Bookworm Wednesday - The Look of Horror (1990)

On the dusty, cobwebbed bookshelves of the Madisonville Public Library sat a huge 12.5 x 11.75 coffee table book aptly reading the title in large letters THE LOOK OF HORROR - Scary Moments from Scary Movies by Jonathan Sternfield. The silver cover with random images from random horror movies screamed at me from the shelf and it was inevitable that I was take it home and read every word on every page. Twice. After sampling some of the book in the creaky library aisles, I chose this book and this book ONLY to take home on that day sometime in the summer of 1994. Now, 20 years later, I find myself wanting to look at this book more and more as we share our anniversary together. Yes, that's how much this book means to me. Ha!

This book and I have a long history together. Just look how beautiful it is!

Sold from just the first two pages

At about 145 pages (which may not seem much but remember its length and width) this book is large and in charge. Unfortunately, wrong information is sprinkled through the book but not so much that it makes it unreliable garbage. Is this a book that could be considered a definitive piece of literature for horror movie fiends? No. But it's entertaining and as a kid in the pre-internet era, I fucking LOVED the huge ass movie stills featured in the book. It was hard to not rip some of them out and plaster them on my walls, but I contained myself. 

Spanning the genre in almost every way, this book takes films and has them designated into chapters:

Monsters

Aliens

Murderers, Maniacs, & Mad Doctors

Creatures

Bad Kids/Weird Kids

Ghosts & Demons

A Mixed Brew

MONSTERS  

In this chapter we have simply what its title states - monsters! Some of these monsters are in fact vicious and vile but some are sympathetic creatures who are wrongly dubbed a monster, such as Frankenstein's "monster". The films featured in this chapter are Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Howling, Night of the Living Dead, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, The Phantom of the Opera, Cat People (1942 and 1979), Dracula (covering Lugosi, Hammer's version with star Christopher Lee, and Frank Langella's portrayal in the 1979 version), The Mummy, The Fly (both 1959 and 1986), The Wolf Man, Nosferatu (both 1922 and 1979), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Hunger, and An American Werewolf in London. 

As you can see, these movies vary from the early Universal monsters to '80s monster-fests but each one a classic and deserving of its place in this book. The write-ups are not long, but they pack in a lot of useful information on the films. I also respect that all versions of the films with remakes are covered because this was back when remakes were good - mainly due to the fact that these were still the golden years of film-making right before CGI took (strangle)hold. 

ALIENS

I guess you could call this the sci-fi horror part of the book. The movie kicking off this chapter is Invaders from Mars. Both versions of the film are presented which is a plus because both versions are worth watching and owning. Moving on we go to I Married a Monster from Outer Space, both versions of The Thing, Alien (of course), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 and 1978), War of the Worlds, and The Blob (1958 and 1988). 

MURDERERS, MANIACS, & MAD DOCTORS

Yep, you could take a stab in the dark and say that this is one of my favorite chapters, especially considering once you flip the page seen above, the next thing you see is Vincent Price from the 1953 remake of House of Wax. Remake? Yes, some don't realize this but 20 years prior to this version in 1933 there was a movie called Mystery of the Wax Museum starring one of the earliest scream queens ever Fay Wray, and this was the original House of Wax. I knew of the movie before reading this book, but the information is there in case you're wondering.

Next up, the Halloween movies. Actually it essentially just covers parts 1 & 2, but part 3 is briefly mentioned and a gory still from the movie is present. One of the selling points for me on this book as a kid. Check it out...

Jamie Lee Curtis running from Michael Myers in part 2 and opposite of her is Garn Stephens who has just suffered the wrath of Conal Cochran the evil mask-maker in part 3

Up next, the movie John Carpenter refers to as "the grand daddy of horror films" Psycho, then the chapter continues on to Fatal Attraction, When A Stranger Calls, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (expect a blog on this movie soon!), The Abominable Dr. Phibes, The Spiral Staircase, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Dressed to Kill, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, the Friday the 13th movie series, and the A Nightmare on Elm Street series. I'm telling you, you just can't get enough of the large, colorful images in this book! 

No caption required...

CREATURES

Here you go, folks! Your classic assortment of CREATURE FEATURE movies! I don't know about you, but this just screams Sunday afternoon movies with a sandwich plate lunch and a glass of homemade lemonade. Well, in my house that's what we were eating probably. 

