Classic-Horror.com | Reviewing the History of Horror Movies

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!

Review: Prom Night (1980)

Submitted by Nate Yapp on Wed, 2001-08-01 01:01

As a horror reviewer, it is often difficult to maintain an objective, passive eye, due to the inherently emotional nature of the genre. Prom Night made my job easy, by being just average enough to be unengaging and just decent enough as to not be a total bore.(read more...)

Universal Terror VI: Werewolves and Ravens

Submitted by Jake Tucker on Wed, 2001-08-01 00:00

Universal studio's next horror film after Bride of Frankenstein was Werewolf of London, directed by Stuart Walker. The film was the first film dealing with Lycanthropy made by a major studio. The film follows Dr. Glendon (Henry Hull), who is bitten by a strange animal while in Tibet. In Tibet, he obtains the mariphasa lupina, a flower which only blooms under the moon. When Dr. Glendon returns to England the mysterious Dr. Yogami (Warner Oland) warns him that there are two werewolves in London right now. Yogami tells Glendon that the mariphasa is the only known cure for werewolfism. Dr, Yogami also warns him that a werewolf, instinctively kills what he loves the most.(read more...)

Review: Kwaidan (1964)

Submitted by Nate Yapp on Wed, 2001-07-25 00:00

Unless you have a great independent video store, it's going to be difficult to find Japanese masterpiece Kwaidan for rental. Not to worry, though. It is available to buy from many Internet stores, and for a film this grand, purchase is almost necessary. As a film that transcends its cultural barrier to become a horror film for the international community, Kwaidan is a must-have component of a serious collector's cache
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Review: The Haunting (1999)

Submitted by Brandt Sponseller on Tue, 2001-07-24 01:00

The conventional wisdom among the self-appointed horror literati is that compared to the 1963 Robert Wise film of the same name, the 1999 Jan de Bont remake of The Haunting amounts to so much computer effects garbage. As might not surprise anyone familiar with my reviews, I have a perverse, natural tendency to disagree with the self-appointed literati--blame it on whatever you’d like. In my opinion, the 1999 film blows the 1963 one out of the water from just about every possible aspect we can examine.(read more...)

Review: The Prowler (1981)

Submitted by Aaron Edgell on Tue, 2001-07-24 00:00

Every sub-genre in horror has had its "golden years". For every type of horror movie, there has been one time, be it an entire decade or just a couple of years, when it was at its peak of both quality and popularity. In the 1980s, the slasher was definitely number one. Not only were these movies extremely popular, they were also very well made. Sure, like with anything else, there are a fair share of duds, but not nearly as many as you'd think after listening to critics and even some horror fans bash this type of film. There are some truly great slashers around and you would be doing yourself a disservice as a fright film fan to dismiss them without a look.(read more...)

Review: Silver Bullet (1985)

Submitted by Brandt Sponseller on Mon, 2001-07-23 01:01

Based on Stephen King's novella "Cycle of the Werewolf," Silver Bullet merges Stephen King's distinctive American style of horror with werewolf mythology and a wonderful twist in a film slightly marred by the too-often-present King project low-budget woes, but blessed with lots of skill and good fortune, as well.(read more...)

Review: Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)

Submitted by Aaron Edgell on Fri, 2001-07-06 00:00

Well, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter wasn’t the worst entry in the series by a long shot and, in my opinion, it would have been a great place to end the series. Unfortunately, The Final Chapter wasn’t the last word and even for a big Friday fan like me, A New Beginning is a tough movie to love. It isn’t impossible to enjoy this movie and there are some funny over-the-top characters here that are fun to watch, but everything just doesn’t click. All the elements that make up a Friday the 13th movie are here, in one form or another. You’ve got your psycho in a hockey mask, some horny teens, colorful locals, and the largest body count in the series to date.(read more...)

Review: Hell Night (1981)

Submitted by Brandt Sponseller on Fri, 2001-07-06 00:00

Hell Night loses points for its non-enjoyable kind of low-budget cheesiness, and teeters on losing more for a series of stupid plot moves designed to perpetuate its slasher-oriented existence. I say teeters, because almost inexplicably, director Tom DeSimone (aka Lancer Brooks), whose oeuvre consists mostly of porno and exploitation films, manages to periodically create these fantastic, atmospheric shots.(read more...)

Review: The Fly (1958)

Submitted by Brandt Sponseller on Sun, 2001-07-01 01:01

I know there’s a whole camp, comprised primarily of the folks who’d say that House of Dracula blows Ravenous out of the water when it comes to horror, who think the 1958 version of The Fly is a masterpiece and the 1986 version is so much garbage on celluloid. Obviously, I’m not in that camp. I think that they’re both masterpieces.(read more...)

Universal Terror V: "Bride of Frankenstein"

Submitted by Jake Tucker on Sun, 2001-07-01 00:00

In 1935, Universal Studios made their next horror spectacular, the sequel to Frankenstein titled Bride of Frankenstein. It is considered by many to be the greatest horror film ever produced by Universal. A prologue featuring Mary Shelley (Elsa Lanchester), Percy Shelley (Douglas Walton), and Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon) starts the film. The story picks up right at the end of Frankenstein, at the burning windmill. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) is brought back to Frankenstein manor and the monster (Boris Karloff) climbs from the ashes of the windmill.(read more...)