Steven Valentino at his Lindenhurst home works on his monsters and creatures, which have been used in independent films and theater productions. Top right, he plies his craft.

On the left is the cover of the Halloween special edition of Newsday's Long Island Life. Horror Fans Scream for a photo taken at the Huntington Cinema Arts Centre.
(Photos by Michael E. Ach & Tony Jerome)

   Making the leap from the armchair to the director's chair — or anywhere on the creative side of the monster business. One of the horror hopefuls is Steven Valentino, who watches movies, listens to scary films scores and makes creatures in his basement apartment of his Lindenhurst home.

   The apartment serves as Valentino's movie lovers' lair. It's where he keeps his prize possessions — a signed drawing by author-director Clive Barker, autographs from Leatherface of " The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974), and Pinhead from Barker's "Hellraiser" (1987).

   Get him in the right mood, and he might pop in a set of werewolf teeth — which he made — or slip into a wicked imitation of Jack Nicholson after he gets his comeuppance in "The Shining".

   "Wendy baby, I think you hurt my head real bad," Valentino seethes in classic Nicholson style eyes abulge.

   Valentino, who has worked on horror films and hopes to make his own, uses them as a springboard for his other creative impulses. He makes creatures, many of which hang on his apartment walls, including a hooded demon made partly as a response to his mom's recent death.

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