On Tuesday 23rd February Carrion Film Director Ashley Thorpe will be joining Lee Rawlings and Tony Eccles on Phonic FM‘s ‘Spitting Feathers‘ .
The director, following the release of ‘The Hairy Hands‘, has been hard at work on the script for the new Penny Dreadful animation – the sinister Victorian gothic yarn ‘Spring Heel Jack‘ – but will be taking time out from the process to discuss the new animation ‘The Hairy Hands‘; its creation, its soundtrack and a selection of music that inspired it.
Among the tracks chosen were the theme to Hammer horror’s ‘The Devil Rides Out‘ (composed by James Bernard), the complete end title theme from ‘The Hairy Hands‘ (composed by Mick Grierson), the theme to Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho‘ (composed by Bernard Herrman), Theme to ‘The Persuaders‘ (by John Barry), ‘Suspiria‘ (by Goblin), ‘Halloween‘ (by John Carpenter), ‘Film 1‘ (by John Foxx) and an excerpt from the ‘Horsell common and the heat ray‘ passage of Jeff Waynes’s ‘War of the Worlds‘ rock opera.
“This obviously doesn’t represent the extent of my musical tastes by any leap of the imagination, but it certainly represents pretty much what I was listening to during the creation of the film. The soundtrack to ‘Psycho’ for instance was pretty much on constantly whilst scripting the thing, which I think is pretty evident, certainly in the opening sequence of the film. The other selections represent textural elements that I wanted the film to posess and were things that I would regularly either send to Mick or we’d sit and listen to them through and try to incorporate – I mean things like Gary Numan, John Foxx, certainly Carpenter – a blending of influences, enthusiasms, because although I wanted ‘The Hairy Hands’ to have this 1960’s thriller sort of vibe to it I also wanted it to evoke, as the narrative and its iconography switches, the kind of horror films that I first 
discovered either on VHS or late night on TV when I was young and for it to have a late seventies early eighties feeling to it…Argento, John Carpenter output then certainly. ‘War of the Worlds’ was also a childhood favourite, and it’s another one that I regularly revisit. For all its occasional disco / prog-rock trappings it’s still a wonderfully eerie and evocative album. And…Richard Burton…what more can I say! As for my first pick, well ‘The Devil Rides Out’ was the film that started it all and that Hammer influence is still – and I suspect always will be – there in my work.” – Ashley Thorpe
‘Spitting Feathers‘ goes out between 10 – 12pm on Phonic FM 106.8, Tuesday 23rd February, but can also be heard via the Phonic website or via the following links:
phonic-interview-pt1 (interview starts at 5min) . phonic-interview-pt2.
CHRIS ALEXANDER – APPOINTED NEW EDITOR OF FANGORIA MAGAZINE
“Chris Alexander is able to swerve in and out of thoughts and images like travelling through a melody His capacity to intuitively grasp the essence of an artist or film is strong and daring. Because of this, his subjects can be seen under a light otherwise kept in darkness.” – Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni (Dario Argento’s ‘Opera’ & ‘Mother of Tears’.
After weeks of discussion and debate it was recently officially announced that respected genre journalist Chris Alexander – keen supporter of Carrion Film animations – has been appointed as the new Editor of legendary horror periodical ‘Fangoria‘ magazine, taking over duties from longtime editor Tony Timpone.
“Since I was a little boy, Fangoria has been mythical; my gateway into a wild, weird world of monsters and mayhem, of sex, blood, death and general taboo bending pulp fiction delirium. Now, after freelancing for this genre entertainment institution for 2 years, I’m both honoured and a little shaken by this new role…my dream job, actually. It’s all rather surreal…
Those of you who have followed my words in the pages of Canadian periodical ‘Rue Morgue’ (where I got my start as a film journalist) or Toronto newspaper Metro, or heard my endless blather on radio or television…you all know one thing is certain: that I absolutely LIVE for cinema, specifically dark, oddball, horror, cult and exploitation cinema.
That passion, that manic, tireless energy has driven me my entire life and it’s that deep love for the history and future of macabre film and fiction that I plan to harness and bring to the pages of Fangoria this year and, hopefully , beyond…
So stay tuned…it’s going to be a wild ride.” – Chris Alexander Feb 2010
Chris has interviewed Carrion Film Director Ashley Thorpe twice so far for ‘Fangoria‘ – most recently back in September 2009, for a piece on the then forthcoming animation ‘The Hairy Hands‘.
“… visionary UK based filmmaker Ashley Thorpe, an artist whose carefully controlled, creepy and rapturously gothic short films SCAYRECROW and THE SCREAMING SKULL (which screened at this years NYC Fango Con) really left an impression on me.
The man is a stylist supreme, his weird rotoscope approach matched by his respect for myth and I wasn’t the only one who thought so. Both pictures have gone on to win a multitude of awards and earn a plethora of accolades (you can see them for yourself at Thorpe’s site) …See, I’m still convinced this guy is going to be a huge influence in horror for years to come and it appeases my ego to know that I was one of the first genre journalists on these shores to say so…”
Chris’s new book – ‘Blood Spattered Book‘ ( A selection of personal essays on underrated horror, dark fantasy and cult movies that refuse to behave) is available now from Midnight Marquee Press.