Horror film director Tim Fattig has been arrested in Tombstone (of course!), Arizona after police found the rotting corpse of his mother, which he had kept in the house for a year, undiscovered.

34 year old Fattig had been telling people that his 68 year old mother Jill was in hospital, but the truth was discovered when authorities carried out a welfare check.

Fattig apparently told the police that his mother had died of natural causes and that he had been so overcome with grief that he failed to report her death, instead keeping the corpse at home, Norman Bates style.

He's current under arrest for negligent homicide, but if an autopsy reveals that her death was indeed a natural one, the charges will be reduced to failure to report a death, which is a misdemeanor - presumably meaning that Fattig would soon be free to shoot the inevitable low budget film based on his story.

Desert Scream Productions - Fattig's company - seems to not have a website, but his Myspace page (another example of his devotion to the dead!) tells us that he is the maker of Bring Down the Dead and The Collector (presumably not the film of the same title that played cinemas a year or two ago!). Has anyone out there seen his films? Do they suggest an Ed Gein in the making? Let us know!

Thanks to Shawn Lewis of Rotten Cotton for bringing this charming little news story to our attention.