by Scott Aaron Stine
When I saw this book on the library shelf I knew I would be spending a large part of my weekend within it's pages, reading it pretty much cover to cover. The original intent of the author was to cover all the splatter films of the 20th century but soon found he had to break it into three books (the 80s and 90s are still to come). Although I'm much more conversant in 80s splatter, I had viewed enough of the 70s classics and seen cover art of many others (always making me wonder if the video is half as good as the cover art suggests) to make the book worhwhile. There is a rather nice discussion at the beginning on what makes a splatter film, the history of splatter films, and why certain films are included/excluded, etc. Through my perusing, I added about five films to my growing list of films to see. The author knows his stuff but seems especially hooked on obscure Spanish film and these feature predominantly throughout. Also, the author is VERY sensitive to political correctness, homophobia, hints of animal cruelty, and the like, which is odd seeing the subject matter of most horror films. His self-rightous views often taint his reviews to the point that you wish he would just shut up about the implied misogyny and write about the gore effects.
