Visceral Visionaries: Krystal Fancey Beck

Our irregular look at artists throughout the universe of horror returns this time around with a gifted illustrator who has truly made the most of her prodigious talents, channeling them into the creation of all manner of chilling chotchkies. Nova Scotia's own Krystal Fancey Beck launched The Zombified in 2006, and uses the website to showcase, promote and merchandise the many kinds of items featuring her unique artwork. These items include anything from T-shirts and posters, to buttons and even comic books.

The Houston transplant was kind enough to speak to The Vault of Horror recently about her many endeavors...

You describe yourself as having been a "serial artist". Explain.
As an artist, I've experimented in a wide variety of artistic mediums--pencil, charcoal, paint (and again, gone through a variety of paint types: acrylic, oil, watercolor, etc.), and of course my main love, ink. Furthermore, I've ventured into photography, website & graphic design, sewing, writing, a bit of sculpture... pretty much everything! Hell, I even dance--though I still haven't got the guts to perform. Basically, if it's creative, I have, or have had, an interest.

What items were the first you created?
For The Zombified? Well, I started working on the Hallowhaus comic before I'd actually planned on doing art as a career, but I think the Halloween scene is the oldest design I have prints of available through The Zombified.

Which are you the most proud of?
I'm proud of myself for not giving up on the comic after a couple of pages! I'm easily distracted, and that thing's a lot of work. That aside, I'm usually most pround of whatever I've most recently completed, though I'm not sure if it's because I'm evolving as an artist, or if it's just because I've had less time to pick out all the flaws.

Why do you feel that drawing in ink is your favorite method?
I'm not sure, I just feel most comfortable with a pen in my hand. I like the contrast, the crispness of the lines. I'm not sure if I like that the permanence of it (you can't exactly erase ink that easily) leaves very little room for mistake or not.

Who are some of your inspirations?
I'm hesitant to use the word 'inspire', but there are artists whose work I adore, and perhaps inspires me to try to become more awesome at 'what it is that I do'. But the inspiration for 'what it is that I do' seems to come from somewhere else. I get most of my ideas when I'm supposed to be asleep, perhaps the secret is in the insomnia. I digress. Artists I admire include Gris Grimly, Chad Savage, Keith Thompson and Ben Templesmith.

How did you get into creating comics? Which artists inspire you as far as that medium?
As a kid I said I wanted to become a comic book artist, even though I didn't really have any ideas for a series or anything. Eventually, I decided that since I'd been saying that for ages, I should probably just go for it. I was never planning on showing it to anyone, it was just to sort of challenge myself and see if I could do it. I wasn't even planning on doing more than one issue.

I'm deeply inspired by anyone else who's doing their own thing, creating their comic from the ground up all by themselves, regardless if the quality or content is actually my 'thing'. As I mentioned, creating a comic is a hell of a lot of work, even if the artwork or story is fairly simple. In terms of my personal favorite comics, I'm particularly in love with Hellboy and, a bit more recently, Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse.

Tell me a little about the genesis of the story for Hallowhaus.
I'm making it up as I go along, honestly. Which is another part of the reason there's a large gap between issues. I have a couple future projects in mind for after I've finished the Hallowhaus series, that might (hopefully) be a bit more planned out, but there's still the chance that I'll just grab a new idea and run with it again.

When and why did you first realize that this was something you could turn into a business?
I was close to finishing the first issue of the comic when I learned of the glories of print-on-demand (yes, I know. But I have complete control of my work and can slack off when I'm not actually feeling inspired). I figured what I'd created wasn't entirely awful, started working on a few separate original designs, and just went for it. It was terrifying, since I had (have) the typical artist modesty (insecurity), but it's also been immensely rewarding.

What are some of the most popular items on your site?
The mirrors seem to be most interesting to people, but it's the prints that sell the best. In terms of my designs, everyone loves the Mummy (which was actually one of the very first designs I did with The Zombified in mind), though at the moment my most 'favorited' one on DeviantArt is one of my newest, 'The Dead Will Dance'.

What does the future hold for The Zombified?
More art, more comics, more awesome conventions like Texas Frightmare Weekend and Comicpalooza. A lot of the more interesting plans are a secret until I actually unveil them.

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In addition to The Zombified and the aforementioned DeviantArt, Krystal's artwork can be found on MySpace, Flickr and LiveJournal, among other places.

Some Stuff for You to Read While I'm Buried Alive...

Yes, things have slowed a bit lately here in the Vault o' Horror, but don't fret. The specter of reality may be casting its wearying shadow over my bloggery, but real-life work and responsibility won't keep me from you forever, dear reader. While I attempt to dig myself out at the ol' day job, I figured I'd pass along some links to recent guest articles I've done in other places, in order that you may get your fix of my pretentious blatherings...

Cushing, Lee... Fisher? The Unsung Hero of Hammer's Holy Trinity: Part of my ongoing column at The Blood Sprayer, Waiting for Cthulhu. This week, I bring you an ode to an oft-overlooked but highly influential director, Mr. Terence Fisher.

The Hump-Day Threesome - Euro-Garbage!: FusedFilm.com has a weekly column called Unhinged, and I was recently asked to be a guest columnist for their Hump-Day Threesome feature, in which I recommend three of my very favorite bad movies!

Kindly bear with me as I tend to the stuff that pays the bills. I've got lots of very cool things planned for the VoH, so stay tuned, Vault dwellers...

Some Cool Stuff to Look Out For...

A quick hit for you this afternoon. Not quite a "Horror Blogger Roundup", since this isn't entirely blog stuff per se--but I just wanted to keep you folks abreast of some interesting stuff going on. So keep your greasy eyeballs peeled!

