Gary Smart
- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Born in Birmingham, West Midlands UK in 1982, Gary Smart has always been a fan of all things horror. From lending out VHS copies of 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' to his fellow 5 year old classmates to building models of Dr Channard from 'Hellbound: Hellraiser II' at the age of 12 Smart has always had a fascination with the macabre. Smart has been a lifelong fan of 'The Return of the Living Dead' and spent his youth playing zombies with neighborhood friends. Smart was always Ernie Kaltenbrunner. A lifelong dream finally came true in 2007 when Smart became friends with actor Don Calfa. Smart organized Calfa's first UK convention appearance at the NEC Birmingham in 2007 and also the following year in 2008. Since their first meeting in 2007 Smart and Calfa have become close friends and are in weekly contact. Smart also became close friends with actress Beverly Randolph. It was through these friendships that Smart first came up with the concept of a retrospective book on the Return of the Living Dead franchise. After meeting Gorezone Deputy Editor Christian Sellers in 2007 the pair embarked on their first book now titled 'The Complete History of the Return of the Living Dead'. After two painstakingly stressful years 'The Complete History of the Return of the Living Dead' was finally released in January 2011 by Plexus Books UK. Featuring interviews with over 100 cast members and over 300 exclusive interviews 'The Complete History of the Return of the Living Dead' became an instant success with fans of the franchise. Smart and Sellers were then approached to write the documentary 'More Brains! A Return to the Living Dead' in 2011. Smart also provided exclusive artwork for the documentary slated for an October 2011 release. In his 'real' life Smart works at a UK High School as a School Manager, but spends his spare time supporting, promoting and celebrating all things horror. Since 2011 Smart has been very busy setting up his own company 'Cult Screenings UK Ltd' and production company 'Dead Mouse Productions Ltd'. These companies specialize in celebrating classic movies. In 2014 Smart teamed up with Adam Evans and Christopher Griffiths to write and produce the mammoth documentary on the first two 'Hellraiser' movies titled 'Leviathan: The Story of Hellraiser & Hellbound: Hellraiser II'. This was then followed by 'You're so Cool, Brewster! The Story of Fright Night' in 2016 (with original director Tom Holland) and then 'RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop' in 2017. Smart has also produced books on 'American Werewolf in London' (Beware the Moon with Paul Davis), 'Return of the Living Dead' (245: Trioxin again with Christian Sellers) and 'Fright Night' (You're so Cool, Brewster!). Smart is currently working on a documentary celebrating Stephen Kings 'IT' and is making his directorial debut with his new horror 30 minute short 'The Offer' to be released in summer 2017, featuring 'Hellraiser' alumni Kenneth Cranham, Barbie Wilde, Simon Bamford and Nicholas Vince as well as John Castle and Bruce Jones.
