Type of site | Horror news, interviews, reviews |
---|---|
Available in | English |
Country of origin | United States |
Owner | Dread Central Media, LLC (Epic Pictures Group) |
Editors | Mary Beth McAndrews, Josh Korngut |
URL | dreadcentral |
Commercial | Yes |
Launched | July 4, 2006 |
Current status | Online |
Dread Central is an American website founded in 2006 that is dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews. It covers horror films, comics, novels, and toys. Dread Central has won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website four times and was selected as AMC's Site of the Week in 2008.
Dread Central was founded on July 4, 2006. [1] When a venture to create a horror-themed cable television channel stalled, the web team left and established their own news site. [2] [3] In 2012, a negative review posted by Scott Foy attracted controversy when Foy and the film's director, Jim Wynorski, engaged in a verbal altercation online. [4] On September 30, 2019, Jonathan Barkan announced he was stepping down as editor-in-chief. As of December 2021, Mary Beth McAndrews is now Editor-in-Chief and Josh Korngut is managing editor. [5]
The site's staff use horror-themed aliases. The website has a broad focus, and it covers both mainstream and fringe topics that range from horror films to comics to toys. Besides reviews and news, they also host several podcasts. [6] Steve Persall of the Tampa Bay Times states, "if it gushes blood or desecrates flesh, Dread Central covers it." [7] The site is oriented toward a male demographic and favors edgy, exploitative films. [7]
After 10 years, Dread Central became reader-supported via Patreon. [8] This would make Dread Central the first genre news site to switch from being ad-supported to being crowd supported. [9] Celebrity supporters include John Carpenter, [9] Gale Anne Hurd, [9] Sid Haig, [10] Adam Green, [10] and Darren Lynn Bousman. [11]
In 2007, Dread Central and VersusMedia announced Horror D'Oeuvres, a competition for independent short films. [12] [13] In 2008, the site partnered with several other prominent horror sites and studios in a horror-themed auction to raise money for the Entertainment Industry Foundation. [14] In 2013, they partnered with Gas Lamp Museum and the San Diego Ghost Hunters to organize a ghost hunt at the William Heath Davis House. The proceeds went toward upkeep for the historic site. [15] Also in 2013, they began offering the "Box of Dread", a random package full of merchandise delivered monthly to subscribers, one of whom is randomly chosen to receive a "special edition" valued at $250. [16]
CineMayhem, a film festival for independent genre films, was founded by Heather Wixson in association with Dread Central's Indie Horror Month. The festival, whose inaugural date was March 2–3, 2013, is presented in Thousand Oaks, California. [17] The festival is backed by Scream Factory, Sideshow Collectibles, Magnet Releasing, and Breaking Glass Pictures. [18]
Dread Central and Home Media Magazine present the Reaper Awards annually for the best home video releases and direct-to-video features. [19] It is held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and is hosted by Steve Barton, co-founder of Dread Central. [20]
In 2017, Dread Central Media was acquired by Epic Pictures Group. The independent studio announced it would be launching a new distribution label specializing in horror films released in theaters and on demand. [21] [22] On January 29, 2019, the label was renamed DREAD. Their first in-house produced film, The Golem, will be the first film under the DREAD Originals banner. [23] [22]
The DREAD Podcast Network consists of a variety of diverse, free audio series celebrating all things horror. [28] Podcasts on the network include:
DreadXP was founded in 2019 by Dread Central founder Jon Condit and overseen by editor in chief Ted Hentschke as a video gaming website with a focus on editorial, reviews, podcasts, and original streaming content. [35] In 2020, DreadXP turned to video game publishing with the release of Dread X Collection, an anthology of horror video games created by several indie developers. [36] [37] In early 2024, it was announced that Hunter Bond and Brian Clarke would be taking charge at DreadXP. [38]
Year | Title | Developer(s) |
---|---|---|
2020 | Dread X Collection | List
|
2020 | Dread X Collection 2 | List
|
2020 | Dread X Collection 3 | List
|
2021 | Dread X Collection: The Hunt [39] | List
|
2021 | Spookware | Beeswax Games |
2022 | Sucker for Love: First Date [40] | Akabaka |
2022 | Dread X Collection 5 [41] | List
|
2022 | The Mortuary Assistant | Darkstone Digital |
2022 | Mirror Forge | MystiveDev |
2022 | Iron Lung (Nintendo Switch port) [42] | David Szymanski |
2023 | Red Tape | Pollaris Studios |
2023 | Amanda the Adventurer | MANGLEDmaw Games |
2023 | My Friendly Neighborhood | Evan Szymanski John Szymanski |
2024 | Sucker for Love: Date to Die For | Akabaka |
2024 | Dread Delusion | Lovely Hellplace |
2026 | Paranormal Activity: Found Footage | DarkStone Digital |
Dread Central was chosen as AMC's Site of the Week, in 2008. [6]
It was nominated for Total Film's Best Horror Blog, in 2010. [43]
It won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website for the years 2009-2012. [44] [45] [46] [47]
Fangoria is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr.
