Random Ramblings from the Vault...

• I'm very excited to announce that the fourth and final chapter of my long-running series of Godzilla discussions with Miguel Rodriguez of the Monster Island Resort podcast is now online, and you can view it here! That's right, I said view it. Miguel and I finally had an opportunity to meet in person last weekend, and recorded this to commemorate the event. A thrilling way to end the series, and I'd like to make it known here that we are now planning a series of podcasts on the Universal monster series--so stay tuned, Vault dwellers...

• So I spent an evening with Captain Cruella and my folks watching both versions of The Blob, and now I can't get Burt Bacharach's kitschy Blob theme song out of my head. "Beware of the Blob!"

• I just realized that I did a whole 2012 horror movie preview and left out Tim Burton's Dark Shadows with Johnny Depp. Major lapse right there. So let me officially say right here and now that I am supremely psyched for it.

• I'm hoping to do a top 10 list very soon featuring my favorite haunted house movies. I have lots of ideas, needless to say. What might you include on such a list?

• SyFy has this new show called Face Off, in which aspiring movie makeup effects people compete. On the season premiere, they were asked to "reinvent" the characters from The Wizard of Oz. So of course, they had to go all dark and twisted and give everything a horror spin. I can understand one team deciding to do this, but both? Yeesh, I love horror as much as the next guy, Lord knows--but there comes a time when you need to lighten up, people. It's The Wizard of Frakkin' Oz for crying out loud...

• Another Friday the 13th has come and gone. Once again I had to endure legions of my fellow horror fans going on and on about a series of films that I seem to be in the decided minority for not really liking at all. It has to be nostalgia, that's the only thing that could explain such mass delusion.

• The new Nosferatu at 90 series that I kicked off earlier this week seems to be getting a really great response. So nice to see such a classic still appreciated by so many. Thanks to everyone who checked it out. It will be a lot of fun exploring different aspects of the film over the course of its 90th anniversary year.

• OK. Only one more Twilight movie to go. We can get through this together, people. All holding hands and supporting each other. It will all be over soon. Keep the faith, my friends.

• In other news, The Vault of Horror has been nominated in Dead Lantern's Splatcademy Awards for Best Horror Blog/Website for the second year running. I'm honored to be included alongside such incredible sites as Arrow in the Head, Horror-Movies.ca, Final Girl and Shock Till You Drop. Go and cast your vote now--The Vault took home the prize last year; will it be two in a row? The voting ends February 20, with winners announced February 27.

• Speaking of awards, the 4th Annual Cyber Horror Awards are already in motion, and I've recruited a stellar band of judges to help me determine the nominees for the best in horror film during 2011. I should have the list of nominees ready by early next month, so sit tight and keep checking the CHA website...