• Friend of the Vault and fellow LoTTD'er Jammin' Jimmy Cortez of Planet of Terror recently announced that he will be presenting two indie horror flicks at the upcoming Crypticon convention happening in Seattle next month, so if you happen to be in the nation's suicide capital, you would do well to check it out. The films in question are Summer School (not the Mark Harmon one, I assume) and Alice Jacobs Is Dead. Cortez is also running a contest for those willing to design a flyer to promote the event, with some cool prizes, including a subscription to Horror Hound. So go to POT for more info...

• Battlin' Bryan White of Cinema Suicide, another FotV and LoTTD'er, also has a very interesting project on the horizon. It's called How to Survive the Strange, and it's a web series that basically spoofs the whole DIY phenomenon, offering tips on how to fend off zombies, vampires and various other sorts of nasties. The whole thing officially rolls out next Monday, but if you'd like a sneak peek video, head on over to CS right now...

• I was lucky enough to come across the fine publication Gothic Beauty on the rack at Borders over the weekend, and recommend it highly for all those interested in the whole horror-as-fashion movement that's all the rage these days. The nimble Nos, a Vault contributor and former Ms. Horror Blogosphere contestant, is on the writing staff, and if that's not cool enough, the current issue has a nice little spotlight on the courageous Christopher Zenga, zombie artist extraordinaire, whom you may recall painted a lovely portrait of yours truly...

• And speaking of yours truly, because what would a series of plugs be without one for myself, I'd like to point you in the direction of a couple of guest posts I had the privilege of doing over the past couple of days. The first is a review of one of my favorite pulp novels, The Mysterious Wu Fan: The Case of the Yellow Mask over at the culture blog Pattinase. And then, for those looking for my review of The Human Centipede, look no further than the kitschy Katiebabs' excellent blog Babbling About Books and More...

Hump-Day Harangue: Weighing in on the GoreZone Controversy

I realize I'm a bit late to the dance on this one, so bear with me. But this has been a situation I've been watching for some weeks now, with great concern. Specifically because it ties into something I ranted at length about some time ago--namely, bloggers getting pushed around by those who can't handle a bad review.

By now, most of you know the story. I first was made aware of it by the blogger Cyberschizoid. Write-ups on the matter followed at Chuck Norris Ate My Baby and Zombos' Closet of Horror. It seems that one Dangerous Jamie of the blog Let's Get Dangerous posted an open letter to Britain's GoreZone magazine in January, detailing his various problems with the current state of the publication, and how it might improve.

The letter seemed innocuous enough. It was carefully worded, constructive and rational in its criticism. It was by no means what anyone would call an unfair attack. Yet, it wasn't long before Jamie's blog was being inundated by troll commenters leaving hateful, obscene and vicious remarks. One of them even claimed to be Bryn Hammond, Editor-in-Chief of GoreZone. However, this was proven to be false--as were the identities of some 14 other commenters. The kicker is that all these comments were coming from the same IP address, which allegedly was located within GoreZone magazine itself.

From there, legal action was taken against Jamie for the post in question. I'm no expert on freedom of the press in the UK, or UK laws regarding libel, defamation and such, but there's no way that a magazine can sue a critic for writing a negative review of said magazine. If so, what kind of insane door would that open? As has been pointed out, GoreZone itself reviews movies and other things--could they conceivably be sued for writing a bad review?

Jamie (pictured, left) was accused of libeling GoreZone with his open letter, of attempting to harm the magazine's sales. This, when Jamie himself was libeled outright by some of the most heinous comments I've ever seen on any blog, all the while remaining civil in all his responses. It's also interesting that one of Jamie's main points in his post was that GoreZone is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors--and then, you guessed it, almost every comment bashing Jamie and supporting GZ was also riddled with the same.

He was forced to remove a GoreZone cover image from the post, when, to my knowledge, using an image like that for review purposes is completely kosher. Thankfully, this seems to have been all they've been able to coerce him to do. Ever since the IP address controversy, the GoreZone folks seem to have mysteriously backed off, and Jamie himself has not heard a word from the lawyers or anyone else in weeks.

Thankfully, lots of readers and bloggers have shown Jamie support in this unfortunate situation, including the aforementioned, as well as Robert Ring of The Sci-Fi Block, who helped get the story covered on Techdirt, a website which covers technology-based legal issues. The situation even caught the attention of Roger Ebert, who mentioned it on Twitter.

And speaking of Ebert, the legendary film critic was lambasted, along with Jamie, in an interview given by the real Bryn Hammond with the website Screen Jabber. Hammond denied the claim that the phony negative comments were coming from within GoreZone itself. But in defending himself, he really did himself no favors, describing Jamie's responses to him as "naively spouting off about freedom of speech and all that bullshit." Hammond also warns both Jamie and Ebert (who never came down on either side of the issue, by the way), to "really watch that kind of bullshit they're writing and talking about."

It's very unfortunate that a blogger could be so thoroughly bullied by a corporate entity, but sadly, it doesn't surprise me. As was stated in the CNAMB write-up, this would definitely not be happening if it had been a major website or other entity that published the critique. But because it's someone they consider unimportant and defenseless, they try to pressure him into retracting his criticism. Thankfully, the situation seems to have calmed down a bit, as someone must've informed GoreZone that they don't have a legal leg to stand on.

I had not been all that familiar with GoreZone before this debacle (I do remember a Fangoria satellite mag with the same name in the '90s, but I don't think they're related), but the whole thing has pretty much ensured I will not be picking up my first issue anytime soon. If this is the way they operate, I want nothing to do with them. In fact, I won't even entertain the notion of buying an issue until Jamie gets an apology, and I encourage anyone disturbed by the matter to do the same. I doubt that apology will ever come about, but so be it. Judging by what's been spewed onto Jamie's blog and elsewhere, I don't think I'm missing much.

It's very important that companies like GoreZone not be simply permitted to get away with bullying small, independent bloggers and other journalists. If we allow it to happen once, it's just going to keep happening, and getting worse every time. Folks like that shouldn't be emboldened--it should be made clear to them that such behavior cannot be tolerated in a free society.

