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The Definitive Guide to Horror Movies
Pull back the curtain on more than a century of terrifying horror movies... if you dare.
Packed with stills from the most terrifying scenes in cinema history, The Definitive Guide to Horror Movies is a comprehensive companion to the genre, tracing the story of horror film, decade-by-decade. Providing a witty and informative critique of more than 350 films and several TV series, this extensive handbook offers a superb introduction for newcomers to the genre as well as something new for the die-hard horror fan.
Horror is one of the most popular and influential genres in cinema, a perennial favourite that just won't stay dead. This fully updated edition covers everything from all-time classics to hidden gems and big-budget duds to breakout foreign hits. This is your ultimate guide through a century of fear.
Packed with stills from the most terrifying scenes in cinema history, The Definitive Guide to Horror Movies is a comprehensive companion to the genre, tracing the story of horror film, decade-by-decade. Providing a witty and informative critique of more than 350 films and several TV series, this extensive handbook offers a superb introduction for newcomers to the genre as well as something new for the die-hard horror fan.
Horror is one of the most popular and influential genres in cinema, a perennial favourite that just won't stay dead. This fully updated edition covers everything from all-time classics to hidden gems and big-budget duds to breakout foreign hits. This is your ultimate guide through a century of fear.
400 pages, Hardcover
Published July 15, 2025
2 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Kim Newman
288 books949 followersNote: This author also writes under the pseudonym of Jack Yeovil.
An expert on horror and sci-fi cinema (his books of film criticism include Nightmare Movies and Millennium Movies), Kim Newman's novels draw promiscuously on the tropes of horror, sci-fi and fantasy. He is complexly and irreverently referential; the Dracula sequence--Anno Dracula, The Bloody Red Baron and Dracula,Cha Cha Cha--not only portrays an alternate world in which the Count conquers Victorian Britain for a while, is the mastermind behind Germany's air aces in World War One and survives into a jetset 1950s of paparazzi and La Dolce Vita, but does so with endless throwaway references that range from Kipling to James Bond, from Edgar Allen Poe to Patricia Highsmith.
In horror novels such as Bad Dreams and Jago, reality turns out to be endlessly subverted by the powerfully malign. His pseudonymous novels, as Jack Yeovil, play elegant games with genre cliche--perhaps the best of these is the sword-and-sorcery novel Drachenfels which takes the prescribed formulae of the games company to whose bible it was written and make them over entirely into a Kim Newman novel.
Life's Lottery, his most mainstream novel, consists of multiple choice fragments which enable readers to choose the hero's fate and take him into horror, crime and sf storylines or into mundane reality.
An expert on horror and sci-fi cinema (his books of film criticism include Nightmare Movies and Millennium Movies), Kim Newman's novels draw promiscuously on the tropes of horror, sci-fi and fantasy. He is complexly and irreverently referential; the Dracula sequence--Anno Dracula, The Bloody Red Baron and Dracula,Cha Cha Cha--not only portrays an alternate world in which the Count conquers Victorian Britain for a while, is the mastermind behind Germany's air aces in World War One and survives into a jetset 1950s of paparazzi and La Dolce Vita, but does so with endless throwaway references that range from Kipling to James Bond, from Edgar Allen Poe to Patricia Highsmith.
In horror novels such as Bad Dreams and Jago, reality turns out to be endlessly subverted by the powerfully malign. His pseudonymous novels, as Jack Yeovil, play elegant games with genre cliche--perhaps the best of these is the sword-and-sorcery novel Drachenfels which takes the prescribed formulae of the games company to whose bible it was written and make them over entirely into a Kim Newman novel.
Life's Lottery, his most mainstream novel, consists of multiple choice fragments which enable readers to choose the hero's fate and take him into horror, crime and sf storylines or into mundane reality.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 10, 2025
A book calling itself the "Definitive Guide" is highly subjective because everyone's movie tastes are so different. There are movies in here that get a short shrift and I would have devoted more space and words to them because they are some of my personal favorites. In my mind, they deserve more than just a quick mention in a sentence and/or a small picture. For example, "The Lost Boys" or the remake of "A House of Wax" are barely given a mention sadly. Whereas there are also movies in this book I have absolutely no desire to ever watch like "Human Centipede 2" or "Maniac." They are just not my cup of tea. My "Definitive Guide" would look very different than Mr. Newman's, that's for sure.
What I do appreciate about this book is how far reaching it is. It could have solely focused on US movies, but, instead, it features many entries from around the world. I have to admit many of those I had never heard before reading this book. Some of those movies have my curiosity now. It's a great way to show the reader that there is a whole world literally of hidden horror movie treasures. That's exciting.
If there is one thing I do find baffling about this book, it's that some of the reviews are a bit negative and sometimes don't really paint the movie in the best of light. Several times I finished a review and thought, "Why would I want to watch this after the reviewer could barely muster anything positive to say?" If this book is considered the "definitive" collection, wouldn't every review just be only glowing praise and wouldn't every movie be a 4 or 5 star experience? But, that's not the case for some of the movies discussed which I just find a little weird.
A fun read that includes many movies I want to check off my list. I probably won't watch all 383 movies, but there are maybe 200 I do want to see for sure.
What I do appreciate about this book is how far reaching it is. It could have solely focused on US movies, but, instead, it features many entries from around the world. I have to admit many of those I had never heard before reading this book. Some of those movies have my curiosity now. It's a great way to show the reader that there is a whole world literally of hidden horror movie treasures. That's exciting.
If there is one thing I do find baffling about this book, it's that some of the reviews are a bit negative and sometimes don't really paint the movie in the best of light. Several times I finished a review and thought, "Why would I want to watch this after the reviewer could barely muster anything positive to say?" If this book is considered the "definitive" collection, wouldn't every review just be only glowing praise and wouldn't every movie be a 4 or 5 star experience? But, that's not the case for some of the movies discussed which I just find a little weird.
A fun read that includes many movies I want to check off my list. I probably won't watch all 383 movies, but there are maybe 200 I do want to see for sure.
Displaying 1 of 1 review