Creature features: the science fiction, fantasy, and horror movie guide [Paperback]

John Stanley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1997

Presents critical and humorous reviews of science fiction, fantasy, and horror films from every medium, offering thousands of capsulized reviews, a five-star rating system, video and laserdisc distribution information, and more. Original.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

I know this is a good movie guide because it took up residence next to my remote control and gets consulted on a near-nightly basis. John Stanley, who inherited Bob Wilkins's famous Bay Area show called "Creature Features," does a bang-up job of reviewing thousands of movies through the end of '96 that fall in a general grab-bag category of being spooky or fantastic. This is the fifth edition of Stanley's guide and the first to come out in a handy mass-market size. As Joe Bob Briggs puts it, "I keep this reference work by my bed at all times. Never has so much worthless information been gathered together in one place. I'm in awe of the man."

About the Author

John Stanley hosted the popular Creature Features TV series in the San Francisco Bay area for six years. He has covered the science fiction, fantasy, and horror scene for the San Francisco Chronicle for more than thirty years. He has interviewed dozens of superstars and genre stars. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 582 pages
• Publisher: Boulevard Books (February 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572972254
• ISBN-13: 978-1572972254
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,850,536 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lazy update to a decent book, September 28, 2000

By 

Thomas Mcdonald "McDuck" (NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creature Features: The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide (Paperback)

John Stanley's self-congratulatory intro aside, this is a very sloppy new edition with some glaring factual errors and gaps. There is a scant two paragraphs in the intro on DVD, which has revolutionized home video and brought numerous classics to a wider audience. The line "While the more expensive DVD made inroads amongst elitists, sci-fi and horror material continued to inundate the videocassette market" is one ripe example, since DVDs are cheap and have well-nigh replaced the defunct video-tape. He didn't even bother to rename his "sources" list: it's still called "Video/Laserdisc." The new entries are overlong, badly written, and even poorly punctuated. His opinions are often daft, such as praising Liam Neeson's somnambulant performance in THE HAUNTING and trashing the occasionally clever BRIDE OF CHUCKY. THE BEYOND, STENDHAL SYNDROME, CRASH, and RABID DOGS, key films by Fulci, Argento, Cronenberg, and Bava respectively, are not mentioned. His entry on BLOOD COUPLE (aka GANJA AND HESS) shows no awareness that it was completely restored and reissued over two years ago. This list goes on.

The older entries still hold up, but he's no Michael Weldon. He even gets in some tacky plugs for ordering previous editions of the guide direct from him. If you have a previous edition, there is absolutely no reason to buy this one. A poor update all around.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good as a reference for forgotten films, but not much else., January 12, 2006

By 

Burton Caruthers (CT, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creature Features: The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide (Paperback)

Reading the forward, it's pretty clear that John Stanley is very pleased with himself as a horror expert. However, as you read through his reviews, you'll start to wonder why you didn't think of putting one of these guides out yourself. As a handy reference guide for those moments when recalling a forgotten film from your childhood, it's serviceable. As a trusted review guide, I'd look for something else.

Packed with more bad jokes than a week-long Carrot Top marathon, more spelling mistakes than you can shake a spellchecker at, and enough factual errors to make George Bush seem on the ball, Stanley's 'Creature Features' becomes a very irritating read rather quickly. Having a sense of humor about the genre is required, but you'll be tired of the lame, endless puns by the time you hit Page 10. If there's a plant involved in the film, expect a million 'stump' and 'limb' jokes. If animals are involved, expect the obivious 'all bark no bite' or 'udder nonsense' quips to come fast and furious. The author comes off as a guy who thinks he's much funnier than he really is.

As far as the meat of his capsule reviews goes, he's seems to have no idea how to rate films properly. Using the common 0-5 stars rating system, he often gives a particular film three stars and follows with a review that tells you he's thinking one star. In turn, he'll praise a film while giving it a 1.5 or 2-star rating. It renders his ratings rather useless, since the amount of stars seems to mean very little in terms of film quality.

There are too many spelling and factual errors to list. There were several instances where he generically claimed a monster was a "tentacled beast" when it wasn't the case, as well as gender gaffes, wrong plot lines, and other technical errors. It's hard to tell if this was caused by incompetence or just sheer laziness. His statement that "a blood-soaked psycho killer named Jason is knocking off his victims" when describing the original 'Friday the 13th' is a gross, unforgivable mistake for a guy who implies he's a horror expert. Any fan of the genre knows Jason's mother was the killer in the original film. That's like making a speech in front of WWII veterans and talking about the Swiss bombing Pearl Harbor.

His opinion of the genre is more of the tired, old-school way of thinking (more exposition and character development than we often get, although we're talking about a visiual medium that gets more visiual by the day), often falling in line with popular thinking, but he did suprise me quite a few times. While it goes without saying that no-budget borefests like 'The Blair Witch Project' and the original 'The Haunting' are praised as "less-is-more atmoshpheric masterpieces", Stanley actually praises some good films that have been panned by most ('Galaxy of Terror', 'Conan the Destroyer' are good examples). Still, you're left scratching your head when he gives a tedious snoozer like 'Atom Age Vampire' three stars. He also includes far too many films that have no business in a creature feature guide (Woody Allen films, 'It's a Wonderful Life')

Stanley also seems to have a personal problem with some people, and his venom-coated fangs are bared many reviews. For whatever reason, he seems to despise Sean Cunningham ('Friday the 13th' producer-director-writer), Wes Craven ('Nightmare on Elm Street'), and the boys and gals of Mystery Science Theater. He takes shots at Cunningham and Craven whenever he has a chance, and completely shreds the very talented people behind MST3K. It comes off as either petty professional jealousy, or maybe they just snubbed Stanley at some point in his career. Whatever the case, the fact is Craven & Cunningham have more talent in the creative end of the genre than Stanley does, and the folks at MST3K are light-years funnier than Stanley could ever be. What do they say about music critics? Failed, talentless musicians who go on to trash the successful ones? Could be the case with Stanley.

In conclusion, if you can find the book for under two bucks like I did, it's worth the chump change as a reference guide for obscure horror films. As a comprehensive review guide, to use Stanley's own words, 'Creature Features' is a "dud of a turkey-flop". The cover features a blurb from Fangoria stating that John Stanley is "The Leonard Maltin of horror!". To me, that's kinda like saying somebody is the Daniel Baldwin of acting.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Amateurish but entertaining, March 22, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Creature Features: The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide (Paperback)

I've owned this book for several years now, and it's good fun to page through the capsule reviews (some 3000) every now and then. However, as a serious guide to genre films, the book is sadly lacking.

What we have here is a work that has been hastily produced, on a low budget, by a writer light on talent, but heavy on respect: ironically enough, that actually sums up most of the films inside. Stanley rarely has any special insight into the films he reviews; entries are often very poorly written; he often misspells words, or actually uses words incorrectly; and his cutesy sense of humor becomes grating very quickly. He obviously knows a lot about the subject of genre films, but knowledge simply doesn't equate with discernment. (His petulant review of "Mystery Science Theater" (though I agree that the show is much overrated) is a classic example of a horror-geek's intolerance.

Worst of all is the total lack of indices. These should be included as a matter of course, but Stanley, or his publisher, couldn't be bothered to do the work.

If what you want is a mildly entertaining bathroom book, then by all means buy "Creature Features." Otherwise, look elsewhere.