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!

February 2007 DVD Preview

Submitted by Nate Yapp on Tue, 2007-02-06 01:00

Welcome to a special edition of the Haunted Newsreel, sponsored (for we must all eat) by Anchor Bay Entertainment's upcoming discs for Masters of Horror: Pelts, Devil's Den, and Night of the Living Dorks. In this installment, we'll be dishing information on the joyful cornucopia of Region 1 DVD releases heading down the pike in February 2007.(read more...)

Review: An American Haunting (2005)

Submitted by Chris Justice on Wed, 2007-01-31 00:57

Former U.S. President Andrew Jackson once stated he would rather face the entire British army than spend one night in the Bell house. While that’s a resounding endorsement of the Bell Witch’s creepiness, a real-life, well-documented ghost that haunted the Bell family from Red River, Tennessee between 1817 and 1821, it says nothing about the film. And believe me, Jackson wouldn’t want to face that mess either.(read more...)

Review: The Sadist (1963)

Submitted by Robert Ring on Thu, 2007-01-18 22:36

"I have been hurt by others. And I will hurt them. I will make them suffer like I have suffered." Thus begins The Sadist, horror cinema's best-kept secret. After Charlie's opening lines, a narrator (uncredited producer Arch Hall, Sr., actually) speaks for a moment. He explains the goal of sadists: "to inflict moral insanity on the innocent," and that is exactly what the film itself does. It takes three epitomical Americans -- middle-class teachers on their way to a baseball game -- and utterly destroys them. And there's nothing that can be done about it.(read more...)

Review: Mad Love (1935)

Submitted by Nate Yapp on Mon, 2007-01-15 19:56

Mad Love is a curiosity of 1930s Hollywood horror. Rather than a tale of a monster on the loose or of a mad scientist with a lust for glory, Mad Love is about a man at loose ends and a mad man who happens to be a scientist. It isn't that some of the movie's themes are sexual; the film dives head-first into the sea of sexual desire and the destruction that occurs when it is sublimated and perverted.(read more...)

Review: The Devil Bat (1940)

Submitted by Robert Ring on Wed, 2007-01-10 22:39

If this movie didn’t have Bela Lugosi in it, it would probably have disappeared long ago. Lucky for it, Lugosi plays a central albeit only functional role, so it is sure to be viewed at least once by anyone looking for lesser known Lugosi films, or old horror films in general. That one viewing, though, is probably all it will get from most people who do give it a chance. The Devil Bat is a generic yet charming piece of classic horror, good for casual viewing.(read more...)

Review: The Innocents (1961)

Submitted by Julia Merriam on Mon, 2007-01-08 22:42

It's interesting to think that, with over a century of movie-monster history, one of the scariest creatures to grace the screen is still nothing more than a small child. Despite leaps and bounds in make-up and special effects, the sound of a young girl's voice singing a few haunting lyrics is still more than enough to send shivers up the spine. The Innocents demonstrates that with the proper atmosphere and a good story, children can be creepy little buggers.
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Review: Torture Ship (1939)

Submitted by Robert Ring on Sat, 2006-12-23 01:00

Some films set you up for a real treat, but the execution falls flat. This one sets us up and kicks us in the groin. And don’t let the title fool you — no torture here, unless you count the film itself.(read more...)

Review: Hard Candy (2005)

Submitted by Robert Ring on Tue, 2006-12-12 01:00

Amid grief-inducing torture films like Hostel and Wolf Creek, and, on a much different part of the map, NBC’s ever-so-entertaining child predator stings on To Catch a Predator came the release of Hard Candy, a feel-good torture flick for the whole family, one you don’t have to feel bad about watching because its sadism is worked upon that member of society we all despise the most — the pedophile — and because its violence is mostly off-screen. An interesting premise(read more...)

Review: Feast (2005)

Submitted by Robert Ring on Wed, 2006-11-15 00:00

This movie starts and ends faster than anything I have seen in a while. This means two things: 1. it has a breathtaking pace, and 2. it is pretty short, which, in this case, is not so much a flaw as it is a shame. It simply runs out of gas because it spends the whole time in overdrive. Feast, John Gulager’s debut film as a director, is clearly inspired by The Evil Dead (which, remember, also has a short runtime) and is surprisingly worthy of the comparison. It is more than just a copycat, however, and that fusion of the proven and the new is what makes this film work. (read more...)

Review: Deathdream (1974)

Submitted by Chris Justice on Mon, 2006-11-13 01:00

Known originally as Dead of Night but released in America as Deathdream, Bob Clark’s second foray into zombie cinema is an engaging, well invested 88 minutes of thrills, technical artistry, and provocative social commentary about the Vietnam War.

Clark’s early career essentially started with three horror flicks: the zombie films Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things (1972) and Deathdream and the slasher classic Black Christmas. In the late 1970s, he turned to crime dramas with Breaking Point and Murder by Decree. By the early 1980s, his comedies Porky’s, Porky’s II, and the iconic A Christmas Story earned him an office in CinephileLand. Not withstanding that eclectic run, it’s Clark’s early work in horror that put him on the map.(read more...)