Steve Barton: The Story Behind TERRIFIER, Dread Central & 30 Years in Horror

um so so you've been on both sides of the fence critic and filmmaker uh before i get onto the films um with being a critic is there anything you think that taught you about filmmaking or is there any was it a case of i see all these mistakes people are making or i'm nicking all this best stuff out the best films what did it what did you bring from the critic

It's not really a matter of seeing mistakes.

It's a matter of seeing audience reaction, you know, and learning what connects with the audience and what doesn't.

And so being that I spent 18 years on the front line dealing with the public directly, I have a good sense and good instincts for what's going to work and what's not.

And I think that was the most important part of doing the journalism and the critic thing.

Being a critic is tough in a lot of ways because if you like something, people will say, oh, he's your friend.

You're supposed to like that.

But at the other side of the coin, if that person, that filmmaker is really my friend, I owe it to them to be honest.

It's never personal.

It's business.

And some people are OK with that and some people aren't.

But either way, I always feel that being honest is always the best thing you can do in terms of being a critic and how something made you feel.

And if you didn't like it, you got to state why.

But you can't do go.

That just sucks.

Be constructive.

You know, learn from it.

Try to.

try to take something away from it that you could better use for yourself.

So I think my time dealing with the public and being a critic was invaluable to my role as a filmmaker.

do you and what i'm interested in actually is your view of critics now because it seems to me like when i've made my first film donkeys years ago you could send screeners out in the mail to people probably was a hell of a lot less stuff out there so people there's a better chance of getting on a website now you're you know if you're lucky you get on a website sometimes you've got to pay critics to even review stuff so how do you i'm glad you said that i wondered what your opinion would be on that

I can't even imagine doing that.

You should never pay somebody for their opinion of a product.

I don't understand how if this person who's doing a review cannot be at least a little bit biased because this person who sent it to them is the creator or the shepherd or whatever it may be.

When money comes into... critiquing it gets really sticky you know i myself i've never taken a dime nor would i ever from anybody to give a good or a bad review for that matter it's always it's a matter of trust when it comes to reviews listen reviews their opinions they're not gospel so every time somebody reacts badly to a review or even reacts good to a view.