News

Horror Pride Month: Director Tiffany Warren

Published

4 years ago

June 3, 2020

For writer, director, and sometimes actor Tiffany Warren, horror entered her life maybe just a little too early.

When she was three years old, her mom took her cousin to see Aliens, and because mom could not find a sitter, Tiffany went right along with them. At such a young age, they did not expect it to affect her too much.

They were wrong…

Now 38 years old, Warren says there are still parts of that movie she cannot fully remember no matter how many times she has seen the film since.

“I remember Bishop being torn up and I remember throwing up outside the theater,” the filmmaker told me in an interview for Horror Pride Month. “No matter how many times I’ve seen that movie, I can’t remember it. That was the first time I think I was actually affected by a horror movie.”

A year later, her aunt introduced her to Freddy Kreuger with A Nightmare on Elm Street, and while she says she doesn’t really remember how much it scared her at four years old, the two films definitely set her on the path to becoming a horror fan.

“I like getting scared,” she explained. “I think it’s something about being in touch with those feelings that it’s kind of a fun release. Having that fear in a safe way is just something that I tend to enjoy. I like being scared when I can control it. There’s still that little five year old in me yelling, ‘It’s possible!'”

Those films also set Warren on the road to making horror films. Her mother and aunt explained to her that what she was seeing wasn’t real and the idea of acting sparked her interest.

Photo by Chris Delao

She would find out as she got older, however, that wanting to act and being an actor, especially on camera, are two different things entirely. She found it took her a long time to open up on camera and further that often times the roles she would find offered to her were the worst kind of stereotypes. So, as so many have done in the past, she decided to make her own films.

“At least then, I knew I would have a chance,” she explained. “After making my first movie, which was an entire disaster, I kind of realized I like acting. It’s fun. But I like more crafting the world and the characters that are in the stories as opposed to portraying them.”

That hasn’t stopped her from stepping in front of the camera from time to time, however. In fact, Warren has a new quarantine-made short film titled Angel Food Cake of Doom debuting at the Cyber Shorts Film Festival this weekend.

When I set up these interviews for Pride Month, I’m always curious who members of the LGBTQ community identify with while watching horror movies. For some, it’s the gentle “monsters” like Frankenstein’s creation who feel they are locked away in the darkness. For other, it’s the indomitable spirit of the final girl.

Warren, however, gave one of the most fascinating answers I’ve ever received to this question.

“When I watched movies growing up, I didn’t see anyone who was anything like me,” she said. “So, I would put myself in the story with them when I was little and watching these movies. Like Nancy was my best friend and I was worried about what was going to happen to everyone else in our group. And I didn’t think about how I would be impacted because somehow I was just in this world watching everything happen and being unaffected because you couldn’t see me.”

Do me a favor and read that over again.

As an adult who eventually came out as a lesbian, she found that while she might be there in some aspect, there were really only two identifies for someone like her.

“The things I do recognize if/when lesbians are there, is that we don’t have a normalized relationship,” Warren pointed out. “It’s either hyper-sexualized or we’re alone. They do the same thing for gay men. Gay men have to be campy. He has to have those quips. I’m like, is that the only way that we’re supposed to know he’s gay?”

This speaks beautifully to the point that we’ve tried to make since the inception of Horror Pride Month. No, we don’t want ourselves shoe-horned into movies, but we would like to be present a little more often. And when we are, it wouldn’t hurt to be written as real characters and not just stereotypes.

As for Tiffany Warren’s own work, she has a number of projects in the works at the moment including a film built around an urban legend from her home state of Texas.

Just outside of Denton, Texas, there’s a bridge where, so the story goes, Oscar Washburn was lynched by the KKK. He was a rather successful black businessman and the Klan didn’t take kindly to his accrued wealth. They hanged him from the bridge but when they returned later, his body was gone yet the noose was still swinging in the breeze.

From that time, the enraged spirit of Washburn has supposedly haunted the area seeking revenge.

The Goat Man’s Bridge: A Legacy of Fear builds upon the story wherein a woman comes to stay in a halfway house to reduce her sentence. Little does she know that the house was once owned by Washburn, and a series of events will soon set his spirit free.

It’s exactly the kind of horror I like, and I honestly can’t wait to see it come to life.

For more on Warren and her career, check out her IMDb page.

Feature image by Aoife Haney

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Movies

‘The Strangers’ Invaded Coachella in Instagramable PR Stunt

Published

6 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Renny Harlin’s reboot of The Strangers isn’t coming out until May 17, but those murderous home invaders are making a pit stop at Coachella first.

In the latest Instagramable PR stunt, the studio behind the film decided to have the trio of masked intruders crash Coachella, a music festival that takes place for two weekends in Southern California.

