Icons of Fright: 100 Interviews with Legendary Horror Filmmakers
Published by Harker Press, 2025. 469 pages
By Mike Cucinotta, Rob Galluzzo, Adam Barnick, and Jason Alvino

When you first look through this massive volume of interviews, it’s astonishing the number of people covered within the pages. The subjects range from directors, actors, screenwriters, makeup artists, stuntmen, and just about everyone in between! And the names in those categories ranges from the very well-known to the more up-and-coming ones that have just started in the industry or are just getting some notoriety from their work. But then I quickly noticed that the interviews are old… like decades or older. And I quickly thought, “Who wants to read interviews from 15 years ago?”

But then I started reading them. And it hit me why these interviews are just as relevant now as they were when they were first done. It’s because, as movie fans, it is the kind of information that we crave. If we are still fans of a movie that came out 20, 30, or even 100 years ago, reading any information on it is still fascinating to read. Especially if it is from people directly involved. The stories are fresh; the excitement is there; and we’re hearing about it while it was still current. For example, one of the names being interviewed is Oz Perkins, back when he was an actor! The interview was done in 2006, almost a decade before his directorial debut with The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2015). So, we get to hear an actor talking about his career at that point, which I found very interesting.

We get to hear names from the classic films, like Ben Chapman, who played the title terror in Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) when he was on land. My favorite comment from him was when he said, “The only way you should see this movie is on a large screen in 3D.” I have had the pleasure of seeing it a few times in 3D on the big screen, and I have to say, he’s 100% correct!

Another interview that I found way more fascinating than I had expected was that of Patricia Tallman, which most fans know from playing Barbara in the 1999 remake of Night of the Living Dead. But how many fans knew of all the stunt work that she did, years before she appeared in the famous remake? I’ve always found stories from stunt people to be fascinating, because of the incredible amount of work that goes into it. When asked if there was ever a stunt she was nervous about doing, she replied, “I am always a bit nervous. That’s how you stay safe. You treat each stunt with respect no matter how simple it is or how many times you have done something like it.”

These interviews can also make you reflect not necessarily on the films themselves, especially ones that are not looked upon too favorably these days, such as Creepshow 3 (2006), but the people that worked on them. Actor AJ Bowen appeared in that feature, being only his second movie. But no matter what the final product ended up looking like, Bowen said that it’s what you do individually that matters. He says, “As an actor, you can’t really shape a film. I can’t be responsible for the writing or the editing or basically whether the movie is successful. The only thing I can be responsible for is my specific performance in it. My goal was to do as much with what I had.” I have to admire that sense of work ethic, even afterwards, reflecting on it now, instead of just saying it was a piece of crap.

There are a couple of segments where there are panel interviews, covering a movie or a series of movies with a bunch of people that were involved discussing it. I found these very enlightening and pretty entertaining, especially the interaction between them. There’s one for Fright Night (1985) and Fright Night 2 (1988) with 6 different cast members and both directors to discuss the films. Hearing everyone’s thoughts on Roddy McDowall is worth reading alone! Then there is a Psycho reunion panel, hearing from 11 different people involved, from writers, directors, and actors. Again, just plenty of interesting information to be learned about the films.

What authors Mike Cucinotta, Rob Galluzzo, Adam Barnick, and Jason Alvino have given us is a printed version of decades of work they have done, now all archived in this fantastic interview book. With over 100 interviews with a range of talent as about as wide and varied as you could get, but still having each one of them being fascinating to go through. Priced from about $20 to $30, depending on whether you want a hardcover or paperback version, either way is more than worth the time and fun you’ll have going through these pages. And I guarantee you will learn quite a bit about the movies you love and those that helped make them that way. You can get it through Amazon (HERE) or learn more about it from Harker Press’ site (HERE).

I also wanted to give a special shout out to Rob Galluzzo for partly dedicating the book to Kistin Wicks, who we sadly lost in 2024.  She was not only a huge supporter of the horror genre and those that worked to promote it, but also a dear friend of mine. So that was very nice to see.