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Finally, the Daily Dead “Class Of” series has reached my beloved birth year, 1981. For the genre, 1981 signifies an important moment in the history of horror. With the introduction of two slasher icons, Michael Myers in 1978 and Jason Voorhees in 1980; the beginning of the sequel boom that would dominate the rest of the decade was born in 1981 with Halloween 2 and Friday the 13th Part 2. These two sequels are merely the introduction to the rise of slasher cinema for the 80s, with 1981 providing a variety of examples like The Burning, Graduation Day, The Prowler, Funhouse, Happy Birthday to Me, Final Exam, Night School, Student Bodies, and My Bloody Valentine.

1981 also proved the best year in the history of horror for werewolf movies. The iconic American Werewolf in London set the gold standard in practical transformation effects. The Howling is a demonstration of how horror and humor can coexist perfectly. Wolfen...

Guy Hamilton, who directed four James Bond movies including the 1964 classic Goldfinger, passed away earlier today at the age of 93. The filmmaker died on the Spanish island of Majorca where he lived. No details about the cause of death were given at this time, but we'll be sure to keep you posted with more updates as soon as they come in.

Guy Hamilton was born September 16, 1922 in Paris, France, and he got his start in the film business in the late 1940s. He served as director Carol Reed's assistant for five years, before becoming an assistant director on his 1949 classic film The Third Man. He also served as an assistant director on The Angel With the Trumpet, The Great Manhunt, Outcast of the Islands and the John Huston classic The African Queen, before making his directorial debut in 1951 with The Ringer.

He went on to direct An Inspector Calls,...

On top of a mesmerising plot, perfect casting and the greatest comic duo in British cinema, this comedy thriller derives special urgency from the troubled times in which it was made

Hitchcock and railways go together like a locomotive and tender. He loved them, they figure significantly in his work and never more so than in The Lady Vanishes. Much of what happens could only take place on a railway line – passengers delayed together by an avalanche; classes compartmentalised; strangers trapped together as they're transported across a continent; an engine driver killed in crossfire; a carriage disconnected and shunted on to a branch line; an intrepid hero struggling from one carriage to another outside a fast-moving train as other locomotives rush by; clues in the form of a name traced in the steam on a window, and the label on a tea packet briefly adhering to another window; and above...