This type of publicity began when Paramount did the same thing with their horror movie Smile in 2022. Their version had seemingly ordinary people in populated places look directly into a camera with an evil grin.

Harlin’s reboot is actually a trilogy with a more expansive world than that of the original.

“When setting out to remake The Strangers, we felt there was a bigger story to be told, which could be as powerful, chilling, and terrifying as the original and could really expand that world,” said producer Courtney Solomon. “Shooting this story as a trilogy allows us to create a hyperreal and terrifying character study. We’re fortunate to be joining forces with Madelaine Petsch, an amazing talent whose character is the driving force of this story.”

The movie follows a young couple (Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez) who “after their car breaks down in an eerie small town, are forced to spend the night in a remote cabin. Panic ensues as they are terrorized by three masked strangers who strike with no mercy and seemingly no motive in The Strangers: Chapter 1 the chilling first entry of this upcoming horror feature film series.”

The Strangers: Chapter 1 opens in theaters on May 17.

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Movies

‘Alien’ Returning to Theaters For a Limited Time

Published

7 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Timothy Rawles

It’s been 45 years since Ridley Scott’s Alien hit theaters and in celebration of that milestone, it is headed back to the big screen for a limited time. And what better day to do that than Alien Day on April 26?

It also works as a primer for the upcoming Fede Alvarez sequel Alien: Romulus opening on August 16. A special feature in which both Alvarez and Scott discuss the original sci-fi classic will be shown as a part of your theater admission. Take a look at the preview of that conversation below.

^{Fede Alvarez and Ridley Scott}

Back in 1979, the original trailer for Alien was kind of terrifying. Imagine sitting in front of a CRT TV (Cathode Ray Tube) at night and suddenly Jerry Goldsmith’s haunting score begins to play as a giant chicken egg starts to crack with beams of light bursting through the shell and the word “Alien” slowly forms in slanted all caps across the screen. To a twelve-year-old, it was a scary pre-bedtime experience, especially Goldsmith’s screaming electronic musical flourishes playing over scenes of the actual movie. Let the “Is it horror or sci-fi?” debate begin.

Alien became a pop culture phenomenon, complete with kid’s toys, a graphic novel, and an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. It also inspired dioramas in wax museums and even a frightening setpiece at Walt Disney World in the now-defunct Great Movie Ride attraction.

_{Great Movie Ride}

The film stars Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, and John Hurt. It tells the tale of a futuristic crew of blue-collar workers suddenly awakened out of stasis to investigate an undecipherable distress signal coming from a nearby moon. They investigate the source of the signal and discover it’s a warning and not a cry for help. Unbeknownst to the crew, they have brought a giant space creature back on board which they find out in one of the most iconic scenes in cinema history.

It is said that Alvarez’s sequel will pay homage to the original film’s storytelling and set design.

_{Alien Romulus}

^{Alien (1979)}

The Alien theatrical re-release will take place on April 26. Pre-order your tickets and find out where Alien will screen at a theater near you.

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News

Home Depot’s 12-Foot Skeleton Returns with a New Friend, Plus New Life-Size Prop from Spirit Halloween

Published

9 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Cameron McFarland

Halloween is the greatest holiday of them all. However, every great holiday needs amazing props to go with it. Luckily for you, there are two new amazing props that have been released, which are sure to impress your neighbors and frighten any neighborhood children who are unfortunate enough to wander past your yard.

The first entry is the return of the Home Depot 12-foot skeleton prop. Home Depot has outdone themselves in the past. But this year the company is bringing bigger and better things to their Halloween prop lineup.

This year, the company unveiled its new and improved Skelly. But what is a giant skeleton without a loyal friend? Home Depot has also announced that they will release a five-foot tall skeleton dog prop to eternally keep Skelly company as he haunts your yard this spooky season.

This bony pooch will be five feet tall and seven feet long. The prop will also feature a posable mouth and LCD eyes with eight variable settings. Lance Allen, Home Depot’s merchant of decorative Holliday gear, had the following to say about this year’s lineup.

“This year we increased our realism within the animatronics category, created some impressive, licensed characters and even brought back some fan favorites. Overall, we are most proud of the quality and value we are able to bring to our customers with these pieces so they can continue to grow their collections.”

But what if giant skeletons just aren’t your thing? Well, Spirit Halloween has you covered with their giant life size Terror Dog replica. This massive prop has been ripped out of your nightmares to appear frighteningly on your lawn.

This prop weighs in at almost fifty pounds and features glowing red eyes that are sure to keep your yard safe from any toilet paper throwing hooligans. This iconic Ghostbusters nightmare is a must have for any fan of 80s horror. Or, anyone who loves all things spooky.