For over six years, Brian Collins watched and reviewed a different horror movie every single day. Most of them stunk. With over 2500 reviews on the Horror Movie A Day website, finding the worthwhile ones can be a chore, so Collins has curated a selection of choice films - 365 of them in fact, one for every day of the year. Each month has a different theme and offers a variety of films within that theme for your viewing enjoyment. And they're not the ones you've seen already - most of the book's selections are obscure, indie, or foreign titles that a casual horror fan hasn't seen yet. Every movie is someone's favorite movie - perhaps this book will introduce you to yours.
Filled with self praise and other "ain't I cool" and the much needed name dropping, this guide to his review site leaves a lot to be desired. He spoils not only films he's recommending but other films that aren't even part of the horror genre. I did find twenty or so movies I never really heard of that sounded good. It's a bummer he starts off with Asian horror instead of something more interesting.
I've had this out from KU forever because I'm reading it slowly and trying new movies. I love this guy's dedication and his quick, fun descriptions. I definitely look at movies in a different way now
A supremely worthwhile collection of horror movie recommendations, with some additional context given where applicable. I wouldn't recommend this as a work of film criticism, but as a daily devotional for the horror faithful, it's pretty addictive. I've discovered some hidden gems I likely never would have heard of otherwise, and have a great many more to uncover.
If you're looking for horror movie recommendations, this is a good place to start. It's unapologetically a horror blog in book form, but the writing is fun and Collins has knack for accurately portraying movies without giving spoilers. I've seen more horror movies than most and there were things in here I'd never heard of.
This is a great book for horror fans. Collins gives each month a different category (Slasher, Killer Kids, Vampires, etc.) and tries to spotlight lesser known movies throughout the book. I was excited to see some more obscure favorites of mine and even discovered some I'd never previously heard of to add to my list. So many books (and blogs) only spotlight the popular stuff. It's great to see someone, especially a talented writer like Collins, going to bat for the little guys. An entertaining, enjoyable book from start to finish.
But I may have to start. The reviews are well written and funny, with enough detail to know which ones I might like. I read all the reviews, start to finish and am looking forward to trying out a couple movies.
It's rare to find a book of horror movies that is truly written for genre fans. I consider myself a pretty seasoned fan and I have still only seen about 15% of these movies. There are a lot of movies in here I never even heard of, and that makes me super happy. It's important to note that these are not necessarily the "best" movies, but they are movies that Brian considers memorable, while also less mainstream, than the typical list of generic movies that we've already seen. This book is for people, like me, who are known to watch any and every b-horror movie they come along without expecting too much. What I particularly like about Brian's approach is that they are kind of just rambly entries not entirely related to the movie itself. As someone who won't even watch trailers because she likes to go into movies completely blind, I actually love this. Great read, wish it was longer than a year!
If you're looking for detailed and insightful film criticism, don't bother. Many of the reviews are vague and offer little sense of what the movie in question is actually about. But if you're a horror fan, you can't help but admire the author's dedication to the genre. For almost 6 years, Collins ran a blog where he watched and reviewed a horror movie every single day. This book collects 365 of the most memorable films, with each month organized by a distinct theme - Asian horror, killer kids, slashers, etc. He even sets aside specific days within each month for the best, worst, and craziest example of that theme!