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[Bobby Roberts]

When the enthusiast press was slowly starting to congeal and form out of the primordial ooze of the mid-'90s internet, a few sites solidified faster than others. Aint it Cool News, of course, is the most well known. Dark Horizons is still going strong. Corona's Coming Attractions was another big one, and the community for that site ended up spinning off quite a few different movie-news aggregates and reporters. One of the bigger news sites of those Wild West days of the internet was CHUD, run by Nick Nunziata.

In this post at his forums, he announced the front page is going away, and the site is more or less done, to live on only as a forum for the community members who managed to still hang on after weathering the various storms of Nunziata, Smilin' Jack Ruby, and Devin Faraci, who ended up basically becoming the voice of the site until he left to help create Badass Digest (now BirthMoviesDeath.com).

It was only a matter of time, really, but it's still sorta sad to see the site go down. I wasted a lot of time there in my younger, angrier, stupider days. It was where you went to read and bullshit once you realized movie news didn't have to look like whatever the fuck it was Harry Knowles was doing. Of course now that entire corner of the internet's been completely co-opted and incorporated into regular media, and almost nobody's doing that sort of indie shit anymore, but Chud lasted a lot longer than it probably should have. Especially considering its name.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

Awaiting the rise of the CHUD II: Bud the CHUD website.

Honestly, I thought the site went away a long time ago. It has been years since I went there.

 

[MrCunningham]

I had no idea that this site still existed.

 

[Slayven]

When the enthusiast press was slowly starting to congeal and form out of the primordial ooze of the mid-'90s internet, a few sites solidified faster than others. Aint it Cool News, of course, is the most well known. Dark Horizons is still going strong. Corona's Coming Attractions was another big one, and the community for that site ended up spinning off quite a few different movie-news aggregates and reporters. One of the bigger news sites of those Wild West days of the internet was CHUD, run by Nick Nunziata.

In this post at his forums, he announced the front page is going away, and the site is more or less done, to live on only as a forum for the community members who managed to still hang on after weathering the various storms of Nunziata, Smilin' Jack Ruby, and Devin Faraci, who ended up basically becoming the voice of the site until he left to help create Badass Digest (now BirthMoviesDeath.com).

It was only a matter of time, really, but it's still sorta sad to see the site go down. I wasted a lot of time there in my younger, angrier, stupider days. It was where you went to read and bullshit once you realized movie news didn't have to look like whatever the fuck it was Harry Knowles was doing. Of course now that entire corner of the internet's been completely co-opted and incorporated into regular media, and almost nobody's doing that sort of indie shit anymore, but Chud lasted a lot longer than it probably should have. Especially considering its name.

Goddamn shame they use to have great articles.

 

[norm9]

I went to the site just a few days ago. I kept forgetting it's around and just go to other sites instead.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

Haven't visited that website in years. BAD/BMD, The Playlist, AV Club, The Dissolve, pretty much everyone else took over their spot, and they left lookin' irrelevant, all the community moved on.

 

[Gonzalez]

I hope that means Ain't It Cool's death is near.

 

[Slayven]

If Startrek bbs or Gateworld goes away, fuck the internet.

I hope that means Ain't It Cool's death is near.

can you kill what is already dead?

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

I used to go to that site all the time. Haven't really checked it out in years, not terribly surprised it's done.

 

[The Illiterati]

I stopped going after a redesign(their last?) and Devin left. They had a lot of great forum posters in the early 2000's.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

I hope that means Ain't It Cool's death is near.

It has been circling the drain for quite some time. There are a few people on that site that could do well on their own or on another site, but Harry and most of the site has been crap for years now.

 

[Frozenprince]

I hope that means Ain't It Cool's death is near.

Eh it's not terrible. I haven't really read anything since Massawyrm left.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

Eh it's not terrible. I haven't really read anything since Massawyrm left.

Quint (Eric Vespe) and Capone are the only people worth reading on there. And I do enjoy Copernicus writing about the science in movies.

 

[jond76]

I remember going to CHUD. I also remember why I stopped going: Devin Faraci.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Eh it's not terrible. I haven't really read anything since Massawyrm left.

He became a screenwriter, didn't he?

Same with Smilin' Jack Ruby, and Moriarty (who stopped using that name and returned to film criticism/journalism as Drew McWeeny)

Actually not a bad percentage considering how many "writers" back in those early days were hoping the internet would essentially get them drafted out of obscurity and into a studio deal at some point.

Yes, at one point, the online film journalism world was not too much different than the video game journalism world: Most people only joined it as a means to make connections to people in the industry they were covering, and then join that industry proper.

Luckily, some of them actually became legitimate writers/journalists, and they work at much more relevant, readable outlets now.

 

[Gonzalez]

Eh it's not terrible. I haven't really read anything since Massawyrm left.

It got awful post-Attack of The Clones, but atleast the Vern reviews were a fun read.

 

[Gambit 1138]

That site was always garbage honestly.

 

[The Elite]

When the enthusiast press was slowly starting to congeal and form out of the primordial ooze of the mid-'90s internet, a few sites solidified faster than others. Aint it Cool News, of course, is the most well known. Dark Horizons is still going strong. Corona's Coming Attractions was another big one, and the community for that site ended up spinning off quite a few different movie-news aggregates and reporters. One of the bigger news sites of those Wild West days of the internet was CHUD, run by Nick Nunziata.

In this post at his forums, he announced the front page is going away, and the site is more or less done, to live on only as a forum for the community members who managed to still hang on after weathering the various storms of Nunziata, Smilin' Jack Ruby, and Devin Faraci, who ended up basically becoming the voice of the site until he left to help create Badass Digest (now BirthMoviesDeath.com).

