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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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Russell Crowe To Star in Another Exorcism Movie & It’s Not a Sequel

Published

22 hours ago

April 22, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Maybe it’s because The Exorcist just celebrated its 50th-anniversary last year, or maybe it’s because aging Academy Award-winning actors aren’t too proud to take on obscure roles, but Russell Crowe is visiting the Devil once again in yet another possession film. And it’s not related to his last one, The Pope’s Exorcist.

According to Collider, the film titled The Exorcism was originally going to be released under the name The Georgetown Project. Rights for its North American release were once in the hands of Miramax but then went to Vertical Entertainment. It will release on June 7 in theaters then head over to Shudder for subscribers.

Crowe will also star in this year’s upcoming Kraven the Hunter which is set to drop in theaters on August 30.

As for The Exorcism, Collider provides us with what it’s about:

“The film centers around actor Anthony Miller (Crowe), whose troubles come to the forefront as he shoots a supernatural horror movie. His estranged daughter (Ryan Simpkins) has to figure out whether he’s lapsing into his past addictions, or if something even more horrific is occurring. “

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Movies

New F-Bomb Laden ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Trailer: Bloody Buddy Movie

Published

1 day ago

April 22, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Deadpool & Wolverine might be the buddy movie of the decade. The two heterodox superheroes are back in the latest trailer for the summer blockbuster, this time with more f-bombs than a gangster film.

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Movie Trailer

This time the focus is on Wolverine played by Hugh Jackman. The adamantium-infused X-Man is having a bit of a pity party when Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) arrives on the scene who then tries to convince him to team up for selfish reasons. The result is a profanity-filled trailer with a Strange surprise at the end.

Deadpool & Wolverine is one of the most anticipated movies of the year. It comes out on July 26. Here is the latest trailer, and we suggest if you are at work and your space isn’t private, you might want to put in headphones.

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News

Original Blair Witch Cast Ask Lionsgate for Retroactive Residuals in Light of New Film

Published

2 days ago

April 21, 2024

Cameron McFarland

Jason Blum is planning to reboot The Blair Witch Project for the second time. That’s a fairly large task considering none of the reboots or sequels have managed to capture the magic of the 1999 film that brought found footage into the mainstream.

This idea has not been lost on the original Blair Witch cast, who has recently reached out to Lionsgate to ask for what they feel is fair compensation for their role in the pivotal film. Lionsgate gained access to The Blair Witch Project in 2003 when they purchased Artisan Entertainment.

However, Artisan Entertainment was an independent studio before its purchase, meaning the actors were not part of SAG-AFTRA. As a result, the cast are not entitled to the same residuals from the project as actors in other major films. The cast doesn’t feel that the studio should be able to continue to profit off of their hard work and likenesses without fair compensation.

Their most recent request asks for “meaningful consultation on any future ‘Blair Witch’ reboot, sequel, prequel, toy, game, ride, escape room, etc., in which one could reasonably assume that Heather, Michael & Josh’s names and/or likenesses will be associated for promotional purposes in the public sphere.”

At this time, Lionsgate has not offered any comment about this issue.

The full statement made by the cast can be found below.

OUR ASKS OF LIONSGATE (From Heather, Michael & Josh, stars of “The Blair Witch Project”):

1. Retroactive + future residual payments to Heather, Michael and Josh for acting services rendered in the original BWP, equivalent to the sum that would’ve been allotted through SAG-AFTRA, had we had proper union or legal representation when the film was made.

2. Meaningful consultation on any future Blair Witch reboot, sequel, prequel, toy, game, ride, escape room, etc…, in which one could reasonably assume that Heather, Michael & Josh’s names and/or likenesses will be associated for promotional purposes in the public sphere.

Note: Our film has now been rebooted twice, both times were a disappointment from a fan/box office/critical perspective. Neither of these films were made with significant creative input from the original team. As the insiders who created the Blair Witch and have been listening to what fans love & want for 25 years, we’re your single greatest, yet thus-far un-utilized secret-weapon!

3. “The Blair Witch Grant”: A 60k grant (the budget of our original movie), paid out yearly by Lionsgate, to an unknown/aspiring genre filmmaker to assist in making theirfirst feature film. This is a GRANT, not a development fund, hence Lionsgate will not own any of the underlying rights to the project.

A PUBLIC STATEMENT FROM THE DIRECTORS & PRODUCERS OF “THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT”:

As we near the 25th anniversary of The Blair Witch Project, our pride in the storyworld we created and the film we produced is reaffirmed by the recent announcement of a reboot by horror icons Jason Blum and James Wan.

While we, the original filmmakers, respect Lionsgate’s right to monetize the intellectual property as it sees fit, we must highlight the significant contributions of the original cast — Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Mike Williams. As the literal faces of what has become a franchise, their likenesses, voices, and real names are inseparably tied to The Blair Witch Project. Their unique contributions not only defined the film’s authenticity but continue to resonate with audiences around the world.

We celebrate our film’s legacy, and equally, we believe the actors deserve to be celebrated for their enduring association with the franchise.

Sincerely, Eduardo Sanchez, Dan Myrick, Gregg Hale, Robin Cowie, and Michael Monello