Peter's Reviews > Danse Macabre

Wow, what a massive book written by the Godfather of horror himself in the early 80s. You hear about all the inspiration he had: Weird Tales, E.C. Comics, Tales from the Crypt, some sci-fi movies. Then Stephen King talks about Lovecraft, The House Next Door, Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, Ghost Story, Ramsey Campbell, Leiber, Matheson, Romero, the best pulp horror ever (Sucking Pit), James Herbert, Twilight Zone, Rod Serling, Ray Bradbury, to name but a few. This is a rollercoaster ride through horror from 1950 to 80 with all the books, movies and series to concentrate on. Besides this discussion Stephen King also refers to his early novels Carrie, Shining, The Stand, Salem's Lot and gives great background information why he integrated certain motifs/scenes, what interests him and what were his influences. Absolutely liked this book and all the horror stuff it mentions. I read and am still reading many of them as I was a youth in the 80s. This is the door of perception to modern horror. Must-read for every fan of horror!