“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!

Happy Times, which is showing at Grimmfest Online, is a movie that takes the home invasion genre and turns it inside out! Directed by Michael Mayer and co-written with composer Guy Ayal, the movie is a bombastic, bloody and hilarious piece of cinema. I chatted to them both about this dinner party from hell.

HC: Where did the idea for Happy Times come from?

MM: The idea for the movie started forming when I was invited to a Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year's) dinner in Los Angeles. It was the first year of Trump's presidency and wherever you went all people wanted to talk about was politics. One thing to know about the Israeli expat com...

If you like your horror with a huge lashing of gruesome effects and a strong story then The Spore is for. Showing at Grimmfest Online, the movie from D.M. Cunningham is a smart take on the body horror genre. Here he chats about this movie which is guaranteed to get under your skin.

HC: Did you know from a young age that you wanted to be a director?

DM: I started out wanting to be a makeup effects artist. After seeing Night of the Living Dead and discovering Fangoria magazine I was hooked. Tom Savini was a huge influence on my trajectory toward becoming a filmmaker. It wasn't until later that I discovered that you could boss the monsters around on set being the director. That's...

A vulnerable young boy finds his mother pushed out of the family home by a strange new woman in Father of Flies, and he must confront the terrifying supernatural forces that seem to move in with her. This intense and chilling movie is showing at Grimmfest Online Edition so we chatted to director and co-writer Ben Charles Edwards about this movie.

HC: Where did the idea for Father of Flies come from?

BE: It came from my childhood experiences. When my good friend and journalist Dominic Wells was talking to me about my next project, he told me to draw on real life experiences. So, I did. My own experiences were neither as heightened nor as traumatic as they may...

Showing at Grimmfest Online Edition is the incredibly inventive horror/sci-fi hybrid Faceless. Here, co-writer and director Marcel Sarmiento speaks about this superb movie.

HC: Have you always been a big horror movie fan?

MS: Definitely as a kid. My first movies made with my Betamax were all about scaring one other and how gross we could push makeup effects. We mostly strangled, stabbed, and threw each other off buildings. I think as I got older, I appreciated what you could do with horror more than horror for horror's sake. I love that you can make characters do things that in any other genre you couldn't make them do and still come out the other end liking them and routi...

Respected journalist, film critic, and fiction writer Kim Newman takes us through the Universal monsters joining Horror for our Classic Horror Halloween event running from 30th-31st of October.

With Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932), The Wolf Man (1941) and The Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954), Universal Pictures introduced the lasting icons of horror... combining the presence of stars Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr with the make-up artistry of Jack P. Pierce (except for the Creature who came later in the day and was designed by the extraordinary Millicent Patrick ). These are the genre's cornerstone fiends, and - despite the way they have been domesticated an...

Horror Channel will be continuing its commitment to bringing great cult and classic sci-fi to its audience with Season 1 of the 1970 British science fiction TV series UFO, created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and produced by the Andersons and TV mogul Lew Grade.

One of the best of its genre, the 26-part series combines the remarkable talents of the Andersons with those of special effects director Derek Meddings. And with a stellar cast including Ed Bishop, Michael Billington and George Sewell, it proved a popular hit at the time.

Following syndication in the US and favourable ratings, a possible second series was plann...

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Famous monsters rise again!

To celebrate the Halloween weekend on Saturday 30th October and Sunday 31st October, Horror Channel presents Classic Horror Halloween, two diabolical daytime marathons highlighted by five channel premieres, including Bride Of Frankenstein, the celebrated sequel to the 1931 classic with Boris Karloff reprising his role as the Creature, Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman, featuring the original Wolfman, Lon Chaney, Jr. and Bela Lugosi as Frankenstein's monster, The Invisible Man, in which Claude Rains delivers a remarkable performance in his screen debut, Christy Cabanne's frightening chiller masterpiece The Mummy's Hand and Revenge ...

Horror Channel has seven weekend primetime premieres line up for October, including, at 9pm on Sunday nights, the UK TV premiere of Brad Paxton's supernatural thriller Incarnate, starring Aaron Eckhart, and the channel premieres of David Cronenberg's erotic psychological chiller Dead Ringers and Juan Carlo Fresnadillo's atmospheric fantasy Intruders (2011), starring Clive Owen.

Plus, there are four premieres at 9pm on Saturday nights: Darren Lynn Bousman's nightmarish mystery Abattoir, Iain Softley's Southern Gothic-style frightener The Skeleton Key, starring Kate Hudson, dark horror comedy Mom And Dad, starring Nicholas Cage and Selma Blair and Mama, the Guillermo Del Toro exec...

Ahead of the Horror Channel premiere of his sci-fi action thriller G-LOC, director Tom Paton reflects on why making movies is like solving a puzzle, his passion for survival stories and being compared to Roger Corman.

Horror Channel will be broadcasting the UK TV premiere of your Sci-fi adventure G-LOC. Excited or what?

It's honesty so strange to me every time Horror Channel debuts one of my movies. The channel has been such a big part of my life growing up and informing my taste in films, that it's always a "pinch myself moment" when I see something that I've made appear on their TV listing. G-LOC is much more of a SCI-FI adventure than any ...

Tom Paton's sci-fi action thriller G-LOC is amongst three films receiving their UK TV premieres on Horror Channel this September. G-LOC, which deals with the increasingly topical issue of space migration, stars Stephen Moyer, Casper Van Dien, Tala Gouveia and John Rhys-Davies.

Another UK-produced movie receiving it's UK TV premieres is disturbing haunted house thriller, The Haunted, starring Sophie Stevens (The Black Prince), Kirstie Steele (Waterloo Road, Glasgow Girls) and Nick Bayly (Goodnight Sweetheart, Emmerdale). The third is The Last House. which stars I Spit On Your Grave's Camille Keaton, who is back and out for revenge again - this time against a trio of home invaders.

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...