Editorial Review

This new version of the Read more

Reviews (85)

In desperate need of review!!
1999?It's 2006!!Come on, folks!!Excellent book that needs an update!!

A Trekkie Must Have
There were so many facts in this book. A book with every single charector, equiopment, episode, and important event from every single series is just what a trekkie needs. Each entry explains which episode and series it is from, and there a bunch of notes in italics explaining how something was done. I fully recomend this book. It has entries from "surprise pary" to the "dominian war." And if there was a flaw in time and a charector was duplicated they had a seperate entry on that charetor. How could a trekkie not have this book?

A Great Reference Book!
This is Encyclopedia is a must have for any fan. It has information that will take hours to read but the time will fly and you won't even realize how much time you've spent reading it! There are illustrations and TV pictures for some of the topics. From people, to places, to things, this book pretty much has it all.
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Subjects:  1. Encyclopedias    2. Fiction    3. Movie-TV Tie-In - General    4. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    5. Science Fiction    6. Science Fiction - General    7. Science Fiction - Space Opera    8. Star Trek films    9. Star Trek television programs    10. Television - Guides & Reviews    11. Television - History & Criticism    12. Fiction / Science Fiction / General    13. Films, cinema    14. Reference works    15. Television   

Editorial Review

This is Read more

Reviews (29)

Good choice
Very informative book...I'm very satisfied with the book concept...Very cheap cover, but you can't expect more for 20$...It's a "must have", darling, if you're into filmography.

The standard by which to judge all others
It's the Film Encyclopedia, not Films. It's about people and processes and explanation of film terms. In those aspects it has no peer. The latest revision is now 4 years old and you may expect a new one fairly soon. But this was not designed tell you about people who are one-hit-wonders. It was designed to tell you about those whose work is worth remembering. We can only hope that Katz' successors will not weaken and include the flavor-of-the-year.

If I were stuck on a desert island...
Well, maybe not. Unless there was cable TV, a DVD player, and a local video store. But still, this is the best reference on the market when it comes to cast/crew biography. The listing is exhaustive of directors, actors, writers, producers, and others who made important milestones when it comes to film. Included are film terms. It's true that this is not a film encyclopedia, actually, but there are those on the market already. So if the argument here is about the "title" of this guide, get a life already. Maybe you feel you got took...but, by far, you have not. This is the best desk reference of its kind. Believe me. I'm a film producer, writer, and cinematographer. But, above all, I'm a critic and this book is the one guide I would NEVER do without. A good compliment would be, as one reviewer mentioned here, Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide. However, an updated copy of that is released every year late summer-early autumn. So, if it's spring or summer, wait for the next copy. You'll get all the recent films of the last year then. Maltin's guide has details about each film that will be found in no other film guides. Buy it-and buy the Katz guide for sure! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cinema/Film: Book    2. Encyclopedias    3. Film & Video - Guides & Reviews    4. Film & Video - Reference    5. Motion Pictures (General)    6. Motion pictures    7. Performing Arts    8. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    9. Encyclopaedias & Reference Works    10. Films, cinema    11. Performing Arts / Film / Reference   

Subjects:  1. Cinema/Film: Book    2. Documentary films    3. Encyclopedias    4. Film & Video - Reference    5. Performing Arts    6. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    7. Reference    8. Interdisciplinary Studies    9. Reference / Encyclopedias   

Reviews (1)

"Disney A to Z" is a "Must Own" for any Disney Fan
I can safely say this book is a "must have" for any fan of Disney. Read more

Subjects:  1. Encyclopedias    2. Film & Video - Reference    3. General    4. Performing Arts    5. Performing Arts/Dance    6. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    7. Reference - General    8. Television - Reference    9. Cinema industry    10. Encyclopaedias & Reference Works    11. Films, cinema    12. Juvenile Nonfiction / Reference / General    13. USA   

Reviews (19)

Decent book, but the website is incredible!
This book is decent enough, but not the Skincyclopedia it claims to be. As others have said, it is not kept up to date, and doesn't have complete listings including times. Mr. Skin's website, however, is the absolute ultimate! For simple reference, it's absolutely free and complete resource constantly updated. For a fee, it will give you film clips and still photos of all the scenes mentioned!
NOT WHAT I EXPECTED!
THOUGHT IT WOULD BE PICTURES BUT IT WAS JUST A SOURCE OF WHERE TO FIND THE FILMS AND PICTURES AND SO ON.

worthwhile actress resource
If you ever wanted to know, this is the book to find out.
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Subjects:  1. Acting    2. Actresses    3. Biography    4. Cinema/Film: Book    5. Credits    6. Encyclopedias    7. Film & Video - Reference    8. Motion picture actors and actr    9. Motion picture actors and actresses    10. Nudity in motion pictures    11. Performing Arts    12. Performing Arts (Specific Aspects)    13. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    14. Individual actors & performers    15. Performing Arts / Film / General   

