TALES FROM KIM’S CRYPT
THE LEGENDARY AUTHOR AND CRITIC BRINGS US HIS UNIQUE TAKES ON CULT CINEMA
MATTHEW BRAZIER
THIS MONTH
ANTHONY HICKOX AND JEFF BURR
IN OCTOBER 2023, two filmmakers died (relatively young, in their sixties) without getting much obituary coverage because they’d spent busy careers in under-the-radar areas of cinema. Both were best-known for ‘part III’s —Anthony Hickox (born 1959) directed Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth and Jeff Burr (born 1963) directed Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (written by good friends of mine, Peter Atkins and David J. Schow respectively). Indeed, between them, they directed a lot of sequels or spin-offs —Burr handled entries in the Stepfather, Puppet Master and Pumpkinhead franchises while Hickox made Warlock: The Armageddon and direct-to-non-theatrical vehicles for Dolph Lundgren (Jill Rips) and Steven Seagal (Submerged). Nevertheless, they both had their own interests and obsessions and began with similar fannish jeu d’esprit pictures, cast with interesting cult names, covering an ambitious range of genres.