Saturday 31 August 2019

DARK WEB: AN ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CREEPYPASTA - PART 35: AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH VINCENT VENA CAVA

It's been a long while since I've shared a Dark Web feature on here, but it seems to be a good time to catch up with those features, that were published elsewhere before - sadly - those sites folded. But don't fear, from now on Dark Web will be publishing here - and I've lined up some fantastic stories and interviews with some genuine heavyweights in the field.

It's almost like these interviews could be for an exciting project in the future...

Usually these Dark Web features will focus on a single story, or a connected series, but this weeks does something a little different. Instead I focus on the work of a single author, one of the most successful and popular writers of Creepypasta the genre has produced — Vincent Vena Cava.

With a wealth of work to his name, including iconic pastas such as The Pastel Man, A Favor For a Favor, Picture This and the fantastic Wendall Lane Diaries, the LA-based author has caused quite a stir with his fiction, gaining recognition and approaches from several huge media companies, including 20th Century Fox (when he wrote The Eye of Ra, which was part of a viral marketing campaign for the movie The Pyramid) and Starz. He has also been published multiple times, including the inclusion of his stories Right On Time and Picture This in the short story anthology, The Creepypasta Collection: Modern Urban Legends You Can’t Unread. (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-creepypasta-collection-mr-creepypasta/1123556473)

All of this in just four short years since he first started publishing work on the web under the Vincent Cava name.

He even saw a project successfully funded on Kickstarter that combined his talents with those of genre YouTube heavyweight Mr Creepypasta and top DeviantArtist Chris Oz Fulton. The resulting Creepypasta Comicbook (of which I’m a backer) is a fantastic debut effort and fans are eagerly anticipating subsequent issues from the team.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve had the tremendous pleasure of conversing with the amiable, humble and supremely talented Cava, asking him about his influences, storytelling processes, several of his most notable stories and what the future holds.

Our interview follows below.


HICKEY'S HOUSE OF HORRORS: Hi Vincent, and thank you so much for agreeing to speak with me. First, I'd like to ask you some general questions about your influences, before asking specific questions about some of your stories, including The Pastel Man, Right On Time and your Wendall Lane Diaries series. I hope that's ok?

VINCENT VENA CAVA: No problem, I'd be happy to answer your questions — and btw, you just named two of my worst stories! Haha! Is that what people know me for? Good God.

HHoH: Oh dear, you are too harsh on yourself, they're all fine stories! May I ask which two you're least happy with? As an aside, some of my favourites include The Hall Monitor, The Job, Selfie, The Ocean's Cool Air, and Little Black Bugs. I expect a few of those will be the subject of future features should you be happy to speak with me about them!

VVC: Thanks! The Pastel Man is the first thing people really noticed me for and I'm sure I'll be tied to it forever, haha. I believe the story has weak stakes and the prose is pretty amateur. I've been working for years to hone my craft since I decided this was something I wanted to make money doing and I feel like I've gotten better since then. Right on Time is just fan service and if you aren't familiar with Jeff The Killer then, in my opinion, the story is sort of weak (maybe even confusing?), but it is what it's supposed to be
I am fond of Wendall Lane though. 




HHoH: Here are my first few questions, they're non-story specific, but should give my readers more of an idea about you as a writer.
Which writers, horror or otherwise, do you consider yourself a fan of?

VVC: I'm a fan of so many authors! Some of my biggest influences are Vonnegut, Lovecraft, King, Heinlein, and Philip K. Dick.


HHoH:Do you consider yourself a fan of Creepypasta?

VVC: I'm a fan of anything that has to do with horror, but I'm not entirely sure what Creepypasta even is. It's such a fluid word.
It seems like everyone has their own definition of "creepypasta". What makes something creepypasta? Is it only stories featuring certain characters? Is it only scary stories? Who says what's scary? Does a story have to appear on specific websites like r/NoSleep or creepypasta.com to make the cut?
Last I checked, the author of The Martian, Andy Weir's, short story The Egg is featured on creepypasta.com. I don't think he posted it there, nor would I call it horror, but is it a creepypasta nonetheless? To me, are you a fan of creepypasta is a difficult question to answer because I don't even know how to go about defining it.


HHoH: What work of your own are you most proud of?

VVC: I'm really happy how people reacted to A Favor for a Favor. I've since given it a little rewrite and I think it's a better story now. Picture This was a really therapeutic story to write so I was happy when people responded well to it. I'm also pretty proud of the graphic novel I just took to Kickstarter.


HHoH: What is your favourite Creepypasta by an author other than yourself?

