As we were putting the final touches on our tribute to West Craven, I received shocking and devastating news that we had lost Toby Hooper.

I first met Toby on the set of Poltergeist where I was working as a publicist.

He knew me from my Z channel interview show and we hit it off right then and there.

It was the beginning of decades of friendship.

Toby was a Texas gentleman, intensely creative yet quietly vulnerable. of He directed an episode of Amazing Stories when I was Story Editor there.

We directed back-to-back episodes of Freddie's nightmares.

I suggested to Stephen Spielberg that he do one of the segments on the others, a series I was

a producer on, and he did one of the best of all of them.

When Masters of Horror happened, he was one of the first Masters I approached to do the show and

the two films he did there were twisted and, well, masterful. I interviewed him on the original TV

version of postmortem a few years back and you can watch it in full at Mick Garris

interviews.com. We had actually set a date to do this podcast, but he had to cancel at the last minute because

he was getting ready to go to a European film festival at which he had a great time.

As an artist and as a human being, Toby was questing, kind, and I know this is a strange

choice of words for a man known mostly for visceral cinematic terror. Incredibly sweet. For Toby Hooper, the filmmaker, filmmaker and the friend I love you and I miss you man

You are now listening to post-mortem with Mick Harris where the most influential voices in horror cinema will spill their guts, literally.

To the renowned horror director, writer, and producer.

Now here's your host, Mick Garris. I'm Mick Garris and this is post-mortem.

True originals in the world of horror filmmaking are rare. Once in a great while, a cinema storyteller creates something so unique

and iconic that it becomes a permanent part of our collective fear. Sure there are franchises, strings

of sequels that are familiar and ubiquitous,

but those are really all about creating a brand and profits,

...