Horror Films: 1930-1949
Derived from The Overlook Film Encyclopedia: Horror by Tom Milne, Kim Newman, Julian Petley, Tim Pulleine, Paul Willemen, edited by Phil Hardy. Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press, 1995, but expanded. Universal was the studio to beat in this period. The authors reject most of Tod Slaugher's films for inclusion except The Face ot the Window, considering the others being more bloody melodrama than horror. They consider this a period of success, ghettoization, and decline, the major exception they see being the eleven films Val Lewton produced for RKO, particularly those directed by Jacques Tourneur. They note a near total lack of interest in the genre out of Europe in this period, but interesting films from Mexico. This book is less inclusive than the other Hardy encyclopedias, with no 1947 films, three 1948 films, and Yotsuya Ghost Story Part 2 its only listing for 1949, as well as some discussed together under Spider Woman Strikes Back and Weird Woman.
avg. score: 39 of 335 (12%)
required scores: 1, 5, 17, 30, 69
