A reader, Chad (Chadillac) writes:
“I own your three Horror Movies of the decade books and had a
question regarding the book covers. I know you have a great respect for The Blair Witch Project so it makes
sense that it graces the cover of the 1990's book.
I was wondering if you could
explain why It's Alive and The Lost Boys were chosen for the
1970's and 1980's? Is the cover meant to symbolize the most iconic horror movie
of the decade? How much say do you have over the selection?”
That’s a terrific question, Chadillac. Thank you for asking it and thank you for
purchasing my big horror movie decade books too. I know they don’t come cheap!
I love writing those books, and McFarland is a
great publisher. I’ve been in business
writing books for McFarland since I signed my first contract in 1994, so it’s a happy
and long-standing relationship. I consider the publisher family.
That fact established, I don’t have cover image approval in terms of these books. That’s not a unique arrangement to McFarland,
by the way. It’s true of most
writer/publisher relationships. It's just how the business tends to work.
In terms of these three books, I select photos from
my personal collection/archive, and then send them to McFarland with the final
manuscript, including captions. However,
McFarland chooses the cover images. I
was very happy that they went with my suggestion for Horror Films of the 1990s
– The
Blair Witch Project (1999).
Regarding Horror Films of the 1970s,
I don’t think I even offered a
recommendation, so far as a cover image was concerned. But I was gratified with the selection of Larry
Cohen’s It’s Alive because I felt that this particular film encompassed many
critical ideas of the decade’s horror films, from reproductive/women’s rights (Demon
Seed, The Stepford Wives) to pollution and the environment (Empire
of the Ants, Prophecy) to evil children (The Exorcist). It seemed like a perfect choice to me.
I did offer an image that I would have liked on
the cover of the book when I wrote Horror Films of the 1980s. It’s a
shot of Michael Myers from Halloween IV: The Return of Michael Myers.
In this image, he’s carrying a huge butcher
knife, and behind him, there is an infinite regression of reflections in a
mirror. I love this image, because I feel
it embodies, in some sense, the idea of the slasher format’s prominence in the
Reagan Decade.
Like the image of Michael
with the knife, there was one slasher film after the other after the other,
going on for eternity, it felt like.
Yet honestly, I very much like The
Lost Boys image on the cover of Horror Films of the 1980s, because
it also captures the kind of “punk” look or aesthetic of the decade.
Today, I enjoy and appreciate all three covers
because they each consist of a single, uncluttered image (a monster baby, a vampire, or a
human face) enshrouded or surrounded by a field of darkness/blackness.
This look gives the books a uniformity that I
appreciate since I view the three “Horror of” tomes as part of a consistent and
continuing series. So in this case, perhaps I should thank McFarland for taking the longer view of the series as a whole, instead of following my specific advice about one chapter...
Great
question!
Don’t forget to ask me more questions at Muirbusiness@yahoo.com
Good question. Fine films from which the cover images are from. You're lucky John, the publisher's favorite film could have been 'Track of the Moonbeast' and put THAT on the cover. Nothing says horror like Chase Cordell in a rubber lizard suit.
ReplyDeleteLove these books! They've supplanted my worn-out copy of Phil Hardy's 'Overlook Encyclopedia of Horror' as my horror flick "go-to" guides. Your introductions alone are some of the best, most insightful writing I've seen on the overall history, subtext and symbolism of each given decade. Absolutely invaluable.
ReplyDeleteWill there eventually be a 'Horror Films of the 2000s'? Or possibly (please?) a 'Horror Films of the 1960s'?