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!

The Deadly Spawn on Blu-Ray!

Deadly Spawn Blu-Ray.jpg

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...)

Robert Hall's "Chopping Mall" Remake

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To me, the horror film genre is so close to being past beyond saving, with only certain films giving me a slight glimmer of hope for the future (Trick 'r Treat). This is mainly because the genre is completely flooded with several mainstream remakes of classic horror films, first being started off with Gus Van Sant's shot by shot remake of Psycho in 1998. Now, don't get me wrong, there have been several good remakes that pay homage to the original while also taking a concept into an entirely different direction (The Thing, The Fly, The Blob, etc). But being in a generation where horror remakes are the norm, it's frankly just getting tiring to see remakes of classics (Halloween, Friday the 13th, etc) and obscure cult favorites (Black Christmas, Maniac, etc) being made and released year after year.(read more...)

Book Review: Shock Value by Jason Zinoman

Shock Value by Jason Zinoman

Since its publication last July, Jason Zinoman's Shock Value has received more mainstream press - and largely favorable mainstream press - than most critical analyses of horror cinema in recent years. The attention is understandable, as this is a well-written account of a pivotal period in the genre (the late '60s to early '80s) that's also accessible to a general readership. It's not aimed purely at cinephiles and academics or the fanatical horror fandom. It also doesn't hurt that, in this age of information overload, the book is a quick read or that Zinoman writes regularly for The New York Times (mainly covering theater). Even in a time of a historically fractured mass media, the "Gray Lady" still has clout.(read more...)

Elijah Wood Stars in "Maniac" Remake

Elijah Wood Stars in Maniac Remake

I believe anyone who has read my review of Maniac knows my feelings towards the film. It was and still is a serious, chilling and psychological slasher film, right in the same vein of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. But it looks like no horror or exploitation film from the 70's and 80's are safe anymore from the remake virus.

On November 4th, 2011, it was announced that Elijah Wood of Lord of the Rings and Sin City fame is set to play Joe Spinell's most infamous role as Frank Zito, a man who is constantly haunted by visions of his own abusive mother, and takes it upon himself to murder and scalp women as a way of gaining revenge.(read more...)

Review: Isle of the Dead (1945)

Isle of the Dead poster

Death casts a large shadow in all of Val Lewton's RKO horror productions, but never larger than in Isle of the Dead. Characters drop like flies as both science and superstition prove inept against the advances of the Grim Reaper in this foreboding tale set amid war, disease and encroaching madness.

Perhaps the most flawed of Lewton's chillers, this is also one of his most memorable and, in its climactic moments, the most outright frightening. The story was inspired by Lewton's fascination with Arnold Böcklin's painting of the same name, which can be seen under the opening credits and represented in the background as a Greek general (Boris Karloff) and American war correspondent (Marc Cramer) approach a small island where the general's wife is buried.(read more...)

Review: House of Wax (1953)

House of Wax 1953 poster

Call it an irrational fear, but wax figures give me the creeps. I recognize the artistic talent behind each of these seemingly lifelike sculptures, but the features have an off-putting radiance that resounds uncannily with me. Thankfully I must not be the only one with unease toward these waxworks given the effectiveness of André De Toth's House of Wax as a horror film. Building off the premise of 1933's Mystery of the Wax Museum, De Toth's remake similarly melds elements of mystery with images of the macabre into a satisfyingly frightful elixir.(read more...)

Review: Maniac (1980)

Maniac 1980 poster

In many slasher films that were coming out by the thousands in the 1980s, rarely did we get to follow the killer as our main character, rarely did we invest an emotional attachment to the killer while also being terrified of them at the same time, and rarely was it done with true realism and craftsmanship. Maniac succeeds on all of these counts. While many see it as just a pure exploitation film, with nothing but misogynistic, mean-spirited attitudes and desensitized gore and carnage on the surface, underneath, it really is a psychological horror film, and an intelligent one at that. Yes, it was made on the cheap, a film to be shown on a double bill on 42nd Street or at a drive-in. But, when thoroughly examining it, it's a calculated study on the dark human mind.(read more...)

Review: Contamination (1980)

Contamination (1980) poster

Wherever there is a Hollywood sci-fi or horror movie blockbuster, there is usually at least one shameless low budget cash-in lurking somewhere in the wings. Nowadays we have the likes of the Asylum Studio and Transmorphers, but back in the 1970s and 80s, it was often an Italian film producer turning out some product or marketing campaign superficially similar to the latest hit and Contamination is a perfect example of this. It was sold as a clone of Alien, and although they both share some roots in 1950s sci-fi movies, unlike Ridley Scott's film, Contamination fails to expand much on the template, making for a bloody but boring viewing experience.

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Review: Horrors of Malformed Men (1969)

Horrors of Malformed Men poster

Banned for decades in its native Japan, director Teruo Ishii's Horrors of Malformed Men is considered a landmark of Japanese horror, in particular the "Ero guro" (erotic-grotesque) genre, which combines horror with bizarre sexuality. Based off the literary works of author Edogawa Rampo, Horrors of Malformed Men is a surreal, psychedelic fever-dream of a movie, where logic and neat, tidy story progression are set aside in favor of a more dream-like atmosphere. While decades of increasingly extreme horror movies, both from Japan and elsewhere, have muted the film's shock value, it remains a uniquely bizarre film. (read more...)

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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