Thearchetypes of horror are primeval. In The Art of Horror: An Illustrated History(published by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books), editor Stephen Jones drawsa line from the cat-headed Egyptian goddess Bast to Val Lewton’s classic B filmCat People (1942). Lavishly illustrated, The Art of Horror is a compendium ofimages from ancient through postmodern, accompanied by texts that serve as ahistory of human fear as manifested in literature and the visual arts. Neil Gaimanpenned the forward and authorities in various fields contributed topicalchapters. Biographer S.T. Joshi wrote the essay on H.P. Lovecraft; Bram Stoker-winnerLisa Morton wrote on Halloween.
Muchof The Art of Horror is devoted to film, with many full color reproductions ofmovie posters and many words describing depictions in cinema of dark fantasy,the supernatural and the supernormal. A motherlode of fascinating information,The Art of Horror includes much that has been seldom seen or heard of—includingan Art Nouveau poster for a 1917 Russian horror film and the revelation that apair of Japanese King Kong movies were made during the 1930s—both of them lostin the conflagration of World War II. Some of the movie posters are superbexamples of commercial design, including a French version of Dracula’s Daughter(1936) and the original graphic for F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922).
