Customer Reviews

Terror on Tape: A Complete Guide to Over 2,000 Horror Movies on Video (Billboard Books' Entertaining and Informative)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I had read both positive and negative reviews on this guide and figured I would take a chance. I found this guide to be comprehensive in its coverage of titles with concise yet informative reviews (do keep in mind that this book was published in 1994). James O'Neill comes across as someone who is a horror movie buff yet is objective enough to sort out the bad and the good in a very cliched genre. Since there have been some negative reviews on this page for the book, I present the following short summations as an attempt to answer some of these reviews: 1) This book is titled 'Terror on Tape' and therefore concentrates its focus on horror movies available on tape. It was never represented as a complete coverage of horror movies whether on tape or not. 2) O'Neill is not anti-slasher, just anti-bad movie. Too many horror buffs reviewing movies have a tendency to rate them on their gore, infamy, and nudity content as opposed to whether they are any good (plot, script, direction, etc). 3) The reviews are concise giving a basic plot outline, the particulars (actors, director, year, etc.), alternative titles, and of course his opinion. He accomplishes in his reviews what others have failed to do in longer reviews and does not attempt to spoil the movie. Additionally he does not borrow stock reviews and rewrite them for his guide as is a practice in many video review guides. 4) Since this guide concentrates on horror movies on tape (pre-1994) the coverage is obviously going to be slanted toward available titles on tape (although it would appear obvious, some reviewers apparently missed that point).---Although I do not agree with every review in the guide, I do find more hits than misses. It is additionally notable that it is obvious that O'Neill has seen the movies he has reviewed as compared to some guides I have read which left me wondering if the reviewer had actually seen the movie they reviewed. Unfortunately, that appears to be a common practice for the sake of coverage. You will not find that to be the case with 'Terror on Tape'. A comprehensive yet easy to carry guide.-Bob *[James O'Neill also wrote a companion book called 'Sci-Fi on Tape'. Amazon has it listed as well.]

I think the negative reviewers may have been seeking something else when they examined this book--this is general reference book that gives the reader a quick, concise synopsis & review of a great number of films. It covers over 2000 films whereas McCarty's (very good) Splatter Guides only cover around 400 movies each. I agree that the reviews are lacking in depth, but the breadth of coverage is what makes this book a fantastic reference. I don't know of any other book that covers so many films. When I encounter a new film or am trying to recall a film, this book provides just the right amount of information. If I wish to get in-depth analyses and do extended reading, I'll go elsewhere, but this is an essential reference book--the one I go to first. I only hope there is plan to keep it updated.

I can see how some might be skeptical about purchasing this book when there are so many horror movie guides out there. But this out of print, 1994 guide to horror movies released on obsolete videotape, and published by Billboard books of all publishers is the one to get (along with the Psychotronic guide, of course, and Phil Hardy's encyclopedia). I have probably read through the entirety of this book more that 20 times if you add up all of my skipping around, and I still find myself referring to it constantly. Not only are the reviews extremely well-written, but the book is pretty close to complete in its inclusiveness. The limitation is that only movies once upon a time released on videotape (and up to 1993) are included, but O'Neill gets past much of that limitation by including releases on such "grey market" video labels as Sinister Cinema. O'Neill is a very sharp reviewer, with a sense of humor and a genuine love of the genre. A bonus is the inclusion of brief biographies of key genre actors, directors, producers, etc., though I wish these had been indexed, as the one you're looking for is sometimes hard to find. O'Neill won't like every film that you like (he doesn't rate many giallo films very well, for instance), but if you read the reviews, you get a good rationale, and he points out the good points of otherwise not so good films. And even when he gives them a low star rating, he's got an affection for the enjoyable turkeys like Horror of Party Beach, and that comes across in the reviews. Finally, relevant sci-fi films with horrific elements (e.g., Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Deadly Spawn, but not Star Wars) are included in here, and that's essential. I'd really love to see an update of this book, one that takes it a step further by not being limited in terms of video format, but for now, I'll just keep going back to this excellent resource.

