ARTBEAT64

I'm Simon Pritchard, operating as ARTBEAT64 and based in Norwich, Norfolk, UK. Apart from my love for 1950s and 1960s Rock 'n' Roll music and culture, my other main passion is Horror Movies. Right from when I was a little kid watching the late night Saturday horror double bills starring the likes of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Vincent Price I've adored horror cinema. As a child I enjoyed the thrill of being frightened by monsters and my imagination was stimulated by the imagery of such films. As I grew older, these sensations stayed with me and my tastes started to lean towards more explicit and disturbing movies. I have never had a problem with violence in films and truly believe that the horror genre is the most important and inventive in cinema history.    

From the 1930s and 1940s  Universal classics to the camp teen classics of the 1950s to the Hammer horrors of the 1960s and 1970s I've loved 'em all. Vampires, aliens, werewolves are all cool but my number one favourite sub-genre of horror cinema are the ultra violent movies of the 1970s and 1980s, those films that, for me, redefined horror and brought terror into reality - 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre', 'The Hills Have Eyes', 'Maniac', 'Friday the 13th' and the greatest horror movie of 'em all, 'Halloween'.  These films took horror onto a new level by bringing it's monsters from fairytale into reality, which is what I personally find fascinating.         

It's the Slasher movies and backwoods maniacs that I like the most, along with the Italian counterpart, the Giallo (the films of Dario Argento and his peers).

I also dig Zombie movies (the flicks of George Romero and the Italian gore fests of Lucio Fulci and other spaghetti horror directors.

Many of my heroes are horror film directors, actors and make-up artists - Directors such as Wes Craven, George Romero, Tobe Hooper and my all time favourite the great John Carpenter; Stars such as Jamie Lee Curtis, Joe Spinell, Kane Hodder and Gunnar Hansen; Make-up and special effects artists such as Stan Winston, Rob Bottin and the all time king of gore Tom Savini. These guys have inspired my creative and artist instincts - and the inventiveness of the special effects and set pieces and the over all artistry within these wonderful films play a large part in my interest and admiration.      

My love for horror movies spills over like a lacerated jugular vein into my art. I love to create images and scenarios based on my favourite films and characters, Jason Voorhees from the greatest horror franchise the 'Friday the 13th' films featuring prominently in my work. 

 I have decided to highlight this aspect of my work by putting together a collection of goodies based on my passion for horror. 

There are paintings on canvas and gruesome horror greetings cards featuring some of horror's nastiest (and coolest) bad guys. I will be continually adding horror related items to my shop, so keep a look out.

If you like horror, especially of the slasher variety, then I hope you will find something here worth finding (or then again, maybe it's safer if you don't)