WELCOME TO THE HOUSE

So what’s this all about then?

Well, anybody who knows me at all could probably tell you that one of my very favourite things in the world is to sit down with a good horror film.

It’s been that way for years. I’ve always received a good old ghoulish thrill from the more macabre and gory side of entertainment.

I remember recounting the numerous ways in which you can dispatch of vampires and werewolves to nursery school mates, many of whom were pretty much terrified. I kind of enjoyed that.

I suppose the thrill of being scared goes hand in hand with the thrill of being the one who ISN’T scared. As I’ve grown older I’ve become desensitised to the onscreen carnage and chills that haunted me when I was a youngster. I’ve gone from a child who squealed at Universal’s Creature From The Black Lagoon to a smug bloke sniggering at my fellow cinema-goers’ shrieks and howls during whatever is being hailed as the latest so-called ‘ultimate experience in gruelling terror’.

But despite the fact that the fear is rarely still there, my love for horror is every bit as strong as it’s ever been. When I’m in HMV I head straight for the horror section. I get a night at home alone and down comes the massive folder of horror dvds I’ve accrued over the years. To me, horror is my hobby. I genuinely love it.

Which is kind of a longwinded way of explaining why I’ve started this blog. If there’s one thing guaranteed to enthuse me, it’s this subject… so why shouldn’t I try to share it with others? If just one person who reads this shares my love of the subject matter, learns a little or feels inspired to let me know about something I don’t know, well, it’d be worth it.

So this is Hickey’s House of Horrors. It’ll mainly consist of reviews, but there’ll be the odd feature and a couple of special side projects that I really hope you guys dig.

Now for a couple of warnings: first off, this is not going to be written immaculately. If any grammar Nazis out there will get offended at this chatty tone or the odd bit of silly swearing, tough. I get paid to hammer words into shape, why would I turn a labour of love into a job?

Second, most of these reviews will probably end up positive. That’s for a couple of reasons. One of those being that most of the films I review will be from my own collection and I only tend to buy DVDs that I like or seem pretty cool. Also, they’re horror and, in case you’d forgot, I love it!

Not even just the genuine classics, films like Halloween, The Shining or Dawn of the Dead (all three of which I’d say are ESSENTIAL viewing for anybody who wants to get into the genre). Nope, my tastes take in the full range of what passes as horror. I can chill with the creepy ghost stories from Asia (such as the absolutely magnificent Ring, Ju-On and Shutter); Romero-esque zombie movies; gore-laden recent shockers along the lines of Saw or Hostel; right up to the big franchise players (such as Elm Street, Friday 13^th, Halloween, Child’s Play, Hellraiser and The Evil Dead). Hell, even the vast array of cheap and cheesy ripoffs that all of the above films inspired. Sublime and ridiculous little treats such as: The Burning, Night of the Demons, Pumpkinhead, Dr Giggles, House of Wax, Leprechaun, Chopping Mall, Shocker and the list goes on and on.

In fact, I’ll go on record and say that you’ll be seeing plenty more of the latter than the big films, simply because there are so many reviews and analyses of the horror heavyweights that there’s very little point in me reiterating what literally thousands of people have said before me.

Most of all though, I'm just planning to have a right laugh with this. It'll be rude, irreverent, over-enthusiastic and (hopefully) quite funny.

If you haven’t already, do please check out and like the Hickey’s House of Horrors Facebook page, which you can find here. Alternatively, follow me on twitter: Hickey@HHouseofHorrors. It gives you a nice quick link to any new posts on this blog, plus regular news updates from around the web. I check the internet so you don’t have to!

Until next time, I hope you enjoyed your stay.