Alan Jones

Alan Jones is an internationally renowned reporter on the Horror Fantasy genre in all media and extensively travels the world to cover the making of movies in production. The first movie he extensively covered on location was the original Star Wars in 1977.

He was the sole London correspondent for the seminal ‘CFQ’ magazine between 1977 - 2002, reviewed every genre release for 'Starburst' between 1980-2008, was a featured film critic for ‘Film Review’ for two decades, contributed set-reports to ‘Fangoria’ for a decade and is currently a featured film critic in the 'Radio Times', the UK’s biggest selling magazine. He was editor of ‘Shivers’, ‘Film Guide’ and consultant editor of ‘The Horror Collection’ a New Line Cinema endorsed collectable figurine part work.

Other magazines and newspapers he has written for include 'Empire', ‘Total Film’, ‘SFX, ‘Wonderland’, 'Heat', The Guardian, 'GQ', 'Vogue', 'FHM', 'Femme Fatales', ‘The Dark Side’, 'The Independent' and 'Premiere'. His ‘Total Film’ feature titled The Splat Pack ensured that term entered film industry jargon.

He is an active member of the London Critic’s Circle whose annual film awards gain worldwide recognition and he will be seen in the feature documentary about film criticism No Stars. An in-demand expert on Horror, Punk (he worked for designer Vivienne Westwood and was the Sex Pistols’ DJ) and Disco, he has appeared on, researched and written numerous programmes for television including two award-winning documentaries on the Italian horror directors Mario Bava and Dario Argento. His punk showcases include the BBC series ‘Punk Britannia’ and the feature documentary Who Killed Nancy? talking about his good friend Sid Vicious and the final days before his death, His reminiscences about the Disco era have graced many BBC programmes and comprise the sleeve notes of the bestselling 25-plus CD collections ‘Disco: Discharge’ and ‘Disco: Recharge’

He has been a member of the critic's jury at the Sitges (Spain), Fantasporto (Portugal), Paris, Rome, Strasbourg, Neuchatel (Switzerland), RazorReel (Bruges), Science+Fiction (Trieste, Italy), Motel X (Lisbon, Portugal), Fantastic Fest (Austin, Texas) and Avoriaz (France) fantasy festivals and, after co-presenting the legendary Shock Around The Clock festival in London, and Fantasm at the National Film Theatre, is now co-curator of FrightFest, the UK’s biggest horror fantasy event that takes place every August Bank Holiday in central London. He oversees the artistic direction of the ‘FrightFest Presents’ multi-platform label in conjunction with the UK independent, Icon Film Distribution

His DVD commentaries continually receive high acclaim including those for Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Santa Sangre, Nicolas Winding Refn’s Valhalla Rising, Bronson and Fear X, Tom Shankland’s WAZ, Andrew Birkin’s Cement Garden, Tony Maylam’s The Burning and Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, The Card Player, The Stendhal Syndrome, Tenebrae and Suspiria. Other giallo commentaries include What Have You Done To Solange?, The Bloodstained Butterfly and The Red Queen Kills Seven Times. His moderated commentary with Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren for Tinto Brass’ Caligula is considered a milestone in the art form. He has also contributed to numerous DVD extras for Heavenly Creatures, The Keep, Video Nasties Vol 1 & 2 and the A Nightmare on Elm Street Blu-ray collection to name the tip of the iceberg.

He has acted in the movies Terror, Talos The Mummy, Ben Wheatley’s Assault on Precinct 13 and Shaun of The Dead and is the well-reviewed author of Mondo Argento, Nekrofile, the critically acclaimed Saturday Night Forever: The Story of Disco (UK, US and Italian editions), the global bestseller Tomb Raider: The Official Film Companion, the SGM Award-winning and Rondo Award nominee Profondo Argento, The Rough Guide to Horror Movies (UK and French editions), The FrightFest Fearbook and The FrightFest Guide to Exploitation Movies. His update of Profondo Argento, re-titled Dario Argento: The Man, The Myths & The Magic, was re-published in 2012 and 2016.

He most recently collaborated with Nicolas Winding Refn, the acclaimed director of the Pusher trilogy, Bronson, Valhalla Rising, Drive, Only God Forgives, and The Neon Demon on the lavish poster book The Act of Seeing. He is currently writing his latest work Discomania for NWR too.