Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a little chat I did with Steve "Uncle Creepy" Barton, one of the evil scientists busy at work creating The Horror Channel, a monster all us horror fans will appreciate. I remember as a child living for USA Up All Night for their obscure late night horror double features. Some were terrible, but awesome at the same time (BLOOD BEACH, anyone?) and some others really made an impression on me. I remember a gathering of scenes from one that has stuck with me that I've never been able to track down... It was a haunted house movie, I believe... And it ended with the "bitch" mother getting pushed back against a wall-mounted electric can opener, getting snagged and having the machine turn on, spinning her around and ultimately decapitating her. Anyone out there know what movie that is?
If The Horror Channel is even half as amazing as promised in the below interview then I can't imagine how big an influence this will be to the young gore-freaks... to get their horror movies unedited and all over the map. No matter what happens with this channel, the dude's running the show are huge horror geeks and respect gore-freaks like you and me.
The below interview was done via email, so forgive a few slightly repetative moments. There's nothing terribly out of place, or I would have edited out, but just so yous guys know. Enjoy!!!
QUINT: There's a lot not known to the public about The Horror Channel. Let's start off with how Joe Blow Gore Fan can get The Horror Channel in their homes. Premium cable channel? Dish only? What do you have lined up?
Uncle Creepy: It's pretty simple actually. All they have to do is call their local provider. At first we were just going to be on digital cable and satellite, but a lot of fans reached out to us through our forums, and of course e-mail, and said they just could not afford to either upgrade or switch. We didn't want to leave any fan behind, so we restructured our business model to reflect their needs. So now we'll be available on basic cable, digital cable, and satellite. We will be on a non-premium tier similar to Food Network or Disney Channel, rather than HBO for example. As the channel matures, we have plans to expand into the pay and subscription channels in order to satisfy our fans' need for more salacious offerings.
Remember back when MTV first got started? Their slogan was "I want my
MTV." Well, all these years later not much has changed. The fans need
to show their providers there's a need and a want for a Horror Channel.
We'll take care of the rest. Fans also need to keep in mind that the
people they're speaking with on the phone may not necessarily be "in the
know." Those people are paid to log calls and answer the phones, not
make business decisions. It's also common that most workers are not
informed of the addition of new channels until just a couple of days
prior to their initial day of carriage. So upon calling, a fan could be
hit with comments like "We've never heard of The Horror Channel," etc.
DO NOT get discouraged. What the person that answers the phone can do is
log your request for the channel, and that it the main thing we need!
QUINT: We talked a little about this on the phone, but I know most
horror fans have some reservations about a horror channel failing to be
what we horror fanatics really want out of a horror channel. There are
many things to cover, but let's first talk about the chief concern. Are
you going to edit your films for either time or content?
Uncle Creepy: The films that we show will be unedited and uninterrupted. If a TV
program has already been cut to allow commercial breaks, then there will
be commercial breaks. Other than that, they will only book-end a feature
-- right before a film and then again right after. We are working with
sponsors who are interested in certain programming blocks and in
"book-ending" their sponsorships. The bottom line is you can't water
down the product and tell people it's good! Fans will laugh at you and
turn their backs, and rightly so! We will not dilute the very thing that
has brought us to the table. How we plan on doing so is another story
altogether. We're NOT going to be a pay service like HBO or something
like that. Actually, our goal is to be more like the IFC of Horror. To
do so we have to operate in a certain manner. Remember that band Prodigy
from a while back? They had a video out for a song called "Smack My
Bitch Up." Well, MTV was only allowed to show that video "after hours"
because it had nudity, violence, and profanity. The fact of the matter
is though that they DID show it! That being said, during the day fans
can expect some PG type material. You know, the classics and such. In
the early evening, we'll get a bit stronger into PG13 to light R-rated
territory. But late at night? That's when the gloves will come off! Most
horror fans are up all night anyway, so it works out just fine. I think
we'd be the only channel out there with two prime times!
QUINT: What about aspect ratio? Carpenter shouldn't be screened in Pan
and Scan, I'm sure you'd agree.
Uncle Creepy: Being a widescreen nut this is of mucho importance to me too! The
films will be shown in their original letterbox format whenever
possible.
QUINT: That brings us to the kinds of films you're going to play.
Another big fear horror fans have is that THC will go the way of the
Sci-Fi Channel with direct to video programming. What kind of content
are you aiming for? Give me some names! Carpenter, Hooper, Raimi, Whale,
Browning, Coscarelli, Argento, Fulci, Miike? Also, I know it'll be
difficult to please most people... there will be those who want nothing
but horror from the last 10 years and some that won't want anything
older than the '70s, but how eclectic will your offerings be?
Uncle Creepy: Very. Our goal is to cover all aspects of the genre. From classic to
indie to short films to foreign horror. There's a lot of great stuff out
there that unfortunately most fans have only either read about online or
had imported at some outrageous price onto a poorly mastered DVD-R. We
want to make that kind of stuff readily available to the fans. We'll be
showing the staples of the genre as well, but our goal is also to give
fans something that they cannot just head out to Blockbuster to rent.