Sidney Eddie Mosesian, known professionally as Sid Haig, was an American actor. He was known for his appearances in horror films, most notably his role as Captain Spaulding in the Rob Zombie films House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects and 3 from Hell. Haig's Captain Spaulding, and Haig himself, have been called icons of horror cinema. Haig had a leading role on the television series Jason of Star Command as the villain Dragos. He appeared in many television programs, including The Untouchables, Batman, Gunsmoke, Mission: Impossible, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Star Trek, Get Smart, The Rockford Files, Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Dukes of Hazzard, The A-Team, MacGyver, and Emergency!. Haig also had roles in several of Jack Hill's blaxploitation films from the 1970s.
Debbie Ann Rochon is a Canadian actress and former stage performer, best known for her work in independent horror films and counterculture films.
Chris Alexander is a Canadian magazine editor, film critic, director, musician, composer, teacher and writer. Alexander was a member of the Toronto Film Critics Association and was the editor-in-chief of Fangoria, an editor of American film website ComingSoon.net and a writer for the daily newspaper Metro News.
Patrick Rea is an American producer, writer and director known for the films Nailbiter, I Am Lisa, They Wait in the Dark and The Last Butterflies.
Birdemic: Shock and Terror is a 2010 American independent romantic thriller-horror film written, directed, and executive produced by James Nguyen, and starring Alan Bagh and Whitney Moore. Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, Birdemic tells the story of a romance between the two main characters as their small town is attacked by birds. It also was inspired by the environmental documentary An Inconvenient Truth, which led to the film having an environmental message.
Douglas Tait is an American actor, and independent filmmaker. Tait has played characters in several films, including Freddy vs. Jason, Star Trek, Zathura: A Space Adventure, Land of the Lost, Annabelle Comes Home, and Hellboy.
Ari Lehman is an American performing artist, composer, and actor. He is known for playing the child Jason Voorhees in the Paramount horror film Friday the 13th, becoming the first actor to portray the horror film icon. As of 2018, Lehman performs in a punk rock/heavy metal band, First Jason.
CineMayhem is a film festival that celebrates independent horror films.
Justin Benson and Aaron Scott Moorhead are an American filmmaking duo. Both have served in directing, producing, editing, and acting roles in their projects, while Moorhead is also a cinematographer and Benson is a writer.
The Badger Game is a 2014 comedic thriller film written and directed by Joshua Wagner and Thomas Zambeck. The film centers on a trio of scorned women who conspire to abduct and blackmail a wealthy philanderer. Things go awry when unforeseen complications – and ulterior motives – pit the kidnappers against each other.
Epic Pictures Group is an independent film and television studio engaged in the development, financing, production and distribution of film and television. Epic Pictures produces, finances, and distributes approximately twenty-thirty independent genre films a year. In 2013, the company established Epic Pictures Releasing which is its US focused distribution division. In 2017, Epic Pictures acquired the horror website, Dread Central, and launched its unique horror label, Dread, followed by its AVOD channel, DreadTV. In 2019, Epic Pictures started the horror gaming site, DreadXP, with a focus on editorial, reviews, podcasts, and original streaming content. In 2020, DreadXP began a video game publishing division with the launch of The Dread X Collection, an anthology of horror games in collaboration with some developers in the independent gaming space.
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The Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award, often called the Rondo Award, is an annual award founded in 2002 that honors journalism, scholarship and film preservation in the horror genre, particularly of classic horror film and their modern-day counterparts.
Preston Fassel is an American author, journalist, and producer primarily known for his work in the horror, science fiction, and crime genres. His work has appeared in Fangoria, Rue Morgue, Screem magazine, Dread Central, The Daily Grindhouse, and Cinedump.com. He is the author of Remembering Vanessa, the first biography of actress Vanessa Howard, published in the Spring 2014 issue of Screem. From 2017 to 2020, he was a staff writer for Fangoria; in 2018, the magazine published his debut novel, Our Lady of the Inferno, as the first entry in their "FANGORIA Presents" imprint. The book received an overwhelmingly positive critical response, and was named one of the ten best horror books of 2018 by Bloody Disgusting. Since the book's publication he has been described as a cult author.
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The Boulet Brothers are drag artists, television personalities, writers, producers and modern day horror hosts. They were featured on the cover of Fangoria as "Horror's New Icons" in 2022. Their projects have included horror themed television shows, live nightlife productions, books, movies, and comic books. Since 2016 the Boulet Brothers have produced and starred in the reality competition series The Boulet Brothers' Dragula, which features contestants showcasing dark, horror-themed drag looks.
Zeph E. Daniel is a screenwriter, film director, and producer. He is known for conceiving and co-writing the 1989 American body horror film Society, as well as the 1990 film Bride of Re-Animator, with Rick Fry. Daniel also wrote Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation (1990), and served as a producer and writer on the 2021 film Girl Next.
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