This morning I found out that the first zombie that ever scared me, giving me many sleepless nights when I was very young, has passed away. Bill Hinzman, 76, succumbed to his battle with cancer.

I’m very saddened by the news, and I’m glad that I met him and spoke to him on many occasions. I first met him in 2008, when he was the special guest for the promotion of the Eerie Horror Film Festival at the Millcreek Mall (first photo below). At that time I interviewed him for the Midnight Podcast, and was really impressed with how kind the man was.

Since then I’ve talked to him on many occasions, and he was always willing to hang out and talk. I always looked forward to seeing him.

The last time I encountered Mr. Hinzman was at Horror Realm 2010, and had to snap another photo with him because he was decked out in all his zombie glory (second photo below).

I’ll be watching Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Flesheater (1988) in his memory.

I have officially inherited The Weekly Horror Movie Podcast, and the first episode with me as lead host just dropped at Horror Palace.

Take a listen to it now.

A blogger on The Independent reviews The Thing (2011), comparing the two in terms of how the special effects were done. In John Carpenter’s 1982 version, digital effects were all but non-existent, and all of the body-crunching gore was achieved using practical means — prosthetics, mechanical contraptions, lots of liquid latex and fake blood, and so on. The 2011 version features digital effects — all the alien violence was made by a team of geeks on their fancy computers.

It’s a controversial topic among horror fans. I tend to agree with most of what the author says about the use and misuse of digital effects. Where do you weigh in? Was he too tough on modern horror using digital effects?

He did make a comment that I can’t completely agree with, however. He says that “modern US horror cinema is defined by lazy cash-ins, spin-offs and other defilements of legendary films.” Lazy cash-ins and spin-offs: yes. Defilements of legendary films: get over your hatred of remakes because of the alleged untouchable holiness of the originals. I’m tired of hearing this kind of argument.

Just had to put that out there.

“Modern horror: Lay off the CGI and bring back prosthetics”

I just read about bullets specially manufactured and packaged for use on the undead.

No joke. While it’s basically a marketing ploy for the increasing number of zombie movie fans (and those convinced that the zombie uprising could actually happen), the bullets are live ammo, ready for use in a variety of firearms.

If you read to the end of the article, they mention that bullets intended to be fired on zombies causes a concern for people dressed in zombie costumes. I could totally see something very bad happening as a result.

Read the article at BlueRidgeNow.com»

I got this sweet rusted metal sign, perfect for displaying at my door to keep everyone else in the world out. They’re very reasonably priced, so check out what else is offered over at Zed’s Zombie Ranch.

As you know, I’ve been a contributor on the wildly successful Weekly Horror Movie Podcast over at the Horror Palace. We just released episode 14, which includes a mighty battle over the original The Last House on the Left, and also a surprising announcement: Jay of the Dead, the current host, is leaving the podcast because of unrelated circumstances.

Before making this announcement, I was approached and asked to take over the show’s responsibilities, and I accepted. Episode 15 has been recorded, and will be posted this Sunday.

I’m honored to be overseeing this fine podcast, and am excited to keep things rolling with Terror Tovey, Doctor Shock and Billchete.

I just posted this video to Youtube — Michale Graves performing his song “Saturday Night.” I shot it on my tiny point-and-shoot camera when I saw his show last year in Cleveland. One of my favorite artists!

Like I said on episode 12 of The Weekly Horror Movie Podcast, the most glorious head explosion that has ever graced film takes place toward the beginning of Scanners (1981).

What do you think? Obviously, you’re wrong if you disagree.

My friend Bryan Wolford at Freakwolf Productions just sent me some info about his newest short film, Myctophobia. They’re in the home stretch for their fundraising efforts, and he asked me to pass along this info. Take a minute to check it out, and help support Bryan’s work.

Read the press release (PDF, 619Kb)