VVC: Hard to answer that question, so I'll stick to writers who are generally known for online horror. Anything by Matt Dymerski, T.W. Grim, Michael Whitehouse, and IPostAtMidnight is usually great. I think they're all really polished writers. Anything by them won't disappoint.


HHoH: You're a prolific writer, regularly releasing stories to the web. How do you keep the creative juices flowing? Is writing a process that you enjoy or is it more about getting your stories out there to an audience?

VVC: Keeping the creative juices flowing isn't a problem. I have more stories in my head than I can write. The slowest part of my process comes from crafting my prose and trying to develop a unique and interesting narrative that will fit with what I'm writing. Writing isn't just about telling people a story. It's about HOW you tell them a story. A lot of young writers don't realize that. When you do it correctly, your prose can be poetry.
And most importantly...
Read. Read. Read.
You have to read if you want to be a good writer. And you have to read great writers. I get people asking me what to read. Don't just read horror. Read Hemingway, read Melville, read James Joyce, and Asimov, and Clarke. Read Oscar Wilde, read Doyle, and London. Read non-fiction too! Read, read, read. Great stories can inspire you....you get the picture.




HHoH: Why do you think Creepypasta resonates so much with the fandom?

VVC: I think a lot of the fans of these online, user generated horror stories are younger or at least became fans when they were younger. This...trend is like a gateway for a lot of young people. It can introduce them to the world of literature and I think that's wonderful. Many times, these stories are not written for children so of course there's always intrigue for kids when it comes to taboo subjects.


HHoH: These fans have flocked to some characters, who really have become iconic to the community, such as The Rake and Jeff the Killer, a character you incorporated into your story Right On Time (you can hear Mr Creepypasta’s narration of the story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu9NvCTJbHs )
What inspired you to write a story that contributes to the Jeff the killer mythos?

VVC: I just wanted to pay a little fan service. Jeff is a popular character and people are usually excited to hear a new Jeff story. I figured why not try my hand at a little fan-fiction. I don't know if I'm actually contributing to the "Jeff mythos". I don't really consider any Jeff story to be canon. There are so many tales written by so many people. But that's cool. It makes the character and his personality somewhat amorphous. He isn't really defined by any set of rules and whoever is writing him can put their own spin on it.


HHoH: What drew you to the character?

VVC: The character's popularity is what drew me to him. Haha!
People like reading Jeff stories, I like writing stories, so why not try writing a Jeff story?


HHoH: Your Jeff is less sympathetic than the version traditionally portrayed, he's almost a force of remorseless destruction than a human, a lot like John Carpenter's original idea for Michael Myers in Halloween. What inspired you to portray the character in this way? 

VVC: To be honest, I never found the character to be very interesting and the broken emo kid thing isn't all that scary. That's the problem a lot of people have with Jeff, which is why I decided to write around him.
He couldn't be the protagonist in Right On Time. Protagonists don't give you nightmares. I believe the character can be frightening, so long as you move away from the "woe is me" stuff. If you want him to be scary, don't let the audience into his head.
You have to strip away anything that makes him human. Make him a monster. That's why Michael Myers works. And let's face it, the Jeff character is basically an amalgam of slasher movie clichés. I just followed the trend.


HHoH: What do you think the attraction is to Jeff for Creepypasta fans? 

VVC: I think most Jeff fans are pretty young. He's an antihero, he's counterculture. He plays by his own set of rules. If someone upsets him, he stabs them. I see why teenage girls and boys are into him.




HHoH: Do you have any further plans to feature Jeff in your stories? 

VVC: Not right now. I'd rather not write a ton of Jeff stuff, but maybe in a future comic book.


HHoH: Are you happy with Right On Time

VVC: I think Right On Time is good fan-fiction. The problem with it is that you need to know who Jeff The Killer is for it to make a whole lot of sense. Otherwise, it's just an interesting story with an "out of nowhere" twist. If you don't know what Jeff The Killer is, you might read it and wonder what the hell just happened. What did he mean by "go to sleep"?


HHoH: Do you have any plans to write stories featuring any other existing Creepypasta characters? (Excluding the Rake — who Vincent covered as part of his Wendall Lane Diaries series AND for the Creepypasta comic book)

VVC: Yeah sure. I'd love to write more stories based off some of the Internet's more popular characters. It's fun for me. I have no plans at this moment, but if it's something people would be interested in then I'm game for it.


HHoH: I mentioned the Creepypasta comicbook just now. I recently received my PDF copy of the comic and I wanted to extend my most heartfelt congratulations on what is a really great read. You must be very, very proud of it! Any news on whether there'll be an issue 2? I'd certainly be onboard if so!

