Back when the Krypt was at the old site, before moving into the blog format, I had reviewed the book A Vault of Horror by Keith Topping (you can read our review HERE), which I really enjoyed. The subtitle to the book was a “book of great (and not so great) British horror movies from 1956-1974”, which I really loved because as we know, movies will always be subjective on whether they are “good” or not. But one of the things I really enjoyed about this book was the format, and all the different trivial information for each of the titles. It had categories like “Nudity, Violence and Sadomasochism” or “Outrageous Methods of Dispatch“, or “You May Remember Me From…”, which gave out some pretty interesting and useful information about the films and those involved. The real shame was that it wasn’t a title that I saw around too often, like at bookstores or even many talking about it online. It’s from Telos, a small press publisher from the UK, which might be the reason. But it’s a great little book and well worth any library.
Continue readingCategory Archives: Book News
The Blood is the Life Book
Since it is Black Friday and all . . .
The latest volume from the creators of We Belong Dead magazine, this time covering one of the oldest monsters around, the vampire! The Blood is the Life covers “a century of filmic bloodsuckers”, starting with the one and only Nosferatu (1922), which is only fitting since next month we will be getting a new version of this tale with the release of Robert Eggers new film. This book covers a wide range of films from the classic Universal titles like Dracula (1931), Dracula’s Daughter (1936), to a slew of Hammer titles with Christopher Lee as the Count, to their other efforts like Kiss of the Vampire (1963) to Twins of Evil (1971). I was honored to be part of this tome, having essays on Al Adamson’s Dracula vs Frankenstein (1971) and José Ramón Larraz Vampyres (1974).
While these books are a bit pricy with the currency exchange and the overseas postage, because I have several of their books, I will say they are luxurious looking volumes of well written essays on the genre. With full color pages, filled with plenty of poster art, stills, lobby cards, and even some behind-the-scenes shots, it’s one of those volumes that just paging through it can be a little time machine, helping you escape into many different worlds! So yes, an investment, but I feel a worthy one.
Hardcovers are £45.00 or $57.02 US, and softcovers are £35.00 or $44.35 US. Shipping to here in the US will cost another $25. So again, it’s a bit of cash, but a beautiful investment in knowledge, and for your library. Just click HERE to see more information about the book!
New Edition to Never Sleep Again Book
We received an email from Dark Ink Publishing about their latest book, Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, by Thommy Huston. As we’ve said many times before, you can never have too many horror reference books. But as it turns out, we already have this book in our library from when it first came out in 2016, which is pictures on the left below, with the new edition on the right. This new edition has a new afterwards by Robert England, but that’s about it.


New Carpenter Book from FAB Press
Coming out sometime next Spring/Summer, FAB Press will be releasing Bringing Darkness Instead of Light: Conversations with John Carpenter by Michael Doyle. This 600+ page book will feature interviews the author did with Carpenter for over 15 years, with subjects ranging from his films, H.P. Lovecraft, politics, drugs, as well as different films and their productions. The book will also have a bunch of previously unpublished photos.
They have the pre-order price listed as £59.99 ($77.60 in US dollars) but hasn’t confirmed that will be the actual price. It does sound like there might be multiple editions, each at a different price, but they do state there will be a Collector’s Edition with a “stunning slipcase inspired by In The Mouth of Madness.
Keep tabs on the book by checking out FAB Press’ website HERE or sign up for updates so you’ll be notified directly when it becomes available for pre-order.
McFarland Slashes Prices
We all know that while McFarland has some amazing book titles, they do run a bit on the pricey side. Which is why it is even more important to take advantage of this sale they are having. If you buy 2 or more horror books and enter the code HALLOWEEN2024 you will get 40% off the total price. They already had a few titles that I’ve been meaning to pick up, but was surprised to find a couple more that I didn’t even know about.
