Matthew Batham
Bio
Matthew Batham is a horror movie lover and a writer. Matthew's work has been published in numerous magazines and on websites in both the UK and the US.
His books include the children’s novel Lightsleep and When the Devil Moved Next Door.
Stories (14)
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We Need To Talk About the Spare Room
George couldn’t remember coming downstairs, but now he was standing in the kitchen doorway, watching his wife, Vera, prepare some kind of stew. He had something important to tell her about the spare room. It took a few moments for him to piece everything together in his head, and after he did, he thought he must have it wrong because it sounded too far-fetched.
By Matthew Batham8 days ago in Fiction
Sage
I discovered Camden Town through my sister, Tasha, who moved there when she was twenty. She was studying art at some red-brick university and the room she rented above a kebab shop doubled as a studio. To me, her work was just senseless globs of paint. I could never understand how a tutor could grade anything so abstract.
By Matthew Batham12 days ago in Fiction
Destiny Fails
He was leaning over the freezer cabinet, fondling what looked, from her safe vantage point, like a pack of frozen peas. He had no arse – just a sagging denim flap, like a diseased internal organ, stained with, Sally hoped, mud; his hair was matted and shiny with grease, like a teenager’s, although he was the same age he always was when they first met – late twenties. She couldn’t actually see from her position behind the gondola end, but she knew the shoulders of his denim jacket – yes he was wearing double denim – would be littered with dandruff.
By Matthew Batham12 days ago in Fiction
My Writing Journey Part 1
It seems a little self-indulgent to write about my own experience as a writer when I haven’t achieved anything like the success of the writers I will be discussing in future blogs, but as my reactions to everything I write about will be very personal, it also feels fitting.
By Matthew Batham13 days ago in Writers
The Legacy of The Blair Witch Project
It’s hard to believe in this social media and internet-savvy age, that 26 years ago two young filmmakers were able to convince moviegoers that The Blair Witch Project was a genuine documentary. But that was the premise of the online marketing campaign that had punters clamouring to see this independent horror film, made for around $60,000 and going on to generate some $250m worldwide.
By Matthew Batham25 days ago in Horror
Zombie Flesh Eaters
I can’t believe it took me until the age of 45 (12 years ago) to watch Zombie Flesh Eaters. This gory Italian flick from director Lucio Fulci was the stuff of legend when I was in secondary school in the early 80s. “Have you seen it…?” awe-struck 12 year-olds would ask and I, having seen nothing more horrific than Doctor Who at the time, would reply, miserably, that I had not.
By Matthew Batham25 days ago in Horror
Freddy Krueger and the Elm Street Legacy
I want to talk about the man of my dreams. Sigh. Freddy Krueger. But seriously, the First Nightmare on Elm Street movie really did haunt my dreams for some time after I saw it. It was literally the stuff of nightmare, and in his first outing Freddy was a genuinely frightening foe. Towards the end of the core series of films he had become an almost pure comedy character, but in Nightmare 1 Freddy was dark and menacing — although he did have a wicked sense of humour.
By Matthew Batham25 days ago in Horror
