Reference

Being a long time fan of both horror and splatter films, I was happy to see that someone finally devoted a book to the types of films covered in The Gorehound's Guide. I was also happy to see that it was written by Mr. Stine, whose magazine GICK! was one of my favorite reads, as is his new magazine Trashfiend. Even having already read some of the reviews in this book that were originally featured in his magazine, it was nice to have them all under one cover.

Mr. Stine's writing is both entertaining and informational. (It is easy to spot earlier reviews that were reprinted from his magazine because even though they are still good it is obvious that he has improved much over the years. Some light rewriting would have benefited these entries, especially pertaining to the overused words mentioned by the previous reviewer that used to occasionally clutter Mr. Stine's prose.) The author has an equal love for films both good and bad, which is refreshing because most film reviewers are elitist. Finding someone who can appreciate both Cronenberg's intellectualizing and gutter films like Blood Freak, and not be patronizing to the reader, is rare.

Even though it is complete, as far as I can tell, it is not a perfect book. The main reason I couldn't give it five stars is because the book is a little overpriced. I wouldn't have complained about paying a few extra bucks had the book not been so poorly edited. Typos are commonplace and the layout is occasionally inconsistent. The layout itself could also have been better too. McFarland has produced numerous quality books, some of which I own, so it is strange that they did not take the time to properly prepare this book. Hopefully, it is not because they look down on the subject matter. Time will tell, because Mr. Stine has announced that McFarland has picked up the second volume, which will be devoted to films from the 1980s. Having proclaimed his distaste for most 80s films, I am curious to see Mr. Stine's no holds barred approach used on this subject matter.

This book is still an extremely good read, and is filled with many cool ad illustrations and video box covers that make it fun to flip through as well. The Gorehound's Guide reminds me of the original Psychotronic Encyclopedia that inspired many of the older fans like myself to search out these films years ago, and hopefully it will do the same for some of the younger readers.

THE GOREHOUND'S GUIDE TO THE SPLATTER FILMS OF THE '60S AND '70S is a good book, but not a great one.

To the author's credit, his knowledge seems extensive, and the reviews are enthusiastic and well-written.
On the other hand, the slim book is certainly not the 'exhaustive' guide it claims to be. Although it provides reviews of many obscure titles, I found that it concentrated too much on low-brow, T&A Eurotrash films, while overlooking a few of the era's better splatter flicks. Stine also seems to be somewhat hazy on which films to include and which films not to.
A few trivial complaints:
-The book's opening essay is a good overview, with the exception of the occasional foray into in-over-his-head scholarly contextualizing.
-The author has a propensity to overuse (to the point of distraction) certain words (eg. aforementioned, selfsame, exemplary)
-Stine's view of HALLOWEEN as the birth of the slasher film is an uninformed one, in my view.
-A rather thin, limited-in-scope volume like this book is vastly overpriced ....

I don't want to leave the impression that I disliked this review guide. It's probably worth buying for horror film fans, but readers looking for a treasure trove of quality films will find the pickings rather slim. As I said, the book focuses largely on trashy flicks (which may have been unavoidable given the work's objective).