So there you are. Yes, you; you waited and waited and — put down that tie set ! — unless of course you want it knotted around your neck. No self-respecting horror fan would be caught walking-dead in that thing. Nix the cuff-links, tie tac, scarf, funny hat, pen set, and sweater, too, and pay attention. This is your last chance to make that special horrorhead in your life devilishly happy for Christmas with one or more of these you-really-care DVDs and books.
If you've got a stocking to fill, no better DVD will do the trick than 100 Years of Horror, a whopping five disc set chronicling the early history of horror cinema, narrated by Mr. Horror himself, Christopher Lee. Numerous interviews with such luminaries as Roger Corman, Boris Karloff , Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, Claude Rains, and many more, make this is a horror fan's best nightmare come true. Supernatural horror, scream queens, zombies, mad doctors, mutants -- you name it, it's in there, along with home movies, outtakes (my favorite outtakes are from Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein), screen tests, and more than you can shake a rotting reindeer limb at.
Big stocking? Then stuff in Hollywood Legends of Horror Collection. The three discs include Tod Browning's eerie Mark of the Vampire with Bela Lugosi, and weird The Devil-Doll with Lionel Barrymore, along with Peter Lorre's Mad Love, directed by Karl "the mummy" Freund.
Want to make a really BIG impression? Then give The Monster Legacy Collection: Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolf-man. Six discs, with three must-have mini-busts of Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, and the Wolf-man make this an incredible gift for the horrorhead that grew up with Universal Studios classic monsters, and the actors that made them famous.
Did your lovable horrorhead grow up with Hammer Horror? Then let them relive those frightening theater moments delivered by these terrifying films — and not today's concession stand prices — with the Hammer Horror Classics Collection. They will once again Taste the Blood of Dracula and run from The Mummy to give you a great big wet one for your thoughtfulness.
What's that you say? Your horrorhead is into Asian horror? Then grab any one of Tartan Asian Extreme's DVDs like Red Shoes, The Ghost of Mae Nak, Acacia, Whispering Corridors, and The Maid (my favorite: how can you not like Hungry Ghost month?). Unlike Americanized, franchised, would-you-like-fries-with-that, style of horror, Asian horror builds the tension slowly, and tosses in lots of creepy, definitely-not-Christmas spirits, with superb acting, and skillful direction.
Books? Did you say books? For that horrorhead who has everything DVD, there's Amy Newitz' Pretend We're Dead: Capitalist Monster in American Pop Culture. It's a lively and engrossing discussion of serial killers, mad doctors, and the undead and their place in capitalistic society. Horrorheads may not agree with what Ms. Newitz' posits, but they'll find the argument interesting and thought provoking.
In The Undead and Philosophy: Chicken Soup for the Soulless, editors Greene and Mohammad collect thought-provoking essays that I wish I had in my philosophy classes. The diverse essays examine such topics as the philosophy of mind, the metaphysics of death, political and social philosophy, race and gender, epistemology, phenomenology, and existentialism. Whew; that's quite a mind full. There's enough ice-breaking party chit-chat tidbits here to launch 2007 with a bang!
For the youngest horrorhead on your list, Maurice Sendak's first pop-up book, Mommy? is a fun, beautifully crafted homage to those classic monsters mom and dad grew up with. A little boy enters a spooky house and quickly turns the tables on Frankenstein's Monster, the Mummy, the Phantom of the Opera, and other creatures of the night, in clever and humorous pop-up tableaus, all the while yelling "Mommy?"
So there you are; now's the time to get nut-cracking. There's still time to turn your oh-no-no-no gifts to ho-ho-ho, horror happiness!
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