Since horror films attract such a wide range of fans and admirers, it is often difficult to know in which direction a guide is aimed. Thankfully, James O'Neill is clearly a writer with a deep respect not just for a good thriller but for the art of film itself, and he has constructed this guide for the most thoughtful reader. His reviews are not only well-considered and constructed; they are extremely literate, and Mr. O'Neill shows an extensive background in the genre which backs up his reviews well beyond gut-level responses. As a fan of thrillers and film criticism, I own many books in this field; "Terror On Tape" is easily my personal favorite.

i bought this book when it first came out, i was in junior high at the time. its been with me for two high schools and and two collage degrees. its lived with me in three collage dorms, three states, two countries and a half dozen apartments. i cannot think of any other personal item that has. the reviews are brief, but informative and writen with a visable appreciation for the horror genre. where other horror references tend to over explain the plots or not rate the movies, this book does not spoil endings and it cross references the relationships between remakes, sequals, knock-offs and source material. also the writter's personality makes reading this book feel like talking to your favorite video-store clerk. the only complaint i have is that the biographies are not in alphabetical order. i only hope that soon there will be a supliment published

this Book Roxs........ i am hoping that this man of mistery makes a conclusion of this book......Terror on Tape:The Nightmare is not over

For a period of my misspent youth, this guide (and its sister volume) were my movie Bible. These two books -- more than any others I could find [and I've got a bunch {Psychotronic, Phantom, Video Trash and Treasures, Splatter Guide, etc <never, ever Maltin though!! Bah>}] -- matched my own tastes and helped me more than any others find wonderful and obscure and bizarre films. I love horror films and finding thoughtful, insightful, and yet passionate genre reviews is a rare thing.

This book is still essential. Buy it. Sure it isn't "current" anymore but it reviews everything up until 1994 -- so it is FILLED with information that any genre fan would find informative.

The hayday of these horror/genre review books seems to be over. Hardly any of any note have been published since the late 90s. It must be because of two things: 1) the glut of the DVD market with multitudes of obscure and bargain basement horror films making a single review book tackling them all absolutely (or seemingly) impossible [or just insane], and 2) blog sites now litter the internet reviewing movies and DVDs. The latter makes review books seem superfluous. The former makes the task seem impossible for a single person unless a group did the reviews [but then you loose the central vision and voice you get with books like O'Neill's].

However, we need an updated book to function as the Bible for a whole new generation of cinephiles. And o'Neill needs to write it. I'd love to get his take on so much which has come out since '94. Unedited, meandering, blog "reviews" (mostly fake ads) written by dudes in their whitey tighties sitting in their mother's basements can never compare to the fine work done in a books like Terror on Tape. Mr. O'Neill, I salute you!! We need you to guide us once again. We await you second coming...

It's a pity that this film was not revised,or none like it has appeared,after the DVD explosion at the beginning of this decade.
Neil writes with passion about his beloved genre with amazing diversity ranging from appreciation for "lower grade" b films to classics and the splatter film,this guide features some of the more open minded reviews to appear in one of these guides from a guy who clearly is a FILM fan and can appreciate much in this diverse genre of horror.
A must.

This is the most complete and non-baised book on the history of horror movies. I have found movies I have never heard of and go and rent them, this opened a new dimension of taste for me. I am praying there is a second edition with up to '99 films

James O'Neill's TERROR ON TAPE was given to me as a present when I was 14. Since then, my copy has become incredibly dog-eared from constant readings. I even did a book report on it in Year 9! O'Neill's prose is witty and engaging, his opinions thoughtful and his nuggets of trivia fascinating. It's through this book that I became aware of the likes of Jesus Franco, Lamberto Bava, Eddie Romero and other international horrormeisters, and while O'Neill's reviews weren't always recommendations, they always made me curious enough to seek out their work. Evn though my copy is starting to fall apart, I still treasure it greatly, and refer back to it, even in this age of the internet. I dearly hope O'Neill (where are you, sir?) does an updated edition one day!