Rating: 
Summary: This book has everything, a must have for horror fans
Review: This book contains great reviews and bios of famous men and women of horror. It includes bios of everyone from Boris Karloff to Stephen King. The only minor complaint is that it does not have reviews of the Silent Night, Deadly Night movies or the Puppetmaster sequels. Other than that, this is an excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: This is a great book for horror fans.
Review: This book gives great info on a good selection of horror movies. It gives reviews so you can find out if you might like it and it rates it with the Videohound "bone system". A must for the serious horror fan or just someone that likes horror and wants to know what is a good movie to rent.
Rating:
Summary: The Definitve Horror Reference Guide
Review: This book is unbelieveable! If you are a serious fan of horror movies, I can't see how you could ever be disappointed in this book.
999 of the most well known, (and some fairly obscure) horror flicks reviewed in concise, one-four paragraph summaries, and rated at the end from a 0-4 star, (WOOF!-Four Bone) rating. It contains cast, filmmakers, screenwriters, distributing companies and ratings for each film.
Filled to the brim with pictures, quotes, references, etc. Every couple of pages also has a Videohound Salutes section, where they take half a page to remember and honor certain actors, directors, and decades, and their special contributions to the horror genre.
The reviews are helpful, and informative, and I've rented countless movies based on this book's recommendations and have come away very satisfied. I tend to agree with almost everything the author writes about each movie I see, and as soon as I've seen a new horror flick, I make sure I immediately re-read what the book had to say to make comparisons with my own opinion.
The horror genre is huge, and so, naturally, in the interest of space, many movies couldn't find a spot on here, but most of those movies are obscure slasher flicks from the seventies and eighties, that nobody should care about anyway, (although, admittedly, I've seen 'em all.) Every significant film in the horror genre is in here, from the 1930's to about 1997.
There isn't any way I can possibly recommend this book enough!
Rating:
Summary: The Definitve Horror Reference Guide
Review: This book is unbelieveable! If you are a serious fan of horror movies, I can't see how you could ever be disappointed in this book.
999 of the most well known, (and some fairly obscure) horror flicks reviewed in concise, one-four paragraph summaries, and rated at the end from a 0-4 star, (WOOF!-Four Bone) rating. It contains cast, filmmakers, screenwriters, distributing companies and ratings for each film.
Filled to the brim with pictures, quotes, references, etc. Every couple of pages also has a Videohound Salutes section, where they take half a page to remember and honor certain actors, directors, and decades, and their special contributions to the horror genre.
The reviews are helpful, and informative, and I've rented countless movies based on this book's recommendations and have come away very satisfied. I tend to agree with almost everything the author writes about each movie I see, and as soon as I've seen a new horror flick, I make sure I immediately re-read what the book had to say to make comparisons with my own opinion.
The horror genre is huge, and so, naturally, in the interest of space, many movies couldn't find a spot on here, but most of those movies are obscure slasher flicks from the seventies and eighties, that nobody should care about anyway, (although, admittedly, I've seen 'em all.) Every significant film in the horror genre is in here, from the 1930's to about 1997.
There isn't any way I can possibly recommend this book enough!
Rating: 
Summary: The Hound Will Follow the Scent of Blood
Review: This is an excellent listing of horror movies to rekindle memories or to suggest what to hire from your video store. Most horror films are here but not all. Critters is one of my favourites that is not in this book. There is a short summary of each film along with a rating and opinion. Obviously you are not going to agree with all the opinions and ratings. There are also summaries of different directors who have been influential in the horror genre. A listing of alternative titles at the back of the book helps you to quickly locate a film, as all films are in alphabetical order if you can not originally find it. There is also a list of all the actors who have been in horror films and information on what other horror movies they have been in. Photographs from various horror films are also included making this not a bad reference book.
