This splashy, high-concept book with glossy pages (designed to accompany a BBC-TV series) is not so much an encyclopedia, as a color scrapbook of Clive Barker's horror obsessions. After an introduction in which Barker examines such questions as "What is horror?" and "Why does it fascinate us?," the book takes the form of 26 heavily illustrated historical essays about assorted topics in the genre--one for each letter of the alphabet (e.g., "B is for Beelzebub"). The pictures include numerous paintings and drawings by Barker, stills from movies, movie posters, author/director bio inserts, and photographs of all types. A partial list of the topics covered: serial killers, H. P. Lovecraft, Dennis Wheatley, John Carpenter, H. R. Giger, Grand Guignol, makeup, killer clowns, killer kids, body horror, Japanese monsters, Barbara Steele, Shirley Jackson, fairy tales, and sculptor Franz Messerschmidt. A fun toy for horror buffs!
A view to a century of horror (Rating 5 of 5)
» semiao@iol.pt
A great (and personal) view to several horror subjects or as the author describes it "An encyclopaedia dealing with the subject of horror".
The book covers movies, books, authors, paintings, music... Without going in to to much detail it covers a broad range of pieces. Some are: Exorcist, Alien, Texas chainsaw Massacre, Vincent Price movies, Friday the 13th, H.P. Lovecraft, the bible (yes its true... some quotations), Freddy Kruger, Dracula and much more.
Great reading... a must have for horror fans in general and for Barkers fans in particular
Disturbing, amusing, and informative on Horror (Rating 5 of 5)
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This is an excellent book! I can't believe that there aren't any other reviews of it. For £10.99 you can't afford to miss out on this - it is a real bargain, whether you like horror or not. Clive Barker, that immbodiment of British horror, introduces and writes in great detail on why certain films are scary (ie. Halloween), on why some horror books work and others don't (ie. The Exorsist), and why directors were motivated to do what they do. Impossible to sum up in only a few words, the book ranges from such diverse subjects like clowns in horror films to the Ed Guin case. Showing some disturbing images and some upsetting true cases, Barker and Jones (who has edited hundreads of horror anthologies in his time, and is a master on the subject), go for all-out grossness and come out on tops. They have complied lists of zombies in the movies, which must have taken ages to get together, and draw on mainstream films (the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise) and rare films like 'The Mangeler'. A classic book, not to be missed. Read it with the light on - the various images of Leatherface and Myers are enough to give anyone nightmares for weeks
HORROR-IBLY Disappointing (Rating 1 of 5)
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Glossy, high-concept, yes! Satisfying, high-content, not even close! This book looks lovely but has almost nothing to say about horror, and that's too bad. Barker is certainly one of the most influential horror writers alive, and he's also quite a personality. But this book feels like it was thrown together with very little work on Barker's part. The entries are all short enough and sufficiently eclipsed by the artwork--which IS impressive--that Barker gets by without saying very much about any of them. What's worse, he has an irritating way of sounding profound without actually having anything of substance to say. I can't imagine anyone coming away from this book having learned anything from it or thinking about horror differently than they did when they opened it up (although perhaps it would bring new names to their attention).
All of this is disappointing because, as I've said, Barker is a very influential figure in the genre. He's also quite controversial. Readers have a right to expect better from him than they get here
(Rating 5 of 5)
(Rating 1 of 5)
