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.

He's Close
DON’T WAKE DADDY Daddy is already asleep when you open the box. The plastic board smells faintly of dust and something older, like a closed room that hasn’t been aired out in years. The cardboard stairs are chewed at the edges, softened by hands that once trembled as they moved tiny plastic children upward.
By Christina Nelson about an hour ago in Horror
The House That Breathes at Night
At first, everyone thought the sound was plumbing. A soft groan, like old pipes stretching, always around the same time—3:17 AM. In a house as old as ours, that wasn’t unusual. The building had stood for more than a century, swallowing generations of families, secrets sealed behind layers of paint and plaster. Houses like that made noise. They sighed. They settled. They complained.
By Modhilrajabout 17 hours ago in Horror
Kan Theory
‎With the technological advancements seen in any given field over the last few decades I often question why certain things still exist. For the average citizen of course, places like hospitals and engineering firms are constantly phasing older tech out to bring in the best possible equipment available. What I find most surprising is not only are things like revolvers and carburetors are still widely loved, but the fact they are still being mass produced. ‎ ‎Ease of use is always going to be a factor of course, while we’ve gotten incredibly good at manufacturing auto loading handguns to the point jamming almost never happens, they still have more moving parts and a more complex design than a revolver. The same goes for cars, while there are discrepancies in some modern vehicles, they are far more efficient and powerful than old muscle cars. An old car is still incredibly easy to work in comparison, which also leads to the question of why do I like something more that breaks more often, because it’s easy to work on. ‎ ‎Yet when you turn your tv on and see the main character pull up in and old ford, light a cigarette with a zippo, and tuck a .357 into his waistband there is still something incredibly appealing about that visually and audibly. One could argue that pulling up in a super car or a black SUV full of guys sporting automatics is still an aesthetically pleasing shot, but to many it lacks some of the raw mechanical components, as if it’s almost too perfect. That brings me to why I think we like old things. ‎ ‎Visually is quite obvious, there’s more lines, bright colors and chrome, there is just more of an art when it comes to making a lot of these things. Let’s be honest an EFI system costs about the same as a carburetor at this point, but the carb looks so much cooler sitting on top of the engine. The body on a 60s mustang looks like it was chiseled like a sculpture compared to any new consumer vehicle. ‎ ‎Audibly the hammer being pulled back on a revolver or the cap clicking back on a zippo are sounds anyone can immediately recognize. Flint striking and the metallic click of the lighter paired with the clunk of the hammer driving the pin forward on the revolver pair in a beautiful way in comparison to the silence before a semi auto being discharged. The hard crack of an old door closing vs the soft muffled thump of a new door, or even the closing of a solid wooden door vs a hollow mass-produced piece of pressboard that make most doors in newer homes. ‎ ‎I think a great deal of this goes back into the general input these older items give you; they stimulate you in a way many newer products cannot. An old car is uncomfortable, slow, and if you’re lucky enough to have power steering still a pain to handle yet driving one is truly a wonderful experience that can be hard to explain. The feel of a hundred year old wooden stock in your hands speaks to you more than a synthetic one can, it has stories and a history the same as running your hand down the long hood of a Mustang or Camaro. ‎ ‎Old machines are loud, inefficient, and generally underwhelming in comparison to the things we can produce today, yet there’s beauty to them that can’t be denied. In a world that seems bland and cheap, the weight of old steel objects and the sight of an Augusta Green Mercury Cougar sitting at a gas station on a Sunday afternoon reminds us not to rush through life too quickly.‎
By Noora day ago in Horror
Ten by Ten. Content Warning.
BATTLESHIP YOU ARE PLAYER ONE. THE BOARD IS ALIVE. THE SHIPS ARE SCREAMING QUIETLY. RULES (NON-NEGOTIABLE) Every Hit wounds a person.
By Christina Nelson 3 days ago in Horror
Assembly Required. Content Warning.
They found Cootie at the back of a thrift store, sealed in sun-yellow plastic, smiling cartoon bugs dancing across the box like nothing had ever died screaming.
By Christina Nelson 4 days ago in Horror
I Drink Your Blood
“Let it be known, sons and daughters, that Satan was an acid head. Drink from this cup. Pledge yourselves. And together we’ll all freak out!”
By Tom Baker5 days ago in Horror
Inside Beelitz-Heilstätten — Germany’s Most Haunted Hospital and Its Haunting Ghost Evidence
Beelitz-Heilstätten is about 50 km southwest of the capital, a vast network of disintegrating brick structures and overgrown paths that has become notorious throughout Germany as the most haunted place in the country. Yet prior to its phantom fame was a truly living and living-breathing history, dating over a century and embracing medicine, global conflict, occupation, decline, and ultimately myth.
By Kyrol Mojikal8 days ago in Horror
The Echoing Asylum of Silaos: Where the Patients Never Left | SEASON FINALE
Chatpter 10 CHRONICLER’S LOG: A recovered page from Father Elias’s final journal is stained with what appears to be a black, oily substance. The handwriting is erratic and panicked. The entry describes the Queen as a 'psychic virus,' a gestalt entity composed of every soul that has been broken within the asylum. Its goal is not to possess, but to assimilate.
By Tales That Breathe at Night9 days ago in Horror
Dracula in Instanbul
Not a turkey but from Turkey. Snappy title, no? Dracula in Istanbul is a 1953 Turkish production that is stark, grainy, lost, and has that air of being more a museum piece curiosity than an actual piece geared toward entertainment. But, alas, it's not a bad picture, if a dated one.
By Tom Baker10 days ago in Horror
Everyone Gets a Turn
The Guess Who? board had been turned face down when Noah found it. It sat beneath the guest bed, half-buried in dust and spiderwebs, its red plastic warped as if it had been left near heat. When Noah flipped it over, the board opened by itself with a soft, eager clack. Rows of yellow doors stared up at him.
By Christina Nelson 10 days ago in Horror
One to See, One to Speak, One to Listen. Top Story - March 2024.
Contains gore and horror some readers may find disturbing. Rated 14+ Author's Intro: This story is meant to revive the Gothic literature so famously crafted by one of my favourite writer's, Edgar Allen Poe, and as such, the language and style is deliberately antiquated. Thank you for reading my all time favourite work of horror - Les
By Call Me Les12 days ago in Horror
The Haunted Tower of London: Dark History, Ghost Stories, and Royal Tragedies
For almost a thousand years, the Tower of London has loomed along the River Thames as one of the most recognized—and spookiest—sites in the United Kingdom. Originally constructed by William the Conqueror in the 11th century, the Tower was first and foremost a fortress designed to secure Norman domination of England. However, as the Tower grew and matured as a structure and as a symbol of British history, it would come to serve many purposes simultaneously— royal residence, prison, treasury, armory, and even site of execution—no wonder it is associated with so many stories of ghosts and otherworldly experiences.
By Kyrol Mojikal12 days ago in Horror