Barry Forshaw on Sixties Shockers: A Critical Filmography of Horror Cinema, 1960 – 1969 by Mark Clark and Bryan Senn

Any aficionado of horror cinema is more than likely to have their bookshelves groaning under the weight of critical tomes (including, I sincerely hope, this writer’s British Gothic Cinema), so something unusual has to be added to the recipe to tempt the weary buyer. With Sixties Shockers: A Critical Filmography of Horror Cinema, 1960–1969, Mark Clark and Bryan Senn have done in just that: this weighty guide attempts (with some success) to include just about ever film in the horror genre issued in that decade. And it isn’t just the familiar titles – films such as Italian Hercules movies that sport horrific elements are also included in lively analyses that take just as long as the films require to do them justice (in other words, shorter for the less deserving films and spreading out for the more successful ones). Judgements are balanced – the much-loved British monster movie Gorgo, for instance, is praised for its exuberance and colourful scenario but ticked off for its sometimes slapdash effects. British and American readers are both catered for – the film that we know in the UK as The Flesh and the Fiends is here listed under the title it was known as in the states, Mania — but cross-referencing makes it possible to find everything in this lively guide. It should be noted that some judgments are more perceptive and forensic than others.

Sixties Shockers: A Critical Filmography of Horror Cinema, 1960 – 1969 by Mark Clark and Bryan Senn is published by McFarland