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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As Sure as His Name's Boris Karloff, It's a "Thriller" on DVD

Boris Karloff's Thriller on DVD

While it's been swirling around the rumor mills for the past six months, a press release on Friday made it official: Image Entertainment will be releasing the complete series of Boris Karloff's seminal horror/mystery anthology Thriller on DVD on August 31, 2010. The show ran for 60 episodes over two seasons from 1960 to 1962. Boris Karloff hosted each episode and acted in a few of the stories as well. One episode, "Pigeons from Hell," made our list of great episodes of television horror. The full press release (courtesy of Tom Weaver posting at the Classic Horror Film Board) is below:(read more...)

Cold Reads: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde book

Deep in the impenetrable mist, a beast cries out in the night, a cry that is longing for release and raging to quench a thirst that can only be satiated in the misery of others. This is the scene taking place both in the streets of London and in the tortured soul of Henry Jekyll in Robert Louis Stevenson's horror classic. Within a mere 87 pages, Stevenson takes us on a journey that we are likely never to forget, even after years of reading his beautiful words.(read more...)

Happy 80th Birthday, Jesus Franco

Jesus Franco

Put up the banners and bring out the cake! Prolific and oft-misunderstood genre auteur Jesus Franco, the man behind The Awful Dr. Orlof, The Diabolical Dr. Z, Venus in Furs, and Vampyros Lesbos, becomes an octagenarian today. In his eighty years of life, he's directed nearly 200 films, often writing, acting, and composing the musical score as well. Sure, he's reviled as a hack in some circles, but a number of critics (including the inestimable Tim Lucas) have also sung his praises. You can count me among his fans, as well. His films are like free-form jazz, played by a distractable genius who hasn't discovered Ritalin yet -- and I mean that as praise. There are moments, sublime moments, in some of Franco's films that simply cannot be found with any other director. He's a treasure and I'm happy to hear that he's still going. Feliz cumpleaños, Jesus.

The Fruit Cellar: The Many-Gendered Faces of Leatherface

Leatherface in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

There is really nothing I like more on a chilly, rainy evening than sitting down with some of my best pals. Of course, as these pals usually consist of murderers and madmen, I like to keep them safely trapped on screen. They wield knives and axes and machetes and chainsaws from the safety of the little box that sits atop my chest of drawers. I sit on the bed directly across from them shivering-just a little-in my oh-so-jaded boots. There aren't a lot of films that can actually make me shiver in these old boots, but when I find one, I hold on for dear life. I make sure the experience of watching is sacred, and I don't mess around with those little brats who laugh through some Fulci-style ocular terror. (read more...)

Cold Reads: Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Frankenstein novel

Out of all the novels up for examination this month, Frankenstein, penned by 19-year-old Mary Shelley, has been critiqued, studied, and anatomically dissected (no pun intended) by literary analysts big and small. Everything that could have possibly been discussed already has been... and then was discussed some more. Therefore, it is somewhat intimidating for a meager blogger such as myself to delve into the multiple complexities and interpretations that arise from this landmark in horror and the world of literature as a whole without repeating things that have already been said. But there is a thunderous rumbling in the sky that urges me forward and compels me to continue in my dark studies. So with the eagerness of the devoted student of midnight, I will compile together a creature that will hopefully be more appealing to the eye than Shelley's tragic monster.(read more...)

Cold Reads: The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

Castle of Otranto

When one makes an outlandish claim such as the chicken came before the egg or that it was Elvis who put the bop in shop-bop-a-loo-bop, one should expect to be met with a torrent of verbal venom and rotten produce. Saying that The Castle of Otranto is the very first horror novel in literature history seems like a claim that would receive a similarly warm reaction. Generally regarded as the first Gothic novel, I believe that by extension this book must have had a good amount of influence on the genre as a whole and helped shape the foundation of horror. While most definitely not perfect, Otranto serves as a nice little history lesson in terror. Like they say, it all had to start somewhere...(read more...)

The Terrorphile: Sometimes We Come Back

The Terrorphile (Fade to Black)

Did you miss us? It's been six long months but Classic-Horror.com is back from hiatus. In that time, I got married, was promoted at my "real job," started writing a book, stopped writing a book (note that I didn't say "finished"), and spent more time than is reasonable fiddling around in Final Cut Express.

I'm happy to say that the primary goal of the hiatus was definitely met: I was able to take some time to consider the whys and wherefores of the site and what makes it work. In the future, we'll be more focused on the history of horror (as our banner promises). This includes three new regular columns: (read more...)

Cold Reads: Psycho by Robert Bloch

Psycho by Robert Bloch

When Classic-Horror.com returns from its hiatus in May, we'll be featuring a number of regular columns tracking different aspects of the horror genre. Here's a preview of one such column, Jose Cruz's study of horror in literature, Cold Reads. 

"Norman Bates heard the noise and a shock went through him." And so begins this timeless tale, a story that is guaranteed to send a few jolts of nervousness through your veins as well. Overshadowed by its celluloid counterpart, Psycho the book has all the creeping chills of the movie along with the great privilege of having Mr. Robert Bloch to guide us through the long, dark corridors of both the Bates house and the minds of its inhabitants.(read more...)

2010 Rondo Nominees Announced -- Classic-Horror.com Nominated

Rondo Awards

Nominations for the Eight Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards were announced last night on the rondoaward.com website and the Classic Horror Film Board. The purpose of the Rondos is to recognize "the best in monster research, creativity and film preservation." Classic-Horror.com is proud to be a nominee in the category of Best Website. Praise goes out to all of our hard-working writers who helped make 2009 one of our best years ever.(read more...)

Interview: June Lockhart on "She-Wolf of London"

June Lockhart #1

"Would you let me interview you about She-Wolf of London?" I asked the always charming and ebullient June Lockhart.

"Yes!" she answered immediately.

"And, in preparation for the interview, can I get you to watch the movie?"

One Mississippi. Two Mississippi. Three Mississippi. Four Mississippi. Five Mississippi.

"...Yyyyes..." came the 21st-century-to-date's most hesitant acquiescence.

Well, who can blame her? Universal's monster movie makers weren’t exactly covering themselves with glory at the end of the studio's legendary 1931-46 cycle of fright flicks, and this tale of "werewolf attacks" in a turn-of-the-century London park is related with minimum novelty or quality. Twenty-year-old Lockhart stars as Phyllis Allenby, the last descendant of an aristocratic family that was once cursed by wolves, and begins to suspect that in her sleep, under the spell of the curse, she rises as a werewolf and terrorizes the foggy park.(read more...)

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