Gary Pullin designed the artwork for Texas Frightmare Weekend 2012:

He has also created a myriad of pieces for clients such as Tiger Army, Rue Morgue Magazine, Dread Central, Revolver Magazine, Anchor Bay Entertainment, Rob Zombie, Fright Rags, and many more. With his unique vision and undeniable talent, Gary Pullin could easily be one of the greatest artists of our time. At Texas Frightmare Weekend, I spoke to the man himself about how he got started, who inspires him, and more.

http://www.ghoulishgary.com/

@GhoulishGary via twitter

Tony Todd, best known for his role in Candyman, has appeared in a plethora of films over the years, including The Crow, The Rock, Hatchet, Hatchet II, Final Destination, and many more. At Texas Frightmare Weekend, Mr. Todd was kind enough to agree to an interview.

http://www.texasfrightmareweekend.com

http://www.sushigirlmovie.com

Whether you know him as Henry from Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Sherman McMasters from Tombstone, Grant from Slither, or Merle from The Walking Dead, you’ve probably heard of Michael Rooker. At Texas Frightmare Weekend, the legend himself agreed to a quick interview.

While at Texas Frightmare Weekend 2012, I met James, the owner of Imperial Quartermaster. This company is famous for their wide array of action figures, ranging over a variety of genres, including horror, action, and even science fiction!

http://www.texasfrightmareweekend.com

Keep an eye out for this awesome vendor at a convention near you!

Look at these friggin’ sweet shot glasses that I own!

At Texas Frightmare Weekend, I had the privilege of interviewing a very interesting vendor named R.C., who creates some unique merchandise with his own hands. What makes his business stand out from others is the fact that every piece of glass is etched by hand. While others rely on cheap stickers to cover a plain glass shooter, R.C. takes the the time to carve a permanent design that can be used for life. Hear what he has to say about his craft, his reason behind his selections, and his exclusivity to the Texas Frightmare convention.

http://www.drinkwiththelivingdead.com

http://www.texasfrightmareweekend.com

I had such an amazing time at Texas Frightmare Weekend this year! Here’s a few photos from the event:

Meeting Stuart Gordon.

Chatting with Patricia Quinn.

Interviewing Tyler Mane.

With Dee Wallace.

Meeting Jeffrey Combs.

Meeting Meg Foster.

Elly and I with Bill Moseley.

With Ghoulish Gary Pullin.

Tyler Mane was convinced we were related.

Interviewing David Naughton.

Whether it be Rue Morgue, Anchor Bay Entertainment, Fright-Rags, or Texas Frightmare Weekend, Gary Pullin has never ceased to impress with his incomparable artwork. I met Gary for the first time at Texas Frightmare 2012, and was deeply moved by his tremendous talent and easy-going nature. I was lucky enough to interview Gary for a second time at this year’s event, where he designed the artwork for the con yet again. In the video, we discuss his influence behind the piece for the show, his work with Mondo, his upcoming deal with Warner Bros., and what it means to have your very own bobble head.

To find out more about Gary Pullin and his work, visit http://www.ghoulishgary.com

Check out more interviews by the rest of the Icons of Fright crew at http://www.iconsoffright.com!!

Horror fans crowned Dee Wallace the Scream Queen of terror years ago, and she still holds that title firmly today. Although she’s known as an accomplished actress in all aspects of film, we horror fans have claimed her as one of our own, and hold a special place in our hearts for the woman that has intensified so many of our favorite movies. Just a few of the memorable titles include: The Hills Have Eyes, Cujo, The Howling, The Frighteners, and more recently, The Lords of Salem. Whether she’s playing the victim or the villain, Dee delivers in a unique, bold manner that exemplifies whatever story she’s currently living in. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Ms. Wallace at Texas Frightmare Weekend for a brief discussion about her exuberant career. In the interview, we talked about her fears, her motives for taking on sinister roles, and her very own daughter stepping into the spotlight.

Some know him as Sabretooth, others as Michael Myers, but nearly all films buffs have been affected by Tyler Mane in some way. His subtle movements display effortless talent that set him apart from so many villains (and mutants) that have entered the horror scene.  I was lucky enough to tear Mane away from his fans for a brief chat Texas Frightmare Weekend, where we discussed the impact his wrestling career has had on his acting, and his upcoming work, including Casket County Massacre, Devil May Call, and Compound Fracture.

