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Stephen King has a wide taste in literature, loving novels like "Lord of the Flies" and "Watership Down" over horror literature and weird fiction, but that's not to say he doesn't pay attention to other masters of the genre. The bulk of King's novels are horror stories, and he clearly took a lot of inspiration from the pulp horror, genre magazines, and EC Comics of his childhood. Indeed, King wrote "Creepshow" in 1982, openly paying homage to the "Tales from the Crypt" and "Shock SuspenStories" issues he read as a youth in the 1950s. King wears his horror influences on his sleeve. 

As for the literature that inspired him, King recalls reading a lot as a child, and that he loved a wide variety of books. He enjoyed the fantastical stories of Ray Bradbury, the Nancy Drew mysteries of Carolyn Keene, and, yes, even horror novels like Robert Bloch's "Psycho.

New Featurette: Take a look inside The Black Phone with Ethan Hawke: "The phone is dead. And it’s ringing.

Director Scott Derrickson returns to his terror roots and partners again with the foremost brand in the genre, Blumhouse, with a new horror thriller. Finney Shaw, a shy but clever 13-year-old boy, is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little use. When a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring, Finney discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer’s previous victims. And they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney.

Starring four-time Oscar® nominee Ethan Hawke in the most terrifying role of his career and introducing Mason Thames in his first ever film role, The Black Phone is produced, directed, and co-written by Scott Derrickson, the writer-director of Sinister,...

Mr. Franz seemed nice at first, but brimming just beneath the surface was a desire to turn his guests into miniature puppets for his own amusement. This unconventional form of entertainment takes center stage in Attack of the Puppet People, and with Scream Factory releasing the 1958 horror film on Blu-ray, we've been provided with three high-def copies to give away to lucky Daily Dead readers.

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Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Blu-ray copy of Attack of the Puppet People.

How to Enter: We're giving Daily Dead readers multiple chances to enter and win:

1. Instagram: Following us on Instagram during the contest period will give you an automatic contest entry. Make sure to follow us at:

https://www.instagram.com/dailydead/

2. Email: For a chance to win via email, send an email to contest@dailydead.com with the subject "Attack of the Puppet People Contest". Be sure to include your name and mailing address.

July 26th has an eclectic assortment of horror and sci-fi offerings for fans, including a pair of cult classics—The Boy Who Cried Werewolf and Hellhole—from the fine folks at Scream Factory. Severin Films resurrects Doctor Butcher M.D. and Zombie Holocaust in HD this week, and Karyn Kusama’s superb psychological thriller The Invitation comes home on Tuesday courtesy of Drafthouse Films.

Other notable Blu-ray and DVD releases coming our way on July 26th include Five Miles to Midnight, the Killer Thrillers Collection, Consumption, and Exorcist House of Evil.

The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)

Richie Bridgestone’s parents are getting a divorce, but that’s the least of his problems at the moment. Richie is hoping his parents will reconsider and on a visit to his father’s secluded cabin, he witnesses his dad being attacked by a werewolf. Much like the tale of the boy who cried wolf,...

Scream Factory unleashes full moon frights on July 26th with their Blu-ray release of The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (1973), and we’ve been provided with three copies to give away to Daily Dead readers.

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Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Blu-ray copy of The Boy Who Cried Werewolf.

How to Enter: For a chance to win, email contest@dailydead.com with the subject “The Boy Who Cried Werewolf Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.

Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on July 31st. This contest is only open to those who are eighteen years of age or older that live in the United States. Only one entry per household will be accepted.

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The Boy Who Cried Werewolf Blu-ray: “Richie Bridgestone’s parents are getting a divorce, but that’s the least of his problems at the moment. Richie is hoping his parents will...

Richie witnesses his father being attacked by a werewolf while spending a weekend with him at a secluded cabin. Will the townspeople believe that his father will turn into the beast beholden to the moon? Check out these clips and the official trailer for Nathan H. Juran’s (Attack of the 50 Foot Woman) The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (1973) before its Blu-ray release on July 26th from Scream Factory.

The Boy Who Cried Werewolf Blu-ray: “Richie Bridgestone’s parents are getting a divorce, but that’s the least of his problems at the moment. Richie is hoping his parents will reconsider and on a visit to his father ’s secluded cabin, he witnesses his dad being attacked by a werewolf. Much like the tale of the boy who cried wolf, no one in the town will believe Richie’s claims that his father will change into a werewolf at the next full moon.

A sanitarium with a sinister staff and a family with a hairy (and scary) dilemma will get the high-def treatment on July 26th with the respective Blu-ray releases of 1985’s Hellhole (being distributed on a Blu-ray / DVD combo pack) and 1973’s The Boy Who Cried Werewolf. With summer heating up, Scream Factory has revealed the final list of special features for each film, as well as another look at the previously revealed cover art:

Press Release: This July, Scream Factory presents two long-lost cult favorites on Blu-ray for the first time. Hellhole and The Boy Who Cried Werewolf debut in a Blu-ray + DVD combo pack, and on Blu-ray, respectively.

