In 2006, horror fanatic Aaron Christensen donned his horror superhero cape as Dr. AC, Fool for Blood, and went in search of fans and writers to compile a book of the 101 most influential horror films since the beginning of the cinema era. That book, "Horror 101", has since been published to rave reviews and in this writer's opinion, should be on every horror film fan's shelf. While Volume I has only been out a few months, Dr. AC is already keeping his fingers crossed that Volume II won't be too long in the making. Bloody-Disgusting recently had a long-overdue chat with Aaron about the trials and tribulations of compiling such a book, how he (painfully) had to select and pass on films for Volume I and what his hopes for the future of horror really are. Dr. AC can be found on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/horror101withdrac and "Horror 101" can also be found at http://www.myspace.com/horror101_thebook. Happy reading!

BD: Hello Aaron, or do you prefer Dr. AC in this interview venue?

AC: Aaron or AC is superfine. The “Dr.” is a purely cosmetic degree.

BD: Tell us how you went from mild-mannered Chicago actor to Dr. AC, Fool for Blood? Are you originally from Illinois, where did you receive your education, any bits of fascinating information like that are most welcome.

AC: I actually grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, in the tiny suburb of Brisbane. It was there that I encountered my first monster movie, Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster courtesy of Bob Wilkins, host of TV’s Creature Features. While some of my friends were into horror, there was only one who dug it as much as I did and we would re-enact battles from monster movies on the playground. When I wrote my "My Hero" essay on Godzilla, my 3rd grade teacher thought I was being a smartass and sent me to the principal. I was stunned, because I was being completely serious. I innocently worshipped the big gray/green stomping machine. He stood up for the little guys (this was later G, obviously, not the Tokyo-burning one) and kicked some serious ass. Who better to have as a hero? Luckily, the principal saw where I was coming from, but advised me that I should probably keep such future observations to myself. This was the first time that I encountered prejudice against the horror genre. Sadly, it would not be the last.

I later moved to Colorado, and it was there that I started doing theatre in junior high and high school. I’d always loved being loud and obnoxious, and now I was being rewarded for using my silly voices and screaming at the top of my lungs. (We call it “being dramatic.”) Anyway, when my senior year rolled around and the guidance counselors asked what I wanted to do, I decided that I would give this professional acting thing a try. Spent four years at the University of Northern Colorado, then headed out to the Midwest to try my luck in the Windy City. 20 years later, I still haven’t had to really grow up – still talking in funny voices and wearing clothes that are not my own. Who would have guessed it?

BD: When did Dr. AC first come into existence and was there a reason or did he just spontaneously sprout from your subconscious?

AC: Well, I happened to be doing a bit of outdoor Shakespeare in the summer of 2000, and one of my castmates and I started talking about horror flicks. After a few conversations, it became all too clear that I was way out of my depth, as he was throwing out names like Argento and Fulci and I had no idea who these people were. I also realized that even though I had read about a lot of the classic horror flicks from Universal and Hammer courtesy of reference books when I was a kid, I hadn’t actually experienced many of them firsthand. I had seen a lot of mainstream horror, like the Freddys and the Jasons, but I hadn’t really headed into the fringes or the past the way I felt I should. So, I made it my mission to actually walk the walk and see the sights. If I was going to call myself a horror fan, I wanted to be the best horror fan that I could be.

That said, the “Dr. AC” title was just to add of bit of faux pretentiousness to the horror fan proceedings I was encountering on various horror message boards – the idea that someone could have a Ph.D. in horror cracked me up. It kills me when people refer to themselves on the Internet – or anywhere – as a “horror film expert.” As any good troller of the video aisles will tell you, there’s no way that anyone can see it all. I just wanted to throw a little mock into it. I was going to have the silly little letters behind my name, like “M.M.E.” for “Monster Movie Enthusiast,” but I decided that I was getting into way too much minutiae at that point. As far as the “Fool for Blood” handle goes, it was actually just a riff on Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love, so I’m not really too far removed from my thespian ways. I came up with it the first night that I went on IMDb’s horror boards – to be honest, I was surprised no one had grabbed it already.

