Danse Macabre (66 page)

So we ate leftovers.

Day in, day out, we ate leftovers. And when Tabby brought out the remains of the turkey for the fifth or sixth time (we had eaten turkey soup, turkey surprise, and turkey with noodles; this day it was something simpler, nice, nourishing turkey sandwiches), my son Joe, who was then five, looked at it and screamed: "Do we have to eat this shit
again
?" I didn't know whether to laugh or clout him upside the head. As I recall, I did both. I told you that story because people who have read a lot of my work will realize that they have eaten a few leftovers here. I have used material from my introduction to
Night Shift
, from my introduction to the New American Library's omnibus edition of
Frankenstein, Dracula
, and
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide
, from an article entitled "The Fright Report," originally published in
Oui
magazine, from an article called "The Third Eye" in
The Writer
; much of the material on Ramsey Campbell originally appeared in Stuart Schiff's
Whispers
magagine. Now before you decide to clout me upside the lead or to scream "Do we have to eat this shit again?" let me point out to you what my wife pointed out to my son on the day of the turkey sandwiches: there are hundreds of different recipes for turkey, but they all
taste
like turkey. And coupled with that, she said, it is a shame to waste good things.

This is not to say that my article in
Oui
was so paralyzingly great or that my thoughts on Ramsey Campbell were so deathless that they deserved to be preserved in a book; it is only to say that, while my thoughts and feelings on the genre I've spent most of my life working in may have evolved or shifted somewhat in perspective, they haven't really changed. That change may come, but since there has only been a passage of four years since I originally stated many of my feelings about horror and terror in the
Night Shift
introduction, it would be surprising—even suspect—if I were to suddenly deny everything I had written previous to this book.

In my own defense, I'll add that
Danse Macabre
gave me the space to develop some of these ideas in more detail than I had ever been given before, and for that I must thank Bill Thompson and Everest House. In no case did I simply reheat something I had written before; I tried as hard as I could to develop each idea as fully as possible without beating it into the ground. In some cases, I may have done just that, though, and all I can do in such cases is to beg your indulgence.

And I think that really is the end. Thank you again for coming with me, and rest you well. But, being who I am and what I am, I cannot find it in my heart to wish you pleasant dreams . .

.

APPENDICES

AND

INDEX

APPENDIX I

THE FILMS

Below is a list of roughly one hundred fantasy/horror films tied together by their time and their excellence. All were released during the period 1950-1980, and all of them seem to me to be particularly interesting in one way or another; if I may say so without sounding like an Academy Awards presenter, all of them have contributed something of value to the genre. You will find my own personal favorites marked with an asterisk ( * ). Special thanks are due to Kirby McCauley, who provided invaluable help with the list.

TITLE DIRECTOR YEAR

The Abominable Dr. Phibes
Robert Fuest 1971

*
Alien
Ridley Scott 1979

Asylum
Roy Ward Baker 1972

The Bad Seed
Mervyn LeRoy 1956

The Birds
Alfred Hitchcock 1963

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
Dario Argento 1969

*
Black Sunday
Mario Bava 1961

*
The Brood
David Cronentberg 1979

Burnt Offerings
Dan Curtis 1976

Burn Witch Burn
Sidney Hayers 1962

*
The Cage
Walter Graumann 1961

*
Carrie
Brian De Palma 1976

The Conqueror Worm
Michael Reeves 1968

*
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Jack Arnold 1954

*
The Creeping Unknown
Val Guest 1955

*
Curse of the Demon
Jacques Tourneur 1957

The Day of the Triiffids
Steve Sekely 1963

*
Dawn of the Dead
George A. Romero 1979

The Deadly Beer
Freddie Francis 1967

Deep Red
Dario Argento ?

