Essential Horror Movies: Matinee Monsters to Cult Classics

by Michael Mallory

The definitive book for fans of monster movies, slasher films, and cult classics. Would you dare to come face-to-face with the most terrifying vampires, monsters, zombies, and psychos of all time? They and their movies are all here in this lavishly (and terrifyingly) illustrated volume of the greatest, scariest, and most influential fright films. From such silent masterpieces as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) to such Golden Era classics as Dracula (1931); from such richly colored shockers as House of Wax (1953) to such groundbreaking independent thrillers as Night of the Living Dead (1968); and including modern horrors from Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, and the Blair Witch series, Essential Horror Movies chronicles a century’s worth of cinematic terror. 
Behind-the-scenes anecdotes, trivia, and photos complete the story of these essential motion pictures. Anyone who has ever loved to be scared by a truly great masterpiece of terror—or even a film that strives for nothing more than to provide an audience with spooky, corny fun—will find Essential Horror Movies a necessary addition to their personal library.

Genres: Horror, Coffee Table Books, Nonfiction

228 pages, Hardcover

First published September 22, 2015

About the author

Michael Mallory is an internationally-recognized authority on the subjects of film, animation and 20th century pop-culture, and the author of sixteen nonfiction books, which include The Art of Krampus, Essential Horror Movies, and Marvel: The Characters and their Universe. With the legendary American animation artist Iwao Takamoto he co-authored the memoirs Iwao Takamoto: My Life With a Thousand Characters, and has written more than 600 magazine and newspaper articles that have been published worldwide. A former newscaster, occasional actor, and frequent public speaker, Mike lives and works in the greater Los Angeles area.

Reviews

[Robert Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a bit of a paradox in this book, I think. The people most interested in reading it are likely to be, much like myself, dyed in the wool horror fans. That means that the people most likely to read this book are those who likely already know much of the information presented. True horror fans will have seen at least most of the films discussed (though I suspect most people will discover at least a few gems that had somehow flown under their radar previously). The biggest fans probably even know a lot of the history.

So why do they want to read this book? The simple answer is that it's a beautifully laid out book full of photographs that remind us of some of our favorite films, combined with just enough text to trace the history of cinematic horror.

Of course we can quibble over the inclusion of one film over another, but in general I think the author's selections are mostly the correct ones to provide a taste of the multiple historic threads and subgenres that mark horror's evolution over the decades. And the history presented, though not terribly deep, is accurate and does a good job of showing the reader how scary movies have changed through the years.

Younger readers in particular may be fascinated to see how their favorite filmmakers of recent years have stood on the shoulders of giants. It's worth honoring the triumphs of the past, and this book does a great job of it.

[Horror DNA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's say an alien from another planet has landed. It knows nothing of our culture but it has one peculiar question: Tell it what the essential horror movies of all-time are.

That's a tough task for anybody, but Essential Horror Movies: Matinee Monsters to Cult Classics from author Michael Mallory attempts the feat with mostly-excellent results. The tome is broken up into sections that seem to start chronologically but then branch out into all eras. Chapters range from Silent to Golden to Color to Euro to Drive-In to Mainstream to Psycho-Slashers to Creatures/Demons/Spirits, and finally to the Future of Horror. A one-page section is also devoted to other noteworthy movies.

There are plenty of high-quality and – as far as I can tell – rare photos, and each movie noted comes with interesting stories and anecdotes. There are also a few Spotlight subsections placed randomly throughout like Brit Horror, Psychological Horror, The Monster-Makers and Torture Porn.

You can read R.J.'s full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.

[Christian Petrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had received this book as a gift, so it would not be one I would have normally chosen myself. I did end up enjoying it. The book was well written. Even though I was familiar with most of the movies, it was nice to get some extra background on them, plus some new recommendations. It was well organized by type, along with just the right amount of text to photos ratio to not have one overwhelm the other. A recomended book if you come across it and enjoy movies.

[Pug · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun trip down movie-memory lane.

Reading about the movies I hadn't seen (especially the really old ones) got a bit boring. On the other hand, I wanted more info about the ones I liked.

All in all, a book worth exploring. Lots of scary pictures! I had to skip "The Shining" and come back to it the next morning. :(

[Céline FrenchAlps · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bien sûr en tant que grande fan des films d'horreur, j'ai adoré feuilleter ce livre et y découvrir des films que je ne connaissais pas, en particulier ceux des années 20 à 70. Je me suis créé une liste, pour cela c'était très utile. Le bémol dans ce livre, selon moi, c'est que si vous n'avez jamais vu le film, spoilers ! Tout y est expliqué de A à Z ! Du coup j'ai sauté des paragraphes entiers, c'est dommage car il n'y a aucun intérêt à divulguer la fin...

[Winnie Marth · Rating 3 out of 5]

After we started relying everything on Google and Wiki, this book tells us sometime a more traditional way to look for a reference saves us time.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting enough brief summaries of a range of horror movies from the early 20th century to the early 21st. Pictures are probably the best thing about it.

[Jeny Wariner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book hooked me! I especially loved reading about the origin of early horror films. Great, quick read with excellent photos! I have added many movies to my viewing list! ❤️

[Rachel Lang · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good selection of movies as far as I'm concerned! I wish it had a little more information on the movies but for what it is, I enjoyed reading it.

[Kyle A Massa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thorough and consistently interesting look at pretty much every classic horror film one could name.

[Elliott Bush · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing compilation of horror movies old and new. However, they do a great job of withholding the ending, letting you watch the movie without too many spoilers.

[Sarah Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Essential Horror Movies: Matinee Monsters to Cult Classics" by Michael Mallory is a wonderful coffee table book, with a great range of classic-must-see horror movies, from the start of film making to the modern day. It contains excellent photos, concise descriptions of film plots, and reasons why they deserve to be in the book. Yes I know that some horror buffs will be disappointed that film "x" wasn't included, but it does not claim to be an encyclopaedia of the horror genre (hmm good idea for a book project there). As a horror movie devotee, I am always interested in books on the subject, and found this one to be both entertaining and informative. (I still find it amazing that after all these years, even still photos of Linda Blaire from The Exorcist - 1973, yeah really 1973 - continue to manage to give me the willies.)

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My one complaint: why is it that EVERY TIME I pick up one of these otherwise awesome retrospectives -- chock full of great pictures and interesting tidbits of information -- I *always* find a dozen+ spelling errors (or incorrect actors listed in the picture captions) in the latter half of the book? Do the editors just get tired and give up halfway through? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Marcy Silver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since I am a huge fan of horror movies, I truly loved this history of horror films starting with silent movies up to today. Fun read with awesome pictures!

[Eddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive and entertaining account of horror movie history.