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Rating: 
Summary: The making of convention and cliche
Review: This book maps a history of horror through literature, theatre, and movies. From the obscure to the mainstream, the author shows the depth of his research. He refers to such work as "horrid" literature. After reading, I don't think he intends to disregard the tradition, but I think he is trying to maintain distance.The text follows a linear train of thought as it goes from the Graveyard Poets to more modern movies. As it progresses, the author continues to link how a particular book or film borrowed an element or two from a previous work. From this, all horror sounds formulaic and was stolen from some place else. This is misleading. Most works borrow from others. The thrill comes in mastering the elements or giving them a twist. I was disappointed that more was not said of H.P. Lovecraft, but that's just my wish. After reading this book, I feel that the same came be done for most genres. Every genre has particular conventions and cliches that are used to get a specific response from the reader. Crypts create a sense of terror. A quest means growth or coming of age. A sandy beach at sunset means romance is brewing. This is what makes a genre a genre. One of the benefits of the book is the bibliography. Any fan of horror, gothic or slasher, will learn of more books to read. I would not recommend the book for casual reading. I would recommend it if you are a horror enthusiast looking for new authors.
Rating:
Summary: The making of convention and cliche
Review: This book maps a history of horror through literature, theatre, and movies. From the obscure to the mainstream, the author shows the depth of his research. He refers to such work as "horrid" literature. After reading, I don't think he intends to disregard the tradition, but I think he is trying to maintain distance. The text follows a linear train of thought as it goes from the Graveyard Poets to more modern movies. As it progresses, the author continues to link how a particular book or film borrowed an element or two from a previous work. From this, all horror sounds formulaic and was stolen from some place else. This is misleading. Most works borrow from others. The thrill comes in mastering the elements or giving them a twist. I was disappointed that more was not said of H.P. Lovecraft, but that's just my wish. After reading this book, I feel that the same came be done for most genres. Every genre has particular conventions and cliches that are used to get a specific response from the reader. Crypts create a sense of terror. A quest means growth or coming of age. A sandy beach at sunset means romance is brewing. This is what makes a genre a genre. One of the benefits of the book is the bibliography. Any fan of horror, gothic or slasher, will learn of more books to read. I would not recommend the book for casual reading. I would recommend it if you are a horror enthusiast looking for new authors.
Rating: 
Summary: A Condescending view of the genre
Review: This book seems as if it were written to impress a tenure committee. The author clearly doesn't like horror literature, and his constant jibes at the works he discusses, though occasionally amusing, make one wonder why he has spent so much time on the subject. As you might expect from a critic who doesn't "get" the genre, his readings are shallow. M. R. James, for example, is portrayed as merely a skillful purveyor of gore. Worse, Kendrick reads all the works as having the same meaning. In his view, an attachment to such literature is puerile. I did learn a few things from this book--for example, the history of horror in the theater was mostly new to me, and probably will be to many genre addicts. On the whole, though, the author simply knows less about his subject than most of his readers will.
Rating: 
Summary: A triumph of modern criticism
Review: _The Thrill of Fear_ is the rarest of books -- a scholarly study that can be read and enjoyed by the layman. Covering 250 years of literature and art is an awesome task, but Kendrick attacks it with aplomb and pulls it off just as neatly as you please. This most entertaining book is highly reccommended to anyone with an interest in the horrid and the macabre -- from Gothic novels to EC comics to the gore-filled mayhem that passes for horror movies these days; it's all here!
Rating:
Summary: A triumph of modern criticism
Review: _The Thrill of Fear_ is the rarest of books -- a scholarly study that can be read and enjoyed by the layman. Covering 250 years of literature and art is an awesome task, but Kendrick attacks it with aplomb and pulls it off just as neatly as you please. This most entertaining book is highly reccommended to anyone with an interest in the horrid and the macabre -- from Gothic novels to EC comics to the gore-filled mayhem that passes for horror movies these days; it's all here!
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