History of the horror genre from Beowulf to The Exorcist, covering books, movies, television, comics and music. Interspersed between the chapters are seven short stories from the like of Edgar Allan Poe, M.R. James and Richard Matheson; 'Slime' by Joseph Payne Brennan and 'Novel of the White Powder' by Arthur Machen being the standouts.
Les Daniels has written extensively about American comic books and those are the strongest sections of this book. I would have liked a deeper critical view of the subject but Daniels covers alot of ground in this book and should be credited with including many of the lesser known writers of the genre. While not being comprehensive (The Wicker Man and Micheal Powell's Peeping Tom - two of many omissions), it does attempt to view the subject from a variety of different angles. ( )