped and vaporized by a giant robot or devoured by a giant spider. No matter how cheesy the special effects were or how many times we were told by our parents how these monsters were not real, our kid-selves may still have gotten goose bumps and creeped out. And this fear of the unreal and unknown is what constitutes the CORE of horror films!

As seen from the quote above, Horror is all about messing with your head and creatively using as many tactics, from creaking stairs to a maniacal laugh, to scare the pants off you. And these tactics may even go beyond what is physically and logically possible by drawing on the uncanny and the supernatural, through ghosts, vampires, the boogeyman, etc. Like Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror deconstructs what we think to be reality in ways that are first subtle and normal. Most if not all of these films begin with a character that go about their normal lives at work or school, before encountering something odd and out of the ordinary, which they must overcome or avoid altogether. But the small thing I believe differentiates Horror from Sci-Fi/Fantasy is having characters who do not know the source of the conflict, let alone its solution. And this cliff-hanger is what draws us viewers in to the point of no return where the film’s ending is left to our imagination.

So, here was my little spoof on Sci-Fi/Fantasy and how they each contribute to Horror Films. I hope I convinced you that horror is not JUST horror because it may in fact take on other film genres and categories. To see what I mean be sure to tune into Horror Channel.

Until next time, stay scared!

It's full scream ahead as Arrow Video FrightFest 2021 announces its second wave of hugely anticipated Discovery Screen and First Blood titles - a summer collection of provocative, edgy and transgressive entertainment to die for. There are fourteen World and ten European/International premieres amongst the thirty-four films on offer.

Eleven countries are represented, with titles ranging from Canadian entries Bloodthirsty, Amelia Moses' simmering LGBQT+ werewolf movie and sinister isolation thriller Motherly to Francesco Erba's As In Heaven, So On Earth, a stunning Italian blend of live action and Gothic puppet animation. Then there's Peter Bergendy's sumptuous Post Mortem, an epic Hu...

August is a wicked month on Horror Channel, as the UK's number 1 destination for genre films revives some horror, sci-fi and fantasy classics - including Clive Barker's Hellraiser trilogy, which has one of the most stylish and ferociously original horror fantasy franchises ever and Night Of The Living Dead (1990), Tom Savini's colour remake of George Romero's original Night Of The Living Dead, which transcended the world of horror movies to become a film classic .

Other highlights include Re-Animator, the late Stuart Gordon's darkly comic classic, that has been acknowledged as one of the most celebrated, outrageous and original horror films of all ti...

Horror Channel has always celebrated the classics as well as the more recent chillers around. Inevitably we come across some remakes which have either caused celebration or contention among viewers.

But are all remakes bad? Here's five of the finest which are showing at the moment on Horror.

Night of the Living Dead (1990)
SFX maestro Tom Savini was given the job of bringing George A Romero's all-time classic back to the big screen, and in doing so gave the classic a colourful retelling. Set during an unexplained event, namely the dead rising from their graves, strangers stranded in a house battle the undead as well as themselves. Tony Todd, Patricia Tallman, and Tom Towles ta...

Carpenter, Cronenberg and Eil Roth lead a summer charge of seasonal shockers on Horror Channel this July.

Considered one of David Cronenberg's early genre classics, Scanners was based on Cronenberg's scripts The Sensitives and Telepathy 2000, which he planned to pitch to Roger Corman. Starring Michael Ironside and Patrick McGoohan, the film went on to became one of the first produced in Canada to successfully compete with American films at the international box office. Also airing is David Cronenberg's other cult classic body horror The Brood, which stars Oliver Reed and Samantha Eggar. To many this remains one of the director's most frightening and resonan...

Horror Channel will be continuing its commitment to bringing cult and classic sci-fi to its audience with suspenseful, action-driven drama First Wave, which stars Sebastian Spence as Cade Foster, a former security specialist, accused of murdering his wife and now on the run, determined to expose a vast alien infiltration on Earth.

