Meet the team members of The Horror Lounge: Co-Founder/Co-Editor Brian Fanelli

If it wasn't for my dad, I wouldn't have discovered horror movies at a young age. When I was a kid, he watched classic Universal Monster movies and slashers with me. I always related to the Wolfman and Frankenstein's Monster. Simply put, I loved those classic black and white monsters as much as I loved Jason and Freddy.

For a period of time, I'd visit the local video stores with my dad on Friday nights and always dart over to the horror section. I distinctly recall the various Friday the 13th VHS covers that featured Jason's hockey mask, or the zombies from various George A. Romero movies. From watching these movies with my father, I became a monster kid, through and through.

My family still jokes that I would decorate every single inch of my childhood home's yard with Halloween decorations. In fact, I wanted to decorate as early as August. Forget back to school time. I was most excited about Halloween and autumn. Today, my wife and I have a fairly large Halloween display at our home and a high volume of trick-r-treaters that always make a stop to see our decorations. Every year, we dress up, as if we're part of the display. The neighborhood kids love it.

Over time, I channeled my love for the horror genre into writing. Though some know me as a poet and academic, I've written essays and reviews on all things horror for various publications, including Bright Lights Film Journal, Horror Homeroom, Signal Horizon Magazine, Schuylkill Valley Journal, and HorrorBuzz. I'm even lucky enough to teach the class on horror literature and film, which allows me to nerd out with my students, and I've presented papers on film at conferences for the Northeast Modern Language Association (NEMLA) and the Pop Culture Association.

A few years ago, I started writing for 1428 Elm, which is how I met Carla, who was the site expert, basically the editor. Unfortunately, 1428 Elm ceased publishing new content on Halloween, of all days. However, instead of dwelling on it, Carla and I discussed launching our own site, and thus, The Horror Lounge was born. From the get-go, we were fortunate enough to have a team of writers who wanted to continue working with us, and I'm looking forward to watching this site grow.

Brian at Acadia National Park

Besides horror, I love creative writing and American literature, subjects which I teach. I also have a goal to see all 50 states and as many National Parks as I can. Every summer, I typically visit one state and National Park that I haven't visited yet. It keeps the creative juices flowing, as they say. If there's anything horror related that I can check out along the way, I make sure to stop.

I live in Pennsylvania with my wife, Daryl, who helped design the website, and our beautiful cat, Giselle. We're both active in our local arts and literary communities, and like me, Daryl is a full-time educator and writer. I keep nudging her to start writing for The Horror Lounge!

Over the coming days and weeks, you'll learn about our great team of contributing writers. Until then, keep checking The Horror Lounge for more reviews, news, lists, and deep dives.