Stuart Gordon, director of Re-Animator, Dolls, From Beyond, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and more, has a unique way of mixing horror and comedy. I was lucky enough to sit down with the renowned filmmaker at Texas Frightmare Weekend to hash over his work. In the interview, we discuss his view on science, and his process for casting Jeffrey Combs as the notorious Herbert West.

When the thought of werewolves comes to mind, John Landis’s classic film An American Werewolf in London often arises in most horror fans’ minds. I was lucky enough to speak with the werewolf himself, David Naughton, a while back at Texas Frightmare Weekend. Check out the video below!!

To see more interviews by me and the rest of the Icons gang, visit iconsoffright.com!!

In honor of the annual Texas Frightmare Weekend convention in Dallas, check out this video of me getting fresh the Crypt Keeper at Texas Frightmare Weekend in 2013!

Jen and Sylvia Soska may seem like indistinguishable mirror images in posters and on websites, but seeing the twins in person at Texas Frightmare Weekend confirmed my suspicion that the two were distinct. Jen has a slightly more narrow face, and a deeper voice. Sylvia prefers red lips, while Jen tends to wear a darker attire. Jen is more motherly, while Sylvia tells it to you straight. While I found little quirks and trade marks that separate the Soskas, I realized that the one attribute that makes them successful is that work they as a united front. Together, the sisters cover every aspect of filmmaking, from writing, to directing, to set management (causing them to take little pity on whining actors). Their film AMERICAN MARY about a med school student who enters the world of modification showed just what the duo is capable of when they put their matching heads together. I was fortunate enough to catch up with Jen and Sylvia over the weekend, and we discussed their inspiration behind their hit film, our mutual love for Joss Whedon, and what’s up next for the coolest new directors in horror.

Kalyn Corrigan: What was your inspiration for making AMERICAN MARY? I know it’s a very different film, with the body modification and everything, so what made you want to make a movie like this?

Sylvia Soska: Well, with body modification, I found out about it through an April Fools prank that was on bme.com where two identical twin brothers actually swap limbs. One got his arm amputated and grafted onto his brother’s chest plate and the other one had his finger removed and put on his other brother’s finger. So one had an elongated finger, the other one had three fingers, and because they were genetically identical, the limbs didn’t reject. I didn’t know anything about body modification and it didn’t freak me out as much, the photos and the actual procedures, but the love letter he explained you had to be an identical twin to understand why you would want to do this and it scared the shit out of me and my mom always taught me that if you’re afraid of something, that just means you don’t know enough about it. So, I got obsessed with body modification with Jen. We researched it, and our phobia turned to fascination, and turned to admiration and it was like here is the most villainized group of people in the entire world, and these are really cool, very sweet, down to earth people that are just very self-aware. Then also, at the time,..well, tell her about the stuff going on in our lives…

Jen Soska: Oh, I was going to say that as an influence, Clive Barker is a huge influence of ours. ‘Cause, you know, I believe that his cenobites were originally from his influences in the body mod community and when he was doing HELLRAISER they didn’t want a literal translation would match audiences and I can attest to that because it was such a hard sell to get our body modification film made.

SS: Yeah.

JS: And with that, we wanted to do it literally and he ended up doing it more fantastically. So, Clive Barker is a massive influence of ours. Also, we were going through a lot of personal shit. Our grandmother was very ill at the time, financial struggles, trying to just be able to keep doing the thing that we wanted to do. For Mary, it was her medical career, and for us, it’s our film career. So, every personal moment that was in our lives went in there as well. Also, going to Hollywood and meeting all of these “professionals” that turned out to just be monsters.

SS: And the thing is, we didn’t have any control over our lives at that time and it was very therapeutic because all of a sudden now it was a script and you could take a step back, and you could actually control that world.

JS: Yeah.

SS: So, I think, I guess, it’s a very good form of therapy, although I think we’re both very crazy still (laughs).

KC: Kind of cathartic.

SS: Right? Bizarre.

JS: I don’t even know what normal is. Normal scares me.

SS: Yeah.

KC: Yeah, totally. Did you always want it to be Katharine Isabelle for Mary?

