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[Gift Guide] 10 Best Books of 2018 for the Horror Fan

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‘Tis the season of gift giving, and we’ve already given great suggestions for art, movies, and video games. But what about the avid reader? When it comes to books, the choices can be overwhelming. From nonfiction, fiction, to graphic novels, this year has unleashed an endless selection of great options to fill those bookshelves. Stephen King released two novels and a short story collection in Elevation, The Outsider, and Flight or Flight, making for easy gift options for the Constant Reader.  But for those who already are up to date on King’s works, or want to branch out further, these 10 books make for excellent gifts for the horror loving reader in your life.


The 1990s Teen Horror Cycle: Final Girls and a New Hollywood Formula – Alexandra West

Horror academic and co-host of the Faculty of Horror podcast, Alexandra West’s latest is an in-depth study of the politics and subculture of the ‘90s applied to the teen horror scene that gave us Buffy the Vampire SlayerScreamI Know What You Did Last SummerThe Craft and more. She brings her critical eye to an oft-maligned decade in horror, and builds a case for these films’ recurring themes of feminism. In short, West champions the horror films written off as teen schlock and offers historical context and deeper meaning.


Ad Nauseam: Newsprint Nightmares from the 1980s – Michael Gingold

Michael Gingold has been a well-known Fangoria writer and editor for nearly 30 years, as well as a Rue Morgue contributor, and he’s taken his life-long love of horror and turned it into one of the coolest hardcover books in recent years. Featuring a collection of horror ads from newspapers that he clipped himself for years, Ad Nauseam is a deep dive into ‘80s horror featuring more than 450 ads and commentary by Gingold, bringing new insight to one of horror’s most beloved decades.


Anna and the Apocalypse – Katharine Turner with Barry Waldo

Inspired by the musical zombie film of the same name, Anna and the Apocalypse makes for perfect holiday reading. Anna Shepherd is a high school student still coping with the loss of her mother, the fallout from a fling, and typical friend drama. She’s counting the days until she can skip town, but her plans are derailed when a zombie apocalypse arrives with the holiday season. This one brings the laughs, holiday cheer, and all the feels.


Baby Teeth – Zoje Stage

This debut novel is a button pusher. Little Hanna adores her father so much that her mother, Suzette, needs to die so she can have dad to herself. Stage alternates the story’s perspective, from evil Hanna to panicked Suzette, upping the ante on this homicidal Bad Seed-like tale. Creepy and full of twists, Stage intends to disturb, which has proved to be polarizing for readers.


The Cabin at the End of the World – Paul Tremblay

Tremblay leaves behind the supernatural horrors of A Head Full of Ghosts and Disappearance at Devil’s Rock to put his horrific spin on home invasion horror in his latest. Wen and her parents Eric and Andrew think they’ve begun an idyllic vacation at a remote cabin with no neighbors in sight. It is, until the arrival of four strangers bearing strange weapons changes everything. The strangers present the family with a choice that begins a tumultuous tale of sacrifice, paranoia, survival, and the fate of the world.


Halloween: The Official Movie Novelization – John Passarella

Considering the original 1978 film’s novelization by Curtis Richards, this is yet another way in which the new Halloween has come full circle. A faithful adaptation of the film, in which Laurie Strode and Michael Myers face off once again after forty years, Passarella gets into the headspace of the characters and even includes scenes cut from the film. For collectors, Halloween franchise fanatics, and those that are just curious about added content, this novel is for you.


Harrow County Library Edition Volume 1 – Writer Cullen Bunn, Artist Tyler Crook

Essential horror graphic novel series Harrow County has been around and ongoing for a few years now, but 2018 brought the new release of the oversized Library Edition, in all its hardcover glory. Containing the first two volumes with a new cover, sketchbook art, essays, and bonus stories, this edition makes for a great gift for longtime fans and those just getting started. As for plot, it follows Emmy, a girl who learns she may be connected to the monsters and ghosts that live in the woods near her home on her 18th birthday.


Our Lady of the Inferno – Preston Fassel

Here’s your chance to get ahead of the curve, as this Fangoria publication was recently announced to have a feature length film adaptation in the works. Fassel, who has also written for Scream Magazine, Rue Morgue, and Fangoria, penned a 1983 set serial killer thriller that’s unafraid to get brutal. A collision course between prostitutes and a religiously-motivated psychopath, Our Lady of the Inferno delivers great character work and gritty horror.


True Indie: Life and Death in Filmmaking – Don Coscarelli

The director/creator behind PhantasmThe BeastmasterBubba Ho-tep and John Dies at the End delivers a candid, tell-all memoir that spans his entire career. It isn’t just full of great anecdotes and insights to Coscarelli’s catalog of films, but it also provides helpful advice for the aspiring indie filmmaker. Coscarelli will make you laugh, and he’ll also make you cry- his touching chapter on Angus Scrimm is a heartfelt tearjerker. In short, if you’re a fan of his films or in any way interested in filmmaking, this book is a must.


