Screamplays [Paperback]

Richard Chizmar (Editor), Martin H. Greenberg (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 23, 1997

SCENE BY SCENE . . . SCREAM BY SCREAM

* Bedtime becomes a dread time for a little girl whose brave cat is her only protection against a grotesque elf . . .
* Four psychic investigators risk their sanity--and their lives--to match wits with the most horrifying evil ever to possess a house. . . .
* Alone in the wilderness, with a "five-minute headstart," beautiful young attorney Kim Sanders is running for her life from the serial killer called "The Butcher" . . .

You don't need a movie theater or a VCR to savor the best in cinematic terror and suspense. All you need is your own imagination and this collection of spine-tingling scripts by the titans of shock storytelling. Whether you're a movie buff or a thriller freak, you'll savor these seven full-length film and TV scenarios, including Stephen King's "General," Richard Matheson's "The Legend of Hell House," and Richard Laymon's "The Hunted," plus chilling works by Harlan Ellison, Joe R. Lansdale, and Ed Gorman.

With a fascinating introduction on fright films by #1 bestselling author Dean Koontz.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

SCENE BY SCENE . . . SCREAM BY SCREAM

* Bedtime becomes a dread time for a little girl whose brave cat is her only protection against a grotesque elf . . .
* Four psychic investigators risk their sanity--and their lives--to match wits with the most horrifying evil ever to possess a house. . . .
* Alone in the wilderness, with a "five-minute headstart," beautiful young attorney Kim Sanders is running for her life from the serial killer called "The Butcher" . . .

You don't need a movie theater or a VCR to savor the best in cinematic terror and suspense. All you need is your own imagination and this collection of spine-tingling scripts by the titans of shock storytelling. Whether you're a movie buff or a thriller freak, you'll savor these seven full-length film and TV scenarios, including Stephen King's "General," Richard Matheson's "The Legend of Hell House," and Richard Laymon's "The Hunted," plus chilling works by Harlan Ellison, Joe R. Lansdale, and Ed Gorman.

With a fascinating introduction on fright films by #1 bestselling author Dean Koontz.

Product Details

• Paperback: 545 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; 1 edition (September 23, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345394291
• ISBN-13: 978-0345394293
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #402,436 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ni ce collection of short screenplays, August 8, 2003

By 

David Keener (Ashburn, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Screamplays (Paperback)

The previous reviewers perhaps bought this volume by mistake, possibly not realizing that screenplays are a different sort of reading experience than regular fiction. I found the screenplays in this volume to be entertaining and quite professional. All of the authors are experienced writers, many with multiple produced screenplay credits.

6 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Six awful screenplays, January 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Screamplays (Paperback)

Not one of these stories was the least bit frightening. Some of them are so jaw-droppingly bad I can't believe the authors actually allowed them to be published without using pen names. Many of these screenplays bear all the marks of first-time screenwriters: boring protagonists, antagonists acting without any apparent motivation, page after page of dull padding... I can't list even the obvious problems in the 1000 words I'm allowed here. The writing styles range from Stephen King's "creative asides" which attempt to educate the reader in the art of screenwriting by telling us what to write instead of showing us, to Ed Gorman's rip-off of William Goldman's style (next time he should rip off a decent story, too). In all, the book includes four feature-length scripts, two shorts, and one 50 pager. In the title for this review I said "Six awful screenplays;" the seventh is a short by Harlan Ellison which isn't exactly horror, but it's a cute little murder story with a surprising yet inevitable ending. That and Dean Koontz's introduction are the high points of this book.

2 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Big mistake, July 3, 2001

By 

Karen Visser - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Screamplays (Paperback)

I bought this book, but sent it back immediately. Unless you're a screenplay-writing-student, this book is of little value to you. It literally goes like this:

Man screams: AARGH! Woman cries: What are you doing? Couple leaves room.

All in all: think carefully if this is what you need. Don't buy it just for the scary cover!