JS: It was always Katie. People us ask, oh, who else would you have written it for? No, it was always Katie, and for Katie. We met Katie on the set of JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS and Katie was very sweet to her and Sylv said “I love her, I want to work with her one day!” And you know, that’s just to the point of how crazy and obsessive Sylv is ’cause it was written exactly to Katie. Of course, we’re big GINGER SNAPS fans as well, and fans of Katie as an actress, but for whatever reason because she’s Canadian, she never went down to L.A., and she always went in a bunch of smaller, independent films that she believed in, she kind of hit the Canadian glass ceiling and she wasn’t seen as a big of a star as we all know she is.

SS: I always told Katie that I would break into her apartment and forced her MISERY style to play that role (laughs).

KC: So, how do y’all go about filming? Is it something where you map out exactly where you want everything before? Because I really love the style of your film, it was almost like Stanley Kuprick, you know, it was very slow-paced, stylistic…

JS: Oh, thank you.

SS: Thank you, that’s a huge compliment. Because there’s two of us, and we look the same, there’s nothing more confusing than having two directors saying two different things and they look the same. Jen and I are born collaborators, we’re always used to working together as a team, but we’re also very visual storytellers and when we work on a movie, we obsess about it. There’s nothing else we do. We do every single department. We’re involved in every single department from the set, to the shots, to the lighting, every single thing, because we want it to be as much out of our heads as out in the world and when we’re explaining ideas to each other, that’s the way that we talk. So, even if you read one of our scripts, it’s very descriptive, we have music cues, we have every little thing, so when the film is finally done, it’s not a surprise to everyone, it’s like, you know, we did what we set out to do.

(Child screams bloody murder in the background)

SS: Oh a child got murdered! How unfortunate!

(Jen laughs)

KC: Just another day at Texas Frightmare.

SS: We’re also very invested artistically in everything. I love having cosplayable costumes, and locations that people say, “Oh, I wish the Bourbon & Go-Go was a real place that I could go to”. And there’s so many filmmakers that just throw it aside. When we’re making a film, I’m like, I don’t want a character that people don’t wanna dress up as, because I was that person that dressed up as Tarantino and Rodriguez’s characters. To have that happen for us with people cosplaying as Mary, oh my god, it just blows our mind and it means so much for us to be able to do that for somebody else.

KC: Yeah, and I know that Patrick Bateman is a character that people like to dress up as, and y’all said that you love AMERICAN PSYCHO, so is AMERICAN MARY kind of like your own version, like your take on AMERICAN PSYCHO in a way? Or is that just a happy coincidence?

SS: Well it’s unusually influenced by Mary Harron because she’s the reason why we decided to step behind the camera and be directors in the first place. I saw her at a press conference, and there’s all these ignorant people trying to get her production thrown out of Toronto and she was so eloquent and well-spoken, I was like “Who is this woman and what is this taboo movie that they don’t want anyone seeing?” And then afterwards I was like, I want to be like her. I want to make beautiful, artistic, intelligent horror movies and then be eloquent, so when people are like, “Oh, you guys are a bunch of masochists, sadists that are getting off on hurting people”, it’s like “No, we’re intelligent people, this is a form of art, and it’s very visceral, and it’s very interesting”. Mary’s name came from three Marys: Mary Harron, Mary Mother of God, and Mary Magdalene because I feel Mary is a bunch of Marys in the whole different film and I wanted her to have the strongest name I could imagine.

KC: Does she go from one Mary to another in the film as she makes her transition into the world of body modification?

JS: I think the Mary that she actually is — people say, “Oh, it’s a rape-revenge film”. I hate it when people say that because–

KC: That’s too simple.