Rating:
Summary: The Hound Will Follow the Scent of Blood
Review: This is an excellent listing of horror movies to rekindle memories or to suggest what to hire from your video store. Most horror films are here but not all. Critters is one of my favourites that is not in this book. There is a short summary of each film along with a rating and opinion. Obviously you are not going to agree with all the opinions and ratings. There are also summaries of different directors who have been influential in the horror genre. A listing of alternative titles at the back of the book helps you to quickly locate a film, as all films are in alphabetical order if you can not originally find it. There is also a list of all the actors who have been in horror films and information on what other horror movies they have been in. Photographs from various horror films are also included making this not a bad reference book.
Rating:
Summary: A good book, but with some reviews that just don't belong.
Review: This was a great guide to horror movies, but there were some films included which simply did not belong at all. Example: Drop Dead Fred. Not only is it never even remotly frightening, (unless you're someone who can decide a film's scary simply by being awful,) it dosen't seem in anyway horror-based, not even as a spoof. Or how about the Darkman series? I loved those films, but how can you call them scary, or even horror-based? Otherwise, this was a great book with smart reviews and cool pictures and quotes. The mini-biographies are also fun to read.
Rating:
Summary: A must for horror fans!
Review: Though boasting reviews of only 999 horror films (it's only downfall), this book contains loads of other information, an amazing glossary with cross references and a great design!
Rating: 
Summary: Decent Resource Guide For Those New To The Genre
Review: Videohound's HORROR SHOW is a resource guide that is dedicated towards reviewing 999 horror films. Although there is a wealth of information to be found in this book, a few notable setbacks keep this guide from being an essential purchase for fans of the genre.First and foremost, the book suffers from the inclusion of a few non-horror titles. Although author Mike Mayo makes a case for their presence, reviews of films like APOCALYPSE NOW and THE WIZARD OF OZ not only seem out of place, but also hurt the book as a whole. By limiting the guide to 999 horror films, you would think that the author would be more selective of the titles. In addition to the non-horror titles, the author needlessly indulges in writing rather useless reviews for horror sequels that do nothing more than to tell you not to see them. If the author wants to give FRIDAY THE 13th PARTS 3 - 8 either one or zero stars, why not just say something in the first review like "don't bother with any of the sequels" instead of writing six pointless reviews that only take up space. As a result, there are notable omissions from the horror genre, particularly exploitation films like ILSA: SHE WOLF OF THE S.S. and VAMPYROS LESBOS. The book also neglects to cover cannibal films like JUNGLE HOLOCAUST, CANNIBAL FEROX, and CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, which were a staple of horror films in Italy during the 1970s. Another problem with the resource guide, though no fault of it's own, is the fact that it's terribly out of date. This criticism may seem a little far-fetched, being that the book was written in 1998. However, the recent efforts of distribution companies like Anchor Bay Entertainment and Synapse Films have given horror fans an entire library of foreign horror films that haven't been available to American audiences for some time now. As a result, you're not going to see reviews for films like THE BEYOND, TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE, or LET THE SLEEPING CORPSES LIE. Fans of Italian horror cinema might be a little disappointed, not only with the lack of titles, but also with the reviews of films that were actually included. The author is obviously not a fan of Italian horror films and will often tell the reader that "American audiences" are not likely to enjoy them (a rather unfair generalization that soon grows tedious). To put it another way, you're lucky if you come across a good review of a Dario Argento film. That's not to say that this book doesn't have its advantages. The extensive indexes offer readers a "Cast Index," a "Director Index," a "Category Index," an "Alternative Titles" index, and a section called "Horror Connections" that gives fans a list of magazines, books, and websites. There are numerous sidebars that offer thoughtful information on genre personalities like George Romero & David Cronenberg, and fascinating insight into each decade and the relevance of horror films at the time. Probably the most significant aspect of this resource guide is it's comprehensive coverage of Hammer Films. There is so much information on these films that I would go so far as to say that it almost makes up for all the other shortcomings of this book. Author Mike Mayo is obviously a big fan and as a result, fans of the popular British Studios can expect coverage of everything from familiar titles like THE HORROR OF DRACULA to such obscure classics like THE LOST CONTINENT, not to mention interesting sidebars of people like Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Ingrid Pitt. In addition to it's coverage of Hammer Films, the book covers a decent number of classic fright films, from the silent horrors of the 1920s to the Universal Studio Monster films of the 1930s and 1940s. The guide also includes some choice cuts from the 1950s, like Ed Wood's PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. Despite it's shortcomings, Videohound's HORROR SHOW is a decent resource guide that will be most appealing to casual fans of the genre. Horror fanatics should probably wait for a second edition to come along that will smooth out all the rough edges (as it did with the wonderful second edition of Videohound's CULT FLICKS & TRASH PICS). Still... it's hard to dislike any book that gives Frank Henenlotter's BASKET CASE a solid four stars.