VAULTCAST: Conversations in the Dark... w/T.L. Bugg

It's that time again, when I sit down with a fellow blogger and chat up some weighty topic or another. This week on Conversations in the Dark, it's the lord and master of The Lightning Bug's Lair, and we get pretty in-depth on some of the hottest projects hitting theaters within the next 12 months. So join us as we delve into the trials and tribulations of The Wolf Man, the potential of Shutter Island, and why Let Me In is just so incredibly depressing...

Listen in below, visit the Vaultcast page, or download directly right here.

Conversations in the Dark: T.L. Bugg

thevaultofhorror's Podcast

The Emperor Has No Clothes; or, Payola in the Age of Blogging

This was originally supposed to be a straight-up screener review, but in the days since I've seen the movie, it's developed into something far different. There's an issue that's been weighing heavily on my mind, and it's about time I get it off my chest. Let me explain.

Recently, I was sent a screener DVD for a low-budget, independent horror/thriller called SERIAL: Amoral Uprising. It was sent to me personally by the filmmaker himself, who was looking for the movie to obviously be reviewed on The Vault of Horror. I was more than happy to do so, but after seeing it, I realized that I was faced with an interesting dilemma. Because the movie was not very good.

The acting, for the most part, was uninspired, with the exception of the female lead, who was awful. The editing and camerawork was sub-par, to the point of seriously detracting from the viewing experience. The script was amateur and forced. At just under an hour in length, it was still difficult to get through. Even the opening and closing theme music seemed entirely inappropriate to the material.

However, in researching the film, both before and after viewing, virtually all the reviews and feedback I found regarding it were resoundingly positive. And this has been a situation echoed many times since I began the Vault. This time, I was tired of saying nothing about it.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm far from an enemy of independent horror filmmaking. Just don't expect me to give you the slow, dramatic applause and gush enthusiastically just because you had the ingenuity and wherewithal to make a movie on your own. That doesn't necessarily mean your movie is good. I'm not going to judge it in the same way I would a big-budget mainstream Hollywood extranaganza, to be sure, but it still has to be good. Many are. But for every Zombie Girl and Chemical 12-D, there are unfortunately a dozen SERIAL: Amoral Uprisings.

Is it a bit awkward? You bet. After all, I was sent this film directly by the guy who made it--a man who obviously was hoping I would like it. And while I greatly appreciate being sent the movie for review, and don't wish ill to the filmmakers in their endeavors, the bottom line is that I didn't think they made a very good movie.

This is an issue faced by bloggers--and also other online writers--all the time. I have spoken to some fellow bloggers who outright refuse to review screeners on their blog because of it. A bizarre dynamic has been set up, which is unique in some ways, and sadly reminiscent of the past in others.

As a blogger, I consider myself a journalist--amateur, alas, but a journalist nonetheless. And maybe it's because I've also worked on the professional end as well that I have such a strong conviction on this matter. But there's something going on here that just doesn't sit right with me.

In the past two-plus years, I've had some DVD screeners sent to me that, quite frankly, would function better as coasters than as movies. And yet, time and again, I will find reviewers online almost unanimously raving about them. And I think there are a few reasons for this. There's issues on both sides here.

On the one hand, I think there are some bloggers and writers who are a bit unaware of how the setup is supposed to work. Some believe that they are somehow expected to write positive reviews, or want to do so in order to stay in the good graces of those who send them, and insure that they continue to receive them. Some have never been in a professional writing environment, and honestly don't, I believe, fully grasp the way it's should ethically work.

We are not beholden to these studios, filmmakers and marketers. When they send in a movie to be reviewed, they take a chance that it may get a good review and may get a bad review. That's the way the game works. There should be no expectation on their part of a good review--and this whole "you scratch my back, I scratch yours" scenario is part of the reason bloggers unfortunately get stigmatized by the mainstream media.

If you don't like a movie, say so. And don't go the route of only reviewing movies you like, either. Long-time followers of Ain't It Cool News know that that doesn't turn out very well. Your first responsibility is to your readers, and they will not respect or trust you if you only review movies you like, or give good reviews to movies they will obviously discover are not very good at all. As I said, bloggers are journalists, and if you're going to make the decision to review movies, you have to man up and review the bad with the good. In the end, your readers will respect and appreciate you for it. And yet, the only way to describe some of what's going on is to dredge up that old word, payola.

A studio or distributor has no right to complain or be upset about a negative review, as long as it is fair, rational and balanced, and not outright libelous or defaming. That's the way it's been done for generations, and there's nor reason that online media should be any different.

But unfortunately, that does happen, and that's the other side of this messy conundrum. It's my belief that some distributors--more so than the individual indie filmmakers--believe they can push around bloggers. They believe they can bully what they perceive as younger, perhaps inexperienced writers into giving them free publicity. I know, because it's happened to me.

I was once invited to a screening of a major horror release in New York City by the distribution studio for the film. I attended, and wrote up a draft review, only to find myself contacted by a marketing person inquiring as to what my review was going to be like. As a professional writer with a dozen years in magazines, I can tell you that this was a MAJOR no-no, and immediately raised a red flag.

When I informed said marketer that my review was going to be mixed, I was sent a strongly worded email letting me know that I may not be able to run the review, and that the marketer would have to inform the distributors and get back to me on the matter. Plain and simple, they were trying to bully me, and it wasn't going to fly.

I immediately fired off an indignant response, asking if it was their intention was to only allow me to run positive reviews as a condition of my being invited to screen their films--and informing them that I was aware of how unethical that was. The person immediately backed down, and explained that all they really meant was that maybe I should wait until the week of the movie's release to run my mixed review--a compromise to which I agreed, although in hindsight, I wish I hadn't. I was then informed point blank that the main reason online writers are invited to the screenings is so the studio can collect positive review blurbs to use on the movie posters and DVDs.

