the dustjacket:
"The Ghouls: edited by Peter Haining, with an introduction by Vincent Price and an afterword by Christopher Lee"
"Will any of us ever forget the first time we saw Phantom of the Opera with Lon Chaney Or The Beast with Five Fingers with Peter Lorre Or Die, Monster, Die with Boris Karloff Whether we saw them as firstrun films at the local theater or are only now becoming addicted to 'Chiller Theater' on television, the ghoulwatchers among us are in for a rare treat.
The Ghouls is a horror film buff's dream, Peter Haining has collected the stories on which eighteen of the very best horror films were based.
. . "
" In his introductions to each story, Mr, Haining provides a brief look at the story itself and the films made from it, including some fascinating bits of information about the making of the motion picture.
"
Stories included:
The Devil in a Convent
The Lunatics
Puritan Passions
Phantom of the Opera
The Magician
Freaks
Most Dangerous Game
Dracula's Daughter
All that Money Can Buy
The Body Snatcher
The Beast with Five Fingers
Beast from,Fathoms
The Fly
Black Sunday
Incident at Owl Creek
Die, Monster, Die!
The Skull
The Oblong Box I picked this off my shelf, it having been there four decades, in a "may as well.
. . " mood, expecting some clichéd tales about vampires and werewolves look at the cover, Boy, was I pleasantly surprised! These are actually the short stories that became the scripts for some of the horror genre's better movies.
Among the tales are "The Fog" by Ray Bradbury, which became "The Beast from,Fathoms' "The Fly" which became, well, you know "The Phantom of the Opera" "Spurs," which became "Freaks" and "The Hounds of Zaroff," a.
k. a. , "The Most Dangerous Game. " There's more. My favorite was "The Devil in a Convent, " Although one could mistake it for themovie of the same name, it is actually the"The Devil in a Nunnery," a short story.
The nature of the Devil's evil is what makes the story fascinating, This book is quite the treat, Some great stories here . . read for Halloween!
I love the cover edition I defaulted to BUT I also love this cover with the creature from Curse of the Demon aka Night of the Demon directed by sitelinkJacques Tourneur.
Ein Teil der hier versammelten "Kurzgeschichten" sind tatsächlich krude Zusammenfassungen von Romanen.
Dann doch lieber das Original, . .
WARNING: DONT READ THIS BOOK LATE AT NIGHT OR IN AN EMPTY HOUSE,
That is the message written on the backcover of thismass paperback which focuses upon the tales of terror that became some of the most famous horror movies of the cinema.
FREAKS is here. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is here, THE BODY SNATCHER is here, Drawn by the pictures of Lon Chaney and Peter Lorre, I stayed for the classic reads, along with some nice stills from each of the films.
Short stories have been responsible for many of the films that have scared us, although I certainly didnt know this fact until I started reading.
The finished celluloid products didnt necessarily follow the stories wordforword, but the intent certainly came through, Peter Haining used the movies as his starting point and then compiled the stories, some of which had been outofprint up until his publication.
Each tale is connected to the actual movie and the movies release date along with a short reference to cinematic production.
It all begins with THE DEVIL IN A CONVENT, filmed by Georges Méliès inand therefore one of the very first celluloid horror films.
Some of the stories are far scarier than the films and vice versa, For example, Lon Chaneys PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is scary if only for his realistic makeup, something that no other subsequent remake has managed to achieve.
On the other hand, Lovecrafts THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE had me rereading under the covers as though that would stop evil from entering the house while Ray Bradburys THE FOGHORN became the movie called, THE BEAST FROM,FATHOMS, and both are strong in print and on the screen.
Vincent Price wrote the introduction for the book and Christopher Lee wrote the afterword, There is also a dedication to Boris Karloff, the greatest ghoul of all, Overall, a really nice combination of the power of print and its influence on the power of cinema.
Book Season Autumn terror of the mind
This review is for "The Fly" only.
I was familiar with the old movie version and was excited to read the story to see how it differs.
It is a great little story, This was assigned reading for my college English class otherwise I'm not sure if I would have known this existed.
This collection of short stories that inspired films was published in, I had read some of these before, but I just think it was a great collection of creepy tales.
It also introduced me to some new writings by authors like Ray Bradbury, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and W.
Somerset Maugham. I knew these authors, but I had never read the stories that were in this collection, Other than that, you get some classics, It's just a cool collection from, Been picking on this one onandoff since I got it in December, A collection of oftanthologized tales that are retitled after their film adaptations, Most of them were rereads, and most aren't to my taste, The forward by Vincent Price and the afterward by Christopher Lee are great, Peter Alexander Haining April,November,was a British journalist, author and anthologist who lived and worked in Suffolk.
Born in Enfield, Middlesex, he began his career as a reporter in Essex and then moved to London where he worked on a trade magazine before joining the publishing
house of New English Library.
Haining achieved the position of Editorial Director before becoming a full time writer in the early Seventies.
He edited a large number of anthologies, predominantly of horror and fantasy short stories, wrote non fiction books on a variety of topics from the Channel Tunnel to Sweeney Todd and also used the pen names Ric Alexander and Richard Peyton on a number of crime story anthologies.
In the Seventies he wr Peter Alexander Haining April,November,was a British journalist, author and anthologist who lived and worked in Suffolk.
Born in Enfield, Middlesex, he began his career as a reporter in Essex and then moved to London where he worked on a trade magazine before joining the publishing house of New English Library.
Haining achieved the position of Editorial Director before becoming a full time writer in the early Seventies.
He edited a large number of anthologies, predominantly of horror and fantasy short stories, wrote non fiction books on a variety of topics from the Channel Tunnel to Sweeney Todd and also used the pen names "Ric Alexander" and "Richard Peyton" on a number of crime story anthologies.
In the Seventies he wrote three novels, including The Hero, which was optioned for filming, In two controversial books, Haining argued that Sweeney Todd was a real historical figure who committed his crimes around, was tried in December, and was hanged in January.
However, other researchers who have tried to verify his citations find nothing in these sources to back Haining's claims.
A check of the website Old Bailey at for "Associated Records" for an alleged trial in Decemberand hanging of Sweeney Todd for Januaryshow no reference in fact the only murder trial for this period is that of a Governor/Lt Col.
Joseph Wall who was hangedJanuaryfor killing a Benjamin ArmstrongJulyin "Goree" Africa and the discharge of a Humphrey White in January.
Strong reservations have also been expressed regarding the reliability of another of Haining's influential non fiction works, The Legend and Bizarre Crimes of Spring Heeled Jack.
He wrote several reference books on Doctor Who, including theth anniversary special Doctor Who: A Celebration Two Decades Through Time and Space, and also wrote the definitive study of Sherlock Holmes on the screen, The Television Sherlock Holmesand several other television tie ins featuring famous literary characters, including Maigret, Poirot and James Bond.
Peter Haining's most recent project was a series of World War Two stories based on extensive research and personal interviews: The Jail That Went To Sea, The Mystery of Rommel's Gold, Where The Eagle Landed, The Chianti Raidersand The Banzai Hunters.
He won the British Fantasy Awards Karl Edward Wagner Award in, sitelink.