Book Review: Horror 101: The A-List of Horror Films and Monster Movies Vol. 1
Review by Tony DeFrancisco
Horror films today aren’t like what they were back in the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, and hell, even ’90s. Boogeymen and monsters inspired a trend of fantastic movies back in their days. Black Christmas inspired Halloween. Halloween inspired Friday the 13th. Friday the 13th inspired many after that. In the ’80s, a new horror film was released every single week into theaters. They were always unique and had brilliantly-crafted deaths and villains.
I forget those days.
But a group of seventy-eight horror fans remember everything. They remember their experiences. They remember the controversy surrounding their favorite horror films. They remember people at school talking about it. Horror 101: The A-List of Horror Films and Monster Movies Vol. 1 is a brilliant collection of 101 essays, written about 110 films within the 320 page book. Do you remember having so much fun remembering the time that you first watched your favorite horror film? These people do.
Horror 101 goes as far as 1999. Aaron Christensen (or better known as Dr. AC) chose 101 films to include, where they threw in nine other films in certain essays (because how can you not talk about Evil Dead 2 while writing an essay about Evil Dead, right?). He chose films from Alien, to Dracula, to Freaks, to Jaws, and even Plan 9 from Outer Space. My lucky ass received a copy of it in the mail from Dr. AC, Fool for Blood himself, and in return, I have decided to write about the exciting read. It brings back memories.
Horror 101 succeeds for three reasons. The first reason is the foreword from the master of gore, Tom Savini. The man knows his horror, more than the seventy-eight writers and Fatally-Yours herself. He knows what you should do and what you shouldn’t do in a horror film. In his foreword, he talks about his memories going to a double feature to watch horror films and the one time that a movie changed his life forever. It’s hard to even disagree with him when he says, “Horror 101 reminds you, as it did me, of the special thrill that horror films and monster movies can provide.” The book sure has reminded me why horror films were so scary in the first place.
The second reason is that instead of Aaron Christensen just writing it by himself, it is seventy-eight people. Not just any people, though. They’re not critics. They’re fans, just like you, me and that hobo on the street. Passionate fans like these don’t come around too often. They probably marked about these occasions in their journal back when the first watched them. Most of the inspiration that comes from me writing reviews like this is people like them. I don’t write reviews for my own pleasure. There is a fine line that separates from being a critic and a fan. I write reviews so I could either recollect on the experiences or remind you guys not to watch shitty films. Those seventy-eight writers do just that.
But the third reason is that nothing like this would have happened without Aaron Christensen himself. Okay, call me a suck-up, but between him and Quentin Tarantino in a match about who knows the most about horror movies, it would be a close and bloody match with Tarantino coming out without an eye and an ear laying on the ground. After all, he must have seen all of these horror films to know whether or not if they’re “classics” or “bullshit.” We would kill for a horror director like Christensen. From what I know about him, he’s the most passionate horror fan since the master of gore.
You’re probably asking me what my favorite essay was, and to tell you the truth, I don’t have one. And to tell you the truth even more, you don’t need to have a favorite essay. You may not even agree with their opinion, but they have enough Oreos in their sac to make you respect it. There were times that I disagreed with them (I still don’t “get” the appeal of Last House on the Left), but never once have I said, “Oh, that opinion is stupid. That guy is a douchebag.” And if you really don’t respect people’s opinions, then why in the fluffy hell are you planning on reading a book full of ‘em?
It’s great to know that the book doesn’t go anywhere past 1999. The new millennium has seen some shitty stuff ever since “new horror” became a hit and poking people with pins and needles were cool. My eyes were opened to the horror genre to the point that Christensen, Savini, and their seventy-eight comrades changed my mind. I used to think that the horror genre was just a bunch of bullshit. It was my least favorite genre. These guys changed my mind and said, “Do you remember a time where you watched The Blair Witch Project each and every day waking up to go to school?” Horror is now my favorite genre.
Thank you Dr. AC.
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