The Rough Guide to Horror Movies

by Alan Jones

The Rough Guide to Horror Movies is a comprehensive guide to the world''s most terrifying films. The guide includes all the icons, from Boris Karloff to Wes Craven and Frankenstein to Freddie Kruger, including classics from Argentina, Pakistan, South Africa and the recent chillers from East Asia. The canon of fifty essential horror movies features The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and Switchblade Romance, via Psycho and The Exorcist. Everything you need to know is covered from festivals, adaptations, magazines and merchandise. The guide tells the stories behind the movies that have scared us throughout the twentieth century.

Genres: Horror, Film, Nonfiction, Media Tie In, Reference

288 pages, Paperback

First published October 17, 2005

About the author

Alan Jones is a film critic, broadcaster and reporter on the horror and fantasy genres and has travelled the world to report on movies in production. His first assignment was the original Star Wars in 1977, after which he became London correspondent for Cinefantastique magazine (1977–2002) and reviewed for British magazine Starburst from 1980 until 2008.

A film critic for Film Review and Radio Times, he has made contributions to the Radio Times Guide to Films, The Radio Times Guide to Science Fiction and Halliwell's Film Guide, After stints co-presenting the legendary Shock Around The Clock festival in London, and Fantasm at the National Film Theatre, Jones is now a leading figure and co-curator of London FrightFest Film Festival.

Reviews

[Jason Fetters · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great general survey of horror movies. True fans will be well familiar with the Canon, however newbies can use the Canon as a good, solid starting point. The section I found the most useful was on the Global Picture that shows how different countries produce horror movies and includes Asian horror from Hong Kong, Japan, Indonesia, Malay, Singapore, and the Philippines. I particularly liked reading about French and Scandinavian horror that I did not know much about. As I have the habit of doing, I found a few titles I haven't seen in Global Picture.
My only real complaint is how brief the section is on horror movie books. That subject could be a whole book in itself. I would have included Nightmare USA by Stephen Thrower.
Overall, Alan Jones is passionate about horror movies and makes what could have been a dull book interesting because of that passion. Give it a read and see what you think.

[Artur Coelho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sem ser enciclopédico, este livro traça um abrangente panorama do cinema de terror, desde a sua génese até à actualidade. Só isto não o distingue de outras obras similares, que falam de filmes de culto, lendários, obscuros, raros ou populares que arrancaram arrepios nas espinhas dos espectadores ou causaram impacto na cultura mediática pelas visões peculiares que encantam ou chocam audiências. Torna-se mais interessante ao abordar os ícones da cinematografia de terror - quer as personagens icónicas quer os realizadores cuja visão marcou tendências deste género fílmico. Outro ponto de interesse desta obra é um foco com alguma profundidade em cinematografias de outros países que não os suspeitos do costume. Necessariamente superficial, uma vez que não falamos sobre um longo ensaio académico mas sim de um guia, é uma interessante introdução ao género, que deixa água na boca e vontade de ver ou rever velhos filmes de arrepio garantido.

[Harold · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent little overview of the genre, but more for casual fans than die-hard fanatics (like myself). Not sure I agreed with every title on the 50 Horror Classics list - "Scream" but not "The Thing"?! Still a fun little read overall, and I did enjoy the "Global Picture" section on horror movies around the world.

[Jason Coffman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent overview of horror film, although inevitably touched by the author's biases. Also some weird omissions and factual errors, but it's still worth a look for anyone just getting into horror films.

[Ryan Splenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alan Jones does a thorough job of describing and explaining some of the classics in the horror movie cannon. There is also a nice discussion of the function of the horror genre, as well as a decent breakdown of a lot of the themes involved in the genre.

[Maria Lago · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for the initiate, but certainly a good starting point, although it doesn't scape ever single book of these characteristics' curse: it's terribly Anglocentric. Apart from that, good compilation, no surprises, safe bet.

[John Michael Cozzoli · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://www.zomboscloset.com/zombos_cl...

[Heather Domin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A good primer for new fans, with enough trivia to satisfy buffs. I particularly liked the global section and the resource pages.

[Nathan Schilz · Rating 1 out of 5]

A very surface level look at the "whats" of horror films.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

good list