John Stanley's Creature Features Movie Guide Strikes Again: An A to Z Encyclopedia to the Cinema of the Fantastic, Or, is There a Mad Doctor/Dentist in the House?

by John Stanley, Kenn Davis (Illustrator)

This indispensible movie guide provides vital information for every movie created in the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres. Includes capsulized reviews of 5,614 films and is illustrated with over 232 photos.

Genres: Reference, Media Tie In, Horror

454 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1994

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

John Stanley (b. 1940)

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

An earlier edition of this was, in fact, the first encyclopedic film guide I ever owned, from back when I was a kid just starting out in Psychotronic fandom. In that sense, John Stanley holds a place near to my heart, even though I was never able to watch his Bay Area local late night horror show. He compiled this guide as a result of his vast knowledge of "Creature Features" (which appears to be defined as movies which include a fantastic element, whether that be a monster, psychic powers, the use of magic, or fictional technology), and has received much justified praise for it. It includes many great publicity stills from the movies, creative headers for each new letter of the alphabet, and some very witty writing. There are tons of obscure movies here that you won't find in the standard reference works, and much better detail than the "Video Movie Guide" or Video Watchdog. It does make an excellent supplement for horror and sci fi fans.

Joe-Bob Briggs, a horror host that I was able to watch on cable and fellow enthusiast, once opined that this, rather than the "Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film" ought to be the standard reference work for weird films. With all due respect to both John Stanley and Joe-Bob, there are reasons that it isn't. First, it lacks cross-referencing and indexing of any kind. If you don't know the title (or at least an alternate title), you don't find the movie. Second, unlike "Psychotronic," it has no standardized format for its data - Stanley gives directors, screenwriters, studios, stars, and other data, if at all, in the body of his review, making it impossible to scan. Another thing is that Stanley's release dates are almost uniformly off by one year from what any other guide has listed. Finally, Stanley is far more opinionated in his reviews than Mike Weldon, who generally finds something to love in almost every "bad" film, while Stanley often concurs with Ebert and other mainstream guides. It's a very good guide, but nowhere near as good as "Psychotronic."

[GORDON · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you sit up at night, wondering what to watch next? Stanley has you covered. Flip through the pages and encounter old favorites and new treasures that will likely have you munching popcorn or throwing it at the screen.