Creeping Flesh: The Horror Fantasy Book
David Kerekes
Headpress (2003)
Creeping
Flesh is a great read, it is obviously the result of an absolute obsession with
the byways of English genre TV and cinema and offers an enthusiasts guide to
this overlooked field.
We
first get a solid introduction to the nature of BBC genre cinema from horror, science
fiction to way beyond and then we get into some truly impressive research. A Ghost Story for Christmas focuses on the
ghost stories which were run on the BBC between 1971 and 1978 and offers a
comprehensive overview of each program with extensive notes and rare images and
screenshots. This is followed by a series of essays on various unique BBC
horror and genre shows ranging from the outrageous The Year of the Sex Olympics
(1968) to discussions of Hammer Horror classics and an interview with the
British Film Institute. Each of these pieces is impeccably researched and
offers background information, synopsis’ and references not found in other
volumes.
The
third section of Creeping Flesh offers quite in depth studies on unusual films interspersed
with interviews and concluding with brief reviews, an interview with the
editors of Sleazoid express and discussions of other cult cinema zines.
There
is an excellent study of Killer Moon and the Fantasist, House of the Baskervilles
and Sleepwalker and some insight into
the ideas and literature (especially the 1967 book Ritual) which helped
formulate aspects of the cult classic The Wicker Man.
There
is lots more in Creeping Flesh and all the articles and reviews are well
researched, well referenced and have rare and unusual screenshots and images.
While published in 2003, Creeping Flesh has not dated as it covers territory
not found in many other publications and the research in the essays and
articles is still some of the best in the field.