"Any movie that begins with blow-gun murders in midtown Manhattan and Niagara Falls at Christmas can't be all bad" - Mike Mayo

Mike Mayo has updated his horror reference guide so the Reader in 2013 isn't missing out on any recent releases that might otherwise be missing from previous editions for the obvious reason. The book is jammed packed with about every movie you ever thought about, and probably quite a few that you haven't. The contents aren't restricted to North America either with European, Asian, Australian, and even Kiwi movies present.

Each movie is dealt with in concise paragraphs that describe exactly what the plot is, any weakness Mayo wants to highlight, and the lead Acters. Extended entries are present for franchises and remakes, though each movie is still dealt with in quick time rather than being belaboured over. Considering the book represents the genre in its entirety this is probably the only successful approach that can be taken.

You certainly can't complain about the breadth of the coverage Mike Mayo has going down in the book, far from it this is perhaps one of the most inclusive general reference works I've read on the dark genre in quite some time. Kicking off with the 1920s black and whites Mayo writes on every major release from that decade right up to the current year of the book's publication. About the only issue I had with this aspect of the book was that it was alphabetic in nature rather than detailing by year. If you know the movie you are looking for you should be able to find it quickly, however if you want to found out what was being released around the same time as that movie then you are going to have to check the entire book. Minor quibble and not everyone has a need for a chronological listing.

I was also impressed by the depth of coverage, not a single dead leaf in the horror jungle is left uncatalogued. Italian Giallo, American Psycho, Japanese Kaiju, Downunder weirdness are all covered to some degree or other. I couldn't find a single monster that had been left out in this particular tarot pack, so yes most tastes are catered for though some Readers might want additional volumes to get greater coverage of their particular area of interest.

Along with the movie write ups Mayo has included "best of" lists, always worth a look and invariably controversial as horror Geeks can argue the toss on about any aspect of the genre. Also welcome were a huge number of stills scattered through the book, apparently 120 according to the Publishers. If needing a complete book that covers the major releases in the dark genre then The Horror Show Guide pretty much fulfils that requirement.

Naturally I had a few issues with the book, and no they weren't just about Mayo's movie preferences which may or may not seem slightly strange to some Readers. While the coverage is fairly comprehensive that coverage doesn't extend beyond mainstream releases and the odd fan favourite. From the Downunder stable we only see movies that impacted on North American consciousness and thus Readers would be forgiven for thinking the dark genre is moribund in this part of the world. The Brits got it worse with a complete lack of coverage of a lot of their fine movies, never a good sign when a Writer just focuses on the usual suspects and doesn't journey into the wastelands where a lot of the more interesting releases reside. I've run across this approach previously of course, Mike Mayo isn't the only culprit, but it does leave a huge gap in the knowledge of the Reader if they are not immersed already in the multi tiered Horror genre.

I was also somewhat surprised that Mayo hadn't highlighted to a greater degree the movies that impacting the dark genre and sent it in new directions. While realising this isn't the purpose of the book I was still somewhat dubious of the lack of more in depth coverage. It's not difficult there have only been a handful of movies that have staked a claim in this regard. Night of The Living Dead changed the zombie movie it would seem forever and showed limited budgets didn't necessarily lead to poor movies. The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, The Omen, and The Amityville Horror got big budget Hollywood rethinking their commitment to horror flicks. Black Christmas laid down the original lore for slasher movies and heralded in an explosion in the 1980s. The Blair Witch Project put found footage flicks back on the menu, and no it was far from the first movie to adopt this approach. And finally 28 Days Later took the zombie movie in completely new directions. Sure there have been a number of other influential movies; I'm just listing a few to make my point. Any horror resource needs to cover the game changers, the movies that took the genre in completely new directions or had a major impact on the state of the dark nation.

I guess a final point, and I'm getting finicky here, is the lack of cultural awareness Mayo displays. For example the J-Horror fascination with long haired ghosts, it's part of their theatre culture and has been around for 100s of years, it's not a sudden discovery. Downunder the Australian focus on the outback, that would be the place most of us don't actually go, and the whole car culture. And of course no book would be complete without a nod to the Brit ability to make superior ghost stories. Mike Mayo isn't the only North American writer to miss cultural themes, but he does seemingly support the notion that all dark genre movies should be viewed from Seppo red, white, and blue tinted glasses.

The negative criticisms do however in a roundabout fashion help to define what The Horror Show Guide's raison d'être actually is. The book is a resource that documents in short and concise fashion the major or cult movies from the beginnings of horror cinema right up to the year of publication. Viewed from this context Mike Mayo's tome is hugely successful and I have to say it a required resource for anyone exploring the dark genre. I'm more than happy to add this book to my library and will pull it down every so often to check on a horror title. I would recommend this book surprisingly to anyone who loves movies and wants to see what else might be available and to the dedicated Horror researcher who wants a quick reference guide. On the bright side of the blade Mike Mayo avoids the academic approach a lot of North American books have. This one is written for fans of the genre not the ivory tower mob who have redefined "missing the point in a boring fashion" to being an art form of misdirection and outright bullshit. Mike Mayo tells it how it is and doesn't count the angels on the head of a pin, excellent approach!

If after a copy, and why shouldn't you be, then Amazon is your friend ($15.83 USD plus P&H), or you could hit the Publisher's Site. Knock yourself out kids, this one is required reading, there will be a spot quiz end of term.