HE started out with just a projector, 11 viewers and a licence to screen The Thing at Padgate Youth and Community Centre.

But now horror movie fanatic Andy Jones – better known as Mr Red – terrifies hundreds of cinema goers with screenings that he organises himself.

Thanks to a partnership with Reel Cinema and Our Screen, the Great Sankey resident arranges for classic films like The Monster Squad, Aliens and Gremlins to be shown on the big screen as part of his group Retro Horror Movies Warrington.

The 34-year-old simply needs to sell a certain number of tickets – usually around 40 – for it to be cost effective for the cinema to acquire the licence.

It is proving hugely popular with two screenings of vampire classic The Lost Boys in December already sold out.

The films are currently aired at Reel Cinema Widnes but Andy is hoping to work with Cineworld when it opens in Warrington and is also in talks with Warrington Market for film events.

Andy, whose contacts now include Warner Bros distribution, said: “I’ll get my parents in trouble now but I’ve been watching horror films since I was nine without them knowing. I’d sneak them in from the video shop or watch them in friends’ houses after they’ve found their dad’s video or something.

“So far I’ve been showing the horror blockbusters but hopefully in time I can introduce people to the more obscure ones.

“I’ve got the people who love the films and want to see it on the big screen and I’ve got people who have never seen them and are only just getting into horror through their mates.

“Anything retro is coming back full circle and if I get a new generation into these old classic films then it’s great. But some of these horror buffs put me to shame. They know everything.

Retro Horror Movies Warrington now has more than 900 members on Facebook and upcoming screenings include The Monster Squad on Sunday, Elm Street on Halloween, Aliens on November 18 and, for Christmas, Gremlins on December 17.

And Andy already has plans to screen Beetlejuice and Arachnophobia in early 2018.

For that extra touch, Andy also runs regular competitions to win limited edition film merchandise and turns up to the screenings as his demonic alter ego Mr Red.

Andy added: “The character Mr Red is the host and came about after getting a red latex devil mask and devil hands.

“I had the same devil face produced as our logo and it sure makes an impact being scary and retro at the same time.

“The whole concept of a spooky host came from Tales From The Crypt.”

The reason that Andy has picked retro horror as his speciality is that he finds that the convoluted plots and CGI of modern movies detract from the scares.

Andy, who has lived in Warrington for 10 years, said: “You don’t have to jump off a plane, you don’t have to do anything crazy – you just sit in your seat and put your mind in the film.

"Not many of the new films scare me but the old ones still do. I think it’s because these days there’s too much CGI whereas if you look at something like The Fly or An American Werewolf in London it’s all make-up and physical effects and I think it looks a lot better.

"You can’t beat slime and buckets of blood...”

To join the group or to book tickets to screenings search for Retro Horror Movies Warrington on Facebook