The Creature Features Movie Guide by John Stanley

The movies broadcast on these shows were generally classic and cult horror movies of the 1930s to 1950s, the horror and science-fiction films of the 1950s, British horror films of the 1960s, and the Japanese kaiju ' giant monster' movies of the 1950s to 1970s.

Who'd have thought that David Twohy, the talented writer/director of The Arrival and Pitch Black, did an earlier made‑for‑cable film? Or that the 1991 director’s cut of Blade Runner was actually, according to director Ridley Scott, a test work print (an “approved” director’s cut was released in 1992)? That is important information for SF geeks.Chiller Theatre, Fright Night, Creature Double FeatureĬreature Features is a generic title for a genre of horror TV format shows broadcast on local American television stations throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. But even with that weakness, the information in Creature Features is invaluable. Although he comes across as “one of the guys,” no quality of writing will ever convince me that the demonic travesty Batman & Robin is worth 3 stars (out of 5), the same as far superior films such as The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Akira, and Escape from New York.

Stanley writes in a familiar, friendly style. Within moments of opening the book I had a list of movies to hunt down. His friends and family must be afraid for him very afraid.īut Stanley knows his stuff. According to his introduction, he personally watches each of the movies in the book. Stanley knows more about monster movies than one person really should.

Have a great, ghoulish, creepy time picking out your nightmare here! I use this as a companion book to another one called simply 'Video Movie Guide' by Mick Martin which I use mostly to look up movies not included in the Creature Features.Ī pointer to find a lot of these movies, if you can't find a copy online or all you can find is a very low quality rip, you can try visiting or possibly ordering from these two best remaining video stores: Most of the reviews have very funny sarcastic remarks and tons of puns (all intended)! I specially love the way Stanley exposes the directors hiding behind Alan Smithee or some other pseudonyms, or shlocky italian directors with anglicized names! It has the classics you can probably see in every critics work but the most important part of this book for me was discovering all these straight to video, made for TV movies, movies from late 80's through early 90's not on dvd yet or only released in foreign countries and are either other region coded or extremely hard to find. If you are any kind of an horror, sci-fi, fantasy fan, this is the greatest read.

The Creature Features Movie Guide by John Stanley