Horror aficionado Ashleigh Millman answers our burning questions

Hi there! Who are you, and what do you do?

Hello! I'm Ash, and I guess the easiest way to group together what I do is say I'm a presenter and content creator focused on horror entertainment. If it's spooky, I'm there. Just make me a nice dark corner to settle down in and I'll be fine.

What's up?

Workwise, I'm a freshly hatched freelancer after six years hosting YouTube channels. I started at WhatCulture and ended up launching WhatCulture Horror before joining the PlayStation Access team, which I left earlier this year to pursue a life entirely focused on the miserable and macabre. I stream horror games, make my own videos on horror releases, do voiceovers for horror podcasts, and I either host or write or guest on fun projects that come my way. The rest of my time is spent watching abysmal reality dating TV. It's all about balance.

Right NOW, though, I'm basking in the glow of finally getting the Platinum trophy on Inscryption after nearly 100 hours of sacrificing tiny woodland creatures. It's one of the best games in the whole world and everyone should play it. I might go and do it again after this to be honest. What's another 100 hours when you're freelance, eh?!

Can you give me a rundown of a day in the life of Ash?

Honestly right now it's pretty random, which I really like. There's usually some form of boring admin like emails or updating my glorious tax spreadsheet (really, it is a thing of beauty) mixed in with filming, writing, or streaming. A lot of days are spent traveling up and down the country, since anything fun is somehow kept at a 100-mile radius from Wolverhampton. There's lots of petting my cats and opening the fridge involved too.

From modelling to writing and from producing to hosting - how has your experience juggling all of these gigs at WhatCulture and PlayStation Access shaped you into the spooky host and content creator you are today?

Man, it's just been amazing to be able to experience so many different parts of similar industries and see how they all overlap. It's meant I've basically created my own pick 'n' mix job of all my favourite parts - whether that's being on camera yapping endlessly about games and movies or making really good spreadsheets. Seriously. Did I mention the tax one?

Truthfully though, the main takeaway, and the main thing that's shaped me into the person I am now, is the brilliant people I've met along the way. I've been super blessed in making lots of friends amongst colleagues and been trained by people I really admire both personally and professionally. Working as a team to create videos means you get to really explore your strengths and weaknesses in a super supportive environment - I would never have been able to build my confidence and experiment with my creativity like I can now without having those wonderful friends cheering me on as I've flitted about the industry. And I'm cheering all of them on too!

Clearly the love of horror is a big part of your persona - how did that come to be? Why aren't you more into the Wolverhampton Wanderers?

Look right, I'm into Wolverhampton Wanderers if they're winning. 

There are a few different things that come together when I talk about what brought me to the horror genre though. First up, the love of horror has just always... been there, really. I was a proper sheltered child and a scaredy-cat growing up, and I think that made me morbidly curious about anything slightly spooky. Like, I was scared of it, but that made me want to know more. I remember my best friend in primary school watching 15+ rated movies and describing the plots to me in detail. I knew I couldn't watch it as I'd have nightmares (thanks for giving me that lesson the hard way, sighs), but I LOVED hearing her go into detail about a man's head rattling around a washing machine in Identity. I feel like that interaction is what my role on the internet is now in a way; collecting up all the interesting horror titbits and talking about them in a way that invites people into exploring it further.

Of course, both of my parents are horror fans, too - and that massively influenced me as it was just always around the house. Reading Stephen King books handed down from my mom, watching late-night horror movies with my dad, and always being fascinated by dark necromancers and reanimated skeletons in fantasy games - which was what my dad and I played solely for years as board game heads - all compounded it into a full-blown passion.

Finally, horror as a genre is always making up its own lore and stories, you're always researching into what it represents or is inspired by. I just love how closely connected it is to human nature and psychology, that it has its heart in campfire stories and oral storytelling traditions. Horror taps into that primal instinct that connects all of us. It's cool as hell.

In the same vein - a little birdie told me that you rather enjoy the 2004 gothic masterpiece Van Helsing. Do tell.

In this essay I will...

Haha! I do love Van Helsing. It's one of the movies that I watched and rewatched growing up as it perfectly straddled fantasy epic and sinister influences that fascinated me so much. I'm a big monster girlie, and that Van Helsing is so packed with beasts from across literature is cool as hell. And I mean, I'm also mesmerized by Dracula's brides. Still unsure if I want to be them or be with them.

