Horror Films (Pocket Essentials) [Paperback]

Michelle Le Blanc (Author)

Book Description

Series: Pocket Essentials | Publication Date: March 2001

The Horror genre is amongst the most popular and commercially successful of movements yet remains the most critically ignored or reviled. They are dismissed as juvenile or even harmful, but something keeps bringing film-makers and audiences back time and again. Many acknowledged film-making greats - from Hitchcock to Kubrick - have produced some of their best work scaring audiences to bits. The Pocket Essential guide to Horror Films looks at the genre from silent cinema to the present day, with an emphasis on such key figures as David Cronenberg, Wes Craven, George A. Romero and Clive Barker. Packed to the gills with scary stuff and gruesome goings on, this is the best-value guide available to the genre that is as old as cinema itself.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Crafted with skill."  —The Oklahoma City Gazette

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

Pocket Essentials is a dynamic series of books that are short, snappy, and easy to read. Packed with facts as well as opinions, each book has all the key information you need to know about such popular topics as film, television, cult fiction, politics, and more. In addition to an introduction to the subject, each topic is individually analyzed and reviewed, examining its impact on popular culture or history. There¹s also a reference section that lists related web sites and weightier (and more expensive) books on the subject. For media buffs and students, these are great entry-level books that build into an essential library.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Trafalgar Square (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1903047382
• ISBN-13: 978-1903047385
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,907,795 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Good for its Non-NATO Content, February 19, 2009

By 

Rodney Meek (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Horror Films (Paperback)

I've read a lot of these guides now and so probably the rating for this one suffers because by now the thrill is gone. Had I read it before a lot of the others, I might've been a little more generous with the stars.

Here we get some history on the development of horror cinema in various regions and countries around the globe. Plenty of stuff on the usual offenders from America, the UK, the Italian giallos, and the cheap Spanish werewolf flicks. However, the authors also cover what the rest of Europe had, and has, to offer (it's current through about 2006), and they also hit Latin America, Asia, and Australia. So there's a fair amount of material on J-horror and its cousins from Thailand and Hong Kong, plus the recent uptick in gore from France and Spain. In addition to general discussions by country, each chapter ends with capsule reviews of significant horror flick by region from the 1920s to present.

Unlike most guides, this one is very sparsely illustrated, and the handful of photos that are present seem to have been selected by spastic meth-crazed dart-throwing monkeys.

Easily confused Americans, beware! The authors evidently are England-based and so sometimes there are some British spellings and idioms. Do not be alarmed! They are your friends!