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!

Shiverin' 6: Holiday Horrors

Day of the Beast (1995)

Twas the day before Christmas, and all through this site
Not a staffer was stirring, which just wasn't right.
The hiatus hung over like a mordid death pall,
Until our fearless editor said, "Have a list, ya'll!"

The readers all gaped because the site should be still,
Weren't these people on break? Did they know how to chill?
But old Nate figured that just one post couldn't hurt,
So he opened the WYSIWYG and got down to work.

He threw together a list of Yuletide frights and terrors,
And hoped that commenters would call him on errors.
Six films he chose, with their own peculiar cheer.
Listed chronologically, how else would they appear?

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Paul Naschy (1934 - 2009)

Paul Naschy

Word has reached us from the Latarnia forums that Jacinto Molina, better known to the horror world as actor-writer-director Paul Naschy, died on November 30th, 2009, after a year-long struggle with cancer. He was 75. Naschy broke onto the horror scene in 1968 with La marca del Hombre-lobo (known as Frankenstein's Bloody Terror in the United States), which introduced to the world his most lasting creation, the troubled lycanthrope Waldemar Daninsky. He would play Daninsky over a dozen times in the course of his career. He would also tackle such characters as Dr. Jekyll, Dracula, the Phantom of the Opera, Quasimodo, Frankenstein's monster, and Satan himself.(read more...)

Tribute Video: Boris Karloff in Columbia's Mad Science Films

Boris Karloff in The Man with Nine Lives (1940)

The following is our contribution to Frankensteinia's Boris Karloff Blogathon.

Starting with The Man They Could Not Hang, Columbia released four mad scientist films starring Boris Karloff in an eighteen-month period between 1939 and 1941. The other films in the series were The Man with Nine Lives, Before I Hang, and The Devil Commands. As a tribute, I created a short video to illustrate the general shared tone of the films and their similarities in structure, casting, theme, and direction.

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Read This: Frankensteinia's Boris Karloff Blogathon

Boris Karloff Blogathon large

To celebrate the 122nd birthday of horror legend Boris Karloff, the blog Frankensteinia (an Internet destination recommended without hesitation to anyone with the slightest interest in horror) is running a Boris Karloff Blogathon all this week. Over 100 sites, including Classic-Horror.com, have pledged to make a Karloff-centric post between today, November 23rd and Sunday, November 29th. Check out the first day of Karloff posts, including a special thank you message from Sara Karloff, Boris's daughter.(read more...)

Classic-Horror.com on Hiatus

On Hiatus

As we announced back in September, Classic-Horror.com will be going on hiatus for six months, with only sporadic posts until our return in May. During this time, we'll be tinkering with the format of the site a little bit, mostly in relation to the Newsreel, which will morph into the Classic-Horror blog, complete with regular columns and musings on horror.

Believe me when I say that this hiatus is necessary. We've been going for over ten years now with very few breaks and it's starting to catch up to me. I have some outside projects that I'd like to work on, the most important of which is getting married to site photographer Erin Dow in December. I've also begun work on a book about horror which I'm hoping to have in shape to submit to publishers by May. (read more...)

Review: The House on Haunted Hill (1959)

House on Haunted Hill 1959 poster

The first time I watched The House on Haunted Hill I was impressed. It was creepy and captivating, Vincent Price was brilliant and the atmosphere and story-line were completely immersive.  I was in love. However, when I re-watched the film for this review, I made a startling discovery: my memory is a dirty, filthy liar. On second pass, Haunted Hill was far less opulent, the casting less appropriate, and the overall experience somewhat dull and stunted. While it's certainly not a bad film, this review, sadly, is tinged with bitter disappointment.
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Review: Prince of Darkness (1987)

Prince of Darkness poster

There's something to admire about film makers that attempt something grand. John Carpenter, master craftsman behind The Thing and Halloween, would seem an ideal choice to create a film that treats God and the Anti-Christ with a scientific eye in the midst of a slow boil supernatural and intellectual horror thriller. What evolves out of this effort is something that is partially scientific and partially a horror film, but these parts do not gel together into a satisfying end product.(read more...)

Review: Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)

Halloween 4 poster

After Halloween III: Season of the Witch became a box-office disappointment and left fans bewildered over the absence of the series' main villain, Michael Myers, producer Moustapha Akkad decided to bring the character back for the next installment. The resulting movie is an attempt to recapture the original film's atmospheric feel and update it for a newer audience. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers is an entertaining film and one of the better in a long line of sequels, though it lacks the suspense that made the first Halloween so successful. (read more...)

Review: Spirits of the Dead (1968)

Spirits of the Dead

If you're familiar with the works of Edgar Allan Poe, you know that amongst his most prominent themes is that of the past's ability to terrorize you. The three loosely adapted Poe stories in Spirits of the Dead - "Metzengerstein," "William Wilson," and "Never Bet the Devil your Head" - are about exactly that. Though they are each helmed by a different director, the continuity and quality that flow through them are perfectly consistent, creating an experience that is well-told, layered, and haunting. (read more...)

Review: The Tingler (1959)

The Tingler poster

The Tingler has all the necessary ingredients for a good William Castle movie: a goofy premise, a tone that is both camp and macabre, a great cast, and an outrageous marketing gimmick. It also has some unexpected deeper levels, contained within the symbolism of both the gimmick and the monster. The Tingler is also an important milestone in a career that led to Castle being recently dubbed "the godfather of interactive cinema."(read more...)