BD: Had you been working in the horror field prior to deciding to put together the amazing book, Horror 101? If so, what sorts of things were you doing?

AC: Well, first off, thank you for that “amazing” comment. Honestly, the idea of working in the horror field had never crossed my mind. In fact, being a horror fan carried such negative connotations while I was growing up, I wasn’t really promoting myself as such. I was trying to become a man at that point, you see, and I wanted to be taken seriously. So, I wasn’t about to diminish my “respectability” by putting my horror foot forward. It wasn’t until I was older and realized that what old Bill Shakespeare said about “To thine own self be true” was right on the money. What’s funny is that once I came out of the horror closet, as it were, I found so many people who were like, “Oh my god, you’re a horror fan? Me too!” So, if anything, I think I was working on the public relations aspect for horror fans without really knowing it. I love it when people say, “You don’t look like a horror fan,” because then that means they have to alter their notions about who and what a horror fan really is. We’re not devil worshippers (well, not all of us); we’re just passionate fans who enjoy the fantasy and rollercoaster ride that any good horror flick can offer.

BD: How did Horror 101 come into being? Did you originally think you would do the book by yourself or was it always going to be a fan project?

AC: After my summer Shakespeare experience, I dug out my copy of John Stanley’s Creature Features, and started making “The List.” This was to be a list of films that every horror fan should see to get a firm basis in the genre, and so I was basically writing down every movie that I had ever heard or read about. When I got done, I had a list of about 1,200 films, and I realized that if I was to average 300 movies a year, it was still going to take me four freaking years to get through all of them. It was then that I started calling the project, “Going to Horror U,” and my original thought was that I would break the list of films down into classes, like Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, etc. That was my first inspiration for a horror book project.

But it soon became clear that once you got past the Freshman year, things started spreading out in a big, big hurry. The whole concept is very much like an inverted pyramid. There are several what I refer to as “touchstone” films that serve as jumping off points, but once you jump off, the field spreads way out. For instance, you’ve got the natural touchstones of Black Christmas, Halloween, and Friday the 13th for the slashers, kind of your gateway to that particular subgenre. But once you get into the pool, you’ve got hundreds of ripoffs, spinoffs and sequels. It’s very easy to disappear into that particular subgenre and have no understanding of or familiarity with the rest of the rich and varied horror genre as a whole. So what I wanted to create was a list of these various touchstone films – a Freshman class, if you will – that could give people an introduction to a wide variety of subgenres, historic turning points and important figures within the genre. I boiled it down to about 150 films, and then with the aid of knowledgeable fellow fans, we condensed it even further to the 110 pictures that ended up in the book.

However, as I was putting the list together though, it occurred to me that I was only going to be able to bring my experience to the table, and by that I mean my “lower-middle class, non-corporate, white male in his later 30s” sensibilities. I had learned from hanging out with various horror fans both on and offline that the followers of these films were as varied as the pictures themselves, and it bummed me out that I would not be able to really represent that aspect of fandom. Then, one day, it occurred to me that thanks to the internet, I was already in direct contact with the varied horror culture that I wanted to give a voice to. These people that I was chatting with were from all over the world, they were male and female, they came from all different walks of life, they ranged in age from high school students to senior citizens… Suddenly, it became clear that enlisting all these different individuals to write an essay on their favorite horror film was the real project worth pursuing.

BD: How easy or difficult was it to find enough writers to cover the 101 films in the book? And how long was the writing process for the contributors?

AC: Well, I wanted to approach potential writers who were not just fans, but who were also capable of expressing themselves articulately and intelligently. I didn’t want just people who were like, “Dude, that movie rocked!” I figured readers would want a little bit more than that. So, I trolled around various horror message boards and invited passionate people whose work I felt would make for compelling and interesting reading. Most of them were immediately flattered by the idea that someone was interested in having them contribute to a book, but when I started talking about deadlines, etc., that thinned the flock a bit. I knew that this was not going to happen in a day or even a week, but would be a long process and I wanted people who were going to go the distance, respect deadlines, and support the book up to and beyond publication. So, just the recruiting process took a pretty long time. We assigned all the films over the summer of 2006, with everyone given a month to write the first draft of their respective essays. After that initial deadline, over half of the writers had either tried to drop out of the project or were begging for an extension. I realized right then that this was not going to be a walk in the park. (laughs) I think we finally struggled across the finish line the first week of January, 2007.