JS: It’s so simple, but it’s an easy way to categorize things. I think, especially with AMERICAN MARY, we don’t believe in labels and we really blur the lines of what a label is in the film as well. Mary was a little bit off to begin with, as well. You can see that she was very isolated, she had like this romantic fantasy of what her surgeon professor was like, and that was her ideal of the person that she wanted to be with. The person that she was closest with in her life was her Nana and she never even saw her physically so she was a very removed person. At the very beginning, she has those crows that she was sewing together, which is a little subtle thing that you don’t see, but the person that she is on the inside starts to slip and you really see Mary, the person that she is in the storage locker when she just snaps on that innocent security guard, but that’s the only time that you see her mask of sanity– mask of sanity — Patrick Bateman — slip and you get to see who she is. I think women are different killers, or different from men in the way that we’re expected to put up a facade. If a guy’s upset, it’s okay for him to complain. If we complain, we’re bitches, or cunts, or people are like “Oh god, she’s emotional, she must be on her fucking period. So, we put on our makeup like our war paint, we put on our outfits like our armor, and we’re like ducks on the pond, paddling really fast, but we seem so serene and put together on the top. That’s why we really wanted to do that for Mary.

KC: Yeah. That’s a really great way of looking at it.

JS: Oh, thank you.

KC: I love the mentality that y’all have, how y’all are like “we’re female horror filmmakers but we just want to be known as filmmakers. You know, we don’t necessarily want to make that distinction.” Are y’all hoping to like, bring that idea to the horror genre for future filmmakers?

SS: I like that we’re female filmmakers because there’s not enough female directors out there. At first, when I started, people would say “Oh, it’s really good for a female film director”, and I’m like, “Fuck you. Suck my dick”. But, to be honest, I like that now, because I have young women to come over to me, and every time there’s a beautiful young girl comes over to me and says “I want to work in the film industry”, I think of every horrible thing I’ve ever gone through and I think, “Oh god. I really don’t want this cute little girl to have to deal with any of these horrible monsters and then I think, “No, I’m going through it, and I’m really loud-mouthed, and there’s fuckin’ two of me and we’re both equally loud-mouthed”. We have to change this. We have to change this facade of what women can and cannot do. We still exist in a world where people can say “Women aren’t funny. Women can’t direct”. If you said that about any ethnic group or any religious group they would say that’s hate speech, but no, it’s still fucking tolerated and it’s completely unacceptable.

JS: You know the funny thing is, it’s mostly men and the fanbase of men that say we’re good for female directors. Girls look at us, and we’re so gratefully so, as role models, but other male directors never bring up, “Oh, you’re a female director”. They just treat us the same, and that boys club doesn’t exist. I mean, the kindest support we’ve gotten are from our peers; other directors, and mostly male directors.

SS: Yeah, Eli Roth has been such a sweetheart to us, although he does always tell us not to fuck up and that ended up in the Doctor Grant character in AMERICAN MARY (laughs).

KC: That’s great. So, y’all are doing ABCS OF DEATH 2. What can you tell me about that?

JS: It’s a letter of the alphabet (laughs). And, I will say that we really pushed the envelope doing it. On the surface level, it’s a really vile, disgusting, sexualized, kind of violent scenario, but under the surface, it’s a clever commentary, or I think it’s a clever commentary on the objectification of women, especially in these horror anthologies, where you don’t get to know their names, but you see their breasts almost instantly and I find that so, so offensive because, I know a tit is the cheapest special effect, but why not a dick? Why not balls? Why not male nudity?

SS: Jen and I proudly put dicks in everything we do. A dick in fuckin’ everything. Even in SEE NO EVIL 2, it’s got a big dick in it.

JS: I can’t say who is in ABCS OF DEATH 2, I will say that people from AMERICAN MARY and SEE NO EVIL 2 have come into it. Also, we have, being huge horror fans, there are four horror cameos in our segment of recognizable people that horror fans will be like, “Oh my god! Is that so and so?” There’s one that people will be like (gasps)! Hopefully.

SS: It’s nice, because all these horror guys are like big brats and they love helping each other out, and I love that artists helping artists community. To make the $5000 budget that they give you on ABCS OF DEATH 2 you call in a lot of fuckin’ favors and you find out who’s cool (laughs).

KC: Yeah, seriously. And like you said, you’re doing SEE NO EVIL 2 as well, when does that come out?

