Christopher Flayling |

Back in 2017, author and historian Christopher Frayling gave us Frankenstein: The First Two Hundred Years, giving us an amazing history lesson, filled with a ton of amazing photos and illustrations, on the story of Frankenstein. Now, Frayling is back to give us a look at the other classic monster, the vampire, in Vampire Cinema: The First Hundred Years, recently published by Reel Art Press back in October. Not sure how I missed this coming out, but better late than never, right?

With close to 300 pages, Frayling gives goes through the cinematic history of the vampire, starting with the one that started it all, F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, released in 1922. Filled with a ton of stills, posters, artworks, and pressbooks, this is another essential volume for fans of horror films, and especially fans of the vampire sub-genre. The price is $45, which may seem a little steep, but if this is anything like the Frankenstein volume, it is more than worth it since that is a beautiful coffee table book that will give you more than a few hours of fun paging through it, not to mention maybe even learning a thing or two about this popular sub-genre.

Frankenstein First Two Hundred Years With year being the 200 year anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s immortal tale, Frankenstein, I was hoping that there would be some sort of celebrating going on during the year. And it didn’t take long for author Christopher Fraying to appease that desire.

Published at the end of last year, this book “traces the journey of Shelley’s Frankenstein from limited-edition literature into the bloodstream of contemporary culture.” Since I’m not only a sucker for reference books, when they are one of my favorite subjects of the genre, then you got me right away. This volume is just over 200 pages, and a nice 9.5″ x 11″ sixe, so it will make a nice coffee table book. Plus, it looks to be filled with a wonderful array of images, photos, artwork, from the beginning to modern day adaptations. According to the description on the publisher’s website, the book also features “new research on the novel’s origins, and a facsimile reprint of the earliest-known manuscript version of the creation scene; visual material on adaptations for the stage, in magazines, on playbills, in prints and in book publications of the nineteenth century; series of visual essays on many of the film versions – and their inspirations in the history of art; and Frankenstein in popular culture – on posters, advertisements, packaging, in comics and graphic novels.”

How could any Frankenstein fan not want to immediately order their copy of this book? The retail price is $39.95, but you can get it on Amazon right now for considerably lower. In fact, the book has 4 reviews on Amazon already, and all of them give the book 5 stars. I know once we receive our copy, we’ll get our review posted as well.