We're thrilled to have Giles Edwards as one of our featured creators on Haunted Trails for 31DaysofHaunting this October!
So Giles, tell us about yourself.
Good day! First and foremost, I am a film reviewer. Since boyhood I've enjoyed stories from on-screen, the experience crafted by a combination of visual and aural manipulation. My work these past several years at 366 Weird Movies has exposed me to hundreds of strange tales put to screen in strange ways. This has included a number of "horror" titles, but those have typically been more along the lines of "unsettling". To cut myself off here, as we've only just begun, I am something of a seeker of the bizarre, unlikely, and even certain flavours of creepy.
We'd love to hear about any recent projects you released or completed.
While I've been involved in an on-going paranormal/Noir radio series titled Average Joe Travels the California Inscape (a subtle plug if ever there was one), my more pertinent projects are recurring collaborations with the musical collective Ignore That Door, which concocts sinister scores to my narrations of horror staples (Poe, Kafka, & Lovecraft), and also my own "queer horror" series featuring a character named Charles and his various, and generally deadly, encounters with paranormal entities. The character is borrowed from my small husband, one of whose (un-supernatural) short stories summoned a narrator voice which I felt would translate nicely into my own little fiction project; Charles' generally dismal circumstances and sneering defiance shine through in my writings for him. These are typically just one thousand words long, making for between eight and ten minutes of spoken story—so they're easy on one's time-budget. I believe you've listened to one of these tales yourself, and I finished the latest in the "anthology" just a couple weeks ago.
Have a listen here: https://www.youtube.com/@ignorethatdoor
https://soundcloud.com/user-651726783/sets/the-shadow-over-innsmouth-1 It's interesting to learn about your inspiration behind Charles' stories. I quite liked the eerie feel to it and I'm sure our readers will too.
What's next for you? Are you working on anything new right now?
Indeed I am. In addition to my story "Drained", which is now available, I will be continuing to work with a group of creative-types on that Noir pod-cast I mentioned. We've dubbed ourselves "Team Average", after the narrator and secondary protagonist, Average Joe: a '40s/'50s-era private investigator based in Chatterskull Falls, California. He and his partner Anne Darksyde—a witch by vocation—tackle supernatural crimes with the assistance of their office assistant, Spanky MacDongal, an ex-pat leprechaun they met in an underground casino earlier in the series. They've encountered a Penguin Cult, a cadre of succubi, a pumpkin apocalypse (last Halloween), body-snatchers, and the like. It's very much a touch-in-cheek, somewhat self-aware endeavour teeming with dry humour, dead-pan, and period-Noir vibes.
I've also recently completed a team-narrated presentation of the popular collection Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark from Alvin Schwartz, alternating pieces with a capable young artist who goes by the handle "This Is Signal." (Truth be told, despite having collaborated with her for over a year, I have no idea what her "civilian" name is.) Through our narrator skillz and some modest effects work, I feel we've done credit to that influential volume.
Readers, you can check out Drained and Average Joe Travels here:
https://soundcloud.com/user-651726783/sets/average-joe-travels-the A penguin cult, pumpkin apocalypse and body Snatchers? That's definitely reeling us in!
Horror is widely varied with a variety of sub genres that includes supernatural, folk, psychological, slasher and many more. Which sub-genre are you most drawn to and why?
I am most particular to folk horror, especially of the supernatural sort. The grounded uncanniness you find in folk horror makes for a perfect spike of discomfort with historic normalcy. You're typically observing ingenuous types who are forced to make sense of something that cannot be accounted for, and the tension between "simplicity" and "incomprehensibility" often shoots a delicious frisson up my spine. Two of my favourites of the genre, to one degree and another, are Ben Wheatley's A Field in England and Antonia Bird's Ravenous. They both, non-coincidentally, happen to be black comedies. In the face of our own incomprehensible world, I find my own preferred reaction is to chuckle at the void whenever possible, and I find a particular pleasure in supernatural stories which allow for the fact that, "Gosh, more than anything else, this is just odd."
