David J. Skal (1952-2024)

[Film scholar and longtime member of The Classic Horror Film Board died in an auto accident on January 1. David Colton wrote a tribute on Facebook which he has kindly given permission to republish here.]

David J. Skal

By David Colton: A gentle writer and brilliant as a moonbeam horror historian, David J. Skal, was killed in a head-on car crash on the first day of 2024 in Los Angeles. Details are only now emerging, but he was a young 71, and his out-of-nowhere loss has shaken both the horror community and the larger entertainment world as well.

David Skal was one of a handful of trailblazing horror historians who took genre scholarship to a new level in the 1980s, showing how classic characters such as Dracula and Frankenstein, writers such as Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley, and filmmakers such as Tod Browning and James Whale fit into or challenged the larger creative universes of literature and cinema.

In books such as Hollywood Gothic, Dark Carnival (with Elias Savada), The Monster Show, and Screams of Reason he demonstrated how the terrible wounds of victims returning from World War I helped animate the birth of the horror film, and how the super science of World War II did the same for atomic terrors of the 1950s.

As enthusiasm for monsters and their origins grew, he became a trusted scholar on the classic horrors of Universal Pictures from the 1930s and 40s. He especially helped pioneer the inclusion of bonus material when the films were released on DVD with not only multiple commentaries, but documentaries and features.

Included in those releases were precious artifacts such as the Spanish version of the 1931 Dracula, and Edward Van Sloan’s fragmentary and thought-to-be-lost “there are such things” end speech from Dracula.

David sometimes sparred with other horror historians on issues large — Browning’s skills as a director (He found Dracula slow going), or fun (was a piece of cardboard throwing shadows near Mina’s bed in Dracula planned or a mistake?) — but could always be counted upon to engage in elegant and readable writings.

His masterful and sadly, final work, Something in the Blood, was a deeply-researched examination of the still-elusive Bram Stoker, his relationship with Oscar Wilde, and his path from obscure filing clerk to creator of one of literature’s most enduring characters.

David was also a quiet and proud flag-bearer for the LGBTQ community, an early member of the Classic Horror Film Board, a multiple Rondo Award winner and Stoker award nominee, and a lecturer worldwide at film festivals, symposiums and conventions.

A friend who was always helpful with questions large or trivial, the fact that David is gone at only 71 is a shockwave for everyone who knew him and appreciated his understanding of the uncertain alchemy when words and film so often meet.

Farewell to a true film historian who, far too early, has left his own mark on horror history.


“Bram Stoker, working in a largely intuitive manner, and no doubt propelled by more than a few personal demons, managed to tap a well of archetypal motifs so deep and persistent that they can assume the shape of almost any critical container.” — David J. Skal, Hollywood Gothic

Steve Vertlieb Recalls His 2016 Rondo Hall of Fame Award

David Colton and Steve Vertlieb

By Steve Vertlieb: David Colton has announced the nominations for this year’s slate of recipients for the prestigious Rondo Awards, honoring the very best in “fantastic” creativity, comprising imaginative cinema, television, books, magazines, and art.

I shall always remember with both pride and honor the very special moment less than a year ago when, on Saturday evening, June 4th, 2016, I was awarded Rondo’s highest honor…the Rondo “Hall of Fame” in recognition of a lifetime of journalism and publishing. That wondrous evening will always stand out as, perhaps, the most memorable night of my own seventy-one years.

With that thought in mind, I’d like to take a moment to wish all of this year’s worthy nominees the same fortune and good luck that made my own special night so memorable in 2016. Wishing each of this year’s worthy nominees God speed and sublime recognition of your work and inspiration.