It's a Horror to Know You:: Wayne Goodchild of This Sentence is Haunted!

It's a Horror to Know You: Wayne Goodchild of This Sentence Is Haunted!

1. What is the first film that ever scared you?

I saw (or rather tried to watch) IT when I was 13, but couldn't quite manage it. The bit that really got me was when Pennywise is in the drain. I thought "Nope, that's enough thank you" and didn't watch the full thing until a few years later. I also remember getting freaked out by the posters and boxes for Critters and Ghoulies in my local video store when I was 6/7 years old. I used to think Ghoulies really did live in my toilet. It also didn't help that my friend claimed to have seen Critters, and that they were "like Gremlins, but can turn invisible and eat through walls". That really wasn't the sort of thing I wanted to hear.

2. What is the last film that scared you?

Probably The Last Exorcism. It manages to invoke a weirdly creepy vibe, despite being a 'documentary'.

3. Name three Horror movies that you believe are underrated.

1. Xtro. Still one of the strangest sci-fi/horrors I've ever seen. Just when you think it can't get any weirder (woman gives birth to a full-grown man) it throws something else into the mix (living toys?!).

2. The Car. I think this is maybe overlooked because, when you talk about possessed cars, a certain red Plymouth Fury springs to mind. Not only is the titular 'Car' cool-looking, but it's suitably menacing – especially considering that I don't think there's an actual reason given for why it's terrorising a small town.

3. Necronomicon. I'm a sucker for anything Lovecraft related, and this anthology film from 1993 serves up not just three of his stories (even if they're loosely adapted) but has Jeffrey Combs playing him in the wraparound segment! I find the final part ('Whispers') really disturbing. And as an honourable mention: Night of the Creeps. I know it's not obscure or anything, but a lot of my friends who are into horror (to a satisfying degree) have simply never heard of it. I know: shocking!

4. Name three horror movies that you enjoy against your better judgment.

1. Ghost Ship. One of those films where you can see how it could be good, but is still enjoyable for what it is.

2. Man-Thing. I suppose this is technically a superhero film, but Marvel's "Swamp Thing rip-off" does a lot of things right, like having people get killed by trees growing out of them.

3. The Relic. I understand this didn't do too well at either the box office or with critics, but I really like it. You can't go wrong with giant monsters, in my book!

5. Send us to five places on the Internet! (Include the URLs!)

Dread Central – the main place I like to go to for horror news and reviews.

Cafe Doom – a super friendly forum for genre writers.

Eschatology Journal – a zine/blog of Lovecraftian fiction.

Big American Night – nothing horror related, just a really interesting travelogue-style blog!

My First Dictionary – fantastically dark word definitions dressed up as excerpts from a 1970's kids' book. I think I found Kindertrauma via this site, somehow!