Rating: 
Summary: Hollow Encyclopaedia
Review: OK. So it's got like a billion listings, or some such outlandish number. OK. So John Stanley is touted as (and may be) "the Leonard Maltin of Horror". OK. So it's an inexpensive and broad guide to horror, fantasy, and sci-fi films. So why does it consistently leave me feeling empty. It's literally like consulting a hollow encylclopaedia.
Stanley has surely seen a lot of movies, it seems. He has the basic formula for capsule-review-writing down to a science; witticism, synopsis, criticism, witticism (rinse and repeat). However, there are far too many glaring inconsistencies and factual errors for this to be a truly "useful" guide. Either his fact checker was on an extended vacation, or he just writes these things from memory (or perhaps both). Example: in his listing for Disney's "Beauty and the Beast", Stanley calls it "winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture". In 1991. When it ran against "The Silence of the Lambs" (his review for which makes no mention of the multiple Oscars it won that year, including best picture). Hmmmm...let's do our basic fact checking, shall we? This may sound like nitpicking, but really...the point of books like this is to have a reference work that covers a lot of ground, and is accurate. It's a fun read, and some of his reviews are dead on. However, as a reference work, it's severly lacking.
Verdict, fun but flawed.
Use as a vague overview, but don't expect to win any trivia contests with the information in this tome.
Rating: 
Summary: Preety Darn good book i must say.
Review: Since i love Sci-fi, Horror and fantasy, i personally liked
this book. It's got some good reviews in it, with a positive
additude towards what movies are good or not without that lousey
Leonard Maltin, it's worth a read though if your a fan of
Sci-fi and Horror movies.
Rating: 
Summary: A great resource for SF movie lovers!
Review: This updated and expanded edition is well worth the price. If you love science fiction and fantasy movies, it is a resource you can not be without. I found dozens of movies that were not listed in other movie guides, and the reviews are right on target. The index features and listing format makes it easy to find the movie you are looking for, and the large paperback format makes reading easier than in some of those small mass market paperback guides. Highly recommended. Note: I did not own the previous edition, and only use VHS, so my response is a bit different than the previous reviewer...
Rating: 
Summary: Had potential
Review: Yes, there are a lot of movies listed here. The most helpful thing is the re-titlings. However, I have gone through my copy several times, and I have watched well over 600 horror, scifi, and fantasy films and shows, and I found this book riddled with mistakes. The author misspells names of actors, lists the wrong actors, and in some instances, has problems with genders in movies, i.e. saying a woman was drilled in the head when it was a man, etc. And leaving a review of Transformers the Movie out of his book is unforgivable. Maybe it will be in the reprints.
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