JS: Both are supposed to come out in October, right around Halloween time, I’m not sure how big the theatrical [release] is, but if you want it bigger, tweet online, tweet @lionsgate and @WWE with the hashtag IWANTSEENOEVIL2INTHEATERS. The fans have so much control they have no idea. If you go out and see something shitty, like, I’m so sorry, but AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2, they’re going to keep making shitty sequels. If you go and see an independent horror film, or a film that you like in theaters, that will show that there’s a demand for it. As it is, the theater is a dying breed, and people are just so much more into Netflix, or VOD premieres, and as a filmmaker, I think it’s just got this romance to it, to go into the theater. When we were little, we used to go into video stores, and look at the backs of VHS’s, and pick our movies, and now it’s shitty because kids will never have that experience we had, they’ll just be scrolling through their Netflix options and be like “Dumb. Stupid. Lame. Okay maybe there’s a boob in there”.

KC: Yeah, they just shut down the Blockbuster in my town. I was heartbroken. 

JS: Aw, I’m sorry. It’s a sad, dying age. SEE NO EVIL 2 is, and you can quote me on this, better than AMERICAN MARY. I love it so much.

KC: Wow.

JS: It’s a complete film. We weren’t denied anything. With AMERICAN MARY, it was a fight to make it, and even with the edit that we got, it was an uphill battle, and it defers greatly from our original script, but I mean, I’m so proud of it, I love it so much, but SEE NO EVIL 2, to have two powerhouse studios behind us, especially WWE Studios and our amazing studio head Michael Luizi fully support everything we wanted is just so…it’s going to be like a love letter for horror fans. Normal people will like it, but horror fans will be like, “Oh, they did this! Oh my god they did that!” Or “Oh there’s a reference to that!”

KC: Oh, what about XX? I saw that y’all are doing like a totally female horror anthology film?

SS: That’s true, with Mary Harron, my fucking hero, Jennifer Lynch, Carrie Kasuma, and Sophia Carrillo and Jovanka Vuckovic. I’m super excited because it’s, well, I read a bunch of articles that said it was sexist and I was like “Oh, shut the fuck up. Get over yourself”. It’s done in such a way that you need a female perspective on the story, and that’s all I can really say. I read a couple of them, and I’m just really excited to see it come out, and I’m so stoked.

JS: I love how the first release they said, “Oh, what would happen if there was an all male horror anthology with male stars?” Oh, you mean VHS? You mean all of them? Whoa. It’s always white, middle-aged men that are so offended. I’m like, you’re the most privileged people in the universe! Shut up!

KC: Seriously. Also, really quick, I wanted to talk about Joss Whedon because I’m a huge fan of Joss Whedon so hearing that y’all are is so great, and I was wondering what kind of influence that had on y’all and your work?

JS: Just the biggest influence, because I was always a small, not very tough, weird girl and then BUFFY came out, the television series, more than the movie, and he just promotes that believing in yourself and being able to stand on your own and even if nobody else agrees with you and you know that you’re right, to just stick to your guns and be strong. I went to martial arts because of it. He always writes such strong female characters and it’s ridiculous when people ask him because he’s just like “I’m just writing strong everybody characters, but the fact that I have women characters that are complex and interesting, that has to be picked on” because unfortunately, it’s so fucking rare.

KC: Yeah, I saw that they asked him why he did it, and he was like, “Because you keep asking me”.

JS: They ask him always! They’re like “Why did you make Buffy so strong?” Well, because it would be a really short series if she was weak, right? You want her to die in the first episode?

KC: Yeah, she dies in the first season, that would be like twelve episodes.

(Everyone laughs)

Nick King isn’t just an intriguing character because he’s the man behind the Bughuul mask — he’s also a veteran stuntman. Appearing in PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3, THE GREEN HORNET, THE LAST STAND, and more, King was making audiences gasp long before Scott Derrickson’s terrifying true crime thriller SINISTER. I was lucky enough to chat with Mr. Boogie himself at Texas Frightmare Weekend about his favorite stunts, his transition into the horror genre, and what’s in store for SINISTER 2.

Kalyn Corrigan: I know that most know you as Bughuul from SINISTER, but it seems that you mostly started with stunt work. So, I was wondering if you always wanted to be a stunt man or if that was just something that you fell into?

Nick King: Um, actually I did my first stunt job when I was eight years old, and that was what I wanted to do. And then when I graduated high school, I went to trade school for power lines and graduated and they went on a hiring freeze, so then I started doing stunts again and I haven’t looked back.

KC: What’s the craziest stunt you’ve ever done?

