Jeff Hayes

Jeff Hayes has been a big fan of movies ever since being enthralled watching Raiders of the Lost Ark in the theater at five years old. The excitement, the danger, the characters, the special effects—young Jeff loved this world. Three years later, two of Jeff ’s all time favorite films, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Sleepaway Camp, would be playing in cinemas at the same time. As a child of the ’80s, Jeff enjoyed the slasher films of the time and became a big fan of Jason, Freddy, Leatherface, Michael Myers, and of course Sleepaway Camp. This led to an interest in understanding the evolution of villainous characters, and he found himself learning about real life people whose dark sides inspired such depravity. Jeff would eventually write articles for Serial Killer Magazine. Much like Indiana Jones, Jeff enjoyed a good quest to learn about the ‘history’ of his favorite films. In fact, when he saw The Texas Chainsaw Massacre for the first time around age 11 he thought it was a true story (and would find out later it was only loosely based on serial killer Ed Gein) and asked a librarian if he could go through the microfilms for August 1973 when the “real event” supposedly took place, according to the film. Jeff is a filmmaker who has made independent short films, documentaries, and even a couple of experimental feature-length films (mostly horror-related, of course). He has run the official site for the Sleepaway Camp movies: SleepawayCampMovies.com for over two decades and even co-produced Return to Sleepaway Camp. He is also a vocalist, composer, and music producer who has been lead vocalist in a few bands. Jeff is an animal lover who enjoys spending time with his cats Sadie and Dexter (named after another one of his favorite characters). He has been married to his lovely wife Cheryl (always his co-producer) since 2005, and they reside in Massachusetts.