Krystal Fancey Beck, is the artist behind The Zombified, which features her own original Horror and Halloween inspired artwork, pendants, and other goodies. Intended for the "darkly inclined", Krystal is also the creator of her own Halloween themed comic series, Hallowhaus.
Krystal was kind enough to take a bit of time to answer some SpookyCreepyCool Halloween questions. So with no further babbling, please enjoy this SpookyCreepyCool Halloween interview with...
THE ZOMBIFIED
What is your favorite memory of Halloween as a child?
The first year- or couple of years (to be honest my memory can be pretty
fuzzy)- that I stopped going trick-or-treating. I stopped trick-or-treating
a lot earlier than most kids, first because I'd ended up having surgery just
before Halloween one year and my mom didn't want me roaming the streets at
night in a fairly fresh cast. Anyhow, I remember spending the night watching
a marathon of Are You Afraid of the Dark? on YTV (a Canadian TV channel)-
that was probably the first year- and later renting everything from
the Halloween series my local video store had to offer and spending the
evening attempting to watch as many of those as possible.
What is your favorite memory of Halloween as an adult?
Honestly, it gets better every year as we get better at cramming as many
thing as possible into October, making Halloween a glorious month-long
celebration! I did get married over Halloween weekend in 2006, which was
obviously awesome and definitely worth noting, but with all the wedding and
moving stuff we didn't do much for actual-Halloween. Last year we hit a
midnight screening of George Romero's Day of the Dead (one of my favorite
movies), the Houston Zombie Walk, a Halloween bash at a local nightclub, and
the All Hallow's Eve theme weekend at the Texas Renaissance Festival (which
is also where the aforementioned wedding took place). This year we're
repeating a bunch of those, plus catching a midnight screening of Lucio
Fulci's Zombie, and kicked everything off at the beginning of the month with
the SplatterFest horror film festival. See? Better every year!
What is your idea of the perfect Halloween?
As much as I love all of the exciting events sprinkled throughout the
Halloween season, I am- at heart- admittedly a bit of a shut-in. On the
actual day of Halloween I just want to do a little bit of people-watching
during the day to check out costumes and such, then grab a Pumpkin Spice
Frappuccino and head home to a big stack of horror movies and a mountain of
fresh popcorn. Ideally, it'll be just cold enough to make a big blanket feel
*awesome* (and I do have a badass Halloween blanket I made myself) and all
of the cats will lay scattered all over the bed just *delighted* to be
wearing their little Halloween costumes. Hey- this is just how it plays out
in my head... in reality the cats just barely put up with their costumes
long enough to get a couple pictures!
What was your favorite Halloween costume?
As a kid, I was always a cat. Every year. Now, I (of course) do a good
zombie, and my Hellboy (...girl?) costume is pretty great, but in the end I
have to say my most favorite is my Hitchhiker (Texas Chainsaw Massacre '74)
costume. It's not terribly extravagant, and I'm not sure how many people
actually recognized it (come on! I live in Texas!), but he's my favorite
character from my absolute favorite movie ever, so it's the one that
delights me the most.
What is your favorite Halloween candy?
I'd take roasted pumpkin seeds over the sugary stuff.
What are some of your favorite Halloween attractions?
I haven't been to many. Where I grew up was pretty isolated and there was
never really anything like that within reasonable driving distance. Since
moving I've been to a couple, but so far nothing too impressive,
unfortunately.
What are some songs and bands that really get you into the Halloween spirit?
The Misfits, Creature Feature, Calabrese, God Module, a good chunk of Alien
Sex Fiend... so many more. My Halloween playlist is seriously over 19 hours
long!
What are some movies that get you into the Halloween spirit?
I'm a bit of a horror addict year round, but I do have a routine though
October. Late September and early October start off with the simple task of
watching more horror (in general), then some old black and white Universal
horror, some Hammer, anything with Vincent Price. I try to rewatch some
favorites- Day of the Dead, The Omen & Omen II, Re-Animator, Puppet Master,
Evil Dead, etc. I try to save the most Halloween-y for last... ideally on
actual Halloween- Sleepy Hollow, Mad Monster Party, Trick 'r Treat, and (of
course) Halloween.
Often when Halloween's over I'll repeat the list in reverse whilst sobbing
hysterically into my (awesome) monster-movie popcorn bowl because I'm so
upset that it's over. (I'm only half kidding...)
What are some of your favorite Halloween TV specials?
Man, it's been so long... I'm pretty sure I really dug Garfield's Halloween
Adventure as a kid.
Who are some of your favorite artists out there doing Spooky, Creepy, Cool,
type artwork?
Gris Grimly, Keith Thompson, Chad Savage, Eric Pigors, etc.
What are some of your inspirations for creating your Spooky, Creepy, Cool artwork?
Halloween everything, horror, anything that just drips with the ooky
spooky!
Do you have anything you are working on currently that we can all look forward to?
Somehow I recently managed to squeeze in a last minute custom piece for
Freddy in Space & Scares for Pairs' Trick or Treat for Breast Cancer
fundraiser (http://www.freddyinspace.com/2011/10/freddy-in-space-scares-for-pairs-trick.html), with the original lineart up for grabs as well.
Where can we go to see and purchase your artwork?
http://www.thezombified.com
http://www.etsy.com/shop/thezombified
http://www.facebook.com/TheZombified
Any Spooky, Creepy, Cool parting words?
Stay shamelessly spooky. Always.