NK: On GREEN HORNET, they blew up a house with me in it.

KC: Oh wow. You didn’t catch on fire or anything did you?

NK: No, no. It just rung my ears a little bit. I got cut up a little bit, but it’s okay.

KC: That’s good, you break any bones?

NK: No, no.

KC: Is there anybody that inspired you to do stunt work? Was there somebody as a kid that you liked to watch?

NK: My dad was a stunt guy. He still is. Forty years.

KC: Oh, really? What has he done stunt work for?

NK: Everything. Everything. He just got off of JAMES BOND: SKYFALL. His first movie was the original HILLS HAVE EYES. Countless, hundreds of movies.

KC: Is there a type of stunt work that you prefer? Like, do you like car chases, or would you rather be thrown out of a window? What’s something that you really like to do?

NK: I mostly do car work, but I love doing wire work, ratchets, stuff like that. I like to do high falls too, they’re fun. So I prefer, I’d say mostly, high falls.

KC: What’s the tallest that you’ve ever fallen from?

NK: Uh, it was like fifty something feet. It’s not that big, but it’s okay.

KC: That’s pretty tall. So how did you go from doing stunt work to being Bughuul in SINISTER?

NK: I went to an audition, and it was me and eight other guys…how did I get the job, or…?

KC: Yeah, like were you interested in moving over to doing heavy makeup and prosthetics or was it just like, someone was like, “hey, you should go check this out”?

NK: Yeah, I actually got told to go try and audition for the movie so me and eight other guys went and he picked me.

KC: What’s it like working with Scott Derrickson, the director?

NK: Oh, he was really cool. He was really patient, because I kept messing up on all my scenes and he was like, alright, it’s all right, you know? So, he was really cool.

KC: Did it take a long time to get into the character? Like, to put the outfit on and the makeup and everything?

NK: Yeah, it took three hours to put on fully and then an hour and a half to take off.

KC: Wow. Was there anything that you did to prepare for this role? It’s so dark. I know that the movie really scared me when I saw it.

NK: Not really, you know after I was done putting the makeup, I would always just go sit by myself. You know, relax, be by myself, with nobody talking to me, so I could kind of get in that mood.

KC: Yeah, isolate yourself.

NK: Yeah that’s what I did.

KC: Were the kids scared of you on the set?

NK: Yeah, the first time in L.A. when I walked through, because I came in through the dark, and I walked on the set and I walked in and they all got scared.

KC: That’s great. So, I talked to you the other day and you said you were going to be in SINISTER 2. Can you reveal anything about that movie yet?

NK: I have no information on it. I haven’t read the script yet, I know that everything has been done, they were just waiting on a director and they got him, but I have no idea what it’s going to be about yet.

KC: Who’s the director they got for SINISTER 2?

NK: Ciaran Foy.

KC: And you will be Bughuul again?

NK: Yes, I will be.

If you’ve ever bought a score from Waxwork Records, a print from Mondo, a shirt from Fright-Rags, or a magazine from Rue Morgue, there’s a good chance that you own a piece of art from Ghoulish Gary Pullin. His unique vision allows him to take the love and admiration that all of us horror fans feel about our favorite work, and display it affectionately in his designs. I’m not just a friend of Gary’s but a fan as well, with some of his work decorating my very own walls. It’s always a pleasure talking to Gary at Texas Frightmare, not only because he’s a kind person, but also because he’s always coming up with new and exciting creations. In this interview, we discuss his pieces for Goblin’s tours, his inspiration behind his art for Texas Frightmare Weekend 2014, and who he’d like to work with in the future.

Kalyn Corrigan: I know that you went to the DAWN OF THE DEAD screening the other night, which unfortunately, I missed, but I was gonna see how that was and if you got to talk to George Romero?

Gary Pullin: I did, very briefly, I got to talk to George, yeah. There was sort of like a VIP room that we got to hang out in and stuff like that, and Savini was back there and David Emge and Scott Reiniger was there, so it was really cool and just kind of surreal to be around those guys. The DAWN OF THE DEAD screening was excellent, the Alamo did an amazing job, James, who’s one of the programmers there, he did a great job with the Q&A. The questions were really good, you know, the audience was asking really great questions, and I mean that movie is timeless. You can watch that movie over and over again, and get something new out of it or just appreciate it over and over again. Those guys up on stage were talking about this movie like I don’t know how many years later, you know it’s really cool. It was a really unique event and I’m really just glad I got to go. And you know, George loves talking to fans, he loves meeting the people that admire his films. He’s really on the level, really down to earth, and I’m really happy to see he’s being celebrated these days.

