Books by Troy Howarth

The giallo-an Italian brand of thriller known for its stylish and lurid excesses-got its start in the cinema with the release of Mario Bava's THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH in 1963. Other filmmakers explored the possibilities of such material throughout the 1960s, but it took the release of Dario Argento's impressive debut THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE in 1970 to ensure the giallo a place alongside the Spaghetti Western and the poliziottesco (violent police thrillers) in the public consciousness. All good things must come to an end, however, and the glut of imitations throughout the early 1970s gradually wore down public interest in the genre. Even so, it stubbornly clung to life and mutated throughout the 1970s even as American filmmakers like John Carpenter and Sean S. Cunningham took inspiration from it to create the slasher film. SO DEADLY, SO PERVERSE: 50 YEARS OF ITALIAN GIALLO FILMS VOLUME TWO offers a look at the gradual decline of the giallo from 1974 until 2013. The decline of the Italian film industry in the 1980s hit every genre hard and the giallo is no exception. Despite the best efforts of directors like Argento to keep it alive and vibrant, the giallo simply never managed to rebound after a late period of stylistic and gory excess typified by offerings like Argento's TENEBRAE and Lucio Fulci's THE NEW YORK RIPPER in 1982. Author Troy Howarth explores the genre's decline and picks out some late period entries worthy of more serious praise and consideration. Volume two also offers an overview of the giallo and its place in the Italian film scene by Italian writer and filmmaker Luigi Cozzi, of CONTAMINATION fame. Like volume one, this edition is also lavishly illustrated with colorful still, posters and advertising art.

In the late 1950s, Mario Bava helped to create and define the Italian horror film. His classic directorial works of the 1960s and 1970s, including Black Sunday, Kill, Baby … Kill! and Lisa and the Devil, remain among the most colorful and imaginative in the history of the genre. Bava’s films are rife with unforgettable images—Barbara Steele’s uncanny beauty being brutally violated in Black Sunday, Christopher Lee returning from the grave marked by his bloody demise in The Whip and the Body, the angelic-looking ghost child of Kill, Baby … Kill!, the brutal murder scenes of Blood and Black Lace and Twitch of the Death Nerve—but they are also thematically rich and inter-connected. For many critics, Bava was a gifted stylist but few have bothered to look beneath the surface to uncover the deeper significance of his work. The Haunted World of Mario Bava was first published in 2002. It has now been updated, revised and expanded by author Troy Howarth to give a better overview of Bava’s remarkable legacy as a director and “cinema magician.” This new edition contains new contributions from Bava’s son, director Lamberto Bava, and genre icon Barbara Steele. The book examines all of Bava’s directorial works in detail while also providing a portrait of the man himself—a man for whom publicity and self-promotion was always shied away from, even as he continued to work himself to the point of exhaustion as he improvised and pushed himself to deliver films which would go on to influence such major filmmakers as William Friedkin, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Tim Burton and Joe Dante. Author Troy Howarth “discovered” Bava’s work as a child on late night TV and has worked hard to help bring more serious attention to his films. In addition to holding down a full-time job in the field of social work, he is also a contributor to We Belong Dead magazine and writes reviews for such websites as AV Maniacs and Eccentric Cinema.

In the late 1800s, a scientist working for Thomas Alva Edison invented an easy-to-use motion picture camera. Soon, people all over the world were using similar cameras to shoot “actuality” films, or films of people engaged in everyday activities, as well as excerpts from live plays. Things changed in 1896, however, when a French stage magician named Georges Méliès struck upon the idea of using motion picture cameras to create fantastic and unbelievable images. A series of short films featuring a bevy of incredible monsters followed. Before long, filmmakers all over the world were doing much the same, but it wasn’t until the real-life horrors of World War I that movie producers saw the potential of cinema to truly provide escapist entertainment. D.W. Griffith in the United States made the first feature-length dramas, while Paul Wegener and Robert Weine in war-torn Germany applied the artistic movement known as Expressionism to film. Together, these and other filmmakers established the horror genre as we know it, influencing it for decades to come. TOME OF TERROR is a series of books detailing the history of the horror genre, from the mid-1890s to the present day. Never before has such a series been attempted … or been so comprehensive. This entry, HORROR FILMS OF THE SILENT ERA, covers more than 1,000 films, beginning with the earliest known horror film, Trilby Hypnotic Scene from 1895, and concluding with The Woman in White from 1929. In addition to well-known horror classics from the United States and Great Britain, authors Christopher Workman and Troy Howarth also analyze films from Germany, France, Japan and Mexico, among other nations. The series is lavishly illustrated with original stills, lobby cards, newspaper articles, and poster art.

