The Evolution of Cinematter:
July 1995 – Website created (at Texas Metronet) originally titled Shreck’s Cinema
Originally composed of two text-only pages:
One page of summary/reviews for 1995 movies, and one page of coming attractions.
July 1995 – Added additional pages:
Ranked lists of 1993 and 1994 films
Initial Introduction page
Links page
August 1995 – First graphics added to page.
Ticket rating replaced 1-10 rating system.
October 1995 – Split reviews page into multiple pages:
an ordered and an alphabetical list, and one page per review.
Passed 10,000 Total Requests.
November 1995 – Added Imagemap support
January 1996 – Archived review page as 1995 pages, created 1996 pages with same format
Passed 50,000 Total Requests.
March 1996 – Got rid of the hideous fluorescent green background, replaced with bland grey
May 1996 – Added reviews of video releases.
Passed 100,000 Total Requests.
August 1996 – Major site overhaul!
Added frames support.
Eliminated links list
Divided Coming Attractions list into date list with individual descriptions
October 1996 – Added changes list for Coming Attractions page
Passed 500,000 Total Requests.
November 1996 – Site moved to Pair Networks
Registered domain name: www.shreck.com was born.
January 1997 – Archived 1996 reviews, created new 1997 pages
Removed non-review lists for 1993 and 1994.
Joined Commonwealth Network.
Passed 1,000,000 Total Requests.
April 1997 – Major graphical changes:
Got rid of the Shreck Cat (no, it WASN’T Felix)
Added some more color to the site (replaced grey background with blue)
Added link to search engine for Coming Attractions page (to be replaced in December)
July 1997 – Passed 2,000,000 Total Requests.
Integrated change lists and posted on front page.
September 1997 – Added MPAA ratings to Coming Attractions and Reviews.
October 1997 – Passed 3,000,000 Total Requests.
Added links for movie trailers to the Coming Attractions List
December 1997 – Added database backend to site
Added true search capability.
Added links to the Internet Movie Database from each movie page.
January 1998 – More graphical changes (new logo and buttons)
Added the ability to customize the lists.
First annual Online Film Critics Society awards given out.
Added the Articles page.
April 1998 – New site name The site name officially became Cinematter Although www.shreck.com still works, www.cinematter.com is the new URL Passed 5,000,000 Total Requests!
June 1998 – Added OFCS Website link to page
(The OFCS website was partly hosted on Cinematter, 1998-2000)
Recognition: Hot Site of the Week from The Writer’s Guild of America
July 1998 – Updated database backend to MySQL.
Created new intro page.
August 1998 – Finally posted updated pics of self.
Recognition: #61 on the World Charts Top 100 Homepages
October 1998
Recognition: #53 on the World Charts Top 100 Homepages
Recognition: A mention in CyberStuff:
Cinematter: There is no dearth of movie web sites on the web these days. in fact, some of the most popular are overseen by major companies. Then there’s Cinematter. It may not be as well known, but it is jam packed with information and is extremely easy to navigate. What’s more, even with frames, it does not come off as cluttered as many sites with similar content. Accessing the home page gives you three frames: current films, recent changes to the site and a navigation bar. As one delves a bit deeper, you’ll find future release schedules for both theatrical and home video and movie reviews going back four years. It may not have all the bells and whistles of its brethren, but you’ll like it.
February 1999
Yet another site revision. Changed frame layout, color, graphics and font scheme.
Recognition: Link of the Week at The UK Critic homepage
Passed 10,000,000 total requests.
March 1999
Added the Comments engine to the site.
Recognition: Named “one of the best movie related research sites on the web” by the Hollywood Stock Exchange’s Mac Daddy: H$ Millions For The Taking.
June 1999
Recognition: Link of the Week at scr(i)pt Magazine.
June 2000
“Brief” hiatus from reviewing…
2004, 2006, 2009
Aborted attempts to relaunch the site on a variety of new platforms.
June 2011
Cinematter relaunches under the WordPress platform