Horror Cinema (Bibliotheca Universalis)

I like the coverage of films that span the early days to the present good photos of the actors and make up

very good book covering the subject

Horror Cinema-Taschen(2017): I find the'1 Star' review of this book rather surprising. As The number of noteworthy films that could be classed in one of the countless, constantly changing 'horror genres' in over 100 years of cinema can't be covered in around 600 (or 6,000)pages. The 450pg book recently dedicated to 'Folk Horror'(vol 1) being an example. Just under half this book is based around 10 parts:These includes 'Sci-Fi Horror', 'The Living Dead', 'Vampires & Werewolves' etc The rest has Taschens choice of '50 top horror movies'. Much like S.J.Schneiders '101 Horror Movies' book, this runs chronologically & has a mix of the obvious with some 'surprise choices'. e.g. Jacques Tourneurs 'Cat People' is included ,but also his rather creaky 'I walked with a Zombie' thus leaving out his 'Night of the Demon'(barely mentioned in book) & no inclusion of 'The Haunting' or 'The Innocents' & while the choices are spread out over the years ,to finish in 2001 with 'The Others' makes it look rather over indulgent to some of the older 'Classics' (some of which are name checked more than actually watched?) Before each review ,on the left side is a full page given to Title & release year ,Director & Writer, D.O.P., Cast etc & opposite a full page cinema ad'- many of which are(to me) lesser known, & most look good enough to put in a picture frame. And it's the hundreds of images that really make this a worthwhile purchase.- The 'colour palette' of images is nearly always spot on -from sickly looking- 'Dawn..' & 'The Evil Dead', retina scorching- ' Suspiria' & 'Carrie', dreamlike- 'Company of Wolves' & 'Sixth Sense' ,naturalistic- 'Invasion of the body snatchers' & 'Man bites Dog' to the theatrical 'Faust' & 'Dracula' ,Truly unnerving 'Eyes without a Face' & 'The Vanishing' And equally good- the stylish B&W framing & portraits of the earlier Hollywood studios . Time and thought has clearly gone into the printing of these images .On virtually every page there's something that catches the eye .-The only problem with such well printed work is you wish the images were larger. The striking cover (in English ,not the Italian pictured) is a standard that's kept up throughout . There are occasional slip ups, mistaking images from Tobe Hoopers mid80s follow up to his classic 1974 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre' is an obvious one. While sometimes confusing Promo/Publicity shots with 'Stills' isn't really a problem... I feel the writing is not surprisingly where it lacks ,there could be more on non English language films- & I feel the stream of 'Found Footage' & the very popular Gialli/Italioexploitation could have been sections,while 'Possesion ,Demons &Tricksters' & 'Voodoo,Cults&Satanists' might have been combined..I also feel less of the book(nearly 400pgs) should be dedicated to 'Their Top 50'much of which is covered in the preceding sections . There isn't an index & it has a rather slight 'Chronology of horror films' , but it does contain a brief bibliography + A couple of tempting images & covers of other Taschen books (most available for the price of a large Pizza ). The book is 'easy to navigate' and generally there is a wide range of genres covered in a style that's very readable. Taschens statement of creating affordable books that 'Never bore,always excite!' is hard to argue with here...

Purchased as a gift. Well received.

Very good book, high image quality

Was pleased with item

Being used to Taschen that are real coffee table books I was a little surprised to receive an A5 tome BUT it is a good, relatively deep dive into horror cinema. Some of the categories are moo and there are both curious inclusions and exclusions but you are never going to be all things to all people. Visually it is very well put together, but one star off because it would have been really stunning had the book been a decent size.

My fault , I should have checked the book dimensions, contents pretty decent but I find it hard to enjoy due to the page size

This book, packed with color pics in color and in monochrome, is in 11 sections that follow a general genre history. The first section covers movies that involve "slashers" and serial murderers such as Hannibal Lecter, Norman Bates, Dr. Phibes, Michael Myers, and Jason Voorhoes. Section two features cannibals, mutants and dangers of the forests and the jungles. Basket Case, Blood Feast, Eraserhead, The Hill's Have Yews, It's Alive, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Two Thousand Maniacs are just some of the features covered. Section three has a nature strikes back theme, the critters are as large as Kong and Godzilla and as small as the annelids and worms in Squirm (1976). Section four has the science-fiction-horror hybrids such as Alien, Altered States, The Andromeda Strain, and even Tetsuo : The Iron Man. Section five is called The Living Dead. Not all of these are zombie movies, but some might argue that the movie version of the Frankenstein monster is one and ditto for mummy movies, but one wonders just how a golem, an animated being made out of clay, is a "living dead" being. Section six is Ghosts and Haunted Houses. Section seven is Possession, Demons and Tricksters, movies with the latter are The Bad Seed and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Section eight is Voodoo, Cults & Satanists. A few of these flicks feature zombies, thus there is a little crossover in these sections. Section nine is Vampires & Werewolves. The final sections are The Monstrous-Feminine and the top 50 horror movies. Now, I cannot imagine that this would be an issue for a horror movie fan, but just in case, a number of the photos have either gore or nudity, the latter mostly involves females, and, yes, some of the monsters are scary to look at. Taschen books are generally for adult audiences. This is not a book written on a beginner's level either, but as a guide to the best, it might work for some entry level readers.

Le livre est écrit en allemand.IL n’existe pas dans d’autres langues.Une présentation des grands classiques du cinéma d’horreur,avec beaucoup de photos.

super illustrated book, I recommend maximum satisfaction

I can't help but feel that some of my favorites got overlooked. But art is subjective, and this tome is comprehensive and literate.

Es un muy buen libro de consulta donde de manera temática te exponen y explican los diversos géneros del cine del terror. Te mencionan las características propias de cada sección, actores y actrices, directores y anécdotas de las películas seleccionadas para cada tema. Al final anexan fichas con la información completa de producción, cartel publicitario, etc. de un listado general con las mejores producciones cinematográficas. Conviene leerlo y volver a ver estas obras para que la experiencia sea completa. Las imagenes son excelentes y esta presentado con la calidad que siempre maneja la Editorial Taschen. No debe faltar en tu biblioteca.