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!

Posts by Nate Yapp

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.

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.

The Terrorphile: The Gremlin Show (fanvid)

Gremlins poster

I really have no excuse for this one. Sometimes I have stupid ideas and they won't leave me alone until I execute them. Please forgive me.

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The Haunted Mansion: Keeping the Faith

Hitchhiking Ghosts

The following is for the League of Tana Tea Drinkers' roundtable discussion of "What Do Cute Versions of Monsters Tell Us About Horror?" I realize that I didn't address the question directly, but I think my piece fits into the larger discussion.

I've never been a spiritual person. The most pressing conflict of faith I had growing up was whether I would become an agnostic like my father or an atheist like my mother (I still bounce back and forth to this day). I suppose we all need something to believe in, however, especially as children. I believed in horror. It was, in many ways, my faith - adored without question, every movie I could get my hands on committed to memory and recited ad nauseam. Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolf Man, and an exquisitely tortured Vincent Price were all major deities. It was a simple pleasure in a complex time - my parents were getting divorced and I was being moved (as opposed to moving, which suggests I had some choice in the matter) to another state. In hindsight, horror was something I very much needed to survive - the heightened acting, the fantastic settings both foreboding and unreal, the monsters who brought thrills and chills to supplant the uncertainty that was actually much, much scarier. (read more...)

Cool Vincent Price Tribute Poster

Vincent Price tribute poster by Eric Slager

Disheartened by a conversation he overheard at his local video rental store, graphic designer Eric Slager felt that word needed to get out on the awesomeness that is Vincent Price. So he created an awesome poster that presents the titles of some of Price's greatest works in the shape of the actor's face, garnished with his meticulously coiffed hair and waxed moustache. You can read the whole story at Slager's blog. It's a really cool piece of art for which we are happy to boost the signal.

The Terrorphile: Waldemar Daninsky's Black Mirror (fanvid)

Paul Naschy Blogathon

Those crazy fellas over at Mad Mad Mad Mad Movies have been throwing the Paul Naschy Blogathon all week long, finishing, well... today. Actually, in about a half-hour by my clock. However, that's just enough time to get my entry in, which I've been working on all week. It's a tribute to Paul Naschy's most enduring creation, the werewolf Waldemar Daninsky. In nine films released between 1968 and 1983, Daninsky dealt with the tragedy of lycanthropy, often while searching for someone who would love him enough to kill him. The video follows the general line of his story, backed by Arcade Fire's "Black Mirror."

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Texas Chainsaw Video Jukebox

Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1974 Dark Sky DVD

Texas Chainsaw Massacre Month. When you're thinking about something all the time, as we have been thinking about The Texas Chainsaw Massacre series this month, you start seeing it everywhere. I started noticing a lot more Texas Chainsaw related videos on Youtube lately. They've always been there, I guess, but they were just waiting for me to notice them. Most of them were, frankly, awful, but I picked a smattering that amused me, along with trailers for all six Texas Chainsaw films. You can view what I came up with after the cut.

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Marilyn Burns ("Texas Chain Saw Massacre") Interview

Marilyn Burns Interview

Texas Chainsaw Massacre Month. Last year at the International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival in Phoenix, I had the great opportunity to chat with Marilyn Burns, who played final girl Sally Hardesty in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Our talk focused exclusively on her career in the 1970s and resulted in some great stories about the Texas film industry, the dangers of making a Charles Manson biopic, and why Eaten Alive may not be the film to take home to mother and father.(read more...)

Rare Horror Released on DVD Via Columbia's Screen Classics on Request

Soul of a Monster poster

Following in the footsteps of the Warner Archive Collection, Columbia/Sony has announced its own burn-on-demand DVD service, Screen Classics on Request. Among the 100 initially available titles are several of interest to horror fans, including the rarely-seen The Soul of a Monster (1944), a brand-new transfer of The Spiritualist (1948, previously available in cheap movie multi-packs as The Amazing Mr. X), and Arthur Hiller's killer bat movie Nightwing (1979). All titles are available for purchase (typically at around $19.94 a pop) at the Columbia Classics website.  A full list of horror-related titles appears after the jump.(read more...)