by Jovanka (Jen) Vuckovic

“What it comes down to is two words: creation and imagination.”
– Clive Barker

You know his name, you know his movies, and you damn well better know his books. Twenty years ago, Clive Barker redefined horror literature with his infamous Books of Blood; a genre-shattering, breakthrough collection of abbreviated nightmares in print. His fantastic tales were a masterful blend of extreme horror and poetry of the perverse, comparable to the best of Poe and de Sade.

His six controversial anthologies, of course, were a huge success and lead Barker to a rightful seizure of horror’’s cinematic throne just three years later with Hellraiser,– the highly influential, flesh-wrecking slice of sadistic cinema and unholy nativity of Pinhead, one of the genre’’s most intriguing and enduring icons.

Nevertheless, over the last decade, Barker has been criticized by genre fans for abandoning horror in both literature and cinema, his last directorial effort having been 1995’’s Lord of Illusions. But a closer look at his body of work reveals that, despite varying subject matter, he’’s never really left us at all. Now armed with a bloody bible of new material and grand designs, Clive Barker is poised to reinvigorate the genre in the way only he can.

Like the great William Blake, Barker is an artistic polymorph; whether it be painting, poetry, erotica or horror, his monolithic imagination has always addressed the strange, dark and unusual– right on through to Abarat, his new series of children’s’ fiction. Whatever artistic discipline he expresses himself through, Barker always dives deep into the dark waters of his soul for inspiration, fearlessly exploring its boundless depths.

Barker comes full circle with his film label Midnight Picture Show, a collaboration with Anthony DiBlasi and Joe Daley, the creative team behind Barker’’s Seraphim Films (Saint Sinner, Lord of Illusions). The new genre-specific, hard horror label plans to produce two films per year taken from the Books of Blood anthologies, with the purpose of creating and entire library of movies aptly-titled the Films of Blood.

Beginning with Midnight Meat Train,– a cannibalistic tale of subway train terror from the very first volume,– MPS plans to follow up with a delicious assortment of Blood stories including Pig Blood Blues, Age Of Desire, In The Flesh, The Madonna, The Life Of Death, Jacqueline Ess and Twilight At The Towers.

In addition to producing the Films of Blood, Barker also plans to return to the director’s chair with Tortured Souls, a new movie based on his McFarlane line of toys. And if you’’ve been turned off by the fantasy literature that the author has been pumping out over the last ten years, a new anthology of collected shorts and poetry –– which includes a story that will spell the death of Pinhead –– is the violent Viagra pill you’’ve been waiting for.

SuicideGirls communed with Barker in a frank and intimate talk on everything from his struggle to get the Books of Blood published to his fear of dying. Sit down, eavesdrop…

Read our interview with Clive Barker on SuicideGirls.com.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

“I would like to see a film review show like mine where they ask questions that are of substance and are not just vanity questions where the guest can talk about how great they are.”
– Henry Rollins

Of all the outspoken rock musicians out there in the world Henry Rollins probably ranks in the top five. There are even fewer that are so outspoken that they need to do hundreds of spoken word shows all over the world in order to get everything they want to say out. In fact Rollins has so much to say that in addition to his weekly radio show, he now has a movie review show, called Henry’’s Film Corner, on the Independent Film Channel once a month. In addition to some amazing interviews, the first show has David Fincher. Rollins will review movies in a true punk fashion. He absolutely rips apart the movies he hates and praises the ones he loves to no end.

Read our interview with Henry Rollins on SuicideGirls.com.

by Laura Nixon

“I look up to Gypsy Rose Lee, Lili St. Cyr, Sally Rand….and I admire my best friend Catherine D’Lish.”
– Dita von Teese

Dita von Teese is more than just a pretty face. She is a world renowned burlesque artist, performing her infamous martini glass routine at some of the most exclusive events across America and Europe. She has been a fetish model for over a decade but only recently has she been featured more in the mainstream as people have begun to appreciate the elegance and vintage looks of this delightful woman.

Read our interview with Dita von Teese on SuicideGirls.com.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

“I think that it is very rare to find this kind of absolute love.”
– Audrey Tautou

Audrey Tautou is a sweet petite thing. She is a so beautiful and charming. It is easy to see why Jean-Pierre Jeunet first cast her in the sweet and tender Amelie and again in A Very Long Engagement as Mathilde.

A Very Long Engagement is set in France near the end of World War I in the deadly trenches of the Somme, in the gilded Parisian halls of power, and in the modest home of an indomitable provincial girl. It tells the story of a young woman’s relentless, moving, and sometimes comic search for her fiancée, who has disappeared. What follows is an investigation into the arbitrary nature of secrecy, the absurdity of war, and the enduring passion, intuition and tenacity of the human heart.

Read our interview with Audrey Tautou on SuicideGirls.com.

by Fred Topel

“We got a little bit derailed because of Sex and the City.”
– Jessica Elbaum

Women in Hollywood have made monumental strides in the last year, with the success of Kristen Wiig’s Bridesmaids and Lena Dunham’s Girls. What you don’t hear as much about is that there have been equally major advances for women behind the scenes.

For example, at Gary Sanchez Productions, the production company of Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, a woman holds a major executive position. Jessica Elbaum produced the Sundance hit Bachelorette, which was written and directed by Leslye Headland. The film became the number one pre-theatrical download on iTunes in August. It plays theaters this month and you can still get it online or VOD.

Bachelorette stars Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplan and Isla Fischer as high school friends who grudgingly play bridesmaids to their friend Becky (Rebel Wilson). The girls begin the film as angry, resentful, promiscuous, and/or addicts (some combination of the aforementioned afflicts each character). The night before the wedding they cause a series of disasters that will take all night to fix, if they’re even able to before the wedding.

We got to chat with Elbaum by phone about her career as a female exec for some of the hottest comedy producers in Hollywood. She had a lot to share about the current climate for female-led comedy, her film Bachelorette, and the latest Gary Sanchez production, the long awaited Anchorman 2.

Read our exclusive interview with Jessica Elbaum on SuicideGirls.com.

by Fred Topel

“Working is vacation for me”
– Ashley Bell

Ashley Bell literally bent over backwards to entertain us in The Last Exorcism. The film marked her major movie debut in a leading role, and quite an impressive debut it was as a small down girl possessed by a demon. Even though it was called The Last Exorcism, they’ve made a sequel and Bell is back.

Bell also gets to step up her physical work in the film The Day. The post-apocalyptic thriller casts bell as Mary, the toughest most fierce survivor in the wasteland. It may have become a cliché to see a woman kick butt in an action movie, but Bell makes it primal and vicious. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011, where WWE Studios picked it up and is now distributing it.

Of course, that’s all acting. In real life she’s a total sweetheart. She even dresses up to meet reporters and look good on camera, even though her biggest roles have been stripped down and natural. Bell is a trained actor with a background from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and Cambridge University, so she shared with us all her tricks and secrets in a sit down interview that could have gone on forever.

Read our exclusive interview with Ashley Bell on SuicideGirls.com.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

“I like being someone else for just three months.”
– Jessica Biel

Jessica Biel actually flashed a little bit of stomach because she was showing off her vampire hunter belt. I thought it was so cool that innocent little Mary Camden was showing skin to a roomful of comic book fans there to interview her for Trinity.

In the third Blade film she plays Abigail Whistler, the illegitimate daughter of Kris Kristofferson’’s character Abraham Whistler. She is a vampire hunter that works with a team called the Nightstalkers that includes Hannibal King [Ryan Reynolds] and SuicideGirls’ favorite Patton Oswalt.

Read our interview with Jessica Biel on SuicideGirls.com.