LMC: You were born under a bad moon, on Halloween and your mother was born on Halloween.  Were you destined to become a horror fanatic?

DL: I've heard that a lot over the years.  Because my Mom and I both have Halloween birthdays, people make jokes about us being vampires or witches or something.  We've been hearing the same silly old jokes for nearly three hundred years now.

LMC: Did you grow up on a steady diet of popcorn and late night horror flicks?

DL: Absolutely, Even as a little kid, I was always dying to watch something scary.  If there was an old Karloff or Lugosi movie on TV at 3 a.m., my mom would have to promise to wake me up for it.  That was in the pre-VCR era of corpse.  I can't remember very much of my childhood, but the first horror movie I can remember seeing was the  'Monster of Piedras Blancas'.  Seeing it so young probably caused permanent brain damage.

LMC: What type of movies do you prefer, the older classic horror or the new ones?

DL: I enjoy movies from every period, really.  Sometimes you have to take into account the time period and attitude of the society in which a film was produced to fully appreciate it.  You can't beat the old Universal classics; they're great to watch again and again.  I love alot of the Hammer horrors too.  In terms of more modern stuff, I especially like a lot of the Italian and European stuff.  They don't stick so closely to the same rules as Hollywood, so they are often more unpredictable.  The sleazy drive-in horrors from the '50s and '60s are always a treat to watch too, and I'm a big Star Wars fan.  I also can't get enough zombies.  Yay for zombies!

LMC: Tell us your 3 all time favorite horror movies and why.

DL: That's hard to say, I have so many films I'm fond of for so many different reasons.  The first all-time favorites that come to mind are 'The Bride of Frankenstein', 'Dawn of the Dead', 'Star Wars', the original 'Dracula', the Frederic March version of 'Jekyll and Hyde', 'Phantasm', 'Creepshow', ...er, wait, that was more than three.  Uhh, sorry.

LMC: Now tell us the 3 most important horror movies, whether you liked them or not.

DL: Well, obviously the genre would be very different if it weren’t for the endless influence of the first ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘Dracula’.  But ‘Frankenstein’ seems to have gotten at least a little inspiration from the German silent ‘The Golem’ from 1920, so maybe ‘The Golem’ is one of the most important ones.  More recently, I’d say the ones that most changed the shape of the modern horror genre are ‘Night Of The Living Dead’, ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘Halloween’.

LMC: Lets get it out of the way early.  Why the heck are you just now getting online?

DL: You mean besides my vague, creepy feeling of distrust toward the gigantic uncontrolled all-pervasive corporate selling tool that is the Internet?  I think there’s something rather insidious about it that most people don’t see because they’re too busy gawking at stuff they can’t afford on eBay.  The technology is still flawed and inefficient.  But because a lot of rich people stood to get even richer because of it, it was crammed down America’s throat before anybody really had a chance to figure out the most beneficial ways to use it.  Getting involved with such a thing just didn’t interest me.  And I already had a lot of business contacts and clients without it, so it just didn’t seem like a priority.  Gosh, that was long-winded, wasn’t it?

LMC: Any opinions of the online world (aka the cyber wild wild west), now that you’ve dipped your foot in the pool?

DL: I’ve only been using a computer and going online for about two months now.  I think everybody needs to be very careful of to just what extent they use the Internet and to what extent they let it use them.  So far my two biggest problems are (1) occasionally one of my e-mail messages will mysteriously get lost somewhere along the Information Stuporhighway and (2) I can’t think of any more new swear words.  If you want the best illustration of my feeling about the Internet, go look for the old original ‘Outer Limits’ episode entitled ‘OBIT’.

LMC: Haunted houses were a major part of your life from an early age and still a major part of it now.  Talk about how you got started.

DL: We had to have something to do back before the Internet was invented.  Personally, I went for putting on little haunted houses in my garage.  God, I must’ve driven my parents crazy!

LMC: what is your opinion of a good haunt?

DL: “What is my opinion of a good haunt?”  That’s a strange question.  I like a good haunt.  Don’t you?

LMC: How has the haunt industry evolved to where it is today?  Any thoughts on where Transworld is today, and where it is going (well, not in the literal, geographical sense)?

DL: I’m glad you clarified that.  Of course I hope the future of the haunt business is bright, but I kind of worry that it’s going to get over-regulated and strangled with so much governmental red tape that private citizens won’t be able to do haunted houses any more, only big wealthy corporations.  And the big wealthy corporations would love that, wouldn’t they?  We’ve seen it all over the private sector, with big soulless chains like Blockbuster and Mall-Wart taking over and putting thousands of privately-owned shops out of business.  So I think we need to be aware that Global-Conglomo-Mega-Pre-Fab-Haunted-House-Attractions may be lurking around the corner.  And I’d hate to see that happen, because the creativity of so many private haunters would be squelched.

Page 2