BD: Were you surprised at how knowledgeable the horror fans were about the films they wrote about? Some of these movies go back to the beginning of cinematic history and as such, aren't seen by too many people.

AC: I don’t know if I was necessarily surprised, because each of the writers selected their movie of choice, so I assumed they would be passionate and informed. But what was truly extraordinary, in addition to all the little factoids and trivia that people were coming up with, was hearing everyone’s individual experiences; how they came to encounter the film for the first time, what their favorite parts were, how their view of the film had changed from the first time they saw it to the most recent… That was exactly what I was interested in, and I knew that we had something very special and very different than any other horror reference book that I had ever read before. Most of the time, horror essayists are trying to keep themselves out of the picture, wishing to present a relatively objective viewpoint. And while I absolutely respect and enjoy that type of criticism, I felt it was time to put the fans back into the equation, since they are the ones – not the critics or sociology students – who have kept these films alive for over 80 years and counting.

BD: What would you estimate the age and educational breakdown is for the contributors to Horror 101? A lot of young kids (as many might guess) or all ages represented?

AC: Honestly, I would calculate that the bulk of writers ranged in the “late 20s-early 30s” age range. In fact, we have a surprising number of people who are parents contributing – no bunch of basement dwellers here, darn it! But the range, as I mentioned before, was vast. I feel like we got a great sampling of all types of fans from all different walks of life.

BD: How were the films chosen that are in Horror 101? I'm sure people are already saying, "Why isn't (fill in the blank) in the book?".

AC: I’m the one to blame, so throw all stones thisaway. That was the hardest aspect of the whole project, trying to whittle down which films would be the representatives of the genre. I mean, there were some no-brainers like the 1931 Dracula and Frankenstein and The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby, Texas Chain Saw Massacre, etc. But then there were the 50s and 60s where science fiction was king and the big bugs were sweeping the land, and I didn’t want to leave those out. Plus, I wanted to find a way to introduce fans to pillars of the genre, like William Castle, Val Lewton and Mario Bava, so I was seeking out their most recognizable and influential features. In the end, I just tried to use my best judgment and while I did include a few iffy sentimental favorites such as The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (it’s one of Ray Harryhausen’s finest hours, and it has a ton of monsters in it, so I felt it qualified), but I had the support of the contributors as well, helping me to make the harshest cuts. I was as bummed as anyone to see great flicks like Carnival of Souls, Basket Case and The Toxic Avenger hitting the bricks, but we had to draw the line somewhere. But that’s also why this is Volume 1! There’s always room for more…

BD: Is there going to be a second volume down the road (I can think of at least 3 films I would love to write about)?

AC: That is absolutely my hope. We’re all waiting to see how this first installment is received. Because Midnight Marquee is a smaller press, this is very much a grassroots effort and we’re just trying to get the word out. I’ve spoken to countless authors and they all say the same thing: The writing is the easy part – it’s promoting and getting your book out to the public that is the neverending struggle. Because I want to give Volume 1 the best fighting chance that it can have, I’m dedicating most of my energy these days to pushing it to various independent booksellers and trying to spread the word to fans everywhere. Once I feel like I’ve done all I can do in that department, then I’ll turn my attention back to writing and editing.

BD: How did you persuade Tom Savini to write the intro to the book?

AC: Ah, Master Savini. Honestly, it was just a happy accident and one of those “it’s so crazy, it just might work” moments. One of the contributors, Sean Robinson, asked me if I had considered Tom to write the foreword for us. I asked him if he had any connection with Savini, and he responded that he had corresponded with The Man Himself via his website. So, I said, “What the heck have we got to lose?” and sent Tom an email telling him about the project, asking him if he’d be interested in writing a foreword for us, etc. Well, to my surprise, I got an email back within the hour saying, “Sure. Send it to…” and his mailing address. I was thunderstruck. However, over the next month or so of our correspondence, I started to get a little worried, because all of Tom’s emails were like three words long. “Been really busy.” “Talk next week.” I was like, “Oh jeez, what kind of foreword is he going to write?” And then one day, I came home to this amazingly articulate and heartfelt email that more or less became his introduction. I will never be able to express enough gratitude to Tom for lending his name to the cause. I’m pleased he’s pleased.