Speaking of indie horror, that's something we'd really like to focus on.
Times have changed drastically in the film world. Nowadays a filmmaker
doesn't have too much of a shot getting their films out there for mass
consumption. In the late 70's or early 80's Sam Raimi could get Evil
Dead onto a big screen. That would not easily happen for a new filmmaker
today, so we want to be that avenue for them. You never know where the
next Romero or Carpenter will come from. At least we can give them a
platform to get their work shown.
QUINT: Are you going to be doing any original programming? If so, how
much of the total program schedule would that take up?
Uncle Creepy: Dude, we have so much good original stuff cooking right now thanks
to the involvement of some of the masters of the genre. It's an honor to
be working with these folks! I am not at liberty to announce just whom
or what we're working with and on, but let me tell you, it's gonna be a
fan's wet dream! Fans will be seeing stuff they've only dreamed about.
Stuff they couldn't have imagined possible. Here's the deal, a lot of
times when a big or successful genre filmmaker goes to Hollyweird with a
project, the studios make them change stuff, force rewrite after
rewrite, dilute this, neuter that, etc. What they fail to realize is
that what made these people successful to begin with was that they had a
chance to bring THEIR vision to the screen, not the vision of some guys
or committees who think they know it all. Who would we be to tell anyone
how to make their product? We're going to turn your favorite filmmakers
loose. Let them make the thing how they want to make it. Everyone wins
that way, especially the fans.
QUINT: Are you planning on airing any horror TV series like TALES FROM
THE DARKSIDE, TALES FROM THE CRYPT, etc?
Uncle Creepy: Most definitely. If it's horror related, then we want to show it.
Again, maybe not right away, but all of the stuff you guys wanna see
will be on our horizons. Speaking of what you want to see, visit our site! Join our forums! Let us know! It's a beautiful thing actually! The fans more or less are doing the programming for us! The input we
received from everyone has been so very valuable! Just get involved.
Every opinion and every voice matters to us.
QUINT: Can you give me any sort of outline on how your programming is
going to work? Will it be like a horror geek's multi-disc DVD player on
random or will it be more themed programming?
Uncle Creepy: The greatest thing about what our programming will be like is that
we have an unlimited supply of options! Horror is the only genre to have
its own holiday - Halloween! Horror is also the only genre named after
the feeling it elicits from its fans. You cannot feel comedy or drama,
but you can be horrified! We realize this and plan to use it. Horror is
a lifestyle, man. It's more than just shows and movies. There's a
culture. Music, videogames, books, fashion, travel, news, tattoos. We're
going to deliver an all-encompassing experience. We will cover it all.
Also, we'll plan programming for special days like Vincent Price's
birthday or maybe even show Mother's Day on, of course, Mother's Day.
We're charting our own course. The ride thus far has been amazing, and
it's only going to get better!"
QUINT: Will the programming be aimed mostly at known or classic horror
flicks? I'd love to have something like FRIDAY THE 13TH or HALLOWEEN or
NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET on when I flip to the channel, but to me it'd be
cooler to see some flicks that don't get shown, like THE PROWLER or
BLACK CHRISTMAS or SLEEPAWAY CAMP or the totally obscure drive-in gems
like BUTCHER BAKER NIGHTMARE MAKER.
Uncle Creepy: Fans out there also need to know that "at first" we're not going to
be showing some of the bigger named franchises. We will show them all
eventually, but we have to crawl a little bit before we can run. We want
to do this the right way. As fans. Sure we could give away three
quarters of the company to a giant outfit and get loads of cash to snap
up every single horror property out there, but we all know what happens
when the bigger suits get involved. The product tends to suffer. The
fans tend to suffer. We want this to be the truest to the genre themed
channel ever and are willing to do what it takes to build the right
foundation and make it as strong as possible. The horror fans will get
everything they expect from us, but we cannot deliver that without their
support! We know what this project should be, and we are not about to
let anyone cloud our vision of delivering to everyone a good old
fashioned balls to the wall horror experience. So the viewer needs to
grow with us. Hand in bloody hand! There are dark times coming, and
that's a very good thing!
QUINT: When do you plan on launching the channel?
Uncle Creepy: Our launch is imminent. We recently expanded our initial launch
offering to include seven-day per week programming on digital and analog
channels and added tens of millions of additional homes. This means we
need to do additional formatting and preparation work on the back end to
meet these expanded offerings. We are literally frothing at the mouth
to start making our official announcements and get this on the air! But
we had a decision to make and decided to launch bigger and better rather
than rush onto the air. As horror fans ourselves, we are dedicated to
delivering the best experience possible and will let it cook a little
longer to make sure it is done right! Stay tuned to our website and
AICN for further announcements.
There you have it, squirts! For more information on The Horror Channel, keep your eye on their website (Which you can get to here!!!) or here in the Coax section. You better believe I'm all over any bit of news on this channel! At any rate, I'm going to hit the sack. Have a Happy Halloween!!!
-Quint
