vintage

Special effects may be lacking, but vintage horror films still manage to keep our palms sweating and blood pumping; a look back at retro horror films, stories, books and characters that prove everything is scarier in black and white.

Fright Night (1984)
Charlie Brewster (William Ragsdale) has a problem. His next-door neighbor, the suave, sophisticated, and undoubtedly wealthy antique dealer Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon) is a vampire. He lives with a huge, lumbering manservant (Jonathan Stark), and Charlie sees him carrying what looks to be a coffin out from their creepy Adams Family-style home to the waiting van outside. All this while watching his favorite creature feature host, Peter Vincent (the late Roddy McDowall) on "Fright Night," host bad vampire movies while trying to get some nookie from his girlfriend Amy (a young Amanda Bearse).
By Tom Baker3 years ago in Horror
Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)
Produced and directed by a fertilizer salesman, Manos: The Hands of Fate is a film so lacking in any merit, that, to attribute to it the designation of being an actual film in the traditional sense may be overstating things. It's more like an absurd fever dream experienced after eating a heavy Mexican dinner.
By Tom Baker3 years ago in Horror
Bloodfreak! (aka Blood Freak!)
Blood Freak (or maybe Bloodfreak!) is a movie so wretchedly, abysmally awful it should be in a Museum of the Celluloid Atrocities. It's essentially a movie about a biker (director/ producer "Steve Hawkes" who looks like the bastard offspring of Johnny Cash and Elvis) who goes to a party with some freewheeling hippie chick, gets a lecture from her born-again sister, gets a job at a "poultry farm" (I thought those were mainly for chickens, but all we see are turkeys, which seems somehow appropriate, given this picture) and then eats a turkey or chicken meal wrapped in aluminum that causes him to hallucinate he has a giant bird's head. (I'm not making this shit up. Go, watch the film, and see for yourself.)
By Tom Baker3 years ago in Horror
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Halloween is fast approaching. Arrive it will, like a stereotypical witch on a broomstick, in just a few days. I've taken the liberty to revisit a few cinematic friends this month. One of them being the masterful Phantom of the Opera (1925), a definitive adaptation of the Gaston LeRoux gothic mystery classic, made in 1925, silent, and starring the late, great Lon Chaney Sr., the "Man of a Thousand Faces."
By Tom Baker3 years ago in Horror
51 Crow Street
Crow Street was Misty's favorite street. It was long and swerved like a snake as you drove along it. There were fields along the sides, while big barns and houses stood beside them. Rolls of hay covered the fields on one side while the other faced the water, laying out imagery so beautiful that people stopped to paint there quite often. At night it looked mesmerizing. There were barely any street lights so that you could see each of the stars above us. They twinkled in the night so bright you could see them over your headlights.
By M3 years ago in Horror
At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul!
At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul! Is reputedly the first "horror film" produced in Brazil ( beyond maybe some snuff porno loops produced by organized crime and bandied about in urban legends). It's the product of one José Mojica Marins, a.k.a., the legendary "Coffin Joe," a horror filmmaker of no small repute in his homeland, who has been the subject of countless films, television programs, comic books, songs, you name it.
By Tom Baker3 years ago in Horror
The Most Terrifying Paranormal Cases That Will Keep You Up Late at Night
In this day and age, there is no shortage of things that go bump in the night. Thanks to the internet and all the interesting information we have at our fingertips, it’s possible to learn about creepy things and strange phenomena almost any time you want. Some cultures have ghost stories passed down through generations, while others have people who claim they’ve had an encounter with something they can’t explain. The world is full of intriguing paranormal activity, but some stories are more terrifying than others. There are so many books and movies about paranormal activities that it can be hard to keep track of them all. There are frightening tales about sinister spirits lurking in hotels and spooky houses, vampires who stalk isolated individuals at night, and demons from another dimension preying on helpless humans. As such, we’ve put together a list of some of the most chilling accounts of real-life horror that will keep you up at night for months to come.
By PP3 years ago in Horror
In the Flesh
Ligiea is a fantom woman, a fantasy; a reanimated spirit, reincarnate to torment the opium-addled Unnamed Narrator with the supernal vision of perfect love. She is exceptional in every way; her voice, "low and musical," her forehead and pallor pale and pretty as porcelain, a nose of aquiline and delicate proportions, the likes of which the Unnamed Narrator has seen "only among the Hebrews." Even her reading and her studies are beyond what one would expect of a woman of the era.
By Tom Baker3 years ago in Horror
The Black Cat (1966)
One thing I'll say about the 1966 sleazoid film version of Poe's "The Black Cat" is that it doesn't deviate from the source material one iota. Since I dreamed last night of a woman transforming into said cat, and vice versa (I also dreamed I was eating rotten fish), I knew that, since I saw her transform and there seemed to be a movie poster behind her, that, well, I had to get right up and WATCH THAT MOVIE. And review. (Note: This is the kind of film, distributed by the same company, that Sandra Bernhard use to show, on her USA late-night extravaganza of monster, nudie, and cult film clips "Reel Wild Cinema." I'm not sure, but she may have even shown this particular film.)
By Tom Baker3 years ago in Horror
The Top Creature Films You Need to See
"Frankenstein" (1931) (Gene pick) The Frankenstein monster is one of the most recognizable characters in all of horror, subject of countless cartoons, films, comic books, and films. This was not the first movie adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel, but it is the most imitated, and most successful, and it made actor Boris Karloff an instant star.
By Gene Lass3 years ago in Horror
Goblin Bites: Scary Stories 15
There was one story I heard a long time ago, that I honestly don't know really happened or not. It is a very sad story, to begin with, but I will try to do it justice and recount it to the best of my memory. You have been warned, and I will not judge you should you decide to stop reading here. For those more curious souls, I will continue.
By Natalie Gray3 years ago in Horror
The Elephant Man (The Stage Play)
When I was a child I threw the tantrum of all tantrums because I didn't want to watch the stage play of The Elephant Man on television. I think the year may have been 1982.
By Tom Baker3 years ago in Horror