We Sold Our Souls – Grady Hendrix

As evidenced by Horrorstor, My Best Friend’s Exorcism, and Paperbacks from Hell, Hendrix is a captivating storyteller and We Sold Our Souls further proves that.  1990s heavy metal band Dürt Würk was on the verge of breakout stardom when lead singer Terry Hunt left his bandmates high and dry for new band Koffin. Twenty years later, former guitarist Kris is broke and unhappy, stuck working at a hotel on the night shift. A chain of traumatic events coinciding with Koffin’s farewell tour sets Kris off on a larger-than-life journey as she suspects the fateful night that changed everything might have been rooted in something far more sinister. An epic voyage filled with metal, supernatural terror, conspiracies and paranoia, We Sold Our Souls is an addictive read for the metalhead and horror hound alike.

Horror journalist, RT Top Critic, and Critics Choice Association member. Co-Host of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast. Has appeared on PBS series' Monstrum, served on the SXSW Midnighter shorts jury, and moderated horror panels for WonderCon and SeriesFest.

Books

‘In Search of Darkness’ Book Review: A Must-Have for ’80s Horror Fans

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In 2019, the documentary of 80s horror In Search of Darkness became an instant hit with horror fans. Now, a beautiful coffee table style companion book is available and is a must-own for all fans of one of horror’s greatest eras. The book is a walk down the horror aisle of the best mom and pop video store in the heyday of VHS, featuring full color photos, poster art, insightful essays and more. More than just a nostalgic throwback, In Search of Darkness is the kind of book I wish I’d had back in my years as a burgeoning horror fan but is also satisfying for the film fanatic I have become in the years since.

The format is beautifully and simply laid out, with at least a dozen (usually more) movies from each year of the decade presented in order of release accompanied by informative and insightful essays by the authors Heather Wixson and Patrick Bromley. Both authors have been mainstays of film journalism, specializing in horror, for many years. Wixson began her career in 2007 with Dread Central and has spent the past ten years as the Managing Editor of Daily Dead, from which she recently retired to focus on books and other projects. She has devoted the past several years to interviewing and writing books about the Make-up and Special Effects wizards that have brought so much to film over the years, specifically the horror genre.

Bromley is a film journalist and critic whose work can be found all over the place including right here on Bloody Disgusting. He recently provided the commentary for the Vinegar Syndrome release of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and is known as something of a Tobe Hooper expert. He is also the founder and editor of F this Movie!, an eclectic film website, and host of its accompanying podcast. So, to be clear, the authors know their stuff.

Wixson and Bromley divide writing duties roughly in half and though each has a distinctive voice, their writing styles dovetail beautifully into a cohesive whole. Each author plays to their strengths. Being familiar with both their work I didn’t even have to look at the bylines to know that Heather covered Christine and Terror in the Aisles and Patrick took on The Funhouse and Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers. Wixson’s passion for make-up effects is clear and comes through in many of her contributions. In general, Wixson takes on the “big” titles, the movies that defined the decade the most, and Bromley covers what the more cynical among us might call schlock, but he would likely call pure cinematic bliss. There are exceptions and surprises, of course, as there should be (Patrick covers The Shining for example). Each essay dives into the history behind the film, the major players involved, the reception, and legacy with often surprising aspects drawn from interviews with the filmmakers from various sources and insights from the authors.

For all their in-depth explorations of each film, in general the authors keep their critics’ hats safely stowed, keeping in mind that every entry on the book has its fans. In fact, they may well have sold me on finally hitting play on some of the schlockier offerings of the decade like Evilspeak, Nightbeast, and Blood Diner. Hell, I may even give The Beast Within a spin for shits and giggles. The point is that this book is a celebration through and through. The authors are honest about the critical receptions of the films, which were often unkind, and sometimes let their own opinions shine through, but recognize how beloved even the schlockiest films can become given time and availability. And that is an ongoing theme of In Search of Darkness. What may have been dismissed in its day often becomes revered as the years pass. Variations on the phrase “the years have been kind to…” referring to various maligned projects like The Thing, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, The Blob and many, many others, can be found throughout the book for good reason.

Each chapter of the book also includes a rundown of the top horror movies at the box office for the year as well as the top movies of all genres for context. The final page for each year highlights some of the major news and pop culture events including the top songs, albums, and television shows. There is a large central section that pays tribute to the talent involved with the greatest horror films of the 80s including directors, actors, effects artists, and more. This section includes brief biographies of John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Stephen King, Tom Savini, Barbara Crampton, Robert Englund, and many others presented in a dynamic and engaging fashion.

One of the beauties of the book is that it covers so much ground. Sure, you’ll find Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser, and the Halloween sequels in it, but you’ll also find deeper cuts like The Changeling, The Being, and Tetsuo: The Iron Man. I was happy to find the same love given to Frank Henenlotter and Larry Cohen as to George A. Romero and David Cronenberg. In other words, In Search of Darkness is extraordinarily eclectic, highlighting the diversity that truly defined what is often viewed as a homogenous decade. The authors make the case that the 80s was horror’s greatest decade, and with what they lay out throughout this book, it’s tough to argue against that. I even came across a film or two I hadn’t even heard of before, which has become increasingly rare as the years go by.

At just shy of $85, the cover price may give some horror hounds pause, but believe me, it’s worth every penny. This is a beautiful volume that every fan of 80s horror will want on their shelf or prominently displayed on their coffee table. Filled with favorite titles, hundreds of full color photos, insightful and informative writing, this is simply a must own.

You can order your copy now.

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