Les Daniels (1943–2011)

I bought this book at a thrift store and primarily for its cover art. To me, the cover was reminiscent of the Hammer horror movies of the 60's and 70's. I was not disappointed, the text definitely had that feel, cheesy, gory, and an easy read. It was gruesome and had some interesting bits here and there. The ending, however, was a little bit of a letdown though I guess the vampire was not really set up as the main villain of the piece either. The story seems to exist to juxtapose the real historical evils of the Inquisition against that of the supernatural represented by the vampire and the witch's spells which is an okay idea.
I did enjoy reading this book mostly for its horror and morbidity than for anything else although I liked the setting, its characters are kind of flat and prone to sudden histrionics (much like a Hammer film). I would have rather had the character set up as a potential hero to do something more than just waiting around though. He is introduced as a fly in the ointment for the main villain but this amounts to nothing, unfortunately. In that arena, I think the novel missed out on some good action sequences and some highly tense moments.
Would I recommend this book? Yeah, sure, if you can pick it up for a few bucks, go ahead.… (more)

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.… (more)