I collect books that claim to contain the Best Movies of all Time, and Steven J. Schneider's series have a lot of good things going for them. They contain a lot of insight, beautiful color pictures, and a nice mixture of the expected choices vs. some more eclectic picks. However, there are a few things you should know about if you're going to buy this for yourself or a fellow horror fan:
Far more than the "101 SCI-FI Movies" entry into the series, the writing in this book often leans towards the academic. This is a necessary result of the genre, for horror lends itself to film theory far better than any other genre. And I don't mean things like noting how the virginal female tends to survive--that's basically surface level for this book--I mean theories of "otherness," the "male gaze," etc. A lot of the entries sound like theory textbooks that you'd read in film school. If the following doesn't appeal to you, don't buy the book:
'Roman Polanski's modern horror classic Rosemary's Baby is a most subtle and far-reaching commentary on woman's enforced submission to a male order.'
My major problem with the academic nature of the book isn't that I think such analysis is "wrong" or eggheaded (sometimes I think certain writers miss the mark, but that's natural) but in my opinion it negatively influences the selection process of the 101 movies. Instead of picking 101 really good horror films, it often feels the writers picked 101 movies they could write essays about. Deathdream, The Brood, Dressed to Kill are just a few films which aren't any good (much less classics) but can be easily read as allegories, comments on gender, etc. It's really stupid to criticize which movies were picked and which weren't (especially after I complimented the book earlier on its mixture) but I don't think audiences need to see Dressed to Kill before they die because of its take on gender identity. I'd rather they watched The Evil Dead because it's actually a good film, albeit less conducive to analysis.
This major quibble aside, I enjoyed reading 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die and will proudly enter it into my film-book collection. If you like academic analysis you may well like it too, but don't buy it for your pal who loves slasher films because he might well be disappointed when the authors start talking about "the penetrating male gaze" or the director "incriminating the audience." 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die
This is not a large regular size book-which is good but suprised me when I bought at Borders today. My favorite part is for each movie that is discussed, it has the original art work for the movies poster-which is in color on nice paper.
The reviews and thoughts were insightful and interesting. I am a big horror fan and there were several plus movies I never heard of that I will now rent/buy in the near future.
A good buy for any horror fans collection.'
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