I have been a fan of horror and the surreal since my childhood in the 1980s. I have fond memories of watching movies such as A Nightmare on Elm Street, Poltergeist and Pet Semetary at friends’ houses due to my parents not allowing me to watch them at home. I remember going straight for the Horror section in my local Ritz Video and being awestruck by the range of weird and wonderful video cover art. I would coerce my dad into letting me rent the likes of Cronenberg’s The Fly, House and I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle. I begged for weeks to be allowed to rent Freddy’s Revenge after being constantly enticed by Graham Humphrey’s amazing artwork and when I finally got it home it quickly became my favourite Elm Street (along with The Dream Master a few years later).

Alongside watching films, I would go into town and sift through second-hand book stalls and charity shops for novels by Richard Laymon, Clive Barker, Stephen King, Shaun Hutson and James Herbert. I would gorge on their stories during long, hot summer’s whilst sat out on my grandparents backyard and often fall in love with the sleeve artwork (most of which are now collector’s items). I also subscribed to The Dark Side Magazine and hunted out as many of the video nasties and grindhouse features as I could find (which was few and far between in those days!) and with most cut to shreds by the BBFC by the time I did see them.

This affliction for all things horror-related has followed me into adulthood. I attend horror film festivals, continue to read horror/supernatural themed novels and with many cult classics, video nasties and grindhouse features now being released on DVD/Blu Ray it’s getting easier to finally see those films I couldn’t as a child. In recent months I have enjoyed reaching out to other horror fans through social media (dedicated Facebook groups, blogs and the like) and so I decided it was time for me to start my own.

Welcome to Grave Misdemeanours.