Helping him in his quest is "Crazy" Eddie, a computer hacker who works on a web tabloid, Paranoid Times. Out to stop them is Joshua (Roger R Cross), an alien hit-man, whose mission is to eliminate them before they can expose 'The Gua' (who live among humans in the form of hybridised genetic clones), a...

If its action packed, sci-fi infused drama you are after then First Wave is the series for you. With Hollywood legend Francis Ford Coppola on board as one of the Executive Producers the series ran for 66 action-packed episodes which managed to combine high-quality drama with a cool conspiracy theory strand.

The series concentrates on former thief now Security Specialist Cade Foster (Sebastian Spence), as he struggles to uncover an alien conspiracy by deciphering prophecies from Nostradamus as well as being on the run for a murder he did not commit. Along the way he meets The Gua, an alien race of hybridised genetic clones who are focused on enslaving the human race.

Now, the problem with informi...

This month, Horror Channel highlights the work of female genre talent with the Channel premieres of Rabid, the Soska Sisters visceral remake of David Cronenberg's body horror classic and The Cleaning Lady, written by and starring Alexis Kendra (Goddess of Love), who also produced the much-acclaimed twisted psychological chiller.

Rabid (on the 12th) is the hugely welcomed remake of David Cronenberg's body horror classic from directors, The Soska Sisters. It received its World Premiere at FrightFest 2019 before being released worldwide. They are the first filmmakers to re-imagine one of Cronenberg's films and the fellow Canadian was very impressed with the ...

Think of the word, Supernatural and probably the first thing that comes to mind is the classic, bedsheet ghost that you'd see in Scooby Doo!

Well, from May 15th Horror will expanding your mind with a weeklong celebration of the genre with a selection of chillers that will have you checking under the bed before you turn out the light.

The genre really gripped the cinema-going public from the early days of the silver screen where directors were only too pleased to bring long used theatre effects to the new art form and mix them with the new medium's ability to dazzle an audience. The Haunted Curiosity Shop (1901) is a shorter than short, running just under two minut...

Horror Channel will be continuing its commitment to bringing cult and classic sci-fi to its audience with Seasons 1 and 2 of the CBS Studios/Amblin Television production of Extant, starring Halle Berry as astronaut Molly Woods, who returns home to her family, inexplicably pregnant after 13 months in outer space on a solo mission.

First aired in 2014 and Executively Produced by Steven Spielberg, the futuristic sci-fi thriller was written by rookie Mickey Fisher, whose initial script of Extant won a screenwriting contest. before coming to the attention of Amblin and Spielberg.

Astronaut Molly Woods (Berry) returns hom...

Otherworldly forces take over Horror Channel with Supernatural Week, eight nights of ghostly scares highlighted by the Channel premieres of Paranormal Activity, and creepy body horror, It Follows.

The special event, running from Saturday 15 May - Saturday 22 May, also sees the return of genre favourites such as demon chiller Firstborn, John Carpenter's classic car-rage chiller Christine, the twisted supernatural gasper Sinister, the star-studded supernatural cult classic Flatliners, the paranormal chiller The Quiet Ones, and Sean Byrne's devastating ride into psychological trauma, The Devil's Candy.

The week gets underway on Saturday 15th with a movie directed, photographed, produced, wri...

Time to get the garlic out as Horror Channel presents Vampire Week, a bitefest of vampire movies from 13 - 19 of March, led by the channel premiere of 30 Days Of Night, David Slade's savage riff on the vampire myth, starring Josh Hartnet and Melissa George.

There are also classics and cult favourites to sink your teeth in to, including Matt Reeves' critically-acclaimed vampire fantasy Let Me In, and Tom Holland's voracious teen vampire hit Fright Night, John Carpenter's Vampires, a horror Western starring James Woods, as a vengeful, stake-wielding bloodsucker hunter, and Francis Ford Cappolas powerful Bram Stoker's Dracula, starring Gary Oldman as the im...