The Essential Monster Movie Guide by
Stephen Jones
pbk out December 99
(Titan Books)
at £16.99
The age of home video has spawned a cottage industry in the production of movie guides, with most being interchangeably bland.
Any of the plethora of such books will provide the essential details of the films included - cast, director, running time, etc - but few have any real personality, or indicate that the author has true passion for the movies discussed. Indeed, many are anonymously
compiled or put together by committee; the sheer volume of material to be covered practically demands such a method. Stephen Jones has taken a different approach to the task in The Essential Monster Movie Guide. Jones spent two years
(actually, more like a lifetime) putting the book together, and that sole author's personality and devotion to the material shines through on every page. The result is a useful, encyclopaedic,
entertaining, occasionally frustrating, opinionated, funny and just plain indispensable contribution to the field. Anyone who loves monster movies, or enjoys reading about movies at all, will want to have a copy of this book.
At first browse, The Essential Monster Movie Guide is something of a puzzler. Though it's a fat book with tiny print, covering more than 3500 films, some yawning gaps seem obvious. I immediately looked up some of my own favourites, and couldn't find entries. Why in the world is there a listing for Halloween II., but not for the original? What in the world is Three Men and a Little Lady doing here, but not Alien? Then I realized what
Jones is up to. The Essential Monster Movie Guide does *exactly* what it says on the cover: it is a guide to *monster* movies, and not horror cinema at large. Jones includes every
imaginable monster movie, from all the famous Dracula and Frankenstein films to such obscurities as Big Meat Eater and
Teenage Cat Girls in Heat (no, I never heard of them, either). Jones not only endeavours - and apparently succeeds - to include *every* movie ever made to feature a monster, but also includes
movies which include *clips* of other movies which feature monsters. Thus, Halloween II. makes it in because Night of the Living Dead is seen on a television in the film. Three Men and a Little Lady is there because Ted Danson dresses up as "Count Cholesterol" the vampire (!) in one scene. Also
included are details of specific episodes of famous and obscure US and UK television series, various cartoons, and an astonishing number of non-English language films. The sheer scope of the project is nothing short of audacious. And just a little bit crazy.
(But in the good way.)
Jones also includes entries for several hundred key personalities in the history of monster moviedom, ranging from the likes of Dick Miller and Klaus Kinski to Robert Bloch and Curt Siodmak. A further bonus is a lengthy, typically idiosyncratic introduction by
monster movie czar Forrest J Ackerman. The Essential Monster Movie Guide will undoubtedly annoy some horror purists, but for anyone who has ever enjoyed a monster movie - or
just wants to know which are those really key episodes of Scooby-Doo - it is a must-have volume.
(
Jay Russell
- one of the greatest talents the horror industry has produced for some time… (Black Tears))
