So who am I and what am I all
about? The name is simple... my parents named me Paul
(after Sir Paul McCartney) and I am 6 foot 8 inches
tall. As for what I do, well at the risk of ripping from
Ray Liotta in Goodfellas, as far back as I can remember
I've always wanted to have something to do with horror
movies - not be a gangster unfortunately, I'm about as
intimidating as a pink lamb. When I was only three-years-old
I was placed in front of the television on a Sunday
morning and watched the British television premiere of
An American Werewolf In London that my mother had taped
the night before. Was I scared by it, sure, what
three-year-old wouldn't? But that didn't stop me from
rewinding the tape and watching it over and over. By the
time I was nine I had become familiar with everything
from the Elm Street movies, Romero's Dead films and the
movie that would eventually lead to my professional
desire - The Exorcist. While studying Media and English
at college in 1998, The Exorcist was having a huge
resurgence in the UK. Previously banned for nearly
seventeen-years, the movie was re-released in cinemas at
the hope it would finally be granted a video
certificate, well, without trailing off topic - it did,
but it was the huge media attention that the film was
getting that made me realise that I wanted to be part of
this horror media circle.
It was while studying my film major at University in the fall of 2000 that I started getting work published. The Exorcist was about to have another re-release - this time with newly restored footage; so I used the release as a platform to write about something I was knowledgeable about. In six short years I have written to the excess of 130 plus articles on the horror genre in publications both online and in print in the UK and USA. At the beginning of 2006 I declared my US writing loyalties to the brand new horror magazine HorrorHound - notable inclusions to date being the History of The Video Nasties article in Issue 3 and the Retrospective on An American Werewolf In London in issue 5.
In addition to the written work I do within the industry, I have also been involved in convention appearances for horror celebrities, both in the UK and US - I am not really involved in this side of things anymore but still hang out at shows that have a strong horror presence.
As of 2007 I have finally taken that leap from critic to creator and started production on my first movie, a feature length documentary on the making of 'An American Werewolf In London'. I am loving every second of being a director, writer and producer and plan to keep on this path for the foreseeable future. I have several projects lined up after the documentary - including another documentary project and then my first feature film. In spite of my new found commitment to filmmaking, I will also be continuing my working relationship to HorrorHound magazine.