[Editorial] Editor’s Note: An Uncontrollable Force of Horror

A Head Full of Ghouls

When I think back to my first memory of fear, I instinctively think of the darkness. The pitch black darkness. Where you are so deprived of sight that you begin to see with your ears. That kind of void would be hiding under the bed or in the wardrobe.

Or you would find it out in the wilderness, away from the light pollution. I’m a nature kind of person, I love getting lost in the world’s delights but once night hits, that beauty turns to beast. Everything that looked dazzling in the daylight suddenly becomes something ready to destroy you. 

And of course, horror picked up on the hints that nature was fucking terrifying. You have the monster movies that feature big ass crocodiles like in Steve Miner’s 1999 film Lake Placid (which is a banger btw). After that there is biological horror with parasitic fungus depictions such as the recent game adaptation TV-series The Last of Us. You could also include environmental horror, focusing on the surroundings like in the frightening found footage horror film The Blair Witch Project, also from 1999. Or anything else set in the woods really. Very closely linked in eco-logical horror like Ben Wheatley’s In The Earth (2012) or The Ruins (2008). 

As we enter into Spring this May, it seems only right to remind ourselves of the brutal but beautiful ways that our surroundings can destroy our lives. Whilst you’re taking a nice stroll in the park through the trees, just remember that a fungus virus or perhaps a ravenous flock of birds or even a labyrinth of trees are waiting for their prey. That’s why this month at Ghouls Magazine we’re looking at Nature in Horror. 

We will be analysing the uncontrollable, unpredictable and unruly methods of nature as a force against humanity. 

What’s happening at Ghouls?

In case you missed it: Last month we were looking at ‘Coming-of-Age’ horror films, and my my, we covered quite a lot. There was also a big focus on the best horror franchise aka the Evil Dead so that was really fun. I personally also re-watched The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness, then also saw Evil Dead Rise (which is awesome). 

I chatted with Iona Smith, Kat Hughes, Meg Kenny & Ariel Baska about coming-of-age horror films on the podcast. And then Ariel Powers-Schaub spoke to Sarah Miles, Kat Hughes, Alix Turner and special guest Fern about Ghouls Watch: Deathproof, Child’s Play, Ghostwatch & more. And for the member bonus episode, Rebecca McCallum and I spoke about dreamy horror Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975).  

Rebecca McCallum also hosted a virtual panel discussion on Working Class Representation in Horror which you can watch on YouTube if you missed it! The guests included Kat Hughes, Caitlyn Downs, Mx Bel Morrigan, Michael Fausti and Mal Jutley, looking at the current status of working class in horror, emerging perspectives, ‘hoodie horror’, Ben Wheatley’s contributions, queerness and class, and how to improve the representation of working class voices in horror films and within the community. 

We screened The Evil Dead (1981) at True Romance and followed it with our first ever panel Q&A which was hosted by Iona Smith and had guests Amber T and myself. If you missed it, you can watch the recorded panel here! And this month we’re showing…

THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999)

I’m going to be terrified watching that, but my hope is we can all hold hands and get through it together. Rebecca McCallum will be hosting the panel, and we have guests Jed Shepherd, Iona Smith, Sarah Miles and Hannah Ogilvie. You can grab your tickets now!

So what do we have in store for members this month? We’ve got some good stuff coming, with all that natural horror goodness:

• [Podcast episode] The Ruins (2008) with Ash Millman 

• [Podcast episode] Ghouls Watch with Rebecca McCallum, Meg Kenny & Kat Hughes

• [Podcast bonus ep] The Bay (2012) with Ariel Powers-Schaub & Amber T

• [Article] Top Horror Films Steeped in Nature by Kim Morrison

• [Article] Eco-Horror Films That Take Revenge by Amber T

• [Article] List of Short Natural Horror Films by Melissa Cox

We love hearing from you, so if you have any suggestions please shoot them our way: editor@ghoulsmagazine.com

Last month we welcomed some new members so I just want to say a big thank you to you all! And a big thankssss to our existing members :) Shoutout to:
Michelle, Toral, Ann, Christopher, Michael, Janine, Neil, Nichole, Liz and Joe!

Whilst I’m writing this, I am currently having the weekly whatsapp vote about what film we watch on our movie night. The choices are From Dusk Till Dawn, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, Swiss Army Man and my choice, Stay Alive. If you do one thing this week, it’s watch Stay Alive from 2006 because it was my best £1 purchase and the film is hella fun for a film hang night!

Love & guts,

Zoë xx

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