News

Horror Pride Month: Author Hailey Piper

Published

4 years ago

June 12, 2020

Hailey Piper writes original scary books. No, really, I’m serious. She has a way of writing scary that is both refreshing and a bit disarming, especially once you’ve had a conversation with her.

Soft-spoken and thoughtful, Piper was not what I expected when we sat down for an interview for iHorror’s Horror Pride Month series celebrating LGBTQ creatives in the genre especially as I’d just finished reading her novella Benny Rose The Cannibal King.

Piper’s love of horror began with monster movies when she was a kid. She grew upon a steady diet of Godzilla and the Universal Monsters from the time she was around four years old. Access to horror books, however, was a little harder to come by until she decided to do a little snooping.

“My mom was a big Dean Koontz fan and I wasn’t supposed to be reading those books but it’s not like there was a lock on her bedroom door,” she said. “When you’re a little kid, your books are all tiny paperbacks, but she had these giant, meaty hardcovers. I kind of went in and I kept seeing a face on the back and I didn’t know it was Dean Koontz and the book said Mr. Murder so I thought that’s who it was. So I opened that and just started reading.”

In a way, she never looked back. Of course, her mother soon discovered that she was reading the books and so they began reading them together. The rest, as they say, was history or herstory as is more apropos. Hailey was soon writing stories of her own which brings us back to her most recent novella Benny Rose.

The story takes place on a lonely cul de sac in a little retirement community where a terrifying creature born from the urban legends told about him rises up against a group of teenagers. For Piper, the story began with Glade Street, the story’s setting.

“The town grew out of there,” Piper explained. “I wasn’t sure who the monster would be at first. I had a ton of ideas and that kind of ballooned into the concept that he was all of them. He’s the stories that these kids tell. And of course, there was going to be one answer at the center of that, but that’s where the genesis was.”

Benny Rose emerges as a dark, twisted tale that is perfect for the Halloween season, but it’s far from Piper’s only offering.

The author has had numerous stories published in a wide range of anthologies. You can also read her previous novella The Possession of Natalie Glasgow.

When it comes to representation of the LGBTQ community in the horror space, Piper points out that for her, it resonates as a feeling of absence.

“I do notice the absence after a time,” she said. “Like you watch enough movies and you don’t see anybody who represents you, you start to feel it before you notice it. I see representation better in writing. Not because it’s great but because it sticks out. If I’m reading a short story collection and one of the characters happens to be gay, it immediately is like, ‘Oh they did that!’ I especially notice when the writer is not LGBT.”

As for her own writing, she says there have been moments when she has asked herself if her work will be rejected by audiences and publishers if a character is a member of the LGBTQ community. For her, inclusion became a matter of confidence as much as anything. There was the fear that perhaps, because she was not yet established as an author, the risks were higher.

Eventually, however, she came to the realization that she will never please everyone with her writing, which is freeing in its own way.

“If you have a character who is gay in there or any form of queer person in there and the story has nothing to do with being queer then they’re like why is this character even in here? That’s not important. But if it’s a story where there are gay themes, then another group of people will dismiss it saying that it’s just a statement story or it’s just politics or whatever. You can’t win with people.”

She goes on to point out, however, the importance of different perspectives in storytelling.

“Someone from a different perspective is going to have different ways of telling a story,” the author explained. “Everyone should want that. It just benefits everyone. Fans say they want new horror, but not genuinely new where they have to try or maybe it doesn’t feel the same. They want something that feels new the way that it did for them when they were like fifteen and they read an adult book for the first time. They want it to be like that but only for them and no one else.”

Horror Pride Month was born out of exactly that sentiment. New perspectives, new storytelling, invigorates and elevates the genre. It adds layers of nuance and incorporates an entirely new spectrum of experience within a narrative.

Hailey Piper is an example of that change and her voice is an exciting addition to the tapestry that is horror literature.

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Movies

Trailer for ‘The Exorcism’ Has Russell Crowe Possessed

Published

5 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Timothy Rawles

The latest exorcism movie is about to drop this summer. It’s aptly titled The Exorcism and it stars Academy Award winner turned B-movie savant Russell Crowe. The trailer dropped today and by the looks of it, we are getting a possession movie that takes place on a movie set.