There you have it--the backwards, dysfunctional symbiosis that has arisen in the era of movie blogging. If I had to assign the most blame, it would be on the big-time distributors. After all, the smaller filmmakers who send their stuff out personally are only trying to market themselves when no other options are available to them, even if sending their films directly to critics without a press relations go-between is admittedly a small-time, unprofessional way to go about things. As far as the writers themselves, some seem to think this is what they're supposed to be doing; others feel legitimately intimidated, which is very unfortunate.

The last thing I'm trying to do is alienate indie filmmakers or studio distributors, but if the result is that I receive less screeners after this post, then so be it. I support what they do, particularly filmmakers, but the bottom line is that if I am sent a screener, I'm going to give it an honest review. If I love it, I will say so. If I think it's bad, I'm not going to pretend I like it, and I'm not going to just be silent--I'm going to say I don't like it. Bloggers and other online writers are part of the media--they should be treated as such, and they should also think of themselves that way.

This is not meant as an affront to the makers of SERIAL: Amoral Uprising, and I appreciate that they thought of me when sending out screeners. But this was a "straw that broke the camel's back" kind of thing. I'm tired of bloggers feeling pressured to write reviews a certain way (whether that pressure is intended or not, it's inherent in the system), and I'm tired of those who speak their mind in the negative being afraid of vilification from studio big-shots, and yes, even filmmakers on occasion.

Bottom line, I'm tired of seeing rave reviews for movies that, categories aside, we all know are not very good--independent, mainstream or otherwise. Oscar Wilde once said of books that there are really only two kinds--good and bad. The same can be said of movies.

VAULTCAST: Conversations in the Dark... w/Mike Snoonian

Tonight I bring you the second installment of Conversations in the Dark--this time featuring Mr. Mike Snoonian of All Things Horror. The topic of conversation is foreign horror in the decade just concluded. So listen in as two 30-something dudes chat on a Friday night about the French obsession with gore, the twisted genius of Guillermo del Toro, Japanese panty dispensers, and much, much more.

Check out the embedded player below, head to the Vaultcast page, or download directly!

The Vault's Dominion Grows Ever Broader...

I don't normally devote an entire post to something related to me personally (says the horror blogger as he writes another post related to himself personally), but I'd like to take time out this afternoon for a couple of quick items of interest...

Firstly, if you haven't already, I hope you'll take the time out to visit the excellent and acclaimed FatallyYours, where you can currently read a ridiculously in-depth interview with yours truly by the one and only Sarah Jahier. If you ever wanted to delve a little deeper into the brain of B-Sol, or perhaps cure that nagging case of insomnia, head on over there now and read my mental dribblings. Plus, for you rasslin' marks, it's got a pic of me sitting in Triple H's infamous WrestleMania viking throne...

Then, if that's not enough, let me point you in the direction of the retro-marvelous Classic-Horror.com, whose gatekeeper Nate Yapp has allowed me to contribute some guest reviews. Right now, you can check out my review of the original Saw (I loved it), and there will be more reviews to come in the general future, as well.

That's all I've got for now. But I'll be back later in the weekend with more goodies, including a rant on screener payola, and the next Conversations in the Dark, with special guest Mike Snoonian of All Things Horror.

15 Fantastically Frightening Blogs...

Just when you thought the whole horror blogging circle-jerk was over--along comes the coolest one of them all, BJ-C's Fantastically Frightening Award. Yes, leave it to the mistress of Day of the Woman to provide us with just what we needed--a blog award with boobs.

It isn't often that this bombastic blogger is rendered speechless, but I definitely was when I read BJ's kind words in bestowing the award to me. For those who haven't seen it, and for the purposes of my continued ego inflation:

B-Sol is my Obi-Wan, the reason 90% of the internet even knows I exist, the founder of the Ms. Horror Blogosphere competition, a fantastic podcast, fabulous vlogs, and the nicest guy you could ever know. He does it all, and he does it with class and intellect. I don't think there's a single person who doesn't like B-Sol...okay maybe 2 people but they suck anyway :D. 2009 was the year of the B-Sol and I thank him for everything he's done not just for me, but for the entire horror blogosphere. Do him a favor, BUY A VAULT T-SHIRT.

Aw shucks. I'm deeply grateful for every word of that paragraph (especially the last sentence). And so, before I return to our regularly scheduled posts, I'd like to take the time out to follow DotW's lead and pass out the Fantastically Frightening Awards to some truly deserving blogs which I have criminally neglected thus far in my previous awardings...

The Blogger Most Likely to Pick the Triple Crown Winner: Fascination with Fear, written by the divine C.L. Hadden, horror hound and horse handicapper extraordinaire, is a bastion of infectious commentary--now with a spiffy new header!

The Blog That Tells It Like It Is: It's been said before, but Brad McHargue of I Love Horror pulls no punches, and is therefore one of the blogosphere's most unique reads. We may not always see eye to eye, but we can at least agree on one thing: Brad McHargue is awesome.

The Blog That Stands in Defiance of Communist Oppression: Necrotic Cinema is a fine blog by Uranium Willy, he of the Uranium Cafe. Not only does Bill manage to expound eloquently on all things horror, but he manages to do so while residing in the People's Republic of China. Take that, ya dirty Reds!

The Blog That Set Me on the Path to Righteousness: When I was just a wee newbie blogger two years ago, Karswell of The Horrors of It All was the guy who pointed me in the right direction. He's the master of vintage horror comics, and I bow to his general greatness.

The Fiercest Blog I Know: Love Train for the Tenebrous Empire is a virtual legend in the horror blogging world, and Tenebrous Kate is its dark, formidable Empress. Blanche in despair that you shall never be as awesome as she.

The Blog You Really Should Be Reading: From across the pond in the U.K. comes Stonecypher and her deliciously depraved corner of the web, Cannibal Hollywood. Get on board.

The Blog That Dripped Blood: Musings Across a Continuum is not only a beautiful looking blog, but it's also your one-stop destination for all things vampiric, specializing in pro-True Blood and anti-Twilight rhetoric. Plus Ms. Harker comes from the land down under, so the accent alone is worth it.

