The last month or so of 2009 has been a rough stretch when it comes to losing genre luminaries. Paul Naschy left us back around Thanksgiving and Dan O'Bannon passed not long after. Unfortunately, we can add another name to the list of the departed: Chas. Balun. Balun was a writer, artist, critic, and all around horror connoisseur. He lost a lengthy battle with cancer on December 18th and will certainly be missed by fans, writers, and countless filmmakers who were influenced, inspired, and informed by his work.

A champion of obscure and gory horror in the days before you could drive to the mall and pick up a DVD copy of Cannibal Holocaust, Balun not only turned an entire generation on to the inherent coolness of filmmakers like Lucio Fulci, but he inspired many of us to follow in his footsteps when it came to writing about the genre. Balun might have been the first horror blogger--if blogs had been around back when he started.

Funny, irrverent, confrontational, insightful and intelligent--Chas. Balun was all of these things and more. He will be greatly missed.

Jump past the break for more on Chas.' career and his influence on me personally.

Chas. Balun was a horror geek--maybe the first horror geek (although I think Forry Ackerman is equally worthy of the title)--and a horror film critic. It was Balun's work in places like Fangoria and Gorezone and in his books on the genre that opened my eyes to a world of splatter that had previously remained hidden from me. It was his championing of films by guys like Lucio Fulci that helped foster my love of Italian horror. It was his thoughtful (and occasionally hilarious) film reviews that taught me that you could write about movies like Cannibal Holocaust and discuss them like you would a "serious" mainstream film. In many ways, I owe my entire career to Chas. Balun--because without that last lesson I might have never started writing about horror films in the first place.

Balun not only inspired my writing (every time I mention something's a "chunk blower" it's a little nod his work), he was indirectly instrumental in helping me become The Horror Geek on Comedy Central's Beat the Geeks. In preparation for the audition test, I spent a lot of time poring over Gore Score and Deep Red. It was time well spent as I wound up using things I'd learned from his work on the show. I even spent a break in taping with one of the program's technical people flipping through her copy of Gore Score 2001 while discussing our favorite reviews in the book. Yeah, our favorite reviews--not our favorite movies--because with Chas., the writing was always at least as much fun as the movie being discussed.

I've been writing about this stuff for over a decade--and when the days come along (as they occasionally do) where I'm ready to throw in the towel and do something else with my life because the pay sucks and I'm tired of dealing with the internet's ever-present "white noise" (in the form of people who write about horror films with no clue as to what they're talking about), I pull out one of Chas'. books and read for a few minutes. It always inspires me to keep going and reminds me of why I started doing this in the first place. We all owe Chas.--every one of us who writes reviews or blogs about the genre because he helped pave the way to where we are today. Every fan who got a chance to see films like The Beyond and countless other classics solely because Chas. wrote about them and spread the gospel to the masses who wouldn't have known they existed otherwise owes him a debt of gratitude that we can never repay. He may not have invented horror film criticism or been the only guy to know about these films, but he certainly influenced an entire generation of writers and fans who're richer for having his work as a guidepost.

You don't get to be my age without a few regrets in life, and the passing of Chas. has added one more to that list. I'm sad and a little bit embarrassed that I never got to say thanks to Chas. for all he'd done for me (without ever knowing it) while he was still with us. I always meant to, but time has a way of slipping by and next thing you know, people you thought would be here forever are gone. Saying thanks now somehow seems hollow, so I'm not going to do it. Instead, I'm going to ask that we all make sure Chas.' memory lives on in our work and our love of horror. Chas. was the pioneer, he blazed the trail--now it's up to the rest of us to pick up the torch and continue on. I can think of no better way to honor his memory than by doing exactly that.