This time I dig into classic turn-of-the-century ghost stories, a seminal novel from H.G. Wells, a book of poems, an influential New England haunted house story and a bleak, post-apocalyptic Pulitzer Prize-winner. Join me as I take another dip into the following four lists: NPR Top 100 Horror Stories Reedsy Discovery Best Horror Books Stephen…
Ben Reads the Horror Classics: Hannibal Lecter and Religious Fervor
In this block, I take a look at a couple of classic stories, an influential play, a modern creepypasta, the world’s introduction to notorious fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter and the funereal gloom of puritanical America. Here we come to another entry in my journey through the following three horror lists: https://www.npr.org/2018/08/16/632779706/click-if-you-dare-100-favorite-horror-stories https://reedsy.com/discovery/blog/best-horror-books http://www.stephenjoneseditor.com/sale1988-horror100best01.htm http://www.stephenjoneseditor.com/book2005-horroranother100best01.htm…
Ben Reads the Horror Classics: An Introduction
Roughly a month ago, I came across the NPR Reader’s Poll list of 100 Best Horror Books and Stories and was surprised at just how few I had actually read. Have I really been neglecting horror literature over the years in favor of Stephen King novel after Stephen King novel? I felt like this was…
Gutter Trash Maestros Presents: Charles Band
The man, the myth, the legend. Known as much if not more so for being a producer, Band has a long directing career as well. Band’s first big success was with his Empire production company where he produced bonafide classics like The Re-Animator and the horror comedy fun of flicks like Ghoulies and Troll which…
Masters of Horror: Vincent Price
The delightfully devious, deliciously devilish Vincent Price is a consummate horror actor, and while he was featured in many non-genre efforts, particularly earlier in his career, like his excellent roles in film noir melodramas and mysteries like Laura, Dragonwyck and Leave Her To Heaven as well as westerns like The Baron of Arizona, he often…
Masters of Horror Presents: Paul Naschy
Paul Naschy is almost certainly Spain’s most well-known horror actor, portraying in many films variations of many of the classic Universal monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein and Wolfman. In particular, he was perhaps most known for his portrayal of Waldemar Daninsky, a tortured lycanthrope who garnered as much pity as he cultivated scares, that he would…
Pulsating Peplums, Manic Mondos and Sexy Subversions: A 1960s Italian Genre Marathon
As a follow-up to my previous marathon of Italian genre films of the ’70s, I thought I’d step back in time and do the same for the swinging ’60s. While the blood and gore might not be as generous in this decade, the Italians still hopped from genre to genre with shameless aplomb, latching onto…
Confuso e nervoso in una stanza buia: A ’70s Italian Genre Marathon
So I got the notion in my head to watch a genre film every year from 1920 to 2021 this month. While I probably won’t post about all of them, I thought I’d at least publish a couple of decades of my watches for shits ‘n’ giggles. To start it all off, I chose that…
And Then There Were None Marathon: Eight Adaptations of Agatha Christie’s Legendary Mystery Novel
**Note: Be aware that this article will be full of spoilers so if you have somehow avoided reading one of the most widely popular mystery novels of all time and avoided seeing at least one of its more than a dozen adaptations, you may want to just skip down to the conclusion to find out…
Director Spotlight: Curtis Harrington
Curtis Harrington was an interesting figure, towing the line between the avant garde and schlock cinema, reminiscent of forbearers like tVal Lewton and Jacques Tourneur who made minor masterpieces within the confines of horror and crime genres. After a stint as a film critic, Harrington began producing esoteric, surrealist short films and working with experimental…