Matt Rogerson has a new book coming out, called Fulci’s Inferno: Faith in the Films of a Horror and Giallo Auteur. According to the description on McFarland’s site, this book “analyzes the tenets and iconography of Fulci’s Roman Catholic faith across key films in his filmography, plotting an apostate’s journey through his art in the vein of many celebrated Italian artists that went before him. The volume also considers how exploring his faith and apostasy through his films led Fulci to develop an entirely new storytelling mechanism which has influenced genre directors ever since.
The sale runs through now until October 31st. Just click HERE to get to their website.
Women in Horror Book Titles
For those out there interested in diving into the horror history that features women, whether it be as a scream queen, screenwriter, director, or whatever else, there are plenty of volumes of titles dedicated to just this type of learning. So, I’ve listed a few of them below with the details in case you’re interested in doing a little more digging.
1000 Women in Horror
by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
Published by BearManor Media, July 2020
600 pages.
This is a massive volume that covers a lot of ground here, with interviews, photos, and plenty of information.
You can also read our book review on this HERE. Or click HERE for the Amazon link.
Continue readingKnow Your Hammer?
While there are plenty of books out there on Hammer Studios, and trust me, I know since I probably have most of them, this multiple volume book series that Peveril Publishing has been putting out is a set that would probably answer many, if not all, of your Hammer question. The first 2 volumes of their series The House that Hammer Built have been released, volume 1 covers the years between 1934 to 1949, while volume 2 covers 1950 to 1954. And they have just released the cover for the 3rd volume, which will cover the years 1955 to 1959, which is when the studio really exploded all over the world with their remake of Dracula in 1957.
Continue readingDiscover the Horror Book 5-Year Anniversary
Thanks to Facebook, I was reminded that yesterday was when we had the official book launch for my book, Discover the Horror. It’s hard to believe that it has been that long, especially when it took me about 5 years to get it completed! But I’m still proud of it and what I’ve accomplished with it.
When I set out in the beginning, trying to figure out just what kind of book it was going to be, I realized that the only thing that I knew more about than anybody else was my own experiences with the horror genre. But yet, I did share a lot of experiences with other fans, no matter what year they were born, or when they started down the path of being a horror fan. I’ve said before that being a fan is not a race, but a journey. Sometimes that path takes you off the main road at times, but you can still find some pretty interesting films when you do go wandering off, but always coming back to the main road.
Continue readingBooks, Books and More Books!
Books are a strange thing. When you dig into the details of the publishing world, for every huge best seller, there are countless other titles that barely sell a couple of hundred copies in their lifetime. And with each one of those, the author spent a lot of time on them, years for some, to have them waste away into obscurity.
Happy Saturday!
Fortunately, for people like me and more of a few out there reading this, we still continue to add more and more of these volumes to our library, even though we know the realistic notion of getting to read each and every one of them gets smaller and smaller with each one we purchase. And yet, we still do it. I know for a fact that I do. For me, being that usually get non-fiction books dealing with the horror genre, I never know when I might need to pull particular title out for a little research. I mean, I do it all the time, depending on what I’m working on.
Continue readingNew Books from the U.K.
As a book collector, it is so tough to get books from across the pond because of the postage. But I still do it for a few of reasons. The titles I’m buying are more than worth it for the content. It also helps support the smaller publishers in continuing to put out such fantastic books. Oh yeah, and I’m a sucker when it comes to these kinds of titles!
The first one is the latest from the We Belong Dead people, Unsung Horrors Has Risen from the Grave. I have started contributing to some of their books, not in this latest volume though, but it’s not stopping me from adding it to the library. I mean, I already have the previous two titles in their Unsung Horrors series, so I obviously need this one as well! As usual, the authors have selected titles they feel need a little more love, which I’m always in agreement of. With so many movies coming out every year, there are plenty that seem to be left in the shadows that are more than worth your time. This volume covers titles like Curse of the Vampires, Evil of Dracula, The Redeemer, Lake Mungo, Curse of the Black Widow, Rogue, The Phantom Carriage, Splinter, and so much more.
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