BD: Horror 101 is available nearly everywhere: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc. Was it difficult selling the book to the buyers for these mega-websites? And how is the book doing, sales-wise? You have had wonderful reviews!

AC: Well, the response has been very positive thus far, but as far as being available nearly everywhere… As I said, Midnight Marquee is a smaller press, and as such, we’ve had some difficulty breaking into the stand-alone bookstore market. True, we are available online at Amazon and Borders.com, but we’re only in a few physical bookstores at this point. I’m glad that the press thus far has been good, and I can only hope that bookstores will start taking a chance on us. It seems like once people actually get up close and personal with the book, they immediately fall in love with it. The couple of bookstores in Chicago that are carrying it sold out their initial orders within the first month, so that’s a good sign. I would ask everyone who is reading this to go to their local independent bookstore and libraries and ask them to order Horror 101 in for their shelves. The only way people are going to hear about it is if the horror fans are talking about it. This was written by the fans, for the fans. Besides, while it’s just as easy to order it off Amazon, it’s good practice to get it in from your local store, as it keeps them in business. I love life online, but I don’t want to live in a world without bookstores and/or libraries.

BD: What films would you like to see covered in Volume II that didn't make the cut in Volume I?

AC: Oh, boy, where to start? Well, I know there’s been a lot of clamoring for Mario Bava’s Black Sabbath, and Carnival of Souls I mentioned before. There’s a few Paul Naschy fans out there that were bummed that we didn’t get any of his stuff in there. Then there are some great sleaze flicks like I Spit on Your Grave and Maniac that probably deserve a slot, and more Asian cinema like Kwaiden and Audition. I’d personally like to see some more Hammer in there as well. See, this is the problem, once you start naming them off, it’s hard to stop.

BD: What are some of your personal favorite horror films?

AC: Well, I’m a sucker for the radioactive big monsters, because that’s what introduced me to the genre. So, a little Godzilla, a little Bert I. Gordon, a pinch of Harryhausen and Willis O’Brien and I’m a happy camper. But then there’s all the Hammer flicks, not just the Gothic stuff like Frankenstein and Dracula, but the b/w thrillers as well. I have great fondness in my heart for the Universal classics, and anything with Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre or either of the Chaneys. Those are the “fun” horrors, but then when we started getting into the late 60s and 70s, we started getting some genuinely frightening movies like Night of the Living Dead, The Exorcist, Halloween, Alien, etc., and those really made an impression on me as well. I guess, at this point, I’m really pretty easy to please. I’m a fan of the genre as a whole and I’m just as happy sitting down in front of a splatterfest as I am in front of a big plate of steaming cheese, psychological horror or a moody atmospheric Mexican flick. I really do love it all, and I’m glad that they somehow all fit under the same umbrella.

BD: Given that you are Dr. AC, Fool for Blood, what is your take on the current state of cinematic horror, with all of the remakes and PG-13...stuff?

AC: I’ll go out on a limb here and say that I really have no problem at all with PG-13 films. I’m not particularly engaged by gore for its own sake. That said, I think that it has a definite place in the genre and can be well used in service of the story. I don’t think gore or nudity necessarily makes a movie good or bad, and there are times it can be used as a crutch. I like gore and nudity the same as the next freak, but I’m quite willing to trade either or both for an interesting idea and a good story well told.

Remakes of “name” titles are a pain in my ass. There are so many great low budget movies out there that had good ideas, but were undercut by their budgets or a weak script or direction – why aren’t people remaking those? We all know why – Because it’s about dollars and cents. People will come to a Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake because they’ve heard of it before, and even the doubting Thomases will show up just to see what the hell kind of crime has been committed. While I do get bummed out that a classic’s good name is being used to grease the corporate shareholders’ wheels, if it keeps the genre blood flowing, I suppose it’s a necessary evil.

BD: What about the tidal wave of horror websites out there. Do you see these, for the most part, fan sites a good thing for the genre or what?

