40 Classic Books Every Horror Buff Should Read

With its visceral, primal, and psychological imagery, horror-themed media attracts just as many slavish devotees as it does squeamish detractors, and has for centuries. Though attitudes change across time, culture, and geography (and, along with them, narrative devices), horror’s core always remains the same. The most successful examples channel internal and external anxieties — many of them universal — and kick them right back to their readers with nauseating accuracy. Read more …

A Halloween Horror Wallpaper: Darkness Bleeding Child

A Halloween Horror Wallpaper: Darkness Bleeding Child / The imagery surrounding Halloween is largely an amalgamation of the Halloween season itself, works of Gothic and horror literature, in particular novels Frankenstein and Dracula, and nearly a century of work from American filmmakers and graphic artists, and British Hammer Horror productions, also a rather commercialized take on the dark and mysterious. Halloween imagery tends to involve death, evil, the occult, magic, or mythical monsters. Traditional characters include the Devil, the Grim Reaper, ghosts, ghouls, demons, witches, pumpkin-men, goblins, vampires, werewolves, martians, zombies, mummies, pirates, skeletons, black cats, spiders, bats, owls, crows, and vultures.

The REAL Monsters of Halloween: Dracula and Vampires

These enduring characters have a fascinating basis in real life
By Stephen Wagner.

THINK OF HALLOWEEN and your mind conjures images of ghosts, vampires, witches and monsters. Our modern versions of them have largely been crafted by popular literature and, more influentially, the movies. But like many fantastic characters of myth and lore, they have a basis in reality.

Sometimes the true stories of these creatures that haunt our imaginations are just as weird and amazing as their fictional incarnations:

DRACULA / VAMPIRES

Today’s vampire persona - the elegant blood-sucking creature of the night - comes primarily from Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, published in 1897. Stoker’s story, in turn, was based loosely on the real-life Vlad Dracula (1431-1476), a prince who actually did live in Transylvania in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania. The name Dracula is derived from a Romanian word that means “devil” or dragon.” Obviously, Vlad Dracula was not a vampire, but Stoker undoubtedly used the historical figure as the basis of his vampire story because of Vlad’s bloodthirsty style of dealing with those who opposed him. A Brief History About the Dracul states: “Vlad’s brutal manner of terrorizing his enemies and the seemingly arbitrary manner in which he had people punished earned him the nickname ‘Tepes’ or ‘the Impaler,’ the common name by which he is known today. Stories of Vlad’s cruelties were circulating through Europe. His end came at the hand of an assassin at some point toward the end of December 1476 or early January 1477.”

The legend of the vampire predates Bram Stoker and even Vlad the Impaler. Vampires Thru the Ages traces them back to 1047 and a document referring to a Russian Prince as “Upir Lichy” or Wicked Vampire. A century later, Walter Map’s De Nagis Curialium includes accounts of vampire-like beings in England. Waves of vampire hysteria swept through Prussia and Hungary in the 1700s, fueled perhaps by disease, ignorance and maybe a psychotic serial killer or two.

The tradition of the vampire has been firmly established into our modern culture by Hollywood, television and the highly popular novels of Anne Rice and others.

Two Counts: Chocula Attacks - Halloween Video

Dracula tries to get some blood, while his half brother Chocula tries to get some chocolate. Read more …

Horror Characters by rkw0021 (Horror Picture)

Horror Characters by rkw0021 (Horror Picture)

Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, Candyman, Dracula, Pinkhead, Michael Jackson (from Thriller), Jigsaw, The Creeper, Scream, Chucky, Rawhead Rex, Hannibal Lecter, Toshio (from The Grudge), Samara (from The Ring), Pennywise (It), Alien, Predator, Ash, Goblin Truck, Christine, Nemesis, Pyramid Head, Jack Torrance, Norman Bates, Blade, Leechs Woman, Pinkhead, Jester, Tunneler,  Torch, Six-Shooter, Wolf Man, Nosferatu, Frankenstein, Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, Zuul, Slimer, Vigo The Carpathian, Jimmy Bones, Leprechaun, Audrey II, Cryptkeeper, Cujo, Shaun, Blade, Jack Skellington, Sally Ragdoll, Oogie Boogie

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Step Aside, Vincent Price! Anthony Hopkins Is King of the Creepshow

Sir Anthony Hopkins, esteemed master of the British stage, Oscar winner, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, horror star… yes, you read that right. Horror star. The Welsh-born Hopkins may not have the intimidating genre resume of fellow Brits Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, but his creepshow cred was formidable long before he made a cultural touchstone of Dr. Lecter’s slyly chilling account of eating that pesky census taker’s liver with “some fava beans and a nice chianti.”

And here’s the kicker: In a movie career littered with forgettable TV pictures, ill-advised remakes and bills-to-pay junk like Shortcut to Happiness (you know, the notorious Devil and Daniel Webster reimagining that starred living blow-up doll Jennifer Love Hewitt as Ms. Satan) and the scifi thriller Freejack, Hopkins’ horror movies have been a pretty classy bunch.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Why beat around the bush? Hopkins gave the genre a new icon with psycho shrink Hannibal “the cannibal” Lecter. Yeah, it’s a meaty role, but an old-school frightmeister like Vincent Price would have delivered lines like, “Good evening, Clarice” with campy relish, while Hopkins’ dry, whispery tones make it the sound of pure evil. No matter that fellow-Celt Brian Cox originated the role in Michael Mann’s Manhunter (1986): Hopkins owned it. The Silence of the Lambs was a perfect storm of A-list talent, but would it have scooped up five top-tier Oscars — including best picture, best director for Jonathan Demme and best actress for Jodie Foster — without Hopkins’ insinuatingly malevolent performance? Well, the last horror movie to rack up comparable nominations was The Exorcist — ten to Lambs’ seven — and it only won two.

Back-to-back follow ups Hannibal (2001) and Red Dragon (2002), a remake of Manhunter, were little more than showcases for the bad doctor’s devilish appeal, but no matter. Dr. Lecter’s place in the monster pantheon is secure. Read more …

31 Days of Halloween 31 Movies To Watch by raining_helper

I am not one to prepare a list for viewing, but like last year I will try to cram as many horror films I haven’t seen before into the month of October.

I was able to see 65 new films last year (with a total of 75 watched). I don’t think I will be able to watch that many again this year, but I definitely have enough unwatched DVDs laying around my house to pull it off. 

I will just update this post as I begin watching films.

October 1st
1. Child’s Play (1988)**
2. Child’s Play 2 (1990)
3. Child’s Play 3 (1991)**
4. Bride of Chucky (1998)**
5. Seed of Chucky (2004)** Read more …