Hellhole

Having witnessed her mother’s brutal death, Susan (Judy Landers, Dr. Alien) gets amnesia from a fall while being pursued by the killer, Silk (Ray Sharkey, The Idolmaker). Awakening in Ashland Sanitarium, she is once again terrorized by Silk, disguised as an orderly.

Richie (Kerwin Matthews) witnesses a werewolf attack his father, but who will believe him?! Nathan Juran’s The Boy Who Cried Werewolf will be released on Blu-ray on July 26th courtesy of Scream Factory.

From Scream Factory: “Last week we announced the werewolf film Bad Moon and now we have even more to howl in joy about: 1973’s long-lost The Boy Who Cried Werewolf will be making its home video debut on the Blu-ray format on July 26th and will sport a brand-new HD transfer! Pre-order begins on our site first @ https://www.shoutfactory.com/film/film-horror/the-boy-who-cried-werewolf

Synopsis: Richie Bridgestone’s parents are getting a divorce, but that’s the least of his problems at the moment. Richie is hoping his parents will reconsider and on a visit to his father’s secluded cabin, he witnesses his dad being attacked by a werewolf. Much like the tale of the boy who cried wolf,...

Lock your doors! Hulking menace Victor Buono gets the full-on psycho treatment, based (very) roughly on early reports of The Boston Strangler. The 'baby doll' killer also prefigures the fiendish Richard Speck. Burt Topper's film is routine but ex- Baby Jane star Victor Buono's performance is decidedly not. The Strangler DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1964 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 89 min. / Street Date November 10, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Victor Buono, Diane Sayer, Davey Davison, Jeanne Bates, Ellen Corby, Mimi Dillard, Selette Cole, David McLean, Baynes Barron, Michael Ryan, Russ Bender, Wally Campo, Byron Morrow, John Yates, James Sikking, Robert Cranford. Cinematography Jacques R. Marquette Film Editor Robert S. Eisen Original Music Martin Skiles Written by Bill S. Ballinger Produced by Samuel Bischoff, David Diamond Directed by Burt Topper

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The old-time independent producer Edward Small gravitated to United Artists in the 1950s, while his counterpart...

Humankind’s collision with otherworldly life forms can make for unforgettable cinema.

This article will highlight the best of live-action human vs. alien films. The creatures may be from other planets or may be non-demonic entities from other dimensions.

Excluded from consideration were giant monster films as the diakaiju genre would make a great subject for separate articles.

Readers looking for “friendly alien” films such as The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), It Came from Outer Space (1953) and the comically overrated Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) are advised to keep watching the skies because they won’t find them here.

Film writing being the game of knowledge filtered through personal taste that it is, some readers’ subgenre favorites might not have made the list such as War of the Worlds (1953) and 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957).

Now let’s take a chronological look at the cinema’s best battles between Us and Them.

Spoiler alert – the Mayans were wrong. But don't let that spoil a look back at a movie that finds new ways to obliterate the world. Stuart Heritage checks out the destruction, on Channel 5 on Sunday at 9pm

• Ghostbusters recap

• Die Hard recap

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When 2012 was released in 2009, it came with a nifty built-in self-destruct mechanism. Back then there was a chance, however minuscule, that the Mayans were right and the world really was about to come to a spectacular end. However, now it is November 2013, and the Mayans are all feeling pretty stupid.

Anyone watching 2012 for the first time won't experience even the tiniest twinge of foreboding. Instead, they will just think that people in 2009 were all superstitious idiots. But you've seen 2012 before. That or you've got an impressively cavalier attitude toward spoilers. Either way, you're rewatching it purely for the spectacle.

So, has 2012 been permanently...

Previously, during the two week long 3-D film festival at the Egyptian Theatre, I had the pleasure to watch Creature From The Black Lagoon, House Of Wax, It Came From Outer Space, The Mad Magician and Jaws 3-D. This past Saturday night, I completed my experience with the World 3-D Film Expo with a screening of Jack Arnold’s Revenge Of The Creature, the sequel to the Universal classic Creature From The Black Lagoon.

As with many of the other screenings, I got to see Revenge in the format it was intended to be seen in, dual 35 mm, in luscious 3-D. The film had some great 3-D gags, and some fantastic underwater sequences, and didn’t look much worse for wear in comparison with Joe Alves’ Jaws 3-D. In fact, after seeing them both in such a short time, I was startled by the similarity in the two movies (in the less heralded sequels,...

Horror fans today are spoiled. With the vast array of films available on DVD and Blu-ray via storefronts like Best Buy and Fye, online outlets like Amazon and Deep Discount, and rental/streaming services such as Netflix, there are few films that are unattainable. Virtually anything one might hear of is available some way, somewhere. But it wasn't always so...

Back at a time before disc (or VHS for that matter), the only way - and I mean the Only way - to see classic and not so classic genre pictures was on broadcast television. As a kid, I remember getting the local TV Guide and a yellow highlighter and systematically going through the listings, marking each and every show time of movies I'd heard about either from friends or ones that were obliquely mentioned in Forry Ackerman's Famous Monsters of Filmland . I would meticulously go over each entry...