Our editor-in-chief Nate Yapp is proud to have contributed to the new book Hidden Horror: A Celebration of 101 Underrated and Overlooked Fright Flicks, edited by Aaron Christensen. Another contributors include Anthony Timpone, B.J. Colangelo, Dave Alexander, Classic-Horror.com's own Robert C. Ring and John W. Bowen. Pick up a copy today from Amazon.com!

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Many Happy Returns: Our Final Post

Tales from the Crypt poster

As announced back in March, today will be the last day that Classic-Horror.com updates. After today, the site will remain online as an archive. It is also the site's thirteenth birthday. Classic horror has been part of me longer than that, though -- far, far longer.

There's a young boy in Iowa in 1991 whose parents just bought him The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu for Christmas, because that's all he really wanted. His mother had introduced him to horror films earlier that year and now the boy is obsessed with all things monstrous. He has a plethora of Universal classics on tape because his best friend's dad (who has cable) taped AMC's Monsterfest for him. He writes a fan letter to Vincent Price and hopes to meet him someday. (read more...)

The Terrorphile: The Song is Over (Farewell/Horror Tribute fanvid)

As the site draws to a close, I thought I would try to put into video form some kind of final farewell. I've worked on this on and off for the last three years (starting in 2009 when I thought I might shut down the site then). The video is kind of hodge-podge of clips from over 200 horror sources, set to The Who's The Song is Over. I think the song reflects some of my feelings about the site and the horror genre in general.

No notes this time. I think I've said everything I need to say in my farewell post.

Ray Bradbury (1920-2012)

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The world truly has lost one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. Ray Bradbury, well known science fiction author among thousands of fans, died on June 5th, 2012 after a lengthy illness.

Bradbury is most well known for sci-fi novels like Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles. He was also known for dipping his toes in the fantasy and horror genre, with such novels like Something Wicked This Way Comes. He wrote several upon several short stories, 27 of them being adapted for EC Comics.(read more...)

Twitchy Thumbs: Silent Hill (1999)

Silent Hill video game cover

The following is what would have been the first entry in an ongoing column about video games. However, since the site will no longer be updating after June 15th, only one entry was produced. We hope you enjoy!

Way back in 1999 when Silent Hill was released for the Playstation, videogaming was in the middle of a massive image shift. With the arrival and success of the Playstation in 1996 gaming was becoming mainstream and cool. It was no longer considered the past time of pasty kids with no friends or the hopelessly nerdy. Advances in technology enabled developers to add a cinematic sheen to their games for the first time and titles like Gran Turismo, Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid were leading the pack in this new cinematic approach. Even Hollywood was getting in on this blossoming medium, with the likes of Bruce Willis lending his likeness and voice to generic shoot em up Apocalypse. And in the midst of all this came Silent Hill. Initially seen as a rival to flagship horror franchise Resident Evil, it went on to become a big success in its own right and the years since have seen numerous sequels, spin-offs, merchandising, films and even a remake. The series even has its own iconic bogeyman in the hulking shape of Pyramid Head. But it all started with the first game, a relentless, nerve shredding nightmare.

(read more...)

Jonathan Frid (1924 - 2012)

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I will always remember April 14th, 2012 as probably the saddest day for any horror fan. It makes me so depressed to report on not only two deaths that happened in the same week, but on the same day too, and of very talented actors at that. The great Jonathan Frid, who was immortalized on television as Barnabas Collins in the daytime gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, died last Saturday at age 87 of natural causes.(read more...)

William Finley (1942 - 2012)

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If I don't hear about any horror fan screaming out into the night at this sad and grim news, then I will truly be surprised! I know there's a few tears in my eyes already. It appears that William Finley, beloved character actor, passed away on April 14th, 2012 due to complications after surgery.

Finley was mainly known for his collaborative efforts with noted director Brian De Palma, whose film credits with him include The Wedding Party, Dionysus, Sisters, and of course, Phantom of the Paradise. Finley was also known for his working relationship with horror film director Tobe Hooper as well, starring in Eaten Alive, The Funhouse and Night Terrors. He also starred in Wise Blood alongside Brad Douriff and wrote the script for The First Time. According to IMDB, his last known role was George Tilden in Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia.(read more...)

The End is Near

The End is Near

This is not the easiest article I've ever had to write. On June 15th, 2012, the site's 13th birthday, Classic-Horror.com will cease updating. We will continue publishing biweekly reviews up until that point (on Fridays instead of our usual Mondays), but after that, the site will remain up only as an archive.

There are a number of reasons for the site coming to a close in three months, but none of them are particularly important. Basically, it's time to move on. Thirteen years is a good run.

I wanted to give a little warning rather than cease out of nowhere, because I want to point out that we will have some incredible reviews from our staff, who are some of the best writers I have ever known. We're going to go out on some of our strongest material.

There will be another post on June 15th, a final farewell post, where I talk about more about the closure. This post is just a friendly notice that the end of the book is drawing near.

"Night of the Living Dead" Chapel Close to Resurrection

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In 1967, an upcoming, unknown film director named George A. Romero set out to make a movie with his production company Image Ten and a group of unknown actors and actresses in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. That film in question was none other than Night of the Living Dead! Filmed in more than 4 weeks and shot on a minimal budget of $114,000, Night shocked audiences when it first premiered on October 1st, 1968, and still does so to this day. The film also managed to pave the way for independent filmmakers, along with bringing horror closer to the real world.

One of the most prominent locations where the movie was shot was Evans City Cemetery, located 30 miles north of Pittsburgh. The cemetery has been a host to several NOTLD fans ever since the film broke through the barriers of pop culture, and it still stands as one of the few locations left of the film.(read more...)

Bill Hinzman (1936 - 2012)

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Sad news has struck every horror film fan around the world today.

It turns out that Bill Hinzman, who played the cemetery zombie in Night of the Living Dead, and who was forever etched into zombie pop culture, died at age 75 from cancer.

Hinzman was also known for his other collaborative efforts with George Romero, on films like There's Always Vanilla, Hungry Wives, The Crazies and O.J. Simpson: Juice on the Loose. He finally broke out into writing and directing, making the low budget zombie film Flesh Eater in 1988 (which he also starred as the main zombie). His last film role according to IMDb was Harvey Hix in River of Darkness.(read more...)

The Deadly Spawn on Blu-Ray!

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Justice! Justice has come to us horror fans around the world!

The 80's cult sci-fi horror film, The Deadly Spawn, is going to see life on a new entertainment medium - Blu-Ray. According to Amazon.com, The Deadly Spawn will be released on Blu-Ray January 24th, 2012, all thanks to Elite Entertainment. In The Deadly Spawn, two campers unleash an alien parasite from a meteorite, which then makes its way to the basement of an old house. The alien soon comes in conflict with four young teenagers, and one pre-teen boy, who are determined to stop it before it devours all of humanity.

The bonus features will include a commentary track, a still gallery, casting footage, a gag reel, a theatrical trailer and TV spot, an enhanced opening scene (hopefully no CGI), television review footage, and much more!(read more...)

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