Just like this year’s recent demon-in-media-space film Late Night With the Devil, The Exorcism happens during a production. Although the former takes place on a live network talk show, the latter is on an active sound stage. Hopefully, it won’t be entirely serious and we’ll get some meta chuckles out of it.

The film will open in theaters on June 7, but since Shudder also acquired it, it probably won’t be long after that until it finds a home on the streaming service.

Crowe plays, “Anthony Miller, a troubled actor who begins to unravel while shooting a supernatural horror film. His estranged daughter, Lee (Ryan Simpkins), wonders if he’s slipping back into his past addictions or if there’s something more sinister at play. The film also stars Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg and David Hyde Pierce.”

Crowe did see some success in last year’s The Pope’s Exorcist mostly because his character was so over-the-top and infused with such comical hubris it bordered on parody. We will see if that is the route actor-turned-director Joshua John Miller takes with The Exorcism.

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News

Win a Stay at The Lizzie Borden House From Spirit Halloween

Published

7 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Spirit Halloween has declared that this week marks the start of spooky season and to celebrate they are offering fans a chance to stay at the Lizzie Borden House with so many perks Lizzie herself would approve.

The Lizzie Borden House in Fall River, MA is claimed to be one of the most haunted houses in America. Of course one lucky winner and up to 12 of their friends will find out if the rumors are true if they win the grand prize: A private stay in the notorious house.

“We are delighted to work with Spirit Halloween to roll out the red carpet and offer the public a chance to win a one-of-a-kind experience at the infamous Lizzie Borden House, which also includes additional haunted experiences and merchandise,” said Lance Zaal, President & Founder of US Ghost Adventures.

Fans can enter to win by following Spirit Halloween‘s Instagram and leaving a comment on the contest post from now through April 28.

The prize also includes:

An exclusive guided house tour, including insider insight around the murder, the trial, and commonly reported hauntings

A late-night ghost tour, complete with professional ghost-hunting gear

A private breakfast in the Borden family dining room

A ghost hunting starter kit with two pieces of Ghost Daddy Ghost Hunting Gear and a lesson for two at US Ghost Adventures Ghost Hunting Course

The ultimate Lizzie Borden gift package, featuring an official hatchet, the Lizzie Borden board game, Lily the Haunted Doll, and America’s Most Haunted Volume II

Winner’s choice of a Ghost Tour experience in Salem or a True Crime experience in Boston for two

“Our Halfway to Halloween celebration provides fans an exhilarating taste of what’s to come this fall and empowers them to start planning for their favorite season as early as they please,” said Steven Silverstein, CEO of Spirit Halloween. “We have cultivated an incredible following of enthusiasts who embody the Halloween lifestyle, and we’re thrilled to bring the fun back to life.”

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Spirit Halloween is also preparing for their retail haunted houses. On Thursday, August 1 their flagship store in Egg Harbor Township, NJ. will officially open to start off the season. That event usually draws in hordes of people eager to see what new merch, animatronics, and exclusive IP goods will be trending this year.

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Movies

’28 Years Later’ Trilogy Taking Shape With Serious Star Power

Published

8 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Danny Boyle is revisiting his 28 Days Later universe with three new films. He will direct the first, 28 Years Later, with two more to follow. Deadline is reporting that sources say Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes have been cast for the first entry, a sequel to the original. Details are being kept under wraps so we don’t know how or if the first original sequel 28 Weeks Later fits into the project.

**Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes**

Boyle will direct the first movie but it’s unclear which role he will take on in the subsequent films. What is known is Candyman (2021) director Nia DaCosta is scheduled to direct the second film in this trilogy and that the third will be filmed immediately afterward. Whether DaCosta will direct both is still unclear.

Alex Garland is writing the scripts. Garland is having a successful time at the box office right now. He wrote and directed the current action/thriller Civil War which was just knocked out of the theatrical top spot by Radio Silence’s Abigail.

There is no word yet on when, or where, 28 Years Later will start production.