I know. My Christmas list is going to be HUGE with all these titles coming out. Granted, I may need to add a new bookshelf as well. And maybe a place to put it too… But anyway, I recently came across these two titles from BearManor Media and since they are both on some Universal classics, I knew I had to post about them. And being they are written by Tom Weaver and Gregory William Mank, you know they are going to be packed full of great information.
I’m not sure what worries me more, the fact that I’m going to run out of room for all these books I want to add to my library, or just how the hell am I going to pay for all of them! I know I’ve stated before that if they stopped making movies now, I still wouldn’t be able to see them all before I’m gone. It’s really same for these books. With each movie offering you something we haven’t seen or experienced before, these volumes below, as well as so many more, are just waiting for you to read and absorb the knowledge within, which then in turn is going to help you see those films in a different light. It really is a never-ending path, and one I intend to continue to travel down as long as I can!
We have new books, updated and revised volumes, covering classic British horror films, horror in the USA, Lewton horrors of the ’40s, and much more. Take a look below and start that Want List or add to the one you’ve already started!
Bride of a Vault of Horror – Back in 2004, author Keith Topping gave us A Vault of Horror: A Book of 80 Great British Horror Movies from 1956-1974, which we reviewed HERE, and had a lot of fun with it. Then in 2024, he published a sequel, Return to the Vault of Horror, giving us reviews of another 58 titles of British horror films, following the same format and fun. Then last year, he switched to Science Fiction to give us Island of Terror (A Guide to 60 Great British SF and Fantasy Movies From 1936 – 1984). One would think that Topper has really kept himself busy, but apparently not. Because now we get Bride of a Vault of Horror: A Book of 72 Great British Films of Mystery and Suspense from 1933-1986! Taking a little different direction on the sub-genre but still covering plenty of horror titles and more here. Within the 600+ pages, this volume covers titles such as The Ghoul, Hell is a City, The Flesh and the Fiends, Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, The Shuttered Room, and many more.
This is coming from Telos Publishing at the end of October, priced at £24.99 or $33.40. You can head over to their website by clicking HERE.
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The fine folks at We Belong Dead has their latest book out, this time celebrating the one and only Christopher Lee. It’s called Christopher Lee: Cinema’s Prince of Darkness. Whether you know him from Lord Summerisle, Saruman, Count Dooku, Duc de Richleau, Fu Manchu, or of course, as Count Dracula, the point is you know him. With a career that ran well over six decades, working in just about every genre out there, it is of course, his roles in the horror, sci-fi, and fantasy roles that he is known for. And the bigger roles later in his life, working with Peter Jackson, George Lucas, and Tim Burton, were all due to the fact that they all grew up watching his horror films! No matter what genre, he always had a screen presence that was unmistakable.
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Being sort of a fan of the work of actor/writer/director and all around horror fan Jacinto Molina aka Paul Naschy, when Creepy-Images announced yet another edition of their book Muchas Gracias Señor Lobo, not only did I know I was going to have to get a copy, but I had no idea the size of this newest edition. Plus, I didn’t know until afterwards that this would be the last edition of this book. So there’s that.
But going from what the last edition had in it, being 400 pages and 1400 images, to now having 200 more pages and bringing the image count to 2200! Now for any movie fan, especially those that are collectors of memorabilia, it is always fascinating to see not only the different posters and other promotional material that came out, but even more so when it is from many different countries! Even if you’re not a collector, or have a modest budget, at least with this book you can see all of these images at your fingertips! I know for myself, I can smile when I see a piece that I have, but then also come across one that I don’t and wonder if I could even find and afford one!
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Because Hammer Films isn’t satisfied enough with me spending all of my money on their incredible movie releases, so now they are putting out books of un-made movie scripts, in what looks like just gorgeous editions!!! They will be releasing an Official Script Collection, “exploring Hammer’s films through the original scripts, drafts and production documents that reveal what happened behind the scenes.”
The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula was a script written by Hammer producer / writer Anthony Hinds that never saw the light of day. I can’t say I’ve heard of that title before, but I know there were a couple of unmade scripts that were based in India, so maybe this is one of them. The book also contains the screenplay for Dracula: High Priest of Vampires, yet another unmade Dracula script. From the photos posted on Hammer Films’ website, this looks like quite the treat to those that not only collect Hammer Films memorabilia, but also for unproduced scripts.
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It’s been a while since the last edition of FAB Press’ Frightfest Guides, but now they are back! This time tackling Japanese Horror! Starting a decade ago, FAB Press started publishing these guides to different sub-genres, with gorgeous layouts and plenty of incredible information, from a variety of authors. In the previous editions, they’ve covered exploitation films, Grindhouse, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, monster movies, and mad doctors, which was their last edition, which came out in 2023. In their latest edition, it is all about the Japanese horror genre, which is one of the oldest horror film genres around!