So here comes the list of movies you'll find in this chapter: King Kong, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Them!, Jaws, Godzilla, Willard, The Birds, Wolfen, Tarantula, and the fun William Castle classic starring Vincent Price The Tingler. I find it almost odd that Wolfen wasn't featured in the "monsters" chapter with the other werewolf movies, but hey, it fits in either chapter. I think it's one of the most underrated movies ever, so I'm just glad to see it featured in this book. Hey look, GORE!!! 

1981's 'Wolfen' delivers the gory goods so perfectly you'll lose your head! 

BAD KIDS/WEIRD KIDS

A creepy image from the 1972 childhood horror film 'The Other' 

Starting us off right is the 1984 movie Firestarter. I've teeter-tottered so much with this movie. I loved it when I was a kid, hated it throughout my twenties, but now I have to say that I can watch this movie and find sentimental value in it as well as cinematic value. Definitely not my favorite Stephen King movie or film but its presence in this particular book is welcomed.

You could imagine The Bad Seed makes it in here as well as Village of the Damned, but it's the films that kind of slipped under the radar that I enjoy most out of all these bad kid movies and those are Audrey Rose and The Other. Then you have telepathic maidens such as Carrie and Amy Irving's character in The Fury (this movie has an ending so explosive you'll get a headache just watching it). Also featured is the 1987 vampire classic The Lost Boys. I'm more of a fan of Near Dark, but the movies in this book are mostly ones which were more known, especially at the time this book was written. 

GHOSTS & DEMONS

*rubs hands together*
Ah, yes! We have arrived at my favorite chapter. Ghosts and demons, oh my! Our first venture is the classic 1963 black and white creep-fest The Haunting. A chilling movie that stayed with me through the years mainly because of one scene - the scene where Julie Harris thinks she's holding Claire Bloom's hand but Ms. Bloom is still in her bed on the other side of the room. Julie Harris in a shaky voice says, "Who's hand was I holding?" and THAT creeped me out and that's why that movie is successful. 

The next movie needs no introduction, but I guess I should tell you what it is so that you know what I'm talking about. The Exorcist.The 1973 classic, "go to" possession movie of all-time really. Whenever I checked this book out from the library I had to make a promise that I wouldn't torture my brother with the following pages...

Where's the crucifix and split pea soup?!

Is that my favorite movie in the chapter? Nope! That would be reserved for the one and only series of films The Omen.Before reading this book, I had only seen the first Omen movie, so the image that appears from part two made me anxious to watch it. It was my luck that we had just moved into town and we had cable TV and HBO. My mom caught in the guide that all four Omen movies were going to air in a marathon on HBO and her being the mom that she is, took the time to record them all. Thanks to her I woke up the next morning and had all of the movies on tape. I indulged in them quite often. Part two became a favorite because it's a great film, but also because I had a crush on Jonathan Scott-Taylor who played Damien in the movie. Yeah, I was a weird kid. 

Can't be beat! 

Other movies include such essential classics like Rosemary's Baby, House on Haunted Hill, The Old Dark House, The Entity, The Amityville Horror, and The Shining. Poltergeist is also in this chapter, but I cannot stand that movie. Sorry. The Entity however was a movie I had never seen before and thanks to this book, I rented it and was genuinely disturbed by the ghost rape action. Another movie to expect a blog about in the future. 

A MIXED BREW

Tell it to call you "Billie"

The final chapter in the book is a mixed brew indeed - a mixed brew of monsters, supernatural beings, and a possessed car as well as a possessed doll. We have House of Usher, Child's Play, Christine, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Little Shop of Horrors (1960 and 1986), Island of Lost Souls, Creepshow, and if you're in the mood for a strange Oliver Stone movie about a possessed hand, a movie aptly titled, The Hand starring Michael Caine. I'll say it again... a mixed brew indeed, but not a bad apple in the bunch! 

So that's it! I hope you enjoyed this journey into this beautiful book. As I said earlier, it's not the most definitive book you'll own in your collection, but it's fun, it's entertaining, and you'll have plenty of amazing images to stare at if you're crunched for time and can't watch a movie at your leisure. Every page is splashed with color images and quick, fun write-ups. Fortunately, it's easy to find on amazon, so if you're interested and think that you may need this in your collection... BUY THE DAMN THING!! I did! 

I'll leave you now with the last image in the book which is dubbed THE look of horror - the beautiful Lee Remick from one of my all-time faves, The Omen!