Steve Niles Remembers His Roots

Like most horror writers, Steve Niles started out as a horror fan. The comic writer got his big break with 2002's 3-issue miniseries "30 Days of Nights", though he'd been active as a writer in the industry for years prior, including substantial work on Todd McFarlane's "Spawn", a "Cube" comic adapted from the movie, and comic adaptations of Harlan Ellison and Clive Barker tales. In 1993, he worked with George Romero and Clive Barker on the comic "Night of the Living Dead: London".

But long before he was a force in the comic industry, Niles loved horror. In an interview with The Comic Wire, he talks about how the first horror movie he ever saw was "Night of the Living Dead". I remember the night watching it. It came on the TV, I'm lying on the floor and it just freaked me out! Completely frightened me. It had that sort of documentary feel, it was black and white and as a kid I couldn't understand if it was a movie or not. The whole time I was like, 'Are they eating them? Are they eating people?' Then they went to that shot where they show you what they're doing outside and 'Oh my God! They're eating dead people!'"

His all-time favorites include the original "Dracula", "Rosemary's Baby", and "John Carpenter's "The Thing", which he describes as "perfect character driven horror".

How does he feel about the modern horror scene? "As a genre, I think it's getting healthier. I think it's doing well and there are a lot of people who are enthusiastic about it. The people who put out movies, it's caught their attention and hopefully that leads to some good quality movies coming out."

Source: The Comic Wire