Jonathan Barkan Executive Director
Jonathan Barkan is a writer for Bloody-Disgusting.com, the Internet’s #1 site for all things horror. He is also a collector of horror movies, paraphernalia, literature and other novelties. With years of horror movie watching experience, horror study and horror appreciation, Jonathan felt that the horror community of southeast Michigan was sorely lacking and that something needed to be done to rectify that.
As a writer for Bloody-Disgusting, Jonathan has interviewed such bands as The Devil Wears Prada, Dark Tranquillity, Testament, Megadeth, Limp Bizkit, Puddle of Mudd, and many others. He is also branching out by interviewing composers of video games and major Hollywood motion pictures. Jonathan has also studied horror through colleges and universities in the Ann Arbor area, focusing not only on the work that is involved in creating a film, but also how the social, political, and gender issues of the time affect the story and presentation of the film.
Personally believing that horror is a criminally underappreciated and reviled genre, Jonathan hopes that The Three Corpse Circus will show the strength of the horror community and change the minds of those who doubt the impact of horror.
Christopher Anderson Festival Director
A Chicago native raised in southeast Michigan, as a young child Christopher had a variety of influences that led him to the love of film and the horror and suspense genres. Chris’s first video camera was a PXL-2000 at the age of 10, which he basically used to shoot lightsaber battles with himself. Growing up, he watched the Thriller double feature on WXON TV 20 and visually devoured films like Room with a View, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Salem’s Lot. In 2005, Chris transferred to EMU, where he worked to co-found the Eastern Michigan University’s filmmakers association, which produced the first-ever Eastern Michigan University Student Video & Film Festival in 2007, an event that still runs to this day. Upon graduating in 2008, Chris looked for a way to satisfy his hunger to be creative and started working on short films to further hone his filmmaking skills.
One fine evening in 2010, the idea was set into motion by three friends at a party at Jonathan’s house that would change their lives forever. The Three Corpse Circus was born. Their goal is to create a genre festival that will become a staple in the southeast Michigan community. Since that day, the creators of the Three Corpse Circus have toiled day and night to bring to you what will soon be known as, “the Gravest Show on Earth!”
Caitlin Clayton Promotional Director
Born and raised in small-town southwest Michigan, Caitlin Clayton grew up violently averse to scary movies due to a semi-traumatizing event early on involving the forced viewing of a certain Goosebumps episode against her will, but as a film minor and friend to B-movie lovers, she started to get her feet wet again. Under the guidance of her coworkers and fans of Three Corpse Circus, Caitlin is re-educating herself on a whirlwind tour of Horror 101, finding her new favorites in places like Slither and Scream and Nightmare on Elm Street.
As a writer and aspiring film critic, Caitlin enjoys the equalizing effect of the horror genre: like religion and so many other things, scaring someone can have the same effect on anyone, whether they’re a PhD or a 12-year-old kid. Though the penchant for horror is new, the desire to learn new stories isn’t. Because it is the stories that make us. And some of the scariest ones can help us find who we really are.
David Krzisnik Sponsorship Director
David blames his life-long obsession with fright films on one man—Lawson Demming—Detroit’s legendary horror movie host, Sir Graves Ghastly. The old black and white monsters (Frankenstein, The Mummy, Dracula, The Wolfman, etc.) were merely the gateway to a love of everything horror, much to his wife’s chagrin. David is a Rondo Award nominated writer and regular contributor and film critic for SCREEM Magazine; he has also contributed articles to Britain’s Scream Horror Magazine. An aspiring children’s author, David is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Not surprisingly, many of his tales have a decidedly supernatural bent.
Additionally, David holds a BFA in Theatre from Wayne State University and Teacher Certification in English, Speech, and Theatre from Saginaw Valley State University. Having held a vast array of “day jobs” over the years, nothing compares to being a part of the team at The Three Corpse Circus—-an organization he can truly sink his fangs into!