The Best Blog Not in the LoTT-D: Cortez the Killer spouts off his horror movie reviews from the esteemed Planet of Terror, a blog which deserves far more recognition than it already receives. Hopefully 2010 will be the Year We Make Contact, AND the Year of P.O.T.

The Most Impeccably Beautiful Blog: Monster Land has such a neat Wordpress layout that my job currently uses it for their official company website. Plus, Monster Scholar is just that, a scholar of the genre, and writers with unparalleled style and grace.

A Feast of Fantastic Bloggery: The Lightning Bug's Lair is jam-packed with terrific content, and is awe-inspiring both to look at, as well as to read. The Bugg has a knack for coming up with great features, and his blog is the kind that will keep you coming back.

The Greatest Concept Blog in Existence: Since day one of The Vault of Horror, and before, I've been fascinated by Pierre Fournier's Frankensteinia. An entire blog devoted to absolutely everything having to do with Mary Shelley's creation, in any medium imaginable. Need I say more?

The Blog I Can Most Identify With: Like me, Wednesday's Child over at In It for the Kills knows the struggle of raising a small child while also maintaining a horror blog, and she does it exceptionally well. Well, the blog part is readily apparent. For all I know, her kid might be wallowing in mud or something. Hopefully not.

The Go-To Blog for Horror News: Alison Nastasi has made news a major focus of Screamstress, and out of all the horror blogs out there, nobody comes as close to the big boys' sites in terms of reporting on the industry as she does.

The Blog with the Inside Track: Maweanne of The Spooky Brew is not only one of 2009's coolest new horror bloggers, but she is also a legit horror movie industry insider, unlike most of us gibbering wannabes.

The Coolest Thing to Come Out of Canada Since William Shatner: With a devilish style and an eclectic mix of content, Kitty LeClaw's Killer Kittens from Beyond the Grave has been a favorite of mine since the beginning. She's also got one of greatest banners I've ever seen.

An Awesome Top 50 All-Time Horror List! The Cyber-Horror Elite Go International!

So a few may recall the epic "Cyber Horror Elite" Top 50 Horror Movies of All Time post I did a little over a year ago. The one in which I polled a plethora of online horror blowhards and distilled their picks for the greatest fright flicks ever made. To this day, it remains the single most popular post in the history of the Vault, in terms of traffic and comments (89 and counting!)

Well, anyway, I just got an intriguing message the other day from my new friend Søren Henrik Jacobsen (thank you, cut and paste) from all the way over in Denmark. Seems Søren runs his very own Danish horror blog--not pertaining to scary movies with pastry, but rather in the Danish language (sorry dude, I'm an American, I can't help it). And it also seems that he has taken inspiration from the Cyber Horror Elite and done something very similar over in his native land.

The result is one damn fine list, which may very well be better than the one I put together. Check out his top 10:

1. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974), Tobe Hooper
2. ALIEN (1979), Ridley Scott
3. DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978), George A. Romero
4. THE SHINING (1980), Stanley Kubrick
5. PSYCHO (1960), Alfred Hitchcock.
6. THE EXORCIST (1973), William Friedkin
7. PROFONDO ROSSO (1975), Dario Argento
8. SUSPIRIA (1977), Dario Argento
9. EVIL DEAD II (1987), Sam Raimi
10. THE THING (1982), John Carpenter

For the whole list, check out Søren's blog, Skræk og Rædsel. Yes, it's in Danish, but it doesn't really matter for this particular post. The list also has stuff like The Beyond, Zombi 2 and Black Sunday, so I'm thinking the whole European slant helped a little bit. Feel free to read it, and leave comments--Søren speaks English.

Anyway, just wanted to share this little bit of international Vault of Horror goodness! The Cyber Horror Elite has gone global!

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And while I'm in a plugging mood, a couple other things.

Firstly, Chuck Conry of Zombies DON'T Run has gone to the trouble of creating The Web Ring of Horror, a new website that's basically an online forum/community for horror bloggers. It's very cool, and if you haven't registered yet, I encourage you to do so. Also, feel free to add this nifty banner to your page if you do:


And finally, more awards to boast about. It seems that Uranium Willy of the erudite corner of the horror blogosphere known as Necrotic Cinema has bestowed upon me the elusive and mysterious Fibonacci Award:

The Fibonacci is a very special blog award to be given out only to those bloggers and blogs whose work have inspired others. The blog should be one that would cause others to want to passionately create something new and in the process inspire someone else to create a new post and soon marvelous posts are being spawned at a ratio calculable only by some esoteric mathematical formula. If you have received this award your site has been deemed exceptional in the areas of technical skill, graphic layout and worthy content as well as having a certain of accessibility by the general public.

And on top of that, the lovely Miss Aleata Illusion of GoreGoreDancer's Movie Reviews has seen fit to present me with BOTH the One Lovely Blog and the Kreativ Blogger Award, for which I'm both humbled and elated. Got to love awards week here in the online horror universe!

VAULTCAST: Conversations in the Dark... w/BJ-C

Things just get bigger and better here in the VoH, and so I'm starting off 2010 right with a brand new feature as part of the Vaultcast. It's a special series, which I announced a few weeks ago, called Conversations in the Dark.

In this series, I'll be chatting it up with a different fellow horror blogger every week or so (fingers crossed), about any topic of his or her choosing. For this initial installment, I'm joined by BJ-C of Day of the Woman--Listen in as we chew the fat on matters including: what constitutes a feminist horror film, why Alien kicks Star Wars' ass, and the inherent male fear of the hoo-ha...

Listen in on the embedded player below; go straight to the Vaultcast page; or download the file directly. Also, drop me a line if you're interested in being a guest on a future edition of Conversations in the Dark.

Conversations in the Dark: BJ-C

thevaultofhorror's Podcast

Recognizing Some Blogs I Love...

