Terms of Service

Welcome to The Horror Codex (“the Codex”), a horror-film database operated by Living Dead Co., a sole proprietorship based in Georgia, USA. By using the site, you agree to these Terms.

Please also read our Privacy Policy and Community Guidelines. The Community Guidelines describe the expected conduct on the site and are incorporated into these Terms by reference.

1. Beta service

The Codex is in beta. The site, its features, and its data may change, break, or disappear. We do not promise uptime, durability of your data beyond reasonable best effort, or fitness for any specific purpose. Use accordingly. If losing your data on the Codex would be a problem for you, keep your own copy.

2. Eligibility and accounts

• You must be at least 13 years old to create an account. If you’re under the age of majority where you live, your parent or guardian should agree to these Terms.
• You may only have one account. Don’t impersonate other people or organizations.
• You’re responsible for keeping your sign-in credentials (or sign-in email) secure. Tell us at [email protected] if you suspect your account has been compromised.
• We may refuse, suspend, or terminate accounts that violate these Terms or our Community Guidelines, with or without notice.

3. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Harass, threaten, dox, or otherwise abuse other users.
• Post hate speech or content that targets people based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or similar protected characteristics.
• Spam comments, lists, or photo captions, or use the Codex to promote unrelated products or services.
• Upload content that infringes someone else’s copyright, trademark, or other intellectual-property rights.
• Scrape the site at scale, bypass rate limits, or access the API in ways not provided by the site itself.
• Attempt to access other users’ accounts, data, or private state.
• Use the Codex to distribute malware, phishing links, or other harmful content.

Detailed conduct expectations live in the Community Guidelines. Violations can result in content removal, account restriction, or termination.

4. Your content

You keep ownership of the content you post on the Codex (comments, lists, photos and stills, genre and keyword tags you add, related-film suggestions, list keywords, and so on — collectively, “your content”).

You grant Living Dead Co. a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, display, reproduce, modify (for example, resize photos for thumbnails or optimize them for web), distribute, and communicate your content to other users of the site, and to do so through our service providers (CDN, hosting, etc.) for the purpose of running the Codex. This license exists only so we can show your content to other users; it doesn’t let us sell your content or use it for advertising.

You represent that you own your content or have all the rights necessary to grant the license above. For photo uploads in particular: only upload stills you have the right to share. Promotional stills released by studios are generally OK as fair use; screenshots of streaming content are murkier — use your judgment, and follow takedown requests promptly.

When you delete your account, the default flow anonymizes your content (your name is removed but the comment, list, or edit remains useful to the community). The optional “delete contributions” checkbox during deletion will hard-delete your content along with the account. See the Privacy Policy for details.

5. Our content

Film metadata (titles, cast, crew, dates, posters, streaming availability) is sourced from TMDB and remains subject to TMDB’s terms. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.

Editorial content original to the Codex — genre/subgenre descriptions, decade and country histories, the Journal essays, the horror taxonomy itself, AI-assisted classifications, and the cover photos and design — is owned by Living Dead Co. and licensed to you for personal, non-commercial reading and reference.

The Codex’s name, logo, and design are trademarks of Living Dead Co. You may not use them in a way that suggests endorsement or affiliation without permission.

6. Termination

You can delete your account at any time from /settings.

We may suspend or terminate your account for material or repeated violation of these Terms or our Community Guidelines. We’ll try to give notice and a chance to appeal where reasonable, but in cases of severe abuse (e.g. harassment, illegal content, deliberate disruption) we may act immediately.

7. Disclaimer of warranties

The Codex is provided “as is” and “as available.” To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

We don’t guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of any information on the site (including film metadata sourced from TMDB or community contributions). Don’t use the Codex as the sole source of truth for anything that matters — verify independently.

8. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Living Dead Co. and its operators are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, data, or goodwill, arising from your use of the Codex.

Our aggregate liability for any claim arising out of or related to these Terms or your use of the Codex is limited to the greater of (a) the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim arose, or (b) USD $100. For most users, since the Codex is free, this means our liability is capped at $100.

9. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold Living Dead Co. harmless from claims, damages, and expenses arising from your use of the Codex, your content, or your violation of these Terms.

10. DMCA / copyright takedowns

We respect copyright. If you believe your work has been used on the Codex without authorization in a way that constitutes infringement, send a DMCA takedown notice to our designated agent.

Designated DMCA agent:

Jon Cole
Living Dead Co.
[email protected]
(Postal address available on request.)

A valid notice must include all of the following (per 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3)):

1. A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or someone authorized to act on their behalf.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed.
3. Identification of the material on the Codex that is claimed to be infringing, with enough detail for us to locate it (a URL is best).
4. Your contact information: address, phone number, and email.
5. A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
6. A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

Once we receive a valid notice, we’ll remove or disable access to the material and notify the user who uploaded it. They can submit a counter-notice if they believe the takedown was a mistake or misidentification. Repeat infringers will have their accounts terminated.

False or bad-faith takedown notices are illegal under the DMCA. Don’t send them.

11. Changes to these Terms

We’ll update these Terms when our practices change. Material changes will be announced with a site banner or by email. Continued use of the Codex after a change means you accept the new Terms. The “Effective” date at the top of this page tells you which version is current.

12. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Georgia, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Any dispute arising from your use of the Codex must be brought in a state or federal court located in Georgia, and you consent to the jurisdiction of those courts.

13. Severability and entire agreement

If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. These Terms (together with the Privacy Policy and Community Guidelines) are the entire agreement between you and Living Dead Co. regarding the Codex.

14. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Email [email protected].