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 Simon Powell

Arise, Sir Dracula...

Sir Christopher Lee
Submitted by Simon Powell on Fri, 2009-06-12 23:20

Christopher Lee has been awarded a knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, for his services to drama and his charity work. Although the 87-year-old has over 250 TV and movie credits to his name, he will probably always be associated with horror films. It was his work with Hammer that made him an international star, playing, amongst others, Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Mummy and Sir Henry Baskerville. From there he went on to appear in other genre classics such as The Wicker Man (his personal favourite of any film he's been in) and Death Line, as well as playing Bond villain Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun. More recently he found a new generation of fans playing the evil Count Dooku in Star Wars Episodes II and III, and Saruman in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Aside from his acting work, Lee has also been a supporter of the United Nations childrens charity UNICEF for many years.

Review: Maniac Cop (1988)

Maniac Cop poster
Submitted by Simon Powell on Wed, 2009-04-08 06:45

I think it is safe to say that by 1988, the slasher film had become a little tired and stale. It had been ten years since John Carpenter's Halloween had opened the cinematic floodgates; Freddy, Jason and Michael Myers were going through the motions in sequel after interchangeable sequel and even lesser efforts such as Sleepaway Camp were getting a second bite of the cherry.(read more...)

Review: Dead Set (2008)

Dead Set logo
Submitted by Simon Powell on Sun, 2009-02-01 14:01

The walking dead have long been used as a way for writers and directors to make comments on contemporary society and culture, from Hammer's Plague of the Zombies (1966), with the exploited undead being forced to work the tin mines, to George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978), where people rise from their graves – and head straight for the shopping mall. Dead Set, a five-episode television series that aired over consecutive nights on British satellite channel E4, uses its zombies to explore the reality television phenomenon. However, rather than doing this through clunky heavy-handed dialogue, the satirical elements are contained in some rather more subtle symbolism.(read more...)

Review: Witchfinder General (1968)

Witchfinder General poster
Submitted by Simon Powell on Tue, 2008-11-18 12:32

When “British”, “Horror” and “1960's” pop into most people’s heads, the next word is usually “Hammer”, but there were a few others plying their trade at that time. Companies such as London-based Tigon Films churned out a wide range of cheap and cheerful material from horror to soft-core porn to art house drama. Although most of Tigon's output has now sunk into obscurity, they did come up with one bona-fide classic – Witchfinder General. Despite a modest budget of less than £100,000, and a 24-year-old director with only two previous films to his name, it is a well-made, well-acted, very British work of surprising depth and uncompromising brutality, but with some unexpected links to a very American genre of film.(read more...)

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