Hello fright fans, my name's Sam Ashurst and I'm Total Film's resident cult horror expert.

I spend so much time banging on about '70s giallo movies, '80s VHS trash classics, '90s serial killer flicks and '00s foreign chillers that TF have finally decided to give me my own column. Possibly to shut me up.

Each week, I'll be dissecting the latest DVD and Blu-ray releases, uncovering hidden gore gems, and rummaging through my VHS collection to bring you some of the most bafflingly beautiful video covers from the '80s.

And come back every Friday for exclusive clips, interviews and cool competitions to get your plasma pumping.

So, take off your razor-tipped gloves, hang up your cobweb-covered hat and gently rest your bone-blunted axe beside the door.

And welcome to my House Of Horror...

Dead Hooker In A Trunk (2009)

Hobo With A Shotgun might be getting all the buzz, but that's not out for aaaaages. And there's another grindhouse gem equally worthy of your attention, out on DVD on Monday.

Like Hobo With A Shotgun , Dead Hooker In A Trunk easily lives up to the promise of its title.

But it could be called Bad-ass Twins Find A Dead Hooker In Trunk Before Being Pursued By A Serial Killer, A Cowboy Pimp, Pervert Cops, And Chainsaw-Wielding Drug Lords and it still wouldn't disappoint.

Honestly, this thing is packed with cool moments. They might not always be completely cohesive, but grindhouse geeks are used to that.

If you want a nuanced plot, watch Chinatown . If you want a thrill-ride that'll occasionally make you spit-take your popcorn and Coke, watch Dead Hooker In A Trunk .

Case in point, none of the characters have proper names, they all go by ridiculous nicknames. But that doesn't stop you from falling in love with each and every one of them.

They're all great, from the Goody Two Shoes who can't stop puking every time he encounters some violence, to the Junkie who I initially thought was played by a weird genetic experiment combining th🌼e DNA of Winona Ryder, Rachel Bilson and Angelina Jolie, until I did some basic research and discovered she's actually a professional stunt-woman.

Written, directed and produced by stars Sylvia Soska and Jen Soska (and part-funded by their parents), it's cheaply made, but as most of the budget seems to have gone on the gore effects, you probably won't care.

Which isn't to say it isn't artfully shot. In between the mayhem and genuine shocks, the Soska sisters demonstrate an almost lyrical eye.

I'm fairly sure they'll eventually end up making a stone-cold classic. Hopefully featuring the Dead Hooker characters I've become so attached to.

Get on-board early by picking up the DVD on Monday. It'll make a great double-bill with Hobo With A Shotgun .

Queens Of Evil (1970)

It's so good to see films like Who Can Kill A Child and Dead Hooker In A Trunk finally getting releases in the UK this week.

Last week I had the honour of interviewing one of my favourite VHS cover artists, Graham Humphreys.

You might not necessarily recognise the name, but you’ll definitely know his work. He created so many iconic images for VHS, including Evil Dead, the Nightmare On Elm Street series, Return Of The Living Dead and many more.

Graham’s a true artist, who also just so happens to be a lovely human being. I took a trip to his studio in central London to have a chat about his VHS career.

So, how did you start out doing VHS cover art?

The VHS work sprung from the theatrical campaign for Evil Dead .

When Palace released the movie, they simultaneously released it onto VHS.

That’s how I got my first VHS cover.

Did you watch all the films you created covers for?

Very occasionally I would just be given a set of💜 stills and you&rsq꧟uo;d work from that, because they’d say ‘Well we know what we want, you know this face has to be on there, this is the material’ and so on.

But I watched most of them.

Of the films you did watch did you have a favourite?

Oh, possibly Creepers . It was the first Argento film I’d seen, believe it or not.

I remember being quite surprised at the level of violence particularly at the climax and guiltily enjoying it. I thought the monkey with the razor was great. I couldn’t quite believe it!

And so that bec🐽ame the main part of that image. I really💦 enjoyed working on the illustration.

Films like Dracula Has Risen from the Grave - a fantastic, evocative title and alluringly colourful lighting.

The Lost Continent is another. Quite bizarre imagery.

You mention Hammer - how do you think a character like Freddy Krueger fits into the legacy of Hammer icons like Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy?

Personally I think not that well. Whereas the first Hammer Horrors sourced classic literature, reimagining the very familiar Universal icons, the Freddy character was a new animal without pedigree and without a literary genesis - not to diminish his place in the pantheon of monsters, of course!