Beginning with the release of Mario Bava's THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH in 1963, Italian filmmakers developed and perfected their own peculiar brand of mystery-thriller known as the giallo. Named after the yellow (giallo in Italian) covers of the murder mysteries published by Mondadori, the giallo is awash in fetishistic imagery. For many fans, these films-popularized in the works by writer-director Dario Argento, whose name is synonymous with the genre, thanks to such films as THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE and DEEP RED-focus on stylized images of violent death: killers dressed in black stalking glamorous-looking victims through baroque architecture, literally painting the walls red with their blood. This is only one aspect of the giallo, however. With their groovy soundtracks by legendary composers like Ennio Morricone and Stelvio Cipriani and glamorous damsels-in-distress like Edwige Fenech, Rosalba Neri and Asia Argento, these films offer a heady mixture of sex, horror and suspense; at their best, they took excess to a hypnotic level. Troy Howarth, the author of THE HAUNTED WORLD OF MARIO BAVA and the co-author of the up-coming THE TOME OF TERROR series, examines the genre from its inception through its inevitable decline. Covering everything from popular fan favorites by the likes of Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento to lesser-known gems by Cesare Canevari, Massimo Dallamano and Paolo Cavara as well as the worst of the worst by the least inspired of hacks, SO DEADLY, SO PERVERSE provides an in-depth examination of a genre that has too often been marginalized in other studies of the horror film and the thriller. In addition to reviews of every giallo made between 1963 and 2013, this two-part study of the giallo-with volume two (covering 1974 onwards) coming later in the year-is also lavishly illustrated with rare and colorful stills and poster art.

For many horror film fans, the name Lucio Fulci conjures images of gore and depravity. Derided by critics as a hack and an imitator and lionized by others as the “Godfather of Gore,” Fulci remains a polarizing and controversial figure. However, many fans are unaware of the scope and breadth of his filmography. From his early days writing material for popular comics like Totò and Franco and Ciccio to directing films in such genres as the musical and the Spaghetti Western, Lucio Fulci was a filmmaker of great diversity. When he attained international notoriety with the release of his gory epic ZOMBIE, Fulci already had years of experience in the film industry; that film’s success established him as one of Italy’s premier masters of the macabre and he would continue to shock and delight fans until shrinking budgets and failing health began to compromise some of his later work. When he died in 1996, he was on the cusp of a major comeback, but in the years following his death the cult surrounding his legacy has continued to grow. Unfortunately, most studies of Fulci and his work have elected to focus only on a small part of his career. SPLINTERED VISIONS changes all of that by providing an in-depth exploration of Fulci’s filmography, beginning with his work as a screenwriter and extending through all of his films as a director. The popular horror films and thrillers are given ample coverage, but the lesser-known works are finally put into their proper context. Author Howarth provides a detailed portrait of a complex man using newly conducted interviews with actors such as Richard Johnson and Franco Nero, which allows the reader a sense of who the director was and how he worked. The end result is the most comprehensive overview of Fulci, the man and Fulci, the filmmaker that has been published in English—making SPLINTERED VISIONS a cause for celebration among serious Fulci fans. The book is also lavishly illustrated with a number of rare stills, posters and advertising materials.

With Universal's release of Dracula on Valentine's Day 1931, the horror film as we know it was born. The following decade saw first a horror boom and then a horror ban. And while fans of classic horror films are well-versed on the productions of major Hollywood studios, they may not be familiar with the numerous horror films produced elsewhere in the world, from North America to Asia. Ghostly cats avenging their mistresses' murders, clay monstrosities brought to life to defend the oppressed, old dark houses stalked by unseen killers: These are just a few of the terrors that will greet you as you enter TOME OF TERROR: HORROR FILMS OF THE 1930s. TOME OF TERROR is a series of books detailing the history of the horror genre, from the mid-1890s to the modern day. Never before has such a series been attempted … or been so comprehensive. The first entry, HORROR FILMS OF THE 1930s, covers more than 350 films, beginning with Alraune in 1930 and concluding with Die unheimlichen Wünsche in 1939. In addition to well-known horror classics from the United States and Great Britain, authors Christopher Workman and Troy Howarth also review films from Germany, France, Japan, and Mexico, among other nations. The series is lavishly illustrated with original stills, lobby cards and poster art.