It was only a matter of time, really, but it's still sorta sad to see the site go down. I wasted a lot of time there in my younger, angrier, stupider days. It was where you went to read and bullshit once you realized movie news didn't have to look like whatever the fuck it was Harry Knowles was doing. Of course now that entire corner of the internet's been completely co-opted and incorporated into regular media, and almost nobody's doing that sort of indie shit anymore, but Chud lasted a lot longer than it probably should have. Especially considering its name.

Jesus. That's my 90s internet experience right there.

CHUD was the only one I really didn't get into.

I followed Dark Horizons when it was a bunch of GeoCities sites mixed together.

Coming Attractions had that great list of films in various states of development.

Memories.

 

[Frozenprince]

He became a screenwriter, didn't he?

Same with Smilin' Jack Ruby, and Moriarty (who stopped using that name and returned to film criticism/journalism as Drew McWeeny)

Actually not a bad percentage considering how many "writers" back in those early days were hoping the internet would essentially get them drafted out of obscurity and into a studio deal at some point.

Yes, at one point, the online film journalism world was not too much different than the video game journalism world: Most people only joined it as a means to make connections to people in the industry they were covering, and then join that industry proper.

Luckily, some of them actually became legitimate writers/journalists, and they work at much more relevant, readable outlets now.

Wrote Sinister, Sinister II, worked on the Human Revolution movie but apparently that's trapped in licensing hell so it ain't happening.

Nice dude, had a few drinks with him at the Nomad in Austin years and years and years ago, think he was still doing Spill.com stuff then.

Yeah that's any form of journalism attached to a specific industry though. All internet journalists want to be legit writers or important people in the industry they cover, that's just always how it's been.

Comics were the same way.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Nice dude, had a few drinks with him at the Nomad in Austin years and years and years ago, think he was still doing Spill.com stuff then.

Never had an unkind thing to say about the guy - used to promote Geek:Remixed every now and again, always appreciated that.

 

[NervousXtian]

Devincf .. he was like Chud's version of Amir0x.. smart opinionated and polarizing.

I thought Nick lost his thing when he tried to become Harry.. and tried to turn his internet fame into real fame but never really hit it big.

Devin ran things there for awhile.. I remember when he left.. bout the same time I did.

Good memories though.. it hit at a great time.. DVD was still hitting it's stride and things like Netflix and streaming didn't exist.. so there was a ton of movies hitting the home that hadn't seen the light of day but obscure VHS releases. It's just such a different world now.

 

[Grifter]

Of the sites listed, I only frequented Dark Horizons but I'm surprised to hear it's still up. I'm a bit hesitant to bring it up and not get the 90's Photoshop logo and layout.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Of the sites listed, I only frequented Dark Horizons but I'm surprised to hear it's still up. I'm a bit hesitant to bring it up and not get the 90's Photoshop logo and layout.

It's the same layout. Logo's a little different.

 

[bengraven]

Of the sites listed, I only frequented Dark Horizons but I'm surprised to hear it's still up. I'm a bit hesitant to bring it up and not get the 90's Photoshop logo and layout.

Holy shit, Dark Horizons is still up?

DH, Newsaskew and AICN were my daily go-tos in 1997.



Edit: it's not the same layout...unless he changed it a few years in. I was there for two or three years and it was more of a blog style.

 

[Zizbuka]

Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers?

 

[cbrun44]

Sad, but I probably haven't checked out the site in ten years. So it makes sense.

Back in college I would get so many early screening passes through Chud. Loved it! Was able to catch Kill Bill vol. 1 and The Royal Tenenbaums, amongst others, prior to release. Really good memories.

RIP Chud

 

[jstripes]

Man, the "Wild West" days of the web.

There's almost nothing of them left.

 

[NervousXtian]

Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers?

Cinematic Happenings Under Development

..but yes.. the name came from CHUD.

 

[ReturnOfTheRAT]

I liked that short lived video series they had a few years back. Can't think of the name right now.

 

[Foggy]

Definitely the end of an era, but I can't be too bummed it's being put out to pasture.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

For a hot minute there, shortly after "Quantum of Solace" I stumbled on a Bond thread on their boards. I don't even remember how I wound up back there, as it had dropped off my regular movie news rotation for a couple years already at that point.

That thread was one of the better Bond discussions I've seen anywhere. Helped re-ignite my love for the whole series, including the books.

There was also a front-page series that went through the Friday the 13th movies that was some really fun reading, as well.

 

[Fusebox]

Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers?

Yep, I came in expecting the main actor to have died or something.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

For a hot minute there, shortly after "Quantum of Solace" I stumbled on a Bond thread over there. I don't even remember how I wound up back there at that point, as it had dropped off my regular movie news rotation for a couple years already by that point.

That thread was one of the better Bond discussions I've seen anywhere. Helped re-ignite my love for the whole series, including the books.

There was also a front-page series that went through the Friday the 13th movies that was some really fun reading, as well.

Devin's best work. On that note Betsy Palmer died last week. RIP.

 

[sphagnum]

This thread reminded me of Coming Attractions, one of the first message boards I ever posted on. I also somehow convinced them to make me a moderator even though I was 12.

 

[crazyrabbits]

I remember going to CHUD. I also remember why I stopped going: Devin Faraci.

Sorry for the necro, but funny story.

I checked into my Disqus account today while browsing Destructoid, and saw that Faraci had replied to a comment I made four months ago on an article he wrote about Alien 3 (wherein he said that the deaths of two characters were the only reason why people should hate the movie), calling it the worst, most disheartening, most anti-intellectual comment ever.

It was then I learned that this man had an incredibly thin skin, and I remembered why I stopped visiting CHUD (and later Badass Digest) in the first place. I had to laugh about it.

 

[Polari]

Well this is a blast from the past. Don't think I've been there for 15 years or so but used to visit it regularly.