And The Vault of Horror's Rondo Endorsement Goes To...

It's that time of year again, when the horror community and its fans get together to vote for the best of the best, in a wide variety of categories covering virtually every form of media there is. It's the 9th Annual Rondo Hatton Awards, presented by the venerable Classic Horror Film Board--an accolade that has grown, since 2003, to be one of the most respected and coveted of all horror-related achievements.

And this year, for the third year running, there is a "Best Horror Blog" category. Now, I've been proud to have taken home an Honorable Mention nod both in 2009 and 2010, and yes, dear Vault dwellers, I can hear your groans of disappointment over the fact that the VoH was not nominated this year. That said, the disappointment should dissipate utterly at the sight of the more-than-worthy collection of blogs that have been nominated. And although it is a mighty impressive list, many have called upon me to go public with an official endorsement, and I've decided to do just that.

So, as you head to your online polls sometime between now and Saturday night, I encourage you to do what I'll be doing--and that is, cast a vote for Pierre Fournier's Frankensteinia. I mean this as no slight to the other fine blogs, but this blogger is of the opinion that the standard set by Frankensteinia is something to which we should all be aspiring. In fact, when I first was getting this whole operation off the ground a few years ago, Pierre's amazing site was one of those I looked to for inspiration, and marveled at in awe, hoping I could one day do anywhere near as good a job.

Pierre decided to focus on one specific area, and a very rich one at that--Mary Shelley's unique creation and the myriad of spin-offs and creative endeavors it has spawned in the past two centuries. It's definitely fertile ground, and he mines it with deft skill, providing nearly daily posts that always offer something fascinating and unique. It's well-written, well-researched, and put together with great care. In short, Frankensteinia is a scholarly endeavor that crosses the boundaries between film criticism, cultural commentary, academic pursuit and plain old fun entertainment. It's the horror blogger's horror blog.

So, by all means, check out the many impressive sites nominated this year--such as Final Girl, Cinema Suicide, Zombos' Closet of Terror and The Horrors of It All. They're all amazing--but given the difficult choice, I'm going with Pierre's passionate pursuit of all thinks Frankie. And I have a feeling even some of the other nominees would agree!