Now I consider that I know my biz when it comes to horror movies and the
genre in general.
With that spat out, as I was reading this book; this thought
arose: “There’s always somebody out there who knows more than you”. In this case, Alan
Jones, the man behind
THE ROUGH GUIDE TO HORROR MOVIES; knows a whole
damn more than me. This little book that could did the impossible; it
covered our beloved genre from its “Step 1” inception within literature (c.2000
BC) right up to horror
onscreen today in 2005. And all that in 288 thought out and filled to
the brim with info pages.
What’s on the menu waiter? Well today for your reading pleasure,
Chef Jones will
dissect The History of Horror, The 50 Essential Horror
Films in History according to the author (Horror of Dracula, Freaks, The
Exorcist, Halloween, Eye Without a Face etc…all picks that I agreed with…),
Horror Icons (Argento, Bava, Carpenter, Chaney, Craven, Cronenberg,
Cushin etc.), Horror from Around the World (name a country that does
horror, it’s in here) and the top genre
festivals/conventions/books/mags and websites (Yes! AITH made it in the book…yeehaw!).
The syrup on this mammoth ball of thick ice cream was that along the way, the book
addressed many topics that came with our beloved genre over the years; like
Seasonal Horror (Black Christmas, Silent Night Deadly night), the
Horror Gimmicks (William Castle baby), the Hammer Company, Video
Nasties (The f*cking 80’s, gotta love em), the Troma phenomenon, the Asian Boom, Fantastic
Factory, the best Film Soundtracks and much, much, mucho freaking more!
Tag to all that tap dancing a foreword by director Neil Marshal (Dog
Soldiers-The Descent), an Intro by Mr. Jones as to his
individual love affair with horror, countless photographs (black and white) and an
engaging, insightful and free flowing writing style that made it all effortless and you get a meaty offering that aimed to cover all that is horror and pretty
much succeeded in its quest while being a breeze to read at that!
Any drawbacks? Other than being cockblocked by my friend last night at
the Pub; not
really (Yes, I just wanted to use the term cockblocked in this review…I
just learned it). Sure when I read the
book, a couple of titles sprung to mind that I wished had made it in
there; but to be honest; I don’t even remember what those titles were as I write
this; I guess
they weren’t that important.
On the whole; you want to feed your brain with some
potent horror juice while exploring the genre’s every nook and cranny? Let The Jones Man lead you into his
own grey
matter and learn a thing or two about a thing or tree. The dude knows his shite!
BUY THE ROUGH GUIDE TO HORROR MOVIES HERE
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