"The Rough Guide to Horror Movies" By Alan Jones

Title: The Rough Guide to Horror Movies
Author: Alan Jones
Published Year: 2005
Pages: 277

The title says it all, this is a very rough guide to horror movies. Just based on the amount of pages that are in the book, you can tell that there is definitely not enough room to go into detail every horror movie ever made. Instead the author focuses on a few key areas of the genre, so the book can be used as a stepping stone to other areas to look at or even as a generic point to start watching films.

Since films are not the start of where horror stories actually come from, the author first introduces us to the horror genre by providing the first chapter on horror literature. Horror stories have been an integral part of human history and continue to be so in the current day and age. The first chapter introduces the reader to some of these classic pieces of literature and how they have helped evolve the horror media industry.

From there the author takes us further along the journey of the present day horror movie and does a brief history of horror over the last 100 years (well at the time the book was published, so its a little over a hundred years for the present time). Having this brief history helps move the pace along to the next portion which introduces us to what the author considers the 50 horror classics. I say what the author states because everyone has their own idea of what they consider the horror classics to be. If you are new to the genre or just want a starting point, the list is fantastic with the descriptions as a starting point in the genre or just to get an idea of how we have gotten to the horror films of today.

Not to leave you hanging there, Jones continues to provide information on the genre by introducing key figures in the industry such as the actors who were made famous and the directors who brought the films to reality. Since the genre is not just an American phenomena, Jones also provides a section on the horror film industry from around the world including films that are done in each country and the background of some of these countries film industries.

The best part of the rough guide is that Jones points the reader in the direction to seek out more information. Not only on the Internet but in hard bound books as well.