KC: Has he seen your BIRTH OF THE LIVING DEAD artwork?

GP: Yeah, I actually did talk to him about that. I introduced myself and I said, “Hi George, you know I’m the guy that did the animations and the poster for BIRTH OF THE LIVING DEAD, and he was like, “Oh wow, really great work!” You know, that was nice to hear. He really liked that element of the doc. I got the impression that he felt like it was a really good representation of his film and he’s happy with the way it’s produced and how it came out. Yeah, that was really nice to get to say that to him, and it’s funny because I’ve been doing a lot of Romero related things recently. I’ve been doing the CREEPSHOW stuff for Waxwork Records, and then Mondo asked me to do a CREEPSHOW poster so you know, Romero has a DAY OF THE DEAD that I did for Fright-Rags, so I just feel like I’ve been doing Romero, Romero, Romero stuff, but it’s great, because each movie is unique onto it’s own. It’s funny, because it’s like “Oh right! CREEPSHOW and DAY OF THE DEAD are both Romero films! They’re completely different, and so it’s cool to visit those movies again when I have to do artwork for them.

KC: Will you be doing the artwork for Texas Frightmare Weekend for 2015?

GP: I hope so! If Loyd wants me back, absolutely. I think we’ve got a really great working relationship, and also, it’s fun. I enjoy doing it, and I enjoy coming to Frightmare. I’ll be back every year as long as you guys will have me.

KC: Do you have any idea what you’ll be doing, or is it too far away?

GP: Oh, it’s too far away. But I present a bunch of concepts, so we sort of do that, and we focus in on one. So I think, you know, we’ll come up with a few ideas next year. It’s always fun.

KC: Did you have any other concepts that you wanted to use for this year that you threw out?

GP: Yeah, there was a CHILDREN OF THE CORN inspired thing, it didn’t have anyone’s face on it from the movie, but it was a corn field with the guests, you know, some of the silhouettes of the guests peeking out of the corn field, and then a big scythe that sort of made a moon. I thought that was kind of cool, with the type inside. And then the other one I had was like, CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON inspired one, but you know, I mean, there’s so many ways you can go. You wanna pick an image that is going to really…it’s not a movie poster, it’s a convention poster. So, it’s gotta look like it’s a convention poster, so you try to like, do some fun stuff with it, and it’s always fun to do. I love doing it.

KC: Have you ever thought about releasing some of those? Like maybe some of the sketches for people to buy of your Texas Frightmare variants?

GP: You know, I do have sketches at the show, and people buy them, but no, not those in particular. Maybe next year, that might be something to think about. I didn’t know people would want them.

KC: I might!

GP: Yeah, alright.

KC: So you also did Goblin, and obviously, like I told you, I have the shirt from the Goblin show that you did the artwork for, that was DEEP RED for the 2014 tour, and then you also did the SUSPIRIA shirt for the 2013 tour. How did you go about creating those, and how did you get in touch with Goblin?

GP: Well, that was really cool, because Maurizio, you know he’s the keyboardist in the band, well he lives in Toronto. The other guys are in Italy, but he lives in Toronto, so I’ve known him for actually a number of years. So yeah, we’re friends, and he’s gone to a lot of Rue Morgue events, he’s been to my art show, he came out my birthday a month ago or whenever that was (laughs), and we’re friends. So when it came time to do a tour poster, the first one I did through a friend of theirs, Ankixa Risk, she was sort of handling the merch for their first tour in 2013, so I did that through her, and it was a really good experience. So then, they came back for 2014 and had another tour lined up, so I dealt with Maurizio directly, and they said “We love the other poster, why don’t you do sort of a DEEP RED one this time?” Because that one was sort of like a SUSPIRIA inspired thing. So they kind of suggested maybe do the doll from DEEP RED, so I went with that.

