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Tuesday, May 19, 2020

#ATBR2020 Review: Danse Macabre by Stephen King @jessmapreviews #ChronologicallyKing @kamiskorner

Danse Macabre 
by Stephen King


Publisher: Berkley
Publish Date: August 15, 1985 (first published 1981)
Standalone
Genre: Non-fiction

Tour of the whole horror genre in books, film, radio, and TV by the most popluar writer in the genre today.

My Review:


Honestly, this wasn't a King book that I had ever planned to read.  I thought with all the decades that have passed since this was written that things would be outdated and as a person who rarely reads non-fiction, would I *really* be that interested?  As a horror fan, YES... right?


Now, I certainly wasn't wrong with it being outdated but DUH, look at when it was published.  However, I did find myself really fascinated with some of the book.  Starting with talking about The Invasion of the Body Snatchers definitely peaked my interest as I watched the Donald Sutherland version and that final scene will never be forgotten.  And it's also NOT outdated in the fact that a lot of King's views still resonate for those movies of *old*.  I hope I'm making sense.


In any fashion, I did find this to be a bit dense in certain areas but in others it was awesome to see a different perspective. 


★★★

Jessica's Review:


When joining in on this reread for #ChronologicallyKing, I honestly wasn't sure if I would pick this one up again. Aside from true crime, I don't typically go into the nonfiction genre, but it's only fair to continue along. I really didn't remember much from this one when I started it, but I will say I'm glad I did revisit it.

We get King's insights into multiple decades of horror across different mediums and I did enjoy seeing what books and films he enjoys and recommended. It got a little dense at times and there was a lot to go through but it was definitely engaging to see his perspective on things. I can see this being one that a lot of hardcore horror fans would enjoy and the diehard King fans. I think this would definitely benefit from an updated version or a follow up of sorts since it has now been over 30 years since it was originally published.

3 stars

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