Herein, you will find 101 essays on 110 vital cinematic offerings within our beloved genre. With this book, we hope to accomplish a number of things: First, to get a list of essentials out there in the world, hopefully inspiring today’s younger horror fans to partake of the pleasures to be found within some “older†films. Second, to create an opportunity for the voice of the everyday horror enthusiast to be heard, allowing them to celebrate his/her favorite fright flick. After all, it has never been the “serious†critics who have helped these films stand the test of time, it has been the tireless masses who have slavishly devoted themselves to the cause. This is for the fans, by the fans.
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To wit, what sets this volume apart from others of its type is its many-voiced format. The participants range in age from 16 to 74. They are male and female. They hail from all over the U.S., England, Belgium, Scotland, Australia, Spain, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Mexico, and elsewhere. They are actors, clerks, students, librarians, office temps, retired grandparents, graphic designers, warehouse managers... Between these pages is proof positive that horror fans come in all shapes and sizes; we’re not all the pierced goth kids in black t-shirts that the civilians seem to envision (although we do have a few of those as well).
Alien / Aliens, An American Werewolf in London / The Howling, Asylum, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, The Beyond, The Birds, The Black Cat, Black Christmas, Black Sunday, The Blair Witch Project, The Blob, Blood and Black Lace, Blood Feast / 2000 Maniacs!, The Body Snatcher, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Cannibal Holocaust, Carrie, Cat People, Child’s Play, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Curse of Frankenstein, Curse of the Demon aka Night of the Demon, Dawn of The Dead / Day of the Dead, Dead of Night, Les Diaboliques, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dracula, Dracula aka Horror of Dracula, Eraserhead, The Evil Dead / Evil Dead II, The Exorcist, Eyes Without a Face, The Fly (1958) / The Fly (1986), Frankenstein / Bride of Frankenstein, Freaks, Friday the 13th, Godzilla, Der Golem, Halloween, The Haunting, Hellraiser, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, House of Usher, House on Haunted Hill, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Incredible Shrinking Man, The Innocents, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Invisible Man, Island of Lost Souls, I Walked With a Zombie, Jacob’s Ladder, Jaws, Jurassic Park, King Kong, The Last House on the Left, Mad Love, Martin, The Masque of the Red Death, The Mummy, Mystery of the Wax Museum / House of Wax, Night of the Living Dead, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Nosferatu, The Omen, Onibaba, Peeping Tom, Phantasm, The Phantom of the Opera, Plan Nine from Outer Space, Poltergeist, Profondo Rosso aka Deep Red, Psycho, Re-Animator, Repulsion, Return of the Living Dead, Ringu, Rosemary’s Baby, Scream, Se7en, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, The Shining, Shivers aka They Came from Within, The Silence of the Lambs, The Sixth Sense, The Stepford Wives, Suspiria, The Terminator, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Them!, The Thing from Another World / The Thing, The Uninvited, Videodrome, Village of the Damned, War of the Worlds, Westworld, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, White Zombie, The Wicker Man, Witchfinder General aka The Conqueror Worm, The Wolf Man
Finally, we offer this as a sampler platter from the massive buffet that is the genre; an introductory class, if you will, at “Horror U.†It’s for the casual fan who is looking to get into the pool but isn’t sure where to start as well as the experienced viewer who has seen all the films listed and just wants to hang out with some like-minded folks. Basically, it’s for everyone who has ever trolled the horror aisles at the video store or furtively scanned the TV listings for the words, “melodrama,†“thriller,†or “horror,†depending on your age group.
All 78 of the fantastic contributors from all over the globe who made HORROR 101 a reality. You guys rock!