GP: Yes, and so, I wanted to do a sister piece to the other one so that if you bought both, you can hang them side by side. Also, since the tours are so close together, it just kind of makes sense. They’re great to work with. And again, if you were to ask a twelve year old me watching SUSPIRIA or DAWN OF THE DEAD that I’m gonna be working with these guys one day, I mean really, it’s crazy, so I was happy to do it.

KC: It must be crazy seeing Goblin wearing the shirts that you created.

GP: Yeah, that’s a great picture. It’s like “Wow!” It’s a real trip, I gotta be honest. It’s a real trip. I loved it, I thought that was great. They’ve been really supportive. And they mention my name, too, every time they talk about it, too. When they do a post, they’re talking about me, too, and that’s important to me. They are giving credit where credit’s due. A lot of people don’t. You know, you do artwork for somebody, and you’re the last guy that is even mentioned or sometimes even to get the product that you did the artwork for, so I try to really be on top of that stuff. You know, if I’m going to do a poster or a t-shirt, the least you can do, unless you’re paying me industry rates, the least you can do is, you know, mention the artist. I’m not saying Goblin didn’t pay industry rates, by the way. But you know, I get paid for what I do. But I’m just saying, there’s ways of like, say you know, you’re only going to make so much, you know, tweet about it, mention me. And I didn’t even have to mention it to Goblin, they just did it, and that was good.

KC: Yeah, I’ve seen some of your art floating around on the internet in various places, and it doesn’t always have your name attached to it, but I recognize it when I see it.

GP: Right, and a lot of people tag me when they see it, or if somebody’s using it, they’ll tag me, and it’s like “Hey, you know, hey bloggers, if you’re going to post the poster, it takes two seconds to find out who do it”. It’s only fair.

KC: Yeah. Do you have any movies or any bands that you want to work with that you haven’t yet?

GP: I would love to do a poster for Ghost, or a t-shirt design, or an album cover. I would love to work with Alice Cooper, you know I think he could use some work in the graphic design department on his albums. I love his albums, but I would love to do something for him. Black Sabbath, I would love to do a t-shirt, poster, album art, I mean, music-wise. I just finished a Misfits poster which is really cool, so that was kind of a cool thing, and that was official, through Fright-Rags, which is cool. So, yeah, I mean, you know I love music as much as I love movies so to me, it’s like I get just as excited when I’m asked to do an album cover for a band I love as a film poster. I have the best job in the world, I’m really blessed to be able to do this stuff.

KC: Do you have any other upcoming work that you’d like to discuss?

GP: Let me see, I don’t know how much I can say right now. I’m doing some stuff with Mondo, of course, I got more stuff with Mondo coming out. I’m gonna be going to Mondo Con, which is in September. They’re about to launch a website to tell everybody what’s going on. So, I’m going to be one of the artists at the show. And I got some vinyl that I’m doing, I’m going to be working with Waxwork Records on some stuff, they’ve got some titles that they’ve pitched me and I’m totally stoked about those.

KC: Yeah, those are amazing.

GP: Oh, thank you. I love doing it. I’m also going to be working with a company called Skuzzles, I did a TEEN WOLF screen print with them.

KC: Yeah, I remember that, it was really cool.

GP: Yeah, so I’m gonna be doing that, so yeah, it’s lots of stuff, just keeping busy. There’s a possible film project happening towards the end of the year that I can’t really talk about right now. Nothing’s really on the dotted line yet, but the art’s pretty exciting. So, I’m just trying to keep busy. I’m doing a couple of art shows coming up. I’m basically booked for a year right now and that’s a good problem to have.

KC: Well thank you for the interview, and congratulations on all of your success.

GP: Of course, and thank you for stopping by and posting about me on your blog, it really means a lot.

Here are some photos from Texas Frightmare Weekend 2014! I had an amazing time!!

Ready for the weekend with my TFW packet and press pass

Interviewing Ghoulish Gary Pullin

Meeting and interviewing Nick King from SINISTER

Interviewing the Soska Twins

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON panel moderated by Rob Galluzzo

Soska Twins panel moderated by Fangoria’s Rebekah McKendry

CENOBITE ME panel moderated by Fangoria Editor in Chief Chris Alexander

Katy and I hanging at Texas Frightmare, photo by the Dallas Observer