Seeing as Van Helsing is criminally underrated and should be talked about at least twenty-three percent more in all daily conversation - any other "hidden pearls" you'd like to include in the water cooler-convo?

If we're talking underrated, then I'm also Evolve's number one champion and will die on the hill that it really is a brilliant kaiju hunting game. We wouldn't have Dead by Daylight without it!! Don't quote me on that!!

For recommendations a little more off the beaten path, Anything for Jackson is a horror movie I've recently rewatched again and have to recommend as a proper good haunted house movie that defies all the tropes you'd expect from that kind of film. For the found footage film heads like me, Frogman came out this year and also absolutely rules. It's as silly as the title suggests with some rad, weird, horrible scenes to match.

Oh, oh, I also want to shout out One Cut of the Dead for being legitimately the most I have ever laughed watching a horror comedy. The Cornetto trilogy, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, and One Cut of the Dead are like the ultimate weekend lineup.

What is your favourite horror game of all time, and why?

You know, if you were to ask me what the BEST horror game of all time is I'd say Resident Evil 2 remake. I don't think I have a favourite because I came to horror games much later than I came to horror movies and books! I'm still catching up on the wealth of older titles I didn't play growing up - like I've just finished streaming the first and second Silent Hill games and had an absolute blast. Please don't ask me to pick between the two, I'm still trying to figure that out myself.

MADiSON, I have a really big soft spot for as it combines so many different styles of game into one across its three acts, and the finale's monster Blue Knees has become a bit of a mascot for horror monsters in my house that Ash built. It's also one that I spoke about a lot on PlayStation Access so I'm definitely sentimental about it. As sentimental as you can be about a game with a demonic entity encouraging you to fish eyeballs out of gramophones, at least.

Dredge, obviously. Puppet Combo's wealth of retro games, but Stay Out of the House specifically. Dead Space. Control. Alan Wake II. Until Dawn. Resi 7. Then creepy vibe games rather than outright horror, like Hollow Knight (which is probably my all-time favourite game) and Return of the Obra Dinn.

Oh wait, I just remembered The Last of Us is a horror game, so I'm going to have to say its sequel, The Last of Us: Part II. Going from that first absolutely iconic story about desperately clinging to a glimmer of hope in post-apocalyptic darkness, to then snuffing it out and wallowing in violence and hatred in that sequel just knocks my socks off even to think about. Watching Ellie's pain play out in an unstoppable revenge mission is one thing, but being forced to orchestrate it as a player is just so powerful. Plus, the clickers are cool.

What is your favourite horror movie of all time, and why?

The Descent. It's the best one.

Which is the best monster from all of fiction?

Godzilla really has a lot going for him at this point, but we've gotta give a little round of applause to the Jotunn in The Ritual for getting real weird with an original monster design. I always come back to thinking of it when thinking about this stuff. You could also add literally any boss from Soulsborne games here, but I'm gonna choose Rykard Lord of Blasphemy for vibes. TOGETHAA.

For mobs, it's skeletons brought back to life by a dark and powerful magic the realm does not understand. Zombies and draugr are okay, but they're... messy. It's gotta be those pure bone boys for me.

A curveball - you just woke up. It was all a dream. Please describe your perfect day as a used car salesman at Ashes to Ash's Used Cars Dealership (no, I'm not doing this simply because I am happy with the pun. Well, maybe).

Oh man. I really don't know anything about cars. How did I get here? Would you like to buy a car? Please direct me back to a PlayStation at your earliest convenience. Or to Xzibit from Pimp My Ride so he can put one in the boot for me if I really have to stay.

Usually, I would ask something shocking at the end, but seeing as I have the Host of Spooks herself here that seems rather redundant, so this time I'll simply ask: Which Pokémon do you think is the absolute cutest?

I absolutely love Espeon. She's a little pink cat! I know I talk a big game about being scary, but I am a lil' cat-loving, pink-haired cutie pie with a soft caramel centre, really.

Okay. Yup. Now I HAVE to do it. So, how would you eat poor Espeon? Preparation, condiments and selection of drink to flush it all down, please.

Also, I can't believe you're such a sick puppy.

Ah! Glad you asked. Roasted on a spit with a honey glaze because I feel like she'd be quite sweet flavoured. Chianti and fava beans pairing - for the craic, of course. I'd save the gemstone in her head as a little sweet treat for dessert. Just crunch it down like I'm in the local crystal shop.

Yikes. That's all for now, folks! Muchas gracias, Ash!