Fantastic Cinema Subject Guide

About 2,500 genre films are entered under more than 100 subject headings, ranging from abominable snowmen through dreamkillers, rats, and time travel, to zombies, with a brief essay on each topic: development, highlights, and trends.
Each film entry shows year of release, distribution company, country of origin, director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, cast credits, plot synopsis and critical commentary.

Bryan Senn’s work has appeared in Filmfax, Cult Movies, Shivers, Midnight Marquee Press and Monsters from the Vault. The author of numerous books on the history of cinema, he lives in Montana.
John Johnson is the author of Cheap Tricks and Class Acts (McFarland, 1996). He lives in Keizer, Oregon.

Bryan Senn and John Johnson
Format: softcover (6 x 9 in 2 vols.)
Pages: 698
Bibliographic Info: 139 photos, appendices, index
Copyright Date: 2008 [1992]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3766-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1902-6
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction xiii

VOLUME      1

The Abominable Snowman      1

Aliens      3

Invaders on Earth: The 50s      5

Invaders on Earth: The 60s and 70s      17

Invaders on Earth: The 80s and Beyond      23

Encounters in Outer Space      29

Benevolent Aliens      42

Alligators and Crocodiles      52

Androids (see Robots)

Animal Giants      55

Anthologies      57

Ape Giants (see also Apes and Monkeys)      70

Apes and Monkeys (see also Ape Giants; Planet of the Apes)      77

Atlantis      83

The Atomic Bomb (see Futures on Earth)

Automobiles (see Cars and Vehicular Villains)

Bathory, Elizabeth: The Bloody Countess      85

Bats      88

Bears      89

Big Bugs (see Bug Giants)

Bigfoot      90

Birds      92

Blobs      95

Brains      99

Disembodied Brains      100

Living Heads      101

Brain Suckers      104

Brain Transplants      106

Bug Giants      109

Bug-People      116

Bugs (see also Bug Giants and

Bug-People)      120

Cannibals      124

Cars and Vehicular Villains      133

Cat-People (see also Cats)      135

Cats (see also Cat-People)      138

Cavepeople      141

Comic Book Fantasy Heroes      148

Computers      153

Crabs and Crustaceans      154

Crocodiles (see Alligators and Crocodiles)

Demons and Devils      157

Dinosaurs (see also Japanese

Giant Monsters)      175

Time of the Dinosaur      176

Lost Worlds      179

Dinosaurs on the Loose      185

Dr. Jekyll (see Jekyll, Dr., and Family)

Dogs      188

Dolls      191

Dorian Gray (see Gray, Dorian)

Dracula (see Vampires—Dracula and Family)

Dreamkillers      195

Edgar Allan Poe (see Poe Films)

ESP (see Psychic Ability)

Fish (see also Sea Monsters;

Fish-People)      199

Fish-People (see also Fish; Sea

Monsters)      202

Frankenstein’s Monster      209

Universal Series      210

Hammer Frankensteins      215

Further Frankensteins      218

Freaks      225

Futures on Earth      235

After the Bomb      235

Utopias and Dystopias      239

Gamera (see Japanese Giant Monsters)

Genies      256

Ghosts      260

Ghouls (see Zombie Flesh Eaters)

Giants (see Animal Giants; Ape

Giants; Human Giants)

Gill-men (see Fish-People)

Godzilla (see Japanese Giant Monsters)

Golem (see Statues Come to Life)

Grave Robbers      280

Gray, Dorian      284

Hands      287

VOLUME      2

Heads (see Brains—Living Heads)

Human Giants      291

Hunchbacks (see Freaks)

Hypnotists      296

Insects (see Bug Giants; Bug-People; Bugs)

Invisibility      302

Jack the Ripper      308

Japanese Giant Monsters      312

Godzilla      313

Gamera      316

Other Giant Japanese Monsters      317

Jekyll, Dr., and Family      319

Machines (see also Cars and Vehicular Villains; Computers; Robots)      325

Mad Scientists (see also Brains; Frankenstein’s Monster; Invisibility; Jekyll, Dr., and Family; Shrinkage)      327

Madmen (see also Cannibals; Jack the Ripper; Phantoms; Poe Films; Wax Museums)      348

Early Madmen (From The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to Psycho: 1919–1960)      350

Early Psychos (From Psycho to Halloween: 1960–1978)      361

The Slice’n’ Dice Wave (In the wake of Halloween: 1978– )      381

Magicians      400

Mars      402

Monkeys (see Apes and Monkeys)

The Moon      406

Mummies      412

The Universal Series      413

The Aztec Mummy Series      418

More Mummies      419

Mythology (see also Genies; Sinbad; Sword and Sorcery)      423

Nuclear Holocaust (see Futures on Earth)

Phantoms      428

Planet of the Apes Series      432

Plants      435

Poe Films      442

Early Poe      443

The Corman Cycle      447

Modern Poe      449

Psychic Ability      453

Psychos (see Madmen)

Rats      459

Reincarnation      462

Robots (see also Computers; Machines)      465

Sasquatch (see Bigfoot)

Satan (see Demons and Devils)

Sea Monsters (see also Crabs and

Crustaceans; Fish; Fish-People)      476

Sharks (see Fish)

Shrinkage      483

Sinbad      487

Slasher Movies (see Madmen—The Slice ’n’ Dice Wave)

Snakes      491

Space Travel (see also Aliens—Encounters in Outer Space; Mars; The Moon; Venus)      495

Statues Come to Life      501

Sword and Sorcery (see also Mythology; Sinbad)      503

Telekinesis (see Psychic Ability)

Telepathy (see Psychic Ability)

Time Travel      510

Trees (see Plants)

Two-Headed Creatures      519

Underground Worlds      520

Underwater Monsters (see Sea Monsters)

Utopias (see Futures on Earth)

Vampires      524

Dracula and Family      525

Hammer’s Undead      535

Other Vampires      542

Venus      563

Voodoo (see also Witches,

Warlocks, and Cults)      566

Wax Museums      574

Werewolves      577

Universal’s “Larry Talbot” Series      579

Spain’s “Waldemar Daninsky” Series      581

Other Lycanthropes      583

Witches, Warlocks, and Cults (see also Voodoo)      593

Yeti (see The Abominable

Snowman)

Zombie Flesh Eaters (see also Zombies)      615

Zombies (see also Zombie Flesh Eaters)      622

Appendix A: Blaxploitation      643

Appendix B: 3-D      645

Appendix C: Westerns      647

Title Index      649

(Including authors’ rating, 1 –10, of 1,908 of the films)

“When Bryan Senn writes books on cinema, many monster movie fans know he grabs their attention right away and won’t let go”—Scary Monsters Magazine; “not only is this useful in reference, it’s a browser’s delight…should be a standard addition to reference shelves…highly recommended”—Choice; “presents substantial filmographic information…a useful source”—Booklist; “This much-needed guide arranges 2,500 titles under 81 subject areas.”—Neil Barron, Editor of Fantasy and Horror.