Horror Cinema
Category: Books,Humor & Entertainment,Movies
Horror Cinema Details
About the Author Paul Duncan has seen lots of films and read lots of comics and books. He wanted to share his enthusiasm for these subjects so he published magazines about comics (Ark) and crime fiction (Crime Time) before launching a series of small film guides (Pocket Essentials). He has edited more than 40 film books for TASCHEN, and wrote Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick in the Film Series.Jonathan Penner has written for movies, television, magazines, and blogs, and has worked extensively as an actor, screenwriter, and producer. His film credits include the cult classic The Last Supper, the Hamlet-inspired Let the Devil Wear Black and the short film for which he was Oscar-nominated, Down on the Waterfront. Steven Jay Schneider received his MA in Philosophy from Birkbeck College, University of London, and is a Ph.D candidate in Cinema Studies at New York University. He is the author or editor of numerous books on film. Read more
Reviews
I don't usually go out of my way to write reviews but I have to admit to being a little disappointed with this book. I'm always up for a new book on horror movies and the Genre in general but a few of the reviews posted here would lead you to buy this book based on the great content. If you are a hardcore horror movie buff, this book offers nothing you haven't gotten before in much better books. There are other, vastly better books out there. Penner already has his name on the Excellent "Horror Cinema" also by Taschen and there are a few others out there ("Essential Horror Movies" by Mallory, Hollywood Horror by "Vieira", even "Monsters in the Movies" by Landis which is a lot of fun) among others but this book is strictly for a casual fan and quite frankly, I don't know that a casual fan would get much out of it. It's an okay general overview of the horror genre but honestly nothing to see here if your a real dedicated horror movie fan.Also, I know any book of lists are subjective but they did name the list, "Taschen's Top 50 Horror Movies." So, the original Universal Frankenstein doesn't make the list but Andy Wharhol's Flesh For Frankenstein does? Not a single movie from Hammer could get on the list but Delicatessen made it? See what I mean? Also, some factual errors on the movie bios (I never knew Quint was a Vietnam vet, what with that whole story about delivering the bomb in WWII. And the opening sequence in Dawn of the Dead takes place in ...Puerto Rico?). Most of the pictures are dull shots culled from the movies and not very interesting. On the list of top 50 movies, each entry is preceded by the original movie poster which was one of the only visually interesting parts of the book really. One bright spot but kind of weird. The movie bio for Suspiria. This selection has a brief movie synopsis and is filled with behind the scenes info about the making of the movie, the director, cinematographer and more. It was really quite well done and leaves me wondering why every other entry didn't follow this format. It would have required a lot more research but would have resulted in a much better book. Anyway, that's my two cents worth of review. Hope it Helps. Maybe saves the true Horror buffs a few wasted bucks.