Horror lists for Halloween

The people behind "The Book of Lists" series have decided to go grim and gory with the new "The Book of Lists: Horror." With contributions from the living -- and dead -- they've packed more than 400 pages with lists both scary and amusing, like "Nancy Holder's Thirteen Movies She Wishes She'd Never Seen Because They're Too Scary (Yet Continues to Watch Repeatedly. What the Hell is Wrong With Her?)"

Most lists are more than just simple rosters -- they're filled in with details, summaries and recollections, and the editors have provided mini-bios of the many contributors (including Stephen King and Eli Roth). Not surprisingly, movies are the book's star, and the classy ("The Exorcist") rub shoulders with the cheesy ("Re-Animator") in lists like "Stephen Volk's Ten Movie Fates Worse Than Death," "F.X. Feeny's Ten Essential 'Children of Horror' Films," "Richard Hartland Smith's Ten Horror Movies That Suggest Life is Unlivable" and "C. Courtney Joyner's Top Ten Horror Movie Surgical Blunders."

But books get a few pages too. In "Four Horror Writers on the Film Adaptations of Their Work," Colin Wilson says of "Lifeforce" (adapted from his book "The Space Vampires"):

John Fowles once told me that the film of "The Magus" was the worst movie ever made. After seeing "Lifeforce, I sent him a postcard telling him that I had gone one better.

The list of "The 56 Bestselling Horror Books Since 1900" includes the well-known ("It," "The Tommyknockers," "Needful Things" and many others by Stephen King) and the forgotten (1946's "The Snake Pit" by Mary Jane Ward.)  There are "Twenty Great Openings in Horror Fiction," including this by Anne Rice: "'I see,' said the vampire thoughtfully, and slowly he walked across the room to the window," from her "Interview with the Vampire." Books by H.P. Lovecraft, Bram Stoker and Peter Straub make "Stephen King's Ten Favorite Horror Novels or Short Stories." According to the bio, King has called Bentley Little "the horror poet laureate," so his recommendations -- in the list "Bentley Little's Ten Horror One-hit Wonders That Everyone Should Read" -- carry extra weight. Other fun lists include "Poppy Z. Brite's Top Ten 'Dine 'n' Die' Stories in Horror Fiction," "Michael Marshall Smith's Ten Best Horror Books That You Won't Find on the Horror Shelves," "Tim Lebbon's Top Ten Apocalypses in Horror Fiction" and "Thirteen Surprising Horror Writers." Winston Churchill -- yes, that Winston Churchill -- once wrote a horror story? The book explains:

Few recall that Churchill was a journalist and short-story writer before he became a politician and statesman. This harrowing tale of a sailor fallen overboard and praying for death is the only horror story he wrote. it was published in the late 1880s in "The Harnsworth Magazine," a popular British journal.

"The Complete Book of Lists: Horror" is remarkably affable for all its frightening content. It's got horrific travel locations and other ephemera -- but it most likely will send you back to the source, the books and DVDs, for a really good scare. Many of the contributors will be at Skylight Books Saturday at 7:30 p.m., celebrating Halloween (and the book) with food, drinks and contests.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo by MarkHillary via Flickr