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VideoHound's Horror Show: 999 Hair-Raising, Hellish and Humorous Movies |
Author: Mike Mayo
Published: 1998-02-01 |
List price: $21.95
Our price: $9.57
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As of: December 04th, 2008 01:48:08 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Adequate General Guide
Nothing too special here. The author wanted to select 999 of the best horror movies, then curiously squanders a lot of those slots on mainstream films that in no way qualify as horror. He also covers a lot of sequels, most of which he despises, so it's not clear why he listed them at all.
For better or worse (and I prefer a little idiosyncracy in my reference books), he has his biases. The output from Universal Studios from the '30s and '40s is favored (along with anything else involving Karloff, Lugosi, and the younger Chaney), as are a lot of Hammer's early works. (And every single Stephen King movie to that time seems to be listed, too.) Slasher films are typically dismissed as formulaic dreck. The output of most of the Italian directors is given short shrift. And Mayo has a mortal fear of seeing children in jeopardy, so any film that suggests anything along that lines is seriously downgraded.
It could've stood one more editing pass to dial back on the repeated references to "Grand Guignol", "dead teenagers", and his inistence that approximately 717 movies influenced or ripped off "The X-Files".
As with other Videohound guides, it has massive indices and a sturdy bibliography. It's a handsome-looking book, although the page count is a bit bloated by overly generous margins. It's only ten years old, but as a pre-DVD work it's a bit dated.
It's certainly worth skimming through and keeping around as a general reference guide, but the selections are a bit odd, and sometimes his judgment is just a bit odd. I mean, when you're dissing the John Carpenter version of "The Thing", I just can't take you seriously.
 A great historical overview
This book covers films from the silents through the 90's. It includes a wide variety of horror movies, from early suspense films and classic monsters to slashers and a few films that only peripherally link to horror. The reviews are good reading, and include references to other viewing in a number of places. There are several good indexes also.
The only down side is that the book is a bit dated, not in content (any movie guide is dated as soon as it is released) but by being written before DVD's and widescreen TV's became the norm. This is a minor flaw, but I would love to see a new version of the book (hint, hint!)
 This Just Doesn't Cut It
I was given "Videohound's Horror Show" as a Christmas present the past year, and just finished working my through it the other day. I have to say I was really disappointed overall. As other reviewers point out so well, why are "Alice in Wonderland", "Platoon" and "Wizard of Oz" included here? There are so many movies that may have horrific elements in them, but they are still not horror films. Even if you take those films out of the mix, the biggest issue I have with Mike Mayo's work, is that he is approaching and reviewing these films with a main-stream sensability. Mayo's approach to most of the films presented in this book are written as if for a non-horror fan audience. Most horror fans know what to expect with a "Halloween" sequel, we aren't looking for quality film making like "Shakespeare in Love". We just need to know if Michael is creepy, what's the body count, and are the special effects worth the ticket price? I was hoping to find some "new" titles here, but to be honest even a casual fan of the genre, will be pretty familiar with the movies listed here.
The one aspect of this book that I did like, was that Mayo was not into giving away spoilers. Rarely does Mayo spill the beans about any twists or shocks pertaining to any of the films he reviews, and that was a breath of fresh air.
As a horror fan I would recommend you check out "Legacy of Blood: a Comprehensive Guide to Slasher Movies" by Jim Harper instead of VideoHound's offering. "Legacy" doesn't cover nearly as many films, and sticks just to the Slasher genre, but it is well written, and features reviews written for horror fans by a horror fan. Jim Harper "gets" horror, and knows what a horror fan wants.
 Nearly Indispensible
I bought this book right when it came out oh so many years ago. Since that time I've thumbed through it on countless occasions when I thought I'd seen everything there was to see...or had at least heard about it. This book invariably brought some film to my attention that I had some how missed before. In that regard this book it wonderful.There are some flaws, though. The first is the authors rather lax definition of the horror genre. This leads to the Wizard of Oz being included along side the Wizard of Gore. Somehow that doesn't quite jive and it makes me wonder sometimes what honest to goodness horror movies got excluded to make room for these selections. Second, the author tends to keep things very mainstream. This gripe was answered some when I looked through the Videohound cult movie guide and saw that many of the more fringe titles I hoped to find in the horror guide were included there. Finally, the author's tastes skew very Anglo-American to the point where I don't think that European productions that aren't from the UK get a raw deal in his reviews. However, this is more of a difference of opinion with the author than an actual problem with the book. On the whole this is very good pickup for someone new to the genre and a find that will reward even the most seasoned horror enthusiast.
The Hound Will Follow the Scent of Blood
This is an excellent listing of horror movies to rekindle memories or to suggest what to hire from your video store. Most horror films are here but not all. Critters is one of my favourites that is not in this book. There is a short summary of each film along with a rating and opinion. Obviously you are not going to agree with all the opinions and ratings. There are also summaries of different directors who have been influential in the horror genre. A listing of alternative titles at the back of the book helps you to quickly locate a film, as all films are in alphabetical order if you can not originally find it. There is also a list of all the actors who have been in horror films and information on what other horror movies they have been in. Photographs from various horror films are also included making this not a bad reference book.
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