The Vault has recently been honored with a couple of blogging award memes, and it's about time I recognize this here, and pass on the love to other bloggers whose work is more than worthy of some accolades.

Firstly, I've been blessed with the One Lovely Blog Award from the Y.A. book blog vvb32 reads, Nicki Nix of Hey! Look Behind You!, and fellow LoTT-D member Max Cheney of The Drunken Severed Head. So firstly, thank you very much, guys. I'm going to pass this one along in the manner in which vvb32 did, which is to give it to 15 worthy blogs I've (relatively) recently discovered:

The Horror Effect (B-Movie Becky)
Zombies DON'T Run (Chuck Conry)
The Deadly Doll's House of Horror Nonsense (Emily I.)
Zombies Are Magic! (Jennifer Parnell)
Confessions of a Gore Whore (Nos)
Slammed & Damned (Theron Neel)
Horror Crypt (Bloofer Lady)
All Things Horror (Mike Snoonian)
Dollar Bin Horror (Rhonny Reaper)
Trixie's Treats
Lipstattoo's Blog
GoreGore Dancer's Movie Reviews (Aleata Illusion)
The Demented Cheerleader (Anna McKibben)
mermaid heather
The Paradise of Horror (Mr. Johnny Sandman)

Cool, now all you guys need to go and pick 15 worthy blogs of your own to give this award to.

Also, from the ever-so-generous vvb32, I received the Zombie Chicken Award, which is described thusly:

The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken – excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words.

Now that's a coveted award if ever I saw one, and I see fit to bestow it, as instructed, upon the following five excellent blogs, which must now do the same:

Day of the Woman (BJ-C)
The Horror Digest (Andre Dumas)
Chuck Norris Ate My Baby (Matt-suzaka)
Classic-Horror (Nate Yapp)
Billy Loves Stu (Pax Romano)

Once again, thanks to vvb32 and Max Cheney for these awards and their kind words, and also thanks to the many terrific blogs I've spotlighted here, which give me far more hours of enjoyment than is probably prudent...

ADDENDUM: Let the record show that I have also received the Kreativ Blogger Award from both B-Movie Becky of The Horror Effect, Mawanne of The Spooky Brew! Thanks guys!

Ms. Horror Blogosphere 2009: And the Winner Is...

Well, here we are. The polls are closed, and the votes have been tallied. Along the way, I hope many of you have been able to discover a bunch of great blogs, by some very talented bloggers whom it has been my honor to shine a spotlight on for a couple of weeks. I want to thank each of the participants in the Ms. Horror Blogosphere contest, as well as all the readers who took the time to vote.

And now, it's my pleasure to announce the winner of Ms. Horror Blogosphere 2009:

BJ-C of Day of the Woman

My congratulations go to BJ, for cultivating a fine blog that has grown such a strong following in under a year. The Ms. Horror Blogosphere award is in very good hands. As for her big prize, considering she's reviewed Hammer Glamour some months ago, I'm assuming she will be choosing The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks by Max Brooks...

First Runner-Up:
Rhonny Reaper of Dollar Bin Horror



Second Runner-Up:
Tenebrous Kate of Love Train for the Tenebrous Empire


Third Runner-Up:
Alison Nastasi of Screamstress


Fourth Runner-Up:
Kitty LeClaw of Killer Kittens from Beyond the Grave

Once again, thanks to all the bloggers who agreed to participate in the contest. A round of cyber-applause for our other excellent participants:

• Aleata Illusion of GoreGoreDancer's Movie Reviews
• Andre Dumas of The Horror Digest
• B-Movie Becky of The Horror Effect
• Chris Hadden of Fascination with Fear
• The Divemistress of Zombots!
• Emily I. of The Deadly Doll's House of Horror Nonsense
• Heather Santrous of Mermaid Heather
• Jen of Zombies Are Magic!
• Maweanne of The Spooky Brew
• Monster Scholar of Monster Land
• Ms. Harker of Musings Across a Continuum
• Nicki Nix of Hey! Look Behind You!
• Nos of Confessions of a Gore Whore
• Sarah Jahier of Fatally Yours
• Tara Judah of Midnight Movie Review
• Wednesday's Child of In It for the Kills

Ms. Horror Blogosphere: An Explanation

Hey folks, B-Sol here with what I guess is an explanation of sorts, and one which I feel is important and necessary. Earlier today, The Vault of Horror's Ms. Horror Blogosphere competition was the subject of a very angry post by Heidi Martinuzzi of Pretty-Scary.net, which is basically the epicenter of the female online horror world. I was taken aback and saddened a bit by this, and thus the need to explain myself.

Firstly and most importantly, I wish to humbly offer my sincerest apologies to anyone who has taken offense at the contest or found it to be demeaning toward the contestants. Particularly the actual contestants, but also to readers in general, whether male or female--and also to those who declined participation, such as Bloofer Lady of the excellent blog Horror Crypt, a great writer who bowed out over some very valid concerns regarding this very issue.

In her post, "New Annoying and Unnecessary Women's Contest", Heidi described the competition as "a truly nauseating attempt at attention grabbing and women-judging." She goes on to write, among other things, that "despite being a contest amongst bloggers, who are writers and journalists, each entry requires a photo of the lady and a bio. Which begs the question - why aren't they just being judged on the quality of their blog and writing? Answer: because it is never too late to judge women based on their looks."

Again, I'm saddened that my idea could be construed in this way by anyone, and it's upsetting to think that this was the unwitting result on my part. This was the farthest from my intention--rather, my intention was to break up the boy's club that online horror writing can very often be, and to bring some attention to a very talented group women bloggers and the sites they run. Simply put, I was trying to give props to these women, not tear them down, and it's unfortunate that it would instead be taken in such a way. For this, once again, I apologize.

