Horror of the 20th Century

An Illustrated History

by Robert Weinberg

Collectors Press, 256 pp., $60

The price tag isn’t the only spooky thing about this lavishly illustrated history of the horror genre — there’s plenty of rich and rare examples of B-movie one-sheets (The Tingler, The Curse of the Werewolf), garish pulp-magazine covers (Weird Tales, Dime Mystery Magazine), and my own formative mind-warpers, Seventies-era Warren magazines such as Vampirella, Creepy, and Eerie. Weinberg, who’s edited more anthologies than nearly anyone (130 to be exact) knows his stuff. The running body of text that accompanies the eye-grabbing graphics reads like a fanboy’s thesis on all things horrific, from Horace Walpole’s gothics to Buffy and the Blair Witch, and though it’s light on facts, it is a decent overview of the field. But you don’t buy a mammoth (and eldritch, and hoary) tome like this for all those little bitty words. You buy it for the neat-o reproductions of stuff like AIP’s I Was a Teenage Frankenstein movie poster (“Body of a Boy! Mind of a Monster! Soul of an Unearthly Thing!”) and Virgil Finlay’s awesomely creepy Arkham House dust jackets. The perfect coffin-table book for the season of the witch.

This article appears in October 13 • 2000.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US