AC: I have no real problem with it, although the problem is that it does seem to take some of the “community” out of it. It becomes about “my site” or “my blog.” The danger is that more people get caught up in expressing their own opinion and don’t take the time to listen to others’. Things are tending toward monologues instead of dialogue. We’re so busy adding our latest review onto our website that we don’t take the time to actually hang out with friends, watch movies, eat pizza and have a good time. We’re too occupied with tricking out our MySpace page that we don’t bother to read the newest horror books that are hitting the shelves. But perhaps most dangerously, in this age of instant web-publishing, it’s all too easy to fool ourselves into thinking that we are an “expert,” and the second one does that, we start closing our minds off to other people’s opinions, especially those different than our own. I see a lot of movies in order that I can talk to a lot of people and share the experience. There’s nothing better than being “that guy” who has seen a flick that someone has been dying to talk about with another person, but no one in their circle has seen it. Build all the websites you want, but keep reaching out. Keep sharing the scare.

BD: Have you seen any recent horror films whose directors horror fans should keep an eye on?

AC: I really dug The Host, so bring more Joon-ho Bong my way. Guillermo del Toro, when he’s doing his “personal” pieces, can do very little wrong in my eyes, and the fact that he’s starting to have a big enough influence that he can lend his name to excellent movies like Juan Antonio Bayona’s The Orphanage (which is absolutely terrific, by the way) and get them Stateside distribution is wonderful. While Hatchet didn’t totally blow me away, I think that Adam Green has some real potential and enthusiasm to spare. And while he’s not exactly a new face, I will always be interested to see what Larry Fessenden brings to the table.

BD: How about literary horror, both fiction and non-fiction - any particular favorites you would recommend?

AC: See, this is where it gets difficult to serve too many masters. I haven’t read very much recent horror fiction, because when I haven’t been working on the book, blogging, watching movies or trying to have, you know, a life, I’ve been preoccupying myself either with reading classic horror source materials like Stoker’s Dracula, Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Matheson’s I Am Legend, etc. or with various cinema-themed books, such as Danny Peary’s Cult Movies, Roger Ebert’s Great Movies, and all of the DVD Delirium installments. However, while at the library the other day, I did pick up Scott Smith’s The Ruins, Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door, and a couple Bentley Little novels, so I’m going to try and visit the other side of the literary fence more in the near future.

BD: Is there one film, after the Universal horror films of the 1930s and the sci-fi/horror films of the 1950s, that you think reenergized the entire genre? One groundbreaking movie no horror fan should even admit to never having seen.

AC: Without a doubt, two of the most important flicks that changed the face of the genre are Psycho and Night of the Living Dead. But Hammer Studios, with their redux of Dracula and Frankenstein, kicked the door open for European horror, which helped launch the careers of many Italian and Spanish horror filmmakers. And in the 60s and 70s, you had Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist, which were huge mainstream hits and made horror sexy and viable for major studios again. I don’t think there is one film that can be pointed to – it’s all one big river, with curves and eddies and great sucking whirlpools into hell. Let’s just hope it keeps flowing into the next century.

BD: Is there anything you would like to add that I haven't covered, Dr. AC?

AC: I think the more we continue to bring horror into the light, the more it will be respected as a legitimate art form. I hope that everyone reading this takes it upon himself or herself to become the resident “Ambassador of Horror” in their own community. Host a horror movie party, and be sensitive to the folks that you invite. Don’t blow them out of the water with the biggest gorefest you can find if you know that they are squeamish. Try to actually cultivate more horror fans, and be respectful of the ones that you do know. If some kid has only seen mainstream modern horror, don’t ridicule him – we all started some place, and more likely than not, it was in the mainstream. Earn their trust and encourage their passion. Read and see as much as you can, and talk about it. Wear your passion on your sleeve, because there is someone out there who is dying for someone like you to talk to. Oh, and pick up a copy of Horror 101 while you’re at it.

BD: What is one thing no one knows about either Dr. AC or Aaron Christensen that you think they should know?

AC: Believe it or not, I hate haunted houses. I don’t like people jumping out at me and saying “Boo!” So, don’t even try it.