VVC: Thanks for backing the comic! Glad you're enjoying it. Unfortunately our distributor (backerkit) had some trouble with ios mobile devices, but I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it.
We definitely want to put out a second comic, but first and foremost we want to focus on getting out all the rewards first. We’ll probably have a second comic up next year, hopefully twice as long.


HHoH: The Rake plays a major role in one of the stories in the Creepypasta comic that you have created with MrCreepypasta. I understand you spoke with Bryan Somerville (who I’ve interviewed for this Dark Web series before: http://www.ukhorrorscene.com/dark-web-steven-hickeys-essential-guide-to-creepypasta-part-28-the-rake-re-visited/) about adapting the character for the comic. How was it working with him?

VVC: I didn't really work with Somerville on the comic. I just asked him for the ok and gave him a short summary of the story, then he signed a contract giving me permission.


HHoH: The Rake is one of the more recognisable Creepypasta beasties, and you created one of your own with the monstrous Pastel Man. (Read the story here: http://www.creepypasta.com/pastel-man/)
His story is one that feels very much like an old-fashioned morality play. Was that your intention?


VVC: The Pastel Man is most definitely a morality play. All of my work fits those themes.
I very rarely write about good vs Evil
It is my belief that we all exist on a moral spectrum — No black and white, just shades of gray. That's why most of my characters are inherently flawed.
I also believe that an antagonist with a more sympathetic reason for doing bad is much more compelling than one who just wants to eradicate all humanity or kill a protagonist because he's a bad guy. My protagonists also usually only act out of self-preservation rather than altruism. They aren't heroes.
But they are more relatable… in my opinion at least.


HHoH: It's one of your earlier stories and earlier you stated that you weren't entirely happy with it. Would you ever consider re-visiting the story either with a sequel or rewrite?

VVC: As for my dislike for the story, I believe that it's prose is lacking compared to what I can do now and the protagonist could probably use a bit more motivation. He is, in my opinion, almost too ‘guilty’.
I am heavily considering giving the story a rewrite. I am also considering revisiting The Pastel Man in the second Creepypasta comic.


HHoH: One of your more recent projects to draw considerable recognition from the fans was the Wendall Lane Diaries. In your own words, how would you describe the series?
VVC: The Wendall Lane Diaries are centered around a house where reality is broken. It's a paranormal hot spot much in the same way the Bermuda Triangle is. One might encounter ghosts, monsters, reality warping paradoxes if they stay there long enough. The occurrences are random. The only thing they have in common is that they're confined to the house and the property it sits on.
I worked with the cast of Ash Vs The Evil Dead to put out five new stories in the series, narrated by Bruce Campbell, Lucy Lawless, Ted Raimi and others.


HHoH: I’ve heard the stories via MrCreepypasta’s YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3vq3HFjqkVkZabGSM02I8G960DBHu9xh) and just wanted to compliment you on how awesome they were. Bravo!
I just wondered if you could give my readers a little insight into how the collaboration with Starz came about?


VVC: Starz was interested in promoting their show Ash Vs The Evil Dead so they contacted YouTube creator Mr. Creepypasta to read original stories. They wanted the stories to be loosely connected.
Since he's not a writer, he asked me if I'd be interested in writing them. The whole thing was really intense, I had about two weeks to crank out five stories for the series.
In the end it was a fun opportunity to meet the great actors of the show and to speak with horror icons like Bruce Campbell.


HHoH: And finally, where is the best place for me to send my readers to get more news on your work? Are there any preferred links for me to send my readers to read your literature?

VVC: I'm so stupid, I don't have a landing page haha. But I'm all over social media. Twitter, Facebook, youtube, snapchat, tumblr, Instagram, ect. Every account is @vincentvenacava
Hope that answers your questions!


HHoH: It really does, thanks so much.


As one of the more senior and respected members of the community, Vincent Vena Cava’s story shows that, if you’ve got the talent, Creepypasta really can lead to great things.

Come back next time when I speak with another creative talent who’s been on the scene for a long time about one of the oldest, yet most recognisable and complex pastas ever.

Wednesday 28 August 2019

RAW REVIEW: SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK



The Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark books, like R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps and J.B. Stamper’s Tales For The Midnight Hour series, have amassed a cult following among children of the 80s whose first experiences with horror came within their pages.


However, rather than Alvin Schwartz’s fine writing, it was the book’s illustrations by Stephen Gammell that haunted a generation of budding genre fans. And it is these images that serve as the visual inspiration for the long-awaited movie adaptation.


So could this modern take on classic childhood terrors bring a little darkness to today’s audiences? Or would it be a tall tale too far?
Read on....


SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK (2019)





DIR: André Øvredal
STARS: Zoe Margaret Colletti, Michael Garza, Gabriel Rush, Austin Zajur, Natalie Ganzhorn, Austin Abrams, Dean Norris, Gil Bellows


SPEEDY SYNOPSIS: I’ll try not to spoil too much but continue at your own risk.


Set in 1968, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark is the story of a quartet of teens - bookish budding author Stella (Colletti), mysterious outsider Ramone (Garza), uptight and squeamish  Augie (Rush) and crude comic relief Chuck (Zajur) who discover a cursed book as they attempt to escape the attention of jock bully Tommy (Abrams) and his goons on Halloween night. 


Penned by local legend Sarah Bellow, the book - consisting of a number of short spine-chilling tales - was said to be written in the blood of the children she murdered. 


After removing the book from a suitably creepy haunted house, our protagonists are shocked when new stories start to appear within its pages... featuring several familiar characters.



THE BEST BITS (mild spoiler warning): A clever little puzzle box of a film, the clever set-up of this story allows writers Dan and Kevin Hageman to implement a number of stories from the anthology-style source material in ways that specifically reference each character’s own fears and hang-ups. 


Taken from American folklore and in some cases urban legends, these stories provide the necessary jolts, while the narrative structure stops the movie from simply feeling like a collection of short films.


Trollhunter and The Autopsy Of Jane Doe helmer Øvredal is becoming something of a force within the genre and his team ensure that the flick boasts expert pacing, tonnes of atmosphere, and some genuine scares along the way.


The teen cast are strong, with each putting in a believable and endearing performance. Colletti makes for a fine female lead, while Garza and Rush both display fine comic timing.


The leads are ably backed up by a strong supporting cast who do plenty with a less integral characters. Abram’s swaggering bully and Ganzhorn’s pretty but self-conscious high schooler stand out in a cast with little in the way of weak links. Elsewhere familiar faces Norris and Bellows also add gravitas to proceedings - with Bellows in particular seeming to have lots of fun with his role as a cynical town sheriff.


However, the real stars of the film are the fantastically creepy monsters, brought to life by fantastic effects work and top physical performers such as Javier Botet and Troy James. The Toeless Corpse, the Pale Lady, Harold the scarecrow, the Jangly Man... each feels as if sprang straight from Gammell’s haunting illustrations and is more than capable of carrying a horror movie on their own. That we get so many top-drawer boogeymen in the 1hr 47min runtime is spoiling us!


At the heart of so many of the movie’s heart-stopping set pieces - from the inexorable pursuit through the ‘red room’s’ corridors to the stalking sequence in the moonlit cornfield - Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark doesn’t shirk when it comes to the first word of its title - and that’s before we even get to the brutally disturbing body horror of classic urban legend ‘The Red Spot’...





THE WORST BITS (mild spoiler warning): Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark is a strong and atmospheric genre flick - yet the film is not without its flaws. 


A familiarity with the cult source material (which is definitely less well known this side of the Atlantic) is definitely a bonus as some sequences may seem odd or confusing without knowledge of the stories. The dog scene lifted straight from Me Tie Dough-ty Walker is great for us fans but borders on goofy if you don’t understand the significance of the creature’s strange growls and whimpers. 


And while the sheer number of suitably spooky antagonists is a strength, it also serves as a weakness as they have very little depth beyond ‘scary creature chasing character X’ if you don’t know the story (or stories in the case of the Jangly Man) from which they came.


Also the movie’s historical setting seems rather arbitrary, contributing little to the plot other than a more relaxed attitude to racism among some of the more unsavoury characters, a rather shoe-horned and poorly explored Vietnam draft subplot, and some political digs toward Nixon and the current U.S. government. 


It feels like there really was a bigger message behind choosing this era as the setting for Sarah Bellow’s revenge - sadly it seems that it may have got lost in translation along the way.




THE VERDICT: Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark is good old-fashioned spooky fun - an ideal gateway flick for teens who want to get into horror, much like the original book served way back in 1981.


Fans of Shwartz’s hit trilogy of books will be delighted, while I suspect this eerily atmospheric and legitimately frightening big screen introduction will introduce a whole new generation to the chills within their pages.


Proving a hit at the American box office, a second chapter appears inevitable at this stage - and I will be first in line for More Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark.

If you haven’t already, do please check out and Like the Hickey’s House of Horrors Facebook page, which you can find here. 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! Alternatively, follow me on twitter: The House @HickeysHorrors

Until next time, I hope you enjoyed your stay.