Fragments of Fear examines a wide range of British horror films and the stories behind them. The early melodramas of Tod Slaughter right through to Hammer and their rivals Tigon and Amicus, plus mavericks like Michael Reeves, sex/horror director Peter Walker and more recent talents such as Clive Barker, director of "Hellraiser", are all discussed. Films studied range in scope from the sadism of "Peeping Tom" to the mutant SF of "A Clockwork Orange" and the softcore porn/horror of Jose Larraz' "Vampyres".
Lavishly illustrated throughout, author Andy Boot unravels a tangled history and discovers many little-known gems amid the more familiar images of Hammer, including a wealth of exploitational cinema. Fragments of Fear establishes the British horror movie as a genre which can easily stand up to its more lauded American counterpart in the depth and diversity of its scope.
