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!

Many Happy Returns: Our Final Post

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Date
06-15-2012
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Tales from the Crypt poster
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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.

Eight years later, the boy is a teenager. His interest in horror has waned, but he still has his books and VHS tapes. A paper he writes for English class on the history of horror films reignites his long-dormant passion for the subject. That summer, he makes a basic page on his personal homepage extolling the virtues of his favorite horror films. He calls it "Classic Horror", because every horror website he's seen seems to be concerned with Freddy and Jason and he wants a site for Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Wolf Man, for Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, and Christopher Lee, for James Whale, Roger Corman, and Terence Fisher.

Thirteen years later, the site that teenager created is... well, this. And I am that teenager, now an adult, for want of a better word. And I couldn't be happier or prouder of what eventually became Classic-Horror.com. It's been my baby and the one constant throughout my adult life. It's given me so many great experiences, not to mention enough stress to crack a brain in half. I sought -- once I figured out what I wanted -- to build a place where intelligent discussion of classic and obscure horror films could flourish. Even bearing in mind the occasions I wandered from that goal (usually to try to make the site more ubiquitous, somehow), I think it's a success.

Now it's time to go. Thirteen years is a long time. I've repeated that sentence so many times in the last few months when people ask me why we'll no longer be updating Classic-Horror.com. It is mostly true or true enough, really. I want to work on other projects or maybe just enjoy the additional free time. I also have some personal reasons for not continuing on, but they will remain personal.

As a final farewell, I have put together another one of my video compilations in a separate post.

Classic-Horror.com is not something accomplished by a single person, not by a long shot. I have many, many people to thank. Since there's no band to play me off, here we go:

This site flourished the most when it was co-stewarded with Julia Merriam, my stalwart Managing Deaditor. Without her, the site wouldn't be half of what it is today.

Much as I think of Classic-Horror as my baby, it really wouldn't be possible without the incredible stable of writers who have worked on it over the years. I've told most of them this at some point, but my overwhelming gratitude goes out to Chris Justice, Robert Ring, Jason Jones, Brandt Sponseller, Dracula's Guest, Jenn Dlugos, Eric Miller, Jose Cruz, Simon Powell, Timothy J. Rush, John Dubrawa, Rob Wrigley, Dana Gravesen, Joseph Maddrey, Dellamorte, Jake Tucker, Kevin Nickelson, Aaron Edgell, Tom Fallows, Bruce Jordan, Matt Mulcahey, Emily Langton, Chris Gaskey, Spooky Steve, Matt Majeski, Chrissy Derbyshire, Rich Dishman, Shaughn Ander, John W. Bowen, Thomas E. Richardson, Nathan Sturm, Missy Yearian and dozens more who contributed to the voice of the site over the years.

Also huge thanks to Mom, who read every review I ever wrote and Dad, who lent me his credit card so I could buy the domain name. Thanks to my sister, Xoe, for putting up with me when I hogged the phone line to check my stats incessantly. Thanks to my spouse, Ereon, who helped me redesign the site despite disliking horror movies.

Thank you to friends of the site Tim Lucas, Tom Weaver, Andrea Beesley, Craig Byrne, Tenebrous Kate, John Kenneth Muir, John Cozzoli and the fine folks of the League of Tana Tea Drinkers, Mark Shostrom, Zombie Keeper, Josh Tyler, and David Colton.

Thanks to the amazing team of friends who, when the site's servers crashed in 2008 and all of our recent backups were corrupted, combed through the search engine caches for five months of lost data.

Finally, thank you to our readers, whether you've been following us for thirteen years or three days. You made all of this worth doing.

Classic-Horror.com will remain online as an archive for as long as I can afford to maintain it. Even as it fades out of relevance, it will still be a resource, hopefully. Be sure to read our final review, a look at 1933's The Vampire Bat.

It has been my pleasure to review the history of horror these past thirteen years and I look forward to seeing what the next thirteen years of my life bring.

Best of luck to you and keep watching scary movies.

It's a sad for horror

It's a sad for horror journalism. Thanks for all you've done over the years. Thirteen years is indeed a long time, but I hope you enjoyed the journey as much as we, your readers, did.

Best wishes,
-j.

 

Nate--- Your written tribute

Nate---

Your written tribute and video were very moving...and this transition has to be very difficult for you...like finishing raising a child and saying "I've done just about all I can do now". Yet you must carry a great pride for what you accomplished through your blood (!), sweat and (your own) money...

