It's all about atmosphere

Old-fashioned Gothic horror is a passion. So much of what passes for horror these days is simply gore and splatter but I much prefer the old, blood-frozen-in-my-veins feeling I got as a child when I first read Poe's The Raven and The Tell Tale Heart.

There's nothing in the world like a good ghost story. Shadows and atmosphere, gargoyles, candles, billowing fog, an avenue of huge old trees leading up to a slightly past-its-prime old manor house, perhaps a swampy marsh or dense forest - these are images that are sure to make my pulse pound and my breath quicken. And if, by chance, there is a family cemetary plot or mausoleum on the premises (and, dare I hope? a Vampire?) I experience a paroxysm of ecstasy!