Reviews (12)

When will there be a new edition of this wonderful book?
This is almost certainly the best book on Disney animation ever published - it is difficult to think of superlatives that other reviewers haven't already (quite rightly) used in their praise of it. (To the reviewer who complained about the omission of Eega Beeva: Eega Beeva is a character in the comics, not the animated movies.) Astonishingly comprehensive, beautifully illustrated, and written with the kind of stylish wit that makes the mere act of reading the text a joy in itself, the Encyclopedia deserves all the praise that has been heaped on it.
Great Disney Resource
This is a definite must-have for any Disney fan. The book is divided into three basic sections: Characters in shorts, characters in television shows, and characters in features. Each category has a mention of every Disney character created until 1997 including interesting articles about them. This is also a great place to find information on lesser-known or forgotten Disney characters such as Spike the bee from a number of Donald Duck cartoons and Little Hans, a star of his own wartime propaganda film. Combine this with hundreds of pictures from the films and you have a book that is sure to be a favorite of any Disney fan.

No Disney fan should be without it!
First, while the title of this book is accurate, it is also misleading. This is no fluffy, flimsy book containing some fun descriptions of Disney characters from the latest popular films. This is an intense, in-depth look at EVERY Disney animated character since Walt began his career. The book is divided into two parts, "Shorts" and "Feature Films". The shorts have the usual gang, Donald, Mickey, Goofy, Pluto, and so on. After each characters bio is a list of every Disney short they've appeared in. Don't be worried or fooled by by this truly encyclopedic book - it is not a boring A to Z book. Color photos pop off of every page, including some from rarely seen Disney shorts. The feature films section not only includes detailed character bios, but plot summaries and "making of" details, cast and crew credits, and more. You buy this book, you will have a list of EVERY Disney short ever made (including the early "Alice" shorts and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit), every feature film in chronological order, and enough information about each one to be the champ of any Disney trivia game! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Animation    2. Art    3. Cartoon characters    4. Cartoons and caricatures    5. Film & Video - History & Criticism    6. Film & Video - Reference    7. General    8. Performing Arts    9. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    10. Techniques - Cartooning    11. United States    12. Walt Disney Company    13. Performing Arts / Film / History & Criticism   

Subjects:  1. Encyclopedias    2. General    3. Performing Arts    4. Performing Arts/Dance    5. Reference    6. Theater    7. Theater - General    8. Film, Media, & Performing Arts | Theater    9. Performing Arts / Reference    10. Reference works    11. Theatre, drama   

Editorial Review

Since 1977, the Read more

Reviews (96)

star wars encyclopedia
i found the content great especially for it being the original trilogy and comic books as well as the mini movies. it was also suprising that it was current up to the modified episodes of 4-6.

Really crummy...
I am terribly sorry I bought this book. I'm a big fan of George Lucas' Star Wars work, but this is an expensive edition dealing all the novels written on his idea, and doesn't cover anything about Episodes I, II and III. Where is Jar-jar Binks? What about Qi-gon? Nope, not a single line.
Excellent *THEN*, Not so hot now....
This was an excellent book when it came out, and just glancing at the other reviews gives you an idea of what the good qualities are- and there are many.
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Subjects:  1. Dictionaries    2. Encyclopedias    3. Film & Video - General    4. Film & Video - Guides & Reviews    5. Movie/Tv Tie-Ins    6. Performing Arts    7. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    8. Science Fiction - Star Wars    9. Science Fiction Films    10. Star Wars films    11. Reference / Encyclopedias   

Reviews (11)

Excellent, though not exhaustive.
Peter Dendle, The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia (McFarland, 2001)
Enjoyable but awfully expensive
While I enjoyed this book and found it to be very comprehensive, I do think it a tad overpriced at $35.
Delightful, a great work of reference for anyone
This book is a must be for anyone fan of zombie movies or horror fans, the movies are well described and commented, all classical zombies movies are there, although a few zombies movies (or realted) are missing but the final result is extremely positive and fullfill a gap in the genre. Anyone searching information on zombies movies will find this book a great help. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Catalogs    2. Film & Video - General    3. Film & Video - History & Criticism    4. Film & Video - Reference    5. History and criticism    6. Performing Arts    7. Performing Arts/Dance    8. Reference    9. Zombie films    10. Films, cinema    11. Inter-war period, 1918-1939    12. Myths & mythology    13. Postwar period, 1945 to c 2000    14. Reference works   

Subjects:  1. Engineering - General    2. Material Science    3. Materials Science (General)    4. Nanotechnology    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Solid State Physics    7. Surfaces (Technology)    8. Technology    9. Technology & Industrial Arts    10. Testing    11. Materials science    12. Reference works    13. Technology / Material Science   