Film Reviews : https://366weirdmovies.com/320-a-field-in-england-2013/
https://366weirdmovies.com/capsule-ravenous-1999/ Is there anything you'd like to see more or less of in the Horror genre, and is it something you try to reflect in your own work? Well, more folk-horror, of course! Also, more black comedy in general. There are, of course, plenty of examples, but so much of that is, I feel, more of a snarky self-awareness. (I am being something of a hypocrite here, I realise, what with my own radio show tilting in that direction.) But more pertinently, I tire of the trope of "a group of young somethings in remote area facing off against bloody-minded adversary." From my experience as a film reviewer, I understand that a good deal of the reason behind this trend is money: it is far less expensive to borrow an old house from a distant relative than to scout around and secure permission to record in more unique locales; but even bearing that in mind, that trend puts the onus on the filmmakers to do something different there, which comes down to writing. In written horror, I must admit to considerable ignorance of most anything written after the 1930s. Lovecraft, as far as I'm concerned, is the last great horror writer (with apologies to Mr King et al.), and even he wasn't typically focused on stereotypical, or "pure", horror. Splatter, vengeance, ghosts, curses, undead, and all that are a daunting array of elements to try to weave from, and that's not even taking into account that trickiest of horror genres: psychological. This is most efficiently exemplified by Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "the Yellow Wallpaper", which I'll take the time to point out is also rather humourous. It took me a while to get there, but maybe this is a better distillation: I want more odd humour in horror. Hopefully Wes Anderson will take a stab at the genre before he retires. https://youtu.be/EtcIrTZy7ig?si=wD260j8Gt2vjl7Hf (Note: this is a narration from This Is Signal, with a score composed by Ignore That Door.)
Giles, it's been fascinating getting to know you and your work and hearing your thoughts.
Since we're Halloween obsessed here on 31DaysOfHaunting, there's a few more things we need to know!
Favourite films and books for the spooky season?
Every year or so, beginning in mid- to late October, I try to re-read Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell's From Hell. I have no doubt your audience is familiar with this graphic novel, so I'll limit myself to the remark that it is one of the best invocations of a growing seasonal and spinal chill I've come across.
In the world of cinema, there are a handful of titles beyond A Field in England and Ravenous I return to. I recently re-watched Nightmare Before Christmas, having seen it only once or twice in the interim since it showed in theatres thirty years ago. Once again, a spot-on illustration of the Creepy & Fun spirit I enjoy so much.
For sheer monstrous discomfort (the good kind), I can always rely on Ken Russell's The Devils. I first rented it when I was sixteen or so (don't tell the MPAA), and have loved it since first viewing. The terror of Father Grandier's ordeal and the surrounding Satan-fueled panic and madness is always a delight to behold.
Who would be your perfect squad to go trick or treating with?
Hook me up with Elvira, Harlan Ellison, and Washington Irving.
Forget costumes, you can swap bodies with your favourite horror character for Halloween. Who is it?
This is the toughest question for me, as I spend a great deal of my time performing as myself. What first comes to mind, though, is a briefcase-carrying Herbert West from the final segment of Lovecraft's Re-Animator. Quiet, formal menace, and the ability to speak through a container holding my severed head.
What's the one Halloween candy that you'd rather fight the scariest of monsters than hand it over?
Not certain I'd fight monsters for it, but I've always been a sucker for PayDay. The "chocolate is amazing" memo passed me by, and while I enjoy it every now and again, it's a second-tier candy as far as I'm concerned.
Give us one song that should be on everyone's Halloween playlist.
The New York Dolls' "Frankenstein" is a hard-rocking, lightning-driven epic of a song (nearly six minutes, which may not seem like much, but the New York Dolls were a proto-punk band) with unflagging energy and lashes of ridiculousness. Blast my face with dark science roaring through maxed-out arena amps.
Finally, what's your ideal way to spend All Hallows' Eve?
I remember one October night years ago when the power had gone out and I settled down with the collected works of Poe and a bottle of red wine. I don't drink any more, but slipping into the pages from one of the mid-19th-century masters (Poe, Irving, and even Hawthorne) would make for a delightful All Hallow's Eve.
Thank you so much for being part of our Halloween event! We hope you to see you around #31DaysOfHaunting!
You can find Giles on twitter @gilesforyou, on Soundcloud as "OrsonBennett" and as a regular contributor on 366weirdmovies.com. Links here:
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