Top 10 Favorite Horror Novels

Anyone that knows me knows that I love horror and I love reading horror novels as well.  A lot of my favorite novelist work in the horror genre so it was easy putting together a list of some of my favorite novelist but picking just my favorite novels was a little trickier so if nothing more, I hope you enjoy this list and it makes you go out and seek some of these novels out to read yourself.  Enjoy this, what was one of my favorite “Top 10” list to put together and don’t forget to post your comments and put together your own list:

      1.       Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

      2.       Misery by Stephen King

      3.       The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker

      4.       The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

      5.       The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

      6.       World War Z by Max Brooks

      7.       The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

      8.       The Meg by Steve Alten

      9.       Ringu by Koji Suzuki

     10.   The Books of Blood (all volumes) by Clive Barker

Book Review: WORLD WAR Z: THE ART OF THE FILM

I love art books!  In terms of the film related kind they are in two camps – a) production design and the art of the film elaborated upon for the production personnel and b) a film with lots of production stills and art photos but more importantly a showcase for the film’s screenplay.  The book World War Z: The Art of the Film is more in the latter category.  The book features the screenplay by Matthew Michael Carnahan and Drew Goddard & Damon Lindelof (Based on the Novel by Max Brooks). 

This style of art book is really for the person who likes to read screenplays (such as myself) and just happens to have the bonus of containing a plethora of production stills and art drawings and photos.  The only context you have for the photos and drawings is the screenplay itself so if you don’t read the screenplay (or haven’t seen the film) then most of the art in the book will be useless to you.

I enjoy these types of books as it allows me to see the film from another perspective (especially a film that I love and a book I’ve also read).  This book is also very good for people who don’t normally read screenplays.  This format of writing is very different from the novel or prose writing and the production stills and art go a long way in helping the novice visualize the story.  I also enjoy these types of books as they allow readers to get a glimpse at an unedited version of the story before changes are made.  In this version of the story there are several character motivation differences between Gerry and his wife Karen (played by Brad Pitt and Mireille Enos, respectfully) at the beginning depicting Karen as a much more confident character.  These are the things that make reading this book more enjoyable and add to experience of the film.

For production personnel very little will be provided from this book as there are no detailed explanations of the production design, art, or visual effects for the film.  This book is simply for entertainment value and sometimes that’s enough.