Customer Reviews

John Stanley's Creature Features Movie Guide Strikes Again: An A to Z Encyclopedia to the Cinema of the Fantastic or Is There a Mad Doctor/Dentist I

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I own MANY film reference books, including many inclusive to horror and cult films. This is by far the best one I own. It gives extremely detailed entertaining descriptions of each of its ,many films. It has many hard to find titles. I was extremely impressed with this book and recommend it to everybody.

This book is a Genre fans dream! I happen to be one of those people who like Horror, Sci-fi, and Fantasy movies. I own several books on each subject. When I found this book in a used book store, I never imagined that I would find something that so perfectly matched my taste in movies. There are 5,614 reviews with intelligent descriptions behind each one. I take my copy to the video store with me! That way I know I'm not renting a total turkey. Some of the major pluses included in the book are: TV movie reviews, 1,709 cross references to secondary titles, direct-to-video reviews, and the fact that an estimated 30% of the titles listed in the book cannot be found in most major movie guides. The last fact is entirely true! I have also noticed that there are little if any errors in the reviews. Other books I have read , have many noticeable mistakes that tend to irk genre fans like myself. Try it out for yourself, this book has never done me wrong!

This is the fourth edition of JOHN STANLEY'S CREATURE FEATURES STRIKES AGAINS MOVIE GUIDE and for everyone how is addicted to horror movies of the past and present this book is a gem. After a lively introduction about he genesis of horror pictures and some sage wisdom about our need for these films, Stanley takes us on an alphabetically arranged tour of the greats in films and the actors and actresses who populated them. The large volume is peppered with photographs of memorable members of his genre - Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr, Vincent Price et at as well as cartoons and drawings and ads from these picture shows.

John Stanley has the gift to entertain and his writing shows that: not only has he had up close and personal experience with many of the actors in this field but he has also provided interviews and information both in printed form and on VHS and DVD documentaries. He is most assuredly our 'go to guy' for Creature Features. This edition is a classic. Grady Harp, August 11

Although John Stanley's book covers a lot of great movies, there are many problems with the overall context. For example, he seems to only have a vague recollection of a lot of the movies. Because, a lot of reviews get the stories completely wrong. (HELP's plot is not about the Beatles looking for Ringo's magic ring. Everybody knows that!)Some actors are credited with the wrong roles. Also, there are many glaring spelling errors and a slight continuity problem: A title will say "see altertnate title", and that title and review would not be in the book! Mr. Stanley, do a little more research on your films and a more careful job of copy editing and you'll have an invaluable book. The more I read your current volume, the more mistakes I find and the more I feel I could write a better book myself.

This science fiction, fantasy and horror movie guide provides an excellent survey of the genre to fans who are avid movie-watchers: chapters provide capsule reviews of thousands of films, provide a rating system and guide to obscure and rare as well as mainstream titles, and include distribution and mail order information. Outstanding.