Illustration of a jack-o'-lantern next to an old computer monitor that says RIPDB.

I even doodled the little SVG above so there'd be at least one piece of "production-ready" art in this launch.

Every October my movie queue gets possessed by black-and-white classics. The only thing spookier than the dramatic organ music is the moment I whisper, "wait… are they still alive?" and then immediately fall down a search rabbit hole. So I finally stitched together a scrappy prototype called RIPDB. It's my low-key answer to the question "who's still kicking?" before the third act twist.

Haunted by curiosity (and imposter syndrome)

To be clear, this is not some polished studio release. It's more like the tech equivalent of handing out fun-sized candy bars because the full-size ones felt like "too much." But it works: type in a movie, see the cast, and find out who's still with us and who has taken their final curtain call. I kept the tone gentle—no jump scares, no doom—just respectful context wrapped in a slightly gothy interface.

Honestly, a part of me expected someone else on the internet to have solved this already, and I kept waiting for permission to build it "the right way." Turns out the right way was just me, a pot of tea, and a bunch of late-night "is this weird?" commits. Consider this a tiny séance for my confidence.

What you can try tonight

  • Search your favorite creepy classic and see the cast status at a glance.
  • Tap through to learn more without losing your spot in the film.
  • Drop me a note if something feels off—I probably missed an edge case while double-checking if Boris Karloff was actually in every movie.

Where it goes from here

If people find it useful (or at least charmingly odd), I'd love to add year filters, auto-updating obituaries, and maybe a "surprise me" button for marathon nights. For now, I'm calling it done-ish and returning to my pumpkin-spice-scented code cave. Please try it, tell me what breaks, and maybe reassure me this isn't the nerdiest idea I've ever shipped.

Happy Halloween, and RIPDB if you dare.