Reel Review - Foundation

Reel Review – Virgin Film’s Horror Films by James Marriott 2004, London

Yes, yes I know this isn’t a film but it’s a book about films and I think that’s a good place to start. One cannot take a real in depth look at modern horror cinema without knowing its history. Filmmakers are inspired by the movies they watched first and foremost, what formed their view of what work they wanted to create. Now I’m not saying they ape the movies they liked in their teens but from them gained the soft bias such as genre expectations, set design, music that sort of thing.

This book is a good place to start when it comes to reading and understanding the horror films that have come before. Now that’s not to say it’s a substitute for watching such classics and I feel woefully inadequate as I read through it realizing some of the pieces I’ve never seen. That said the author does a fantastic job laying out the basic plot of each movie and then goes into detail description of the how and why it was made. Directors and inspiration are discussed in length but never to the point of boredom. Critics reaction, musical scores make an appearance as well. The most helpful sections I found however to be the actually critical dissections of the films as well as the industry impact. The former makes one’s mind work on a deeper level past the gore and the screams to ponder the meaning of what each film was trying to show. Contrary to some naysayers filmmakers just like authors and poets set out to ‘say something’ with what they right and put in subtle undertones and metaphors – sometimes without even realizing it. When discussing industry impact the author successfully covers each of the watershed moments in horror cinema from the birth and rebirths of movie monsters, to slasher films to social commentary.

As this is a Virgin Film’s book it is clearly written from an English perspective and it’s interesting to see the small differences in something coming across the pond, as well as read about the censoring of such movies there. While the book is now five years old that just means that with any luck you will be able to pick it up used. It’s well worth the price. Checking Amazon the author also joint published a book in 2008… which seems to be going for about a hundred bucks sooooo yeah. I’ll check that out when I have more disposable income, a lot more.