I’m writing this week’s column from a beach on Lake Erie where my family and I are on a brief holiday. Now some might wonder how you write about horror from a sunny beach. Kids playing in the surf, the smell of suntan lotion and the chip stand in the air.

As we celebrate this Summer of Savini (cover story of FANGORIA #304; directorial comeback THE THEATRE BIZARRE debuting at Fantasia this month), I decided to share with you my first-ever professional interview, which I conducted with the King of Splatter as a 17-year-old high school student in 1980. Part one appeared here.

“You know something, Tony,” Tom Savini said to me. “We’ve known each other for 30 years, and this is the first time we’ve ever actually socialized.”

Continuing my interview with independent filmmaker Joseph Christiana, creator of THE NIGHTMARE, begun here…

Last week, I introduced you to THE NIGHTMARE, a tightly shot and whip-smart piece of independent horror. It was one of the films I saw that really had me convinced I needed to start this blog to document this new movement in film. This week I want to introduce you to the writer/director of THE NIGHTMARE, Joseph Christiana. I got a chance to ask him some questions and I think the result is, well…I hesitate to say “inspiring,” because that just sounds insincere and tacky, but that’s honestly how I felt after reading it. He’s out there making remarkable, quality productions with off-the-shelf gear while juggling career, art and family.

This is what the new flesh is. Art. Sacrifice. Risk. Will. Passion. All these things and more describe Christiana and the new flesh in horror.

It’s “holy shit hot” in New York today. Here are two cool things to give a moment’s thought to.

When I was in junior high I wanted to be some kind of multi-discipline auteur. I wanted to write books and I wanted to make movies. Honestly, the only career choices I can remember ever clinging to since I was like 6 were Writer and Archaeologist. This was of course because even at 6 I knew that Indiana Jones had a real job and Captain Kirk did not.