Lisa Unger Quotes

I definitely fell in love with 'Dracula' when I was 13. I found it so fascinating and so dark and romantic.

I don't really begin with ideas about genre. I certainly wrote a gothic novel, 'The Keep,' that conformed to and, in some ways, played with every convention I knew of to work with in the gothic, but the way I came to it was very instinctive and visceral.

I find inspiration in the movies I've loved, especially all films ever made about Dracula.

Mention the gothic, and many readers will probably picture gloomy castles and an assortment of sinister Victoriana. However, the truth is that the gothic genre has continued to flourish and evolve since the days of Bram Stoker, producing some of its most interesting and accomplished examples in the 20th century - in literature, film and beyond.

Right away I think of two books - 'Wuthering Heights' and 'Rebecca' - and of just sinking into them as a young reader. I think they must have appealed not just to my romantic adolescent soul, but I suppose there's also an appealing darkness in both of them.

Shirley Jackson's writings are a must for aficionados of the gothic and of good literature.

'Dark Shadows' was the spark that lit the fire of my childhood imagination. It wasn't polished; it wasn't perfect. But it gave us characters with real personalities and complicated motivations.

One of the reasons I think Dark Shadows still runs is that it's dependent on nothing else other than a story.

The 'Twilight' movies are great in their own right, but they certainly don't have any sense of humor to them.

Gothic in its purest sense is actually a very powerful, twisted genre, but the way it was being used by by journalists - 'goff' with a double f - always seemed to me to be about tacky, harum-scarum horror, and I find that anything but scary. That wasn't what we were about at all.

The plot of my 'Phantom' is pretty much mine. It's based on the Gaston Leroux book - I've taken a lot of liberties with it.

I had a wonderful time making 'Dark Shadows.'

Just finished 'Secrecy' - truly enthralling both as a love story and as a tale of suspense - but much more than both.

I think the best type of action movie combines a love story with the action.

I kinda go for the Jane Eyre type of film. I am fascinated by classics.

I wanted to play Dracula because I wanted to say: 'I've crossed oceans of time to find you.' It was worth playing the role just to say that line.

A lot of people have something to say about 'Wuthering Heights,' but nobody quite nails it.

I watched Someone to Watch Over Me the other night. I thought it was a really good movie. It's a great movie.

In course of time my first novel appeared. It was a love story.

I love really, really deep, dark-as-Russia storylines. I love supernatural aspects. I grew up with ghost stories.

I love love stories, no matter how dark.

I think of my books now as suspense novels, usually with a love story incorporated. They're absolutely a lot harder to write than romances. They take more plotting and real character development.

'Cabin Fever' was very much inspired by 'The Thing.' It's really a perfect guy's horror movie: There's no love story, it's just straight-up horror. And it's so well-done. It moves at a slow pace, but it's really terrific.

Secrecy can be sexy. It's essential to any good mystery novel.

It's the pursuit of love and happiness that is the driving force of the romantic novel.