The bottom line is, that when it comes to online horror journalism from a female perspective, Pretty-Scary is basically the gold standard. And so to be judged so harshly from a source I so greatly respect, is quite a blow, I won't lie. To be honest, I very much considered inviting Heidi herself to participate in the competition, but decided against it since her site is on a completely different level, and quite beyond the concept of a "horror blogosphere" in my opinion. Heidi and Pretty-Scary, quite simply, are much bigger than my little contest.

I have tremendous admiration for Heidi and Pretty-Scary. Thus it's confusing to read, for example, on her Facebook page, when mentioning my contest: "While I hate promoting things I hate, I like to promote 'hate'"--when my own intention was never to promote any kind of hate at all, but rather to give attention and credit to talented female bloggers.

I feel the need to address some specific concerns here. Firstly, it seems that much has been made of some of the questions I chose to include in the interviews, specificially the "Bang, Marry, Kill" question and the "Whose baby would you most want to have" question. These kinds of questions were included to add a little levity, and prevent things from being taken a little too seriously. After all, the spirit of the competition is fun, first and foremost, and I wanted to lighten things up so as to avoid the whole thing getting too pretentious or heavy. After all, this is a blogger competition; we are not selecting a new Pope here.

Further, very similar counterpart questions would certainly have been included by me should the contest have been among male bloggers. In fact, I should point out that the winner of the contest has the option of hosting a Mr. Horror Blogosphere competition, and should she choose to do so, I encourage her to include those very questions.

Again, I apologize if such questions were construed as sexist. I was a bit worried at first that some might think this, and I fully respect that opinion. My intention was only light-hearted fun to take the piss out of the proceedings a bit, but I fully concede I may have been a bit naive in this regard.

Now let's talk about the whole "picture" issue. Yes, I asked participants to submit pictures of themselves to go with their interviews. Let me explain why. In putting this contest together, part of what I was trying to accomplish was to get each of these writers across as personalities, as people--quite literally, to put a face to the words. I did not ask the contestants to sex it up, or anything like that. All I did was ask for pictures they were comfortable using, and that's what I was sent. My intention was never to objectify these woman, and quite frankly it does them all a disservice to suggest that simply by their posting pictures of themselves with their entries, it suddenly becomes some kind of meat market.

More to this point, Heidi specifically calls out one of the contestants, Aleata Illusion, for suggesting that sexuality and aesthetics may possibly play a role in the perception of female bloggers more than male: "Aleata," she writes, "if you want anyone to take you seriously as a writer, it is a bad thing. If you want to be an Internet blog celebrity, which many people do, go right ahead. This will make it easier to separate the women from the girls when we get all that sorted out." The validity of Aleata's statement aside, I can't help but feel that there is more demeaning going on in this comment than anything going on in the actual contest. Again, I only wanted to build these writers up, not tear them down.

Does sexuality play a part here? Are aesthetics involved to one degree or another in the proceedings? I'd be a patronizing liar if I said no. Of course they are, to a certain degree. Although the contest is about the women as bloggers first and foremost, yes, some voters may be motivated partly by appearance, and yes, some participants, to varying degrees, took advantage of their feminine sexuality to help add to their advantage.

But isn't sexuality part of who are as human beings? And if women--or men--choose to play a bit with it, to have some fun with it, isn't that their prerogative? Especially within this crazy genre we all love so much, in which sexuality plays such an undeniable role (hence the double meaning of the name "Pretty-Scary" itself)? But alas, these are questions that feminism itself has been struggling with for generations, and I have no illusions of being able to settle them here.

While my apology is sincere for those who have taken offense, I do not find the Ms. Horror Blogosphere competition to be sexist or demeaning. Nor do I find Pretty-Scary.net's Scary Stud of the Year competition to be sexist or demeaning. It's all in good fun, and helps bring attention to some talented individuals in the field.

The Scary Studs concept spotlights a different man in horror every month or so. At the end of the year, one of the men is selected as the "Scary Stud of the Year". The participants come from all areas of horror, and although mainly focusing on those directly involved in the movie business, there are occasionally others like Shock Till You Drop writer Ryan "Rotten" Turek, the October 2008 Scary Stud.

Turek's entry comes with photos, including this one, accompanied by the caption, "It's all the heavy axe-wielding that gives his shoulders their excellent tone and musculature."

Of Ryan, Heidi writes, "He’s super sexy and knows a bunch of stuff about horror films... Ryan proves that with a 'can do' attitude, any horror reporter can make the women swoon!... Whether he’s hosting a panel at a Fangoria Convention... or hanging out at local Los Angeles hot spots... he does it being Tall, Dark, and Handsome. Check out our awesome new Mr. October: Ryan Rotten Turek, who graces our site with his awesomely studly and genuinely enjoyable presence."

Ryan is asked questions like, "What is your sexiest quality? Describe in detail..."; "What's your workout routine? I.E. How did you get such nice arms?"; "People often speculate on your hair care activities. How long does it take you to do your hair, and in detail, can you describe for us what you do and any product you may use?"; "Say something totally nondescript and diplomatic about other major horror websites... with an underlying tension about how you really think your site is better than everyone else’s"; "When female horror fans see you, would you say there is more of a 'weeping' effect, or a 'screaming' effect because of how much they love you?" and "What's the sexiest thing a woman has ever done for you?" At the conclusion, she encourages readers to "Give Ryan some sugar, baby" at Shock Till You Drop, or his MySpace page.

Again, it's all in good fun, and it helps give some exposure to a talented online horror writer. I do not take offense at this or any of the other entries for Scary Stud of the Year. I can only hope that the Mr. Horror Blogosphere competition, should it take place, will be anywhere near as cool.

In closing, I'd like to hear what you fine folks think of all this. Was this whole thing a colossal misstep on the part of ol' B-Sol? Are you getting a kick out of discovering a bunch of great horror blogs, or getting sickened to your stomach? I sincerely hope it's the former, as that was all it was intended to accomplish. Making it a contest only adds to the interest and draws even more potential readers to these sites, which was the idea all along. I hope it continues to happen, and again apologize for any offense caused.