Your Nightmare On Elm Street covers are incredible - were they fun to work on?

I'm very happy and humbled that you think so. Yes, they were fun. In reference to the previous question, the imagery for parts 1 & 2 felt to be new territory.

The character seemed💎 very fresh and full of possibility. The first poster conceals Freddy, but for the second poster,ಌ without the need for sublimation, it was an all out celebration of the monster!

Why do you think people are so sentimental about the hand-drawn VHS box covers of the '80s?

Possibly because they represent a perceived golden age of horror, when anything seemed possible and the gates were wide open - certainly before certification and the 'video nasty' furore.

There is a sense that the packaging has been lovingly crafted rather than conveyor belted through the system.

The painted images tease the imagination, often concealing the reality of the all to often disappointing product within. You could never be sure whether the box contained a gem or a turd.

Your Spookies cover is one of my favourites of your straight-to-video stuff, it's beautiful - but the film itself is a bit of a guilty pleasure, what did you think of that movie in particular?

I confess to being hugely disappointed. I really wanted to like the film, but the terrible acting wasn't bad enough to merit amusement.

The various creatures had been lovingly designed, but as is all too often the case, the budget couldn't stretch as far as the imagination!

However, the painting was a pleasure to render.

To my continual embarrassment, when I marked up my overlays for print (not a computer to be seen then) I assigned the wrong percentage of reduction from the original artwork to video sleeve.

It may not seem very apparent, but the image is too big, resulting in an incorrect crop, particularly on the back where the scythe wielding skeleton is disappearing behind a photo still.

I seem to recall an entire character 🦩has disappeared off the edge! Unlike computer composited design now, there was no way to preview a finished sleeve without the expensive proofing process and to rebuild the sleeve would have been too expensive. Damn!

Could you talk me through the creation of that iconic Evil Dead 2 poster?

Certainly. Well, obviously they wanted it to emulate the original poster, so the starting point was the symmetrical structure.

In terms of structure, the original used the window frame device and in the same way that the tape reels form a 'box' f𒅌or the actual title.

The Book Of The Dead became the 'box' for the Evil Dead II title also.

And we had a man with chainsaw and a screaming lady – all the clichés!

And of course, the trapdoor with a zombie below and a creature at the top, basic geometry.

In terms of the actual painting, I had good reference for Bruce Campbell but for the actress I had a friend pose for me, I used a Polaroid as a reference for the ⛦body, and added the head. I u🌃sed my own hand as a reference for Henrietta's.

How did your friend feel about seeing the final poster?

The interesting thing is she was a different shape, she was a generously built lady, so I had to slim down the limbs, but oh yeah she was delighted. She thought it was very funny.

Would you watch stuff on VHS now?

Probably not, because I hate the way the tapes get snagged. That happened quite a lot - my cheap machine! The blurring of the reds and bleeding of colour alwa🥃ys annoyed me.

I can understand why people still like the scratchy experience, the pirated feel. I saw a lot of films on pirate video, often the only way to see something after the 'video nasty' ban .

When you can’t see scenes properly, you imagine what’s there, so it becomes better in your mind. Scarier, too, sometimes.

Viewing a DVD or Blu-Ray release often reveals the reality of the budget, otherwise disguised on the quality of VHS.

Having said that, I do like to see things presented in the way they were meant to be seen. The director's original vision (or lack of).

I think the trouble with VHS is you know somebody has made a film and it’s not looking the way it’s meant to be, it’s not at its best, so I do feel slightly robbed.

Did you ever hear back from the filmmakers about your stuff?

Occasionally. I met Sam Raimi during the release of Evil Dead II , he was in London to promote the film was very enthusiastic about the posters.

Robert Englund was very generous about my Nightmare On Elm Street artwork, too.

Recently I’ve illustrated a DVD cover for a film called The Pack , and the director 🐭emailed me and told me how much he liked it. He knew my work. It’s very gratifying.

Now, I know♛ I said last 💦time that Video Of The Damned would be making its glorious return this week, but then I was offered this exclusive clip from a film I really want to support, so VOD is on hold for seven more days I'm afraid.

But it'll be🌱 back, better than ever, next time, I absolutely promise.

And I'm sure you won't mind when you see this intense slice of Julia's Eyes , which is out today.

If you wa🔯nt more info🦂rmation on the film, check out our feature, which went live on Tuesday.

For fans of the sort of atmospheric horror flicks that were unleashed on audiences in the '70s, there really is no other film to see in cinemas this w🔴eek.