| Alan
Jones is an internationally renowned reporter
on the fantasy, horror and science fiction
genres in all media and extensively travels
all over the world to cover the making of
movies in production. He is the London correspondent
for the American magazine 'Cinefantastique/CFQ',
(a key role he has played since 1977 after
interviewing the entire STAR WARS cast
and crew), reviews practically every genre
release for Great Britain's 'Starburst' and
is a film critic for the 'Radio Times'. He
provided over 2000 capsule reviews for the
'Radio Times Guide to Films' and the 'Radio
Times Guide to Science Fiction'. Other magazines
and newspapers he has written for include
'Empire', 'Fangoria' 'Heat', 'GQ', 'Vogue',
'FHM'. 'Film Review', 'Preview', 'Shivers',
'Femme Fatales', 'DVD Review', 'The Independent',
'The Guardian' and 'Premiere'. Alan is a member
of the London Critics´Circle.
The
Continental magazines he has written for
include 'Estreia' (Portugal), 'Segno Cinema',
'Nocturno', (Italy), 'Vendredi 13', 'Starfix'
and 'L'Ecran Fantastique' (France). Alan
edited the seminal free magazine 'Film Guide'
for two years. He has researched and written
numerous programmes for television (Channel
4, Sci-Fi Channel, SKY Movies) and two Film
Four documentaries on the Italian horror
directors Mario Bava ('Maestro of the Macabre')
and Dario Argento ('An Eye for Horror').
'Maestro of the Macabre' was nominated for
a Montreux TV Festival Rose Award.
Alan
contributed to the 'I Love the 70s' BBC
documentaries talking about Punk T-shirts
(which he was arrested for wearing at the
height of the Anarchy in the UK frenzy)
and Disco music in the summer of 1976. He
appeared in the VHI 'Behind the Music' documentaries
on 'Saturday Night Fever' and '1977', the
BBC documentaries 'The Day Britain Turned
Disco' and 'The Story of…I Will Survive'
and the Granada documentary 'When Disco
Ruled the World'. Other film related programmes
he has appeared in include Channel 4's 'The
Top 100 British Box Office Hits', Five's
'Van Damme - The Muscles form Brussels'
and the Sci-Fi Channel's 'Hitchcock'. He
has also made television appearances in
Argentina, Colombia, Italy, Spain, Finland
and Russia. He has been a member of the
critic's jury at the world famous Sitges,
Fantasporto, Paris, Rome, Trieste and Avoriaz
fantasy festivals. In 2003 he programmed
and presented the 'Brit-Invaders' strand
at the SciencePlusFiction Festival in Trieste.
After
co-presenting the legendary 'Shock Around
The Clock' festival in London, and 'Fantasm'
at the National Film Theatre, he is now
co-organiser of the 'London FrightFest'.
As part of the 'Fantasm' festivals he conducted
'The Guardian' lectures with Oscar-winning
cinematographer and director Freddie Francis
and Italy's premier genre director Dario
Argento. He also hosted a special VALLEY
OF THE DOLLS night and interviewed star
Barbara Parkins on the NFT stage. Other
of the many Q&A sessions he has hosted
include Guy Maddin (THE SADDEST MUSIC IN
THE WORLD), Park Chan-wook (LADY VENGEANCE)
Greg McLean (WOLF CREEK) and Richard Kelly
(DONNIE DARKO). He has acted in the movies
THE ERRAND, THE GREAT ROCK AND ROLL SWINDLE,
TERROR, TALOS THE MUMMY and SHAUN OF THE
DEAD.
His
reminiscences about his close friend Sid
Vicious formed the basis of director Alex
Cox's screenplay for SID AND NANCY and he
has spoken about his association on both
TV (Sky's 'The Last 24 Hours of…Sid
Vicious') and radio ('My Way: The Sid Vicious
Story'). He has written the books: 'Mondo
Argento', 'Nekrofile', the critically acclaimed
'Saturday Night Forever: The Story of Disco'
published in Britain, Italy and America,
the Rondo award nominated Profondo Argento'
and 'Tomb Raider: The Official Companion'.
For Paramount Pictures he also wrote the
tie-in magazine for 'Lara Croft Tomb Raider:
The Cradle of Life'. His latest books are
the bestselling 'The Rough Guide to Horror
Movies' and 'The FrightFest Fearbook'. Alan
also contributed chapters to the books 'The
BFI Companion to Horror', 'Zombie', 'Femmes
Fatales'. 'Eyeball', 'Shock Xpress Volume
1 & 2' and 'Clive Barker's Shadows in
Eden'.
The
book 'Vacant' by Nils Stevenson featured
a whole chapter on Alan and his importance
in the punk phenomenon when he deejayed
for the Sex Pistols and worked with fashion
designer Vivienne Westwood in her shop 'Sex'.
He is also quoted at length or featured
in the books 'Vivienne Westwood: A Biography'
by Jane Mulver, 'England's Dreaming' by
John Savage, 'I Was A Teenage Sex Pistol'
by Glen Matlock. 'Vicious, Too Fast To Live…'
by Alan Parker, 'Not Abba: The Real Story
of the 1970s' by Dave Haslam and 'Punk'
by Stephen Colegrave and Chris Sullivan.
In 2000 he toured University town cinemas
with director Julien Temple to answer questions
on the Sex Pistols documentary THE FILTH
& THE FURY. He has also served as a
regular film critic for Talk Radio, 'Front
Row' on BBC radio and the SKY News programme
Sunrise. Alan is also a part-time unit publicist
working in that capacity on NOSTROMO with
Claudia Cardinale, BEFORE SUNRISE with Ethan
Hawke and PROTEUS with Craig Fairbrass.
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