Author: loyd

Meg Foster (THEY LIVE), Judy Geeson (HORROR PLANET) and Patricia Quinn (ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW) join Dee Wallace (E.T., THE HOWLING) at Texas Frightmare Weekend for a special celebration of Rob Zombie’s upcoming novel and film LORDS OF SALEM.

PLUS! All VIP Pass-holders will want to check out their Goodie Bags at the show as they will all contain a copy of Rob’s novelization of the film SIGNED by ROB ZOMBIE himself!

THE LORDS OF SALEM (Grand Central Publishing; On-Sale: March 12, 2013; ISBN: 9781455519170; 336 pages; $26.99) is horror maestro Rob Zombie’s first original horror story since the great The Devil’s Rejects and is sure to deliver exactly what his fans have been waiting for. Zombie’s diehard fans will be rabid about THE LORDS OF SALEM—a chilling plunge into a nightmare world where evil runs in the blood—which is based on the original screenplay of the same title by Zombie and written with multiple award-winning horror author B.K. Evenson.

THE LORDS OF SALEM will be released as a full-length film on April 19th, 2013—five weeks after the book’s publication.
Written and directed by Zombie, this will be his first original film since 2005’s beloved The Devil’s Rejects. “The book offers a different experience from the film since it can obviously go into much more detail,” states Zombie. “The book and film really complement each other.” The film is relentlessly eerie while the book goes into far more narrative detail and character back story, and also has a significantly higher body count than the film.

Legendary artist Bernie Wrightson has been creating horror art for over 45 years. Best known for co-creating (with writer Len Wein) the comic character Swamp Thing, and for definitively illustrating Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Bernie also collaborated regularly with author Stephen King, having illustrated The Stand, Cycle of the Werewolf, and the Dark Tower V. He’s worked on Spiderman, Batman and The Punisher, and provided painted covers for the DC comics Nevermore and Toe Tags. He wrote and drew his own sci-fi mini-series Captain Sternn. Recent work includes Frankenstein Alive, Alive (IDW Publishing) co-created with esteemed horror author Steve Niles. As a conceptual artist, Bernie has worked on many films, particularly in the horror genre: well-known films include Ghostbusters, The Faculty, Galaxy Quest, Spiderman, and George Romero’s Land of the Dead, and Frank Darabont’s Stephen King film The Mist. Today, Bernie resides in Austin, Texas with his wife Liz, where he works both on film designs and his own pet projects, including comic books and creepy drawings just for fun! Visit Bernie’s official site at berniewrightson.com.

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After a proverbial movie-making childhood, making movies with friends on video, writing for his various school newspapers, and winning a PSA writing competition sponsored by the American Lung Association, Stephen Johnston pursed an English degree from Western Maryland College. He would ultimately graduate from well-regarded Columbia College in Chicago with a B.A. in Liberal Arts.

After making the pilgrimage to Hollywood to begin “climbing the ropes,” working on film productions in various capacities, including Disney’s THE JUNGLE BOOK and TNT’s LAST STAND AT SABRE RIVER, Stephen started getting various writing gigs, even occasionally getting paid! His first feature-length screenplay sale, DEADLY CHARADES to Mystique Films, led to writing professionally full-time.

The DEADLY CHARADES experience led to writing feature films TELL ME NO LIES, STARSTRUCK and CRIME SCENE, as well as rewriting duties on other projects.

Then came the fateful day when Stephen was informed that producer Hamish McAlpine was interested in reading a script he had written regarding infamous Wisconsin killer Ed Gein. From this came the film ED GEIN, produced by McAlpine and partner Michael Muscal. Starring Steve Railsback and the late Carrie Snodgrass, the film would receive Best Picture honors at the 2000 Sitges International Film Festival, and Stephen himself was awarded the Best Screenplay award at the XXI Fantafestival in Italy in 2001. Based on their success, Stephen would reteam with McAlpine and Muscal to create the follow-up feature TED BUNDY, and to complete the “serial killer trilogy” THE HILLSIDE STRANGLER.

Earning a reputation as “that serial killer guy” would ultimately culminate in Stephen writing the film STARKWEATHER released by Think Film.

Deciding to further explore crime from the other side of the equation, Stephen wrote and sold the original screenplay OFFICER DOWN. The film starred Sherilyn Fenn, Larry Drake, and Casper Van Diem and aired on The Lifetime Movie Network, before being released on Universal Video under the title ASSASSIN IN BLUE.

In 2008 Stephen reteamed with producer Michael Muscal to collaborate on the horror screenplay DETENTION. The film starred the late, legendary David Carradine and was directed by James Hickox.

Summer 2013 sees the production of Stephen’s latest project I’M NO MONSTER: THE FRITZL STORY, shooting in Austria and Romania.

Stephen is currently at work in his cave, developing various horror projects, including RE-ANIMATOR UNBOUND! the next installment in the adventures of Herbert West.