On behalf of so many of us who grew up in the generations before you, we can't thank you enough for reviving memories of hoping that our date would have an excuse to grab on to us or hold our hand...or the many arguments of what was "the scariest part"...or our appreciation of the "acting" that really made those classic films before CGI...

On behalf of a generation, thanks. 

Charlie D  

I just stumbled on this web

I just stumbled on this web page--barely in time to say hello and goodbye. Looks like there's a hell of an archive for me to sort through here, all the same. Best of luck in your post-Classic-Horror.com life, Nate.

Thanks again for all the fine

Thanks again for all the fine work. I shall dearly miss the updates. Nice to see another Midwesterner who was raised on AMC's Monsterfest. 

Thank you, Charlie. You

Thank you, Charlie. You perfectly captured the things that I made this site to celebrate.

"He went for a little walk! You should have seen his face!"

Paul -- it should take you

Paul -- it should take you quite some time to work through it all. When you're done here, you may want to peruse through the League of Tana Tea Drinkers to find another horror obsessive site.

"He went for a little walk! You should have seen his face!"

We've lost a good one folks.

We've lost a good one folks. This was one of the sites that inspired me to set up my own.

Just discovered this

Just discovered this site...sad to see it is not being updated any longer  :(

- Scary Girl

when i started reading this,

when i started reading this, i thought you were discribing me! but i love fx better than enything. i llooovvveee, lon cane cr. for his self- make-up, i also love si-fi, like metropolis!!!

sorry to hear about your

sorry to hear about your decision. Just found you today. a very enjoyable ride. all the best in the future

 

It's been an overwhelming

It's been an overwhelming privilege not only to have had this site in my life, but also to have been a part of its rich history (miniscule though that role was). With the internet being the fickle place it is, it was always refreshing and reassuring to know that C-H was still around. Even though the site is once again entering a period of dormancy (because a part of me will always refuse to believe that it'll ever be dead), I will always use it as my go-to resource for all my classic horror needs.

Nate, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I could go on until I'd said enough "thank yous", but I'd never finish.

Chris, good to see you here,

Chris, good to see you here, buddy! I am overwhelmed by your thanks. Thank YOU for being a part of this.

I wouldn't hold our breath on our return, though. If I do return to the world of websites, it'll be with something new. Then again, never say never.

 

"He went for a little walk! You should have seen his face!"

Nate, while I totally

Nate, while I totally understand your reasons for calling it quits with this amazing website, you will definitely be missed! I never once commented, but Classic Horror has been one of my go-to review sites for at least seven years, probably longer. I even recently looked up all of the Hammer films that played on TCM last week, and as always, found exactly what I was looking for: informative, entertaining and knowledgable writing about classic horror films (and I love the newer film reviews as well).

A huge thanks to you and all that contributed over the years! I will continue to use CH as a resource, and wish you a very happy future in whatever you do. And I'll be watching, just in case you come back!

Thanks for the kind words,

Thanks for the kind words, Steven. I won't rule out a return, even in a very different form, but it may be a long while off.

"He went for a little walk! You should have seen his face!"

I do hope if the site is to

I do hope if the site is to be pulled due to lack of funds, you'll try and raise them. I know I can contribute towards a year's hosting.

Thanks Andrew. It's unlikely

Thanks Andrew. It's unlikely we'll be down due to funds anytime soon. The cost of keeping this site up and running is negligible at the moment. I imagine the site will be up and running, even as an archive, for a long time to come.

"He went for a little walk! You should have seen his face!"

Will be waiting for your book

Will be waiting for your book to come out...

 

All the best in whatever you do!

Hello Nate! Thank you for all

Hello Nate! Thank you for all you have done for horror journalism with this 30 year job.

It will be our pleasure to offer you 10% discount for a Vampire in Transylvania - Dracula Tour this year in June 8 or for the tour from October - with the Halloween departure. Please drop me an email if interested and we will provide you a discount voucher for you. You can use it or make a gift to someone. Let us know. Thank you again!

Sad to see this site gone.

Sad to see this site gone. Was coming to this site long before I became a member. And Iremember the forum too when you used to have it, was a member there also. I do hope this place comes back.

Very sad read it. Cool site.

Very sad read it. Cool site. Was...

...but You did a great job

...but You did a great job here. Thank you for all!

Nate,         Great to hear

Nate,

         Great to hear about the new book! My birthday is in January so this may be perfect timing. I am writing reviews for a British site now, but I still miss Classic-Horror.com.

Best,

Rich Dishman