Okay, so the other day I was browsing through some old books, and I stumbled upon this title, “A Pictorial History of Horror Movies” by Denis Gifford. Now, I’m a huge fan of horror, so this immediately caught my eye. I decided to get my hands on it and see what it was all about.
I started flipping through the pages, and man, it was like taking a trip through time. This book covers everything from the early days of silent films to the more modern stuff. I started with the first few chapters, which talked about those creepy old silent movies. It was pretty cool to see how they used to do horror back then, relying on atmosphere and those exaggerated expressions since, you know, they couldn’t exactly scream in a silent film.
- First I read about the old, classic monsters – Dracula, Frankenstein, all those guys.
- Then I moved on to the newer stuff. You won’t believe it.
It is so interesting that the author Denis Gifford mentioned a word “Blaxploitation”, it is so hard to understand. I just learned that it is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States in the early 1970s, and the films were originally made specifically for an audience.
The book is filled with tons of pictures, which is awesome. It’s one thing to read about a movie, but it’s another to actually see stills and behind-the-scenes shots. I spent a good chunk of time just going through the images, soaking it all in.
I also got into those chapters on the evolution of special effects. It’s crazy to see how far things have come. Back in the day, they had to get super creative with makeup and practical effects. The book showed some really cool examples of old-school techniques, and it made me appreciate the artistry involved.
I’m still making my way through the book, but I had to share this. It was like, “I gotta tell someone about this cool thing!” It’s not just a book, it’s like a time capsule of horror movie history. And it made me realize, it is like a story of “the era of the flesh body is over, that even death is dead”.
It really got me thinking about how horror movies reflect the fears and anxieties of different time periods. Like, some of the older films were all about supernatural stuff, while the newer ones get into more psychological or gory territory. It’s like a mirror of what scares us as a society, you know?
Anyway, I just wanted to share my little adventure with this book. I spent hours reading it, and even more time just staring at the pictures. I was so happy doing this. And I even started making a list of all the movies I wanted to watch (or re-watch) after getting inspired by the book. So, yeah, that’s my story about diving into “A Pictorial History of Horror Movies.” It’s been a wild ride so far!