*
Deliverance
John Boorman 1972

*
dementia-13
Francis Coppola 1963

Diabolique
Henri-Georges Clouzot1955

Doctor Terror's House of Horrors
Freddie Francis 1965

Don't Look Now
Nicholas Roeg 1973

*
Duel
Steven Spielberg 1971

*
Enemy from Space
Val Guest 1957

Eraserhead
David Lynch 1978

*
The Exorcist
William Friedkin 1973

The Exterminating Angel
Luis Bunuel 1963

Eye of the Cat
David Lowell Rich 1969

The Fly
Kurt Neumann 1958

*
Frenzy
Alfred Hitchcock 1972

The Fury
Brian De Palma 1978

Gorgo
Eugene Lourie 1961

*
Halloween
John Carpenter 1978

*
The
Haunting
Robert Wise 1963

The H-Man
Inoshiro Honda 1958

Horrors of the Black Museum
Arthur Crabtree 1959

Hour of the Wolf
Ingmar Bergman 1967

The House that Dripped Blood
Peter Duffell 1970

Hush . . . Hush, Sweet Charlotte
Robert Aldrich 1965

*
I Bury the Living
Albert Band 1958

The Incredible Shrinking Man
Jack Arnold 1957

*
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Don Siegel 1956

Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Philip Kaufman 1978

I Saw What You Did
William Castle 1965

*
It Came from Outer Space
Jack Arnold 1953

It! The Terror from Beyond Space
Edward L. Cahn 1958

*
Jaws
Steven Spielberg 1975

The Killer Shrews
Ken Curtis 1959

Last Summer
Frank Perry 1969

*
Let's Scare Jessica to Death
John Hancock 1971

Macabre
William Castle 1958

*
Martin
George A. Romero 1977

The Masque of the Red Death
Roger Corman 1964

Night Must Fall
Karel Reisz 1964

*
The Night of the Hunter
Charles Laughton 1955

*
Night of the Living Dead
George A. Romero 1968

Not of This Earth
Roger Corman 1956

No Way to Treat a Lady
Jack Smight 1968

Panic in the Year Zero
Ray Milland 1962

*
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Peter Weir 1978

The Pit and the Pendulum
Roger Corman 1961

*
Psycho
Alfred Hitchcock 1960

*
Rabid
David Cronenberg 1976

Race with the Devil
Jack Starrett 1975

*
Repulsion
Roman Polanski 1965

*
Rituals
? 1978

*
Rosemary's Baby
Roman Polanski 1968

Salem's Lot
Tobe Hooper 1979

Seance on a Wet Afternoon
Bryan Forties 1964

Seizure
Oliver Stone 1975

*
The Seventh Seal
Ingmar Bergman 1956

*
Sisters
Brian De Palma 1973

*
The Shining
Stanley Kubrick 1980

The Shout
Jerzy Skolimowski 1979

Someone's Watching Me
John Carpenter 1978

The Stepford Wives
Bryan Forties 1975

Strait-Jacket
William Castle 1964

Suddenly Last Summer
Joseph L. Mankiewicz 1960

*
Suspiria
Dario Argento 1977

*
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Tobe Hooper 1974

*
Them
! Gordon Douglas 1954

They Came from Within
David Cronenberg 1975

*
The Thing
Christian Nyby 1951

The Tomb of Ligeia
Roger Corman 1965

Trilogy of Terror
Dan Curtis 1975

Village of the Damned
Wolf Rilla 1960

*
Wait Until Dark
Terence Young 1967

*
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Robert Aldrich 1961

When Michael Calls
Philip Leacock 1971

The Wicker Man
Robin Hardy 1973

Willard
Daniel Mann 1971

*
X-the Man with the X-Ray Eyes
Roger Corman 1963

X the Unknown
Leslie Norman 1956

APPENDIX 2

THE BOOKS

Below is a list of roughly one hundred books—novels and collections—which span the period we have been discussing. They are listed alphabetically according to author. As with my list of films, you may not find all of these to your taste, but all seem—to me, at least—important to the genre we have been discussing. Thanks again to Kirby McCauley, who helped with the list, and a special tip of the hat to "Fast Eddie" Melder, who owns a pub in North Lovell and who put up with our wild talk until well past closing time.

Once again, I've marked with an asterisk ( * ) books which I felt were particularly important. Richard Adams.
The Plague Dogs; Watership Down
*

Robert Aickman.
Cold Hand in Mine; Painted Devils

Marcel Ayme.
The Walker through Walls

Beryl Bainbridge.
Harriet Said

J. G. Ballard.
Concrete Island*; High Rise

Charles Beaumont.
Hunger*; The Magic Man

Robert Bloch.
Pleasant Dreams*; Psycho*

Ray Bradbury.
Dandelion Wine; Something Wicked This Way Comes*; The October Country
Joseph Payne Brennan.
The Shapes of Midnight
*

Frederic Brown.
Nightmares and Geezenstacks
*

Edward Bryant.
Among the Dead

Janet Caird.
The Loch

Ramsey Campbell.
Demons By Daylight; The Doll Who Ate His Mother*; The Parasite
*

Suzy McKee Charnas.
The Vampire Tapestry

Julio Cortazar.
The End of the Game and Other Stories

Harry Crews.
A Feast of Snakes

Roald Dahl.
Kiss Kiss*; Someone Like You
*

Les Daniels.
The Black Castle

Stephen R. Donaldson.
The Thomas Covenant Trilogy (3 vols.)
*

Daphne Du Maurier.
Don't Look Now

Harlan Ellison
. Deathbird Stories*; Strange Wine
*

John Farris
. All Heads Turn When the Hunt Goes By

Charles G. Finney.
The Ghosts of Manacle

Jack Finney.
The Body Snatchers*; I Love Galesburg in the Springtime; The Third Level*;
Time and Again
*

William Golding.
Lord of the Flies
*

Edward Gorey.
Amphigorey; Amphigorey Too

Charles L. Grant.
The Hour of the Oxrun Dead; The Sound of Midnight
*

Davis Grubb.
Twelve Tales of Horror
*

William H. Hallahan.
The Keeper of the Children; The Search for Joseph Tully
James Herbert.
The Fog; The Spear*; The Survivor

William Hjortsberg.
Falling Angel
*

Shirley Jackson.
The Haunting of Hill House*; The Lottery and Others*; The Sundial
Gerald Kersh.
Men Without Bones
*

Russell Kirk.
The Princess of All Lands

Nigel Kneale.
Tomato Caine

William Kotzwinkle.
Dr. Rat
*

Jerry Kozinski.
The Painted Bird
*

Fritz Leiber.
Our Lady of Darkness
*

Ursula LeGuin.
The Lathe of Heaven*; Orsinian Tales

Ira Levin.
Rosemary's Baby*; The Stepford Wives

John D. MacDonald.
The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything

Bernard Malamud.
The Magic Barrel*; The Natural

Robert Marasco.
Burnt Offerings
*

Gabriel Maria Marquez.
One Hundred Years of Solitude

Richard Matheson.
Hell House; I Am Legend*; Shock II; The Shrinking Man*; A Stir of Echoes
Michael McDowell.
The Amulet*; Cold Moon Over Babylon
*

Ian McEwen.
The Cement Garden

John Metcalf.
The Feasting Dead

Iris Murdoch.
The Unicorn

Joyce Carol Oates.
Nightside
*

Flannery O'Connor.
A Good Man Is Hard to Find*

Mervyn Peake.
The Gormenghast Trilogy (3 volumes)

Thomas Pynchon.
V
.*

Edogawa Rampo.
Tales of Mystery and Imagination

Jean Ray.
Ghouls in My Grave

Anne Rice.
Interview with the Vampire