Interview w/ Kindertrauma

Continuing our series of interviews with innovative and interesting bloggers from the horror community and beyond, I'm proud to introduce that our next special guest is Unkle Lancifer, co-founder of the ever popular (and über creepy) Kindertrauma...

Let's kick things off with an introduction. Who is Unkle Lancifer?
I’m just your standard nerd who has sold his soul to horror cinema.

Before we get to the blog, let's talk about Lancifer the artist. You graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, what kind of art did you study there?
My major was painting. I was particularly interested in the German Expressionists.

Did your appreciation of horror films contribute anything to your work?
Very much so, I was sort of obsessed with Cronenberg at the time so in sculpture class I created some pretty nasty phallic sculptures that in hindsight were not quite as ambiguous as I thought they were.

When did you decide to start your own horror blog and what inspired you to start it?
As soon as the Internet became available to me I looked up all the horror films that scared me in my youth, television movies that were not readily available on VHS. In particular 1975’s Satan’s Triangle which was the catalyst for my love of horror. I went back to school and took some classes in web design but nothing stuck. Luckily, I met Aunt John who knew his way around a computer and who is more of a left brain thinker and together we whipped up Kindertrauma. I’ve always enjoyed asking people about the movies that scared them as kids so it’s fantastic for me to be able to throw out a wider net and reach a larger array of people.

The name Kindertrauma is, in all honesty, pretty badass. How did you come up with that?
It hit me like a lightning bolt. Originally we were going to go with Scarred For Life Cinema. I think Kindertrauma actually came from when I was in Germany for my brother’s wedding and Teen Witch was playing in theaters. The title on the marquee said something like Kinder Hag. That always stuck with me. There’s something just innately intimidating about the German language.

You've developed a number of creative ways for your readers to interact on your blog including Traumafessions and Name That Trauma. How important is reader participation to the success of Kindertrauma?
We think of it as a community site that we simply host. It’s really all about the readers and their stories. I write reviews just so I don’t feel too obsolete and because I generally love discussing movies, but the real spine of the site is the idea of allowing an arena where people can tell their stories; Name that Trauma grew organically out of that because so many people don’t recall the names of the movies that stung them. It’s very gratifying to have someone thank you profusely for solving a mystery that has haunted them for years. Again, most of the time we have to rely on our knowledgeable readers to solve such things but I’m proud that we could build a place where that could happen. It’s kind of a virtual clubhouse and we just supply the yard.

It’s very gratifying to have someone thank you profusely for solving a mystery that has haunted them for years.

How many writers contribute to the blog? Do you have a staff of writers?
Aunt John and I are the only official writers doing reviews but we have some long time readers who contribute every so often too. The Traumafessions are open to everyone and we welcome fellow bloggers to put their two cents in as well. If we had our way everyone would have at least one post on Kindertrauma.

How often do you post new content? What kind of research goes into a typical post?
We post something new every day, we set that goal at the beginning and we’ve stuck with it. We’re able to do that thanks to our submissions. As far as the content that we ourselves write, that’s probably about three times a week at the most. Research pretty much just entails 'Googling.'

How do you keep yourself motivated to write?
I feel that horror films don’t usually get the respect that they deserve and that it’s the responsibility of those who genuinely love them to do double time singing their praises.

At what point did you decide to sell Kindertrauma merchandise on your site and do those profits go back into the blog?
I don’t think anyone has invented a form of advertising more convincing than the t-shirt. We started merchandising the day I realized that I personally needed to have one. To tell you the truth though, any money we make through any means goes into the care and feeding of the army of stray cats we rescued from our backyard.

We started merchandising the day I realized that I personally needed to have one [tshirt].

What's the most traumatizing/shocking film you've seen thus far?
Martyrs was hard for me to shake and I have to say Eden Lake too. I used to think Eden Lake got to me just because it had a downbeat ending but now I realize that what really freaked me out was the fact that due to the events in the film, the story, the ordeal that its main character went through would never be known. I HATE that idea so much. I think that has a lot to do with why Kindertrauma is so important to me. It makes me feel better when things are recorded and known for better or for worse. Now, those two are recent examples but the most traumatizing movie I’ve ever seen? It’s still Satan’s Triangle. Sure I can watch it now and stand taller than it and see it for what it is, but I’ll never forget who I was when I saw it or how it affected me then. That should be the Kindertrauma motto: The first cut is the deepest. (Let me add that for years I could not watch The Exorcist and that I had to leave the room when Siskel & Ebert reviewed Halloween on their show.)

...what really freaked me out was the fact that due to the events in the film, the story, the ordeal that its main character went through would never be known. I HATE that idea so much. I think that has a lot to do with why Kindertrauma is so important to me. It makes me feel better when things are recorded and known for better or for worse.

Any new features/changes in store for Kindertrauma in 2010?
Yes, there is a sort of side direction that we will be exploring; I don’t want to jinx it though. I really believe in that. The less said the better until it’s done.

Okay, so I have to ask: what's the strangest thing you remember doing as a kid?
I admit it, I was a creepy kid. I would spend hours building little villages out of stones and then cry “Flash flood!” and pour a bucket of water down on them. Actually you have to build the village at the bottom of a hill and then pour the water down from the top so you can run with the water and get all into the anticipation. (Hey, I’m a child of the seventies, the disaster film era!) In addition, my cousin Georgianne still wants to know why all of her Barbie dolls were shaved and burned at the stake. All that was nothing compared to the awful things that were done to Barbie’s boyfriend Ken, maybe some things are better left unrecorded after all.

Indeed.

For more of Unkle Lancifer's life lessons on horror cinema, discover a forgotten a childhood classic or to share a Traumafession of your own, be sure to check out Kindertrauma online. Oh, nd be sure to tell him Strange Kid sent ya.

Tweet