Dustin A. Sklavos
About Me

I'm twenty-five years old, a bay area native now living on campus at the University of California, San Diego as a fourth year media student and part time closed circuit television station manager. I've been pursuing an education and career in film since 2002; clearly I've made it.

I'm a dyed in the wool horror fan, and the vast majority of my work reflects that sensibility. I feel like the genre is horribly underrepresented and misperceived; I enjoy working in it because of the freedom to be fatalistic, to use fantastical imagery, and just because everyone loves an underdog. Remember kids, The Silence of the Lambs is an Academy Award winning horror film. You can call it a "psychological thriller" if you really want to, but it's a horror film, and I want you to think about that the next time you dismiss a movie because that's its genre.

I have a strong predilection for ghost stories and the supernatural. I appreciate a story that takes something completely unreal and is willing to force its characters to actually contemplate it and react to it. Movies like Nakata's Ring and Darabont's The Mist are great examples of this.

My influences as a writer are Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Kairo), Kevin Smith (Clerks II), Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street), David Cronenberg (Videodrome), and Michael Piller (Star Trek: The Next Generation).

My influences as a director are Takashi Shimizu (Marebito), Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and Peter Jackson (Heavenly Creatures).

In the future I'd like to be able to work professionally as a writer/director. Film is something I love very deeply, and frankly, I'd rather barely make a living making my horror movies than sit at some desk job for eight hours a day, contemplating which method of suicide would be simultaneously the least painful and the most grotesque.

Free time is spent playing video games, watching movies, and working with computers. I was able to parlay my love of computers into a minor journalism career with NotebookReview.com. I can routinely be found haunting the forums there under the alias "Pulp."

I have a tabby cat, Zoe, who lives with a close friend of mine, and a leopard gecko, Geico.

For your consideration/interest, you can find a resume detailing my film work and education here, and links to the writing I've done for NotebookReview.com here.

Favorite Films
Jacob's Ladder
Ring
Tomie: Rebirth
Kairo
Cigarette Burns
The Evil Dead Trilogy
The Ju-on Series
The Ginger Snaps Trilogy
A History of Violence
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Ghostbusters 1 & 2

Favorite Bands
Halou
Sneaker Pimps
Curve
Hooverphonic
The Birthday Massacre