Author Tom Mes, who has written books on people like Takashi Miike, Shinya Tsukamoto, Kinji Fukasaku, Tai Kato, and even actress Meiko Kaji, so let’s just say, the guy knows his stuff, so what better person to tackle titles from Kwaidan (1964) to Ringu (1998), from cat demons to mushroom people, and so much more. This volume will over more than 200 film titles. Filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa provides the foreword to the book.
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It’s funny how there are some stuntmen that have done some incredible work over their careers, yet for the most part, they go unnoticed. Unless they portray a famous movie monster, such as Jason Vorhees or Michael Myers, and then their fan base explodes. That’s great and all, but it’s a shame that it takes something like playing Jason to bring attention to their career, that could be amazing in its own right! But again, whatever helps, right? I’ve talked to many stuntmen over the years, and it always amazes me the work they do with little or no credit, so I am always excited when the spotlight gets put on them. That is the one thing that playing famous movie monsters can do, so for that, because when you work in the horror genre, us fans take notice!
To help with that education even more so, Harker Press has announced their latest book, Dick Warlock: The Shame of My Career by Warlock, along with John Copeman and Kevin Dennis. Warlock has over 200 credits in the stunt world, playing in just about every type of genre out there, but also doing plenty of work in the horror genre. From his work with John Carpenter to even before that working with Spielberg and even Alfred Hitchcock, Warlock’s career that has spanned over 40 years is just epic. And now you will get to read all the details about it.
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It’s strange that with the beginning of Bram Stoker’s 1897 Dracula that the title character has lived on and on over the centuries, just like the character from the book. Granted, through cinematic adaptations, the character has changed a bit over the 129 years, not to mention just that of the vampire. But usually in any vampire movie, there is a character stepping up to do battle with this mighty creature. In Stoker’s novel, it was Professor Abraham Van Helsing, the old but learned scholar that knew what was behind this recent infection. While he was brought over to the original stage play adaption, and then into the 1931 film, Dracula. But while there were countless variations on Dracula, as well as the vampire, for some reason, the character of Van Helsing, who usually is there to save the day, doesn’t seem to get the credit he deserves.
Until now!
Van Helsing and His Kin is a new book from Daniel O’Brien coming from Telos Publishing that not only covers the different variations of this character through film and television, and who played him, but also digging deep into the character and characteristics of this age-old vampire hunter.
This book will be published in September of this year, running a little over 300 pages, and priced at £16.99 or $22.85. For more information, head over to Telos Publishing’s site HERE.
Time to update the library! A new version of The Hammer Story is set to be published on September 15th, adding over 30 pagers of new material. It was originally published in 1997 and then revised in 2007. And now, almost two decades later, we’re getting a new edition with more content, updating the volume to add all that has been going on with Hammer Films, now that it really has risen from the grave and continues to bring the history of the famous “studio that dripped blood” back to life, to a whole new generation of film fans. While making us older fans giddy with excitement with all the new re-mastered and polished releases that have been coming out.
This version has gone from the past editions with 192 pages to 224 pages, delving into Hammer’s restoration programs, which includes the remastering of the studios classics films, as well as some other British titles, in the gorgeous looking 4K prints.
Released by Titan Books and priced at only $39.95 for this new hardcover edition, I would say without seeing it, that it is probably going to worth getting it, even if own the previous edition, even if this amazing new cover with both Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing on it. Written by Marcus Hearn and Alan Barnes, these guys definitely know their Hammer history. And if by chance you never owned one of the previous editions, then now is the perfect chance to correct that error!
If you’re not sure if you own a previous edition, below are the last two covers.
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For those fans of this iconic film from Stuart Gordon, then you may need to add this to your library. Author Eugenio Ercolani, who has given us so many great commentaries and interviews already on Blu-ray releases, now has compiled the ultimate book on this incredible film adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s 1922 serialized story. Coming from Pulse Books, this 256-page volume will have interviews with key makers of the film, information on the production schedules, the special effects, the sequels, the original source material, and so much more. The book doesn’t just cover the original film, but from the original story to the first film, the sequels, the comics, and everything else in the Herbert West legacy.
Within the pages, you’ll hear from actors Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Bruce Abbott, Nico Baixas, producer director of the two sequels, Brian Yuzna, and many more people involved. The list of contributors to this volume is also pretty impressive, with a wide range of film historians, such as Heather Wixson, Nanni Cobretti, Mike Foster, Andrea Meroni, Troy Howarth, Giacomo Calzoni, and Claude Gaillard.
This was funded by a Kickstarter platform, which has now ended. But you can still pledge to it to order your copy, as well as some other cool items and other book titles. Just click HERE to get to that page.
