Terror Tales adds Weirdo/Stairmaster Yan Birch

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

The image of the "Stairmaster" in Wes Craven's THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS is one that has stuck with me ever since I first caught a glimpse of him when I was a child. There's just something about a disfigured ghoul who resembles Dave Pirner from the band Soul Asylum that has always disturbed me. It wasn't Pirner under that makeup, though. It was actor Yan Birch, who has made frequent appearances in horror projects throughout his career, from playing "The Weirdo" in SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE III to taking roles in SUCKER: THE VAMPIRE, BLESS THE CHILD, the TV show Charmed, and SKY SHARKS.

Birch is the latest addition to the cast of writer/director/producer Jimmy Lee Combs' anthology film TERROR TALES, where he'll be joining fellow horror veterans Lynn Lowry, Jonathan Tiersten, Laurene Landon, and Liane Curtis.

The TERROR TALES wraparound centers on 

a husband who is abducted by a psychopath that gives the man the ride from hell, subjecting him to three horrific tales of the macabre – while his family is held captive in an attached cargo trailer.
 
The tales include one of a demon that takes a mother on a journey of self-discovery and reveals to her the horrifying truth behind her son's suicide. 

The next tale transpires in the '80s where a detective is hot on the trail of a serial killer known as The Sledgehammer who is terrorizing a video store owner and his wife. Years later, on the brink of the digital video revolution, the long standing video store is now on the verge of closing. However, bigger problems arise when the serial killer returns. 

In the final tale, an evil deity is using the human body as a host to possess its victims. When the deity destroys one victim it jumps to another causing an epidemic of possessions being reported. Deception is ruled by evil as friends, family and strangers question their trust for one another. 

Christopher Showerman plays The Driver. Birch will be featured in the final story, where he'll be dealing with the epidemic of possessions in some way. That segment will be filmed in Denver, Colorado this November.

Stairmaster