Ashley Thorpe, Exeter-based filmmaker of Carrion Films and last year’s Independent Filmmaker award-winner, has been interviewed by Stuart ‘Feedback’ Andrews (host of Rue Morgue Radio) for Canada’s seminal horror periodical Rue Morgue magazine.
The Toronto-based magazine takes its name from Poe’s short story The Murders in the Rue Morgue and is dedicated to ‘horror in culture and entertainment’, and hot on the heels of Malcom McDowell and Ray Harryhausen, Ashley’s interview will appear in issue 98, and is due to hit the international newsstands on Monday, March 1.
Top of the agenda on the interview is the increasing profile of Ashley’s latest in his Penny dreadful series, The Hairy Hands – which is based on the Dartmoor legend of the same name.
It’s another feather in the coverage cap for Ashley, who has been picked up throughout the world by top horror publications – he was featured in Fangoria last year.
Ashley said: “I remember buying my first issue of Rue Morgue when I had first moved to London, back when I was working on putting The Vampire together. Apart from being drawn in by the Day of the Dead cover (the art and design of the magazine by Gary Pullin is generally fantastic throughout) I became a dedicate fan due to the magazine’s breadth of coverage on all aspects of horror, and subsequently, after moving to Greece, had it shipped out to me by a friend so that I could continue reading it.
“Though Fangoria remains my ‘first love’ in a sense, mainly due to nostalgic memories of buying it after school and hiding it in my English folder, Rue Morgue took its place along side it as I got older due to its sense of community and willingness to dig out the lost or little known gems in the genre. It was importantly also the first place that I encountered Chris Alexander, who used to have a regular column, who has since gone on to champion our work.
“It was, and is, a magazine that I constantly turn to as a source of inspiration – whether to directly inspire my work, turn me on to alternative authors or filmmakers or to further educate myself in the field. And it’s written with such a genuine passion for horror, it’s infectious, and it’s fun. If ever you felt slightly ‘out of place’ because of your love for the genre, reading Rue Morgue is a homecoming celebration. I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Next on Ashley’s Penny Dreadful production treadmill is Spring Heel jack, and we are expecting production art of Hell-Tor, Ashley’s Carrion Film’s first feature, soon.
Stay tuned!!
• Devon’s top film critic Tom Leins of Sex, Leins and Videotape will review The Hairy Hands for D+CFilm
Meanwhile, the latest Sex, Leins and Videotape looks at DVD offerings from Down Under
(psst… and you can watch Ashley on the D+CFilm show…)