Rating:
Summary: Decent Resource Guide For Those New To The Genre
Review: Videohound's HORROR SHOW is a resource guide that is dedicated towards reviewing 999 horror films. Although there is a wealth of information to be found in this book, a few notable setbacks keep this guide from being an essential purchase for fans of the genre. First and foremost, the book suffers from the inclusion of a few non-horror titles. Although author Mike Mayo makes a case for their presence, reviews of films like APOCALYPSE NOW and THE WIZARD OF OZ not only seem out of place, but also hurt the book as a whole. By limiting the guide to 999 horror films, you would think that the author would be more selective of the titles. In addition to the non-horror titles, the author needlessly indulges in writing rather useless reviews for horror sequels that do nothing more than to tell you not to see them. If the author wants to give FRIDAY THE 13th PARTS 3 - 8 either one or zero stars, why not just say something in the first review like "don't bother with any of the sequels" instead of writing six pointless reviews that only take up space. As a result, there are notable omissions from the horror genre, particularly exploitation films like ILSA: SHE WOLF OF THE S.S. and VAMPYROS LESBOS. The book also neglects to cover cannibal films like JUNGLE HOLOCAUST, CANNIBAL FEROX, and CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, which were a staple of horror films in Italy during the 1970s. Another problem with the resource guide, though no fault of it's own, is the fact that it's terribly out of date. This criticism may seem a little far-fetched, being that the book was written in 1998. However, the recent efforts of distribution companies like Anchor Bay Entertainment and Synapse Films have given horror fans an entire library of foreign horror films that haven't been available to American audiences for some time now. As a result, you're not going to see reviews for films like THE BEYOND, TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE, or LET THE SLEEPING CORPSES LIE. Fans of Italian horror cinema might be a little disappointed, not only with the lack of titles, but also with the reviews of films that were actually included. The author is obviously not a fan of Italian horror films and will often tell the reader that "American audiences" are not likely to enjoy them (a rather unfair generalization that soon grows tedious). To put it another way, you're lucky if you come across a good review of a Dario Argento film. That's not to say that this book doesn't have its advantages. The extensive indexes offer readers a "Cast Index," a "Director Index," a "Category Index," an "Alternative Titles" index, and a section called "Horror Connections" that gives fans a list of magazines, books, and websites. There are numerous sidebars that offer thoughtful information on genre personalities like George Romero & David Cronenberg, and fascinating insight into each decade and the relevance of horror films at the time. Probably the most significant aspect of this resource guide is it's comprehensive coverage of Hammer Films. There is so much information on these films that I would go so far as to say that it almost makes up for all the other shortcomings of this book. Author Mike Mayo is obviously a big fan and as a result, fans of the popular British Studios can expect coverage of everything from familiar titles like THE HORROR OF DRACULA to such obscure classics like THE LOST CONTINENT, not to mention interesting sidebars of people like Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Ingrid Pitt. In addition to it's coverage of Hammer Films, the book covers a decent number of classic fright films, from the silent horrors of the 1920s to the Universal Studio Monster films of the 1930s and 1940s. The guide also includes some choice cuts from the 1950s, like Ed Wood's PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. Despite it's shortcomings, Videohound's HORROR SHOW is a decent resource guide that will be most appealing to casual fans of the genre. Horror fanatics should probably wait for a second edition to come along that will smooth out all the rough edges (as it did with the wonderful second edition of Videohound's CULT FLICKS & TRASH PICS). Still... it's hard to dislike any book that gives Frank Henenlotter's BASKET CASE a solid four stars.
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