Ms. Horror Blogosphere: Entry #21

Blogger: Jennifer Golden
Blog: Zombies Are Magic!

I'm a mild-mannered working girl (not that kind) from Palo Alto, California. I have loved horror since I was a little girl. My parents were horror fans, and I would throw a fit if they didn't let me watch whatever nasty VHS they had brought home for the weekend. I grew up on Hellraiser, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, and any zombie film my parents could get their hands on. Being a class-A scaredy cat I also had numerous dreams about these monsters I grew up with, especially Romero's Zombies (hence the name of my blog: Zombies are Magic--because they are). Two discoveries let my inner horror geek blossom as an adult: Universal Monster Movies and the work of H.P. Lovecraft. Since then, I have started to embrace the monsters that once (and still do) haunt my dreams. When I grow up I want to be a horror writer, but for now I am content writing reviews for films like Cannibal Holocaust.

Are significant others generally freaked out or psyched by your horror proclivities?
My husband is very supportive, even though he doesn't care for horror himself. Others are more surprised than freaked out, probably because I look like a librarian.

Why is it that there seems to be more female horror fans than ever before? Are more women watching horror, or are more women admitting to watching horror?
Women have always loved horror, but now that more of us are "out of the closet" so to speak, we are letting our horror freak flags fly. Horror lets people experience emotions that we normally wouldn't. It's exciting, and for me that is the appeal.

How would you best describe your blog?
Profanity-laden.

Is image more important for female horror bloggers than male? If so, why?
Only if you insist it be. I think it would be hard to tell if my blog was written by a man or woman if it wasn't for the cat pictures or constant apologies to my husband.

If you could have the baby of one figure in the world of horror, real or fictional, who would it be? Not including Bruce Campbell/Ash…
David Cronenberg, Clive Barker, Sam Raimi, Joe Hill, Neil Gaiman, Dr. Frankenstein as played by Colin Clive... Obviously I have never thought about this before....

Why do all of you like Campbell so much, anyway?
Pretty simple. It's the chin.

Ms. Horror Blogosphere: Entry #20

Blogger: Kitty LeClaw
Blog: Killer Kittens from Beyond the Grave

"A cat as black as blackest coal is out upon her midnight stroll. Her steps are soft, her walk is slow, her eyes are gold, they flash and glow. And so I run, and so I duck. I do not need her black-cat luck."
KKFBTG is a sexy scream dream of horror hotness, chock-full of tasteful T&A and gore, movies, comics, poetry and more... a juicy blog for anyone possessing a serious taste for all things pussy gato.

What initially drew you to the horror genre?
I love the feeling of being scared. The rush of adrenaline, the pounding of the heart, the quickening of the breath--all of these are sensations which I have a profound level of appreciation for. I have never been particularly sporty, so I guess I need to get the blood pumping, somehow! I've always loved watching scary movies, and devoured books on the paranormal when I probably should have been reading Nancy Drew novels. It came as a complete surprise to me that not everyone shared my affinity for the things that go "bump!" in the night. I always took great pride in being the sort of kid who could outlast all her friends in a late-night horror movie marathon.

Are significant others generally freaked out or psyched by your horror proclivities?
I tend to discriminate against people (significant others included) who aren't into horror, thus robbing them of the opportunity to discriminate against me because I am!
I guess you could say that I'm very "out" about my interests in the spooky stuff. My apartment is nowhere near child safe. It's not even parent safe! Oh, all the unholy things my poor, Catholic parents have to see when they come for a visit! I have found that it's not just my Mom and Dad who are a little freaked out by my horror sensibilities, but the general public, as well. The Repair Guy always has to make a rude comment before fixing the furnace...
As a rule, I don't think that guys really like it when a girl is scarier than they are. Draw your own conclusions.

What made you decide to blog?
I love writing, and I love horror, so joining the "Blogosfear" was a good, natural fit for me. It's definitely a step up from the horror/mystery novel I wrote out in longhand when I was 12! I churned out notebook after notebook of a scary story that I pretty much made up as I went along. A group of my friends were reading it as I wrote, so it was really great to get feedback while still in the writing/development process. In that respect, blogging is very similar. It's the readership and feedback that bloggers crave. Otherwise, we'd all just keep our own, private diaries.

Who is your biggest inspiration?
In terms of me becoming a depraved gore junkie, I have to give my parents full credit. Having no idea what they were getting themselves into, they fostered my love of horror from an early age. I vividly recall watching the movie CARRIE with my Mother, who thought it was strange that the jolting final scene didn't send me sobbing into her bosom. Over the next couple of weeks, she brought home all sorts of harrowing titles, in the hopes of achieving a "normal" reaction from her young daughter. By the time we watched THE EXORCIST, it was too late to turn back. I was hooked on horror.
(For the record, The Exorcist scared the living daylights out of me. I slept with a crucifix under my pillow for weeks, and couldn't look up at a second storey window without feeling like I was going to puke.)

How would you best describe your blog?
My blog's subheading is: "A kitten's perspective on horror in film, music, art and literature," and I think my blog provides precisely that--my perspective (meow!) Admittedly, I'm not keen enough to be hip to what's happening in horror headlines most of the time. For the most part, I think my blog is like an esoteric ride down a slightly more demonic version of Willy Wonka's chocolate river. I rarely plan posts in advance. I write 'em up as I watch 'em, and I call 'em as I see 'em.
I apologize to the English language for the final sentence of the above paragraph.

Bang, Marry or Kill: Freddy, Jason, Michael. Please explain your answer.
I'm only answering this question because it's a bona fide FREDDY VS. JASON-style trivia question! I'd bang Freddy, because viciously tormenting people through their dreams is HOT. I'd marry Jason, because, of the three of them, I think he has the softest heart. I would kill Michael Myers, because it's been a really long time since someone made a good HALLOWEEN movie, and it's a shame, because it was once a proud continuing saga.