Edited by Stephen Jones

Applause, out now

A lavishly illustrated and beautifully presented history of horror movies.

To be honest, little more really should need to be said to entice any fan of the horror movie genre to buy this book. Stephen Jones has assembled a glorious group of talented writers – from Sir Christopher Frayling to Kim Newman and Ramsey Campbell – to pen essays about each decade of movie history, and then found some of the best art from across the years to accompany them.

The book opens with an introduction by John Landis on the Iconography of Horror, with editor Jones setting the scene – his chapter title, Painting with Light and Shadows, could easily have been the subheading, or even the main title of the whole volume. His piece is illustrated with beautiful art work in both colour and monochrome (as well as a painting by Les Edwards of the editor himself surrounded by some of the classic monsters) with some of the art featuring well known movies, while others are perhaps only known to aficionados. Some pictures are postcard size, others get a near- or full double page spread in this coffee table size book.

The book follows this pattern, with erudite but approachable essays on the whole decade, and then smaller sections on specific areas – such as Lon Chaney for the Silent Era, or Titans of Terror for the Thirties. The artwork isn’t purely drawn from movie posters by any means – there are plenty of modern pieces, such as a fascinating stained-glass window depicting Elsa Lanchester as The Bride of Frankenstein, or an illustration from Monsterscene magazine showing Madge Bellamy. There’s coverage of some movies you might not consider part of the genre – one of Sidney Toler’s Charlie Chan pics gets a half page – and plenty of international versions of familiar posters (I love the Czech depiction of The Omen) and a few that simply have to be seen to be believed: I didn’t realise that Droopy guest starred as Cujo in the Lewis Teague film! Each picture gets its own informative caption section – it’s not a book to try to devour in one sitting as there’s so much to learn.

Verdict: A stunning piece of work that deserves to be on the shelves of every discerning horror fan. 10/10

Paul Simpson