Reviews (8)

Takes the definition of Film Noir way too far
If I could give this book ZERO stars, I would. I ordered this book, looked inside for about 2 minutes and promptly returned it. It excluded my 2 favorite film noir movies, The Sweet Smell of Success and ...what I deem, next to the Maltese Falcon and Sunset Blvd., as the absolute epitome of film noir....The Third Man. Not even a mention, even though it is #2 on the all time favorite film noir movie list at the IMDB website.
the indispensable gets more indispensable
This book is the bible of film noir, and the 1992 revisions of the 3rd edition make it even more useful than before. Want to know who plays every bit part in one of your favorite films noirs? The info is here. Want to know when shooting started? When it was released into theaters? Ditto. Want a chronological list of the great noirs? Or more "inside" film lists, organized by directors, stars, even cinematographers? They're here. One of the old criticisms of the previous editions of the book is that its plot summaries were sometimes incorrect in the details. The authors cleaned up some of those problems in this edition, although they decided not to add or change text that would disrupt the original page layout. This means that the new language is a compromise for space, and it doesn't quite live up to the original. And some developments of the past decade, like the discovery of a print of the silent noir "The Racket," are too recent for corrections - the bible still says, "This film is lost today." This not-so-new edition includes a great essay on neo-noir and a fine list of neo-noir films (although I miss the obsessive detail of the original listings). Also, it's paperbound instead of hardbound. But it's still a superb reference work for the film noir fanatic - so treat it well until Silver and Ward get a 4th edition on the stands.

The Essential Classic Film Noir Reference.
This 3rd edition of "Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style" provides descriptions and analysis for nearly 300 film noirs that were produced from 1927 to 1976, concentrating on the classic period, 1940-1958. The authors are strict in defining film noir as a movement and a style -not a genre- molded specifically by the social, economic, technical, and aesthetic circumstances in post-WWII America, and therefore confined to that era. They exclude genre and foreign films produced in the post-war era that other critics might include. So "Film Noir" is a reference of "pure noir" of the classic period. It may be just as well that it doesn't explore impure noir in much depth, as this book is quite large as it is.
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Subjects:  1. Art    2. Catalogs    3. Film & Video - History & Criticism    4. Film noir    5. History and criticism    6. Motion Pictures Of Specific Genres    7. Motion pictures    8. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    9. Techniques - General    10. United States    11. Animation    12. Art / Techniques   

Reviews (31)

A STOOGES FAN DREAM COME TRUE
This book has everything you need to know about The Stooges. A Rehash of Lines and Names. Not Much Here.
I completely agree with other reviewers: that all one had to do is watch the Stooges shorts and write down the funny lines and names and voila you have Three Stooges Encyclopedia. Very funny and helpful.
Not sure what the sign of someone's door said in MONKEY BUSINESSMEN? You'll find it in THE THREE STOOGES ENCYCLOPEDIA. This has some of the Stooges most famous quotes, songs, signs and so much more. You should buy this. This is the perfect addition to your Three Stooges collection. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cinema/Film: Book    2. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Actors & Actresses    3. Film & Video - Guides & Reviews    4. Film & Video - Reference    5. Miscellanea    6. Music    7. Performing Arts    8. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    9. Three Stooges (Comedy team)    10. Three Stooges films    11. Films, cinema    12. Performing Arts / Film / Reference    13. Reference works   

Reviews (8)

Great Book - but old
Note when ordering that there is only one version of this book - and it was first printed in 1994. And this is not apparent from the writeup on Amazon. I already had this book - but recently ordered two copies assuming it was a new version.I was very disappointed that it was the same book I already had.The fact that the book is so old and missing all movies and information from the past 10 years makes this not as worthwhile as one would expect from Maltin.

TERRIFIC and CONCISE
As a confirmed habitual movie watcher, this book was a much-welcomed addition to my library.Actually, it never made it to my library, as I have it next to my favorite TV chair, right under the TV Guide.I've never seen anything else with such concise thumbnail bios, just the facts.Yes, many stars are not included, such a book would be impossible to pick up.I did miss some oldies such as Marge & Gower Champion.The content is 5-stars, but I deducted 1-star for the book's dire need of updating: additions such as Chris Cooper, Matthew McConaughey, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy Northam, etc.But I wouldn't want to be the one to decide who gets removed to include these new additions!

Great info on the stars
Leonard has done a great job on this.Tasty tidbits on the stars of yesterday and today. I have only one complaint, there are many of the old stars he did not include. Too bad. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cinema/Film: Book    2. Film & Video - Guides & Reviews    3. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    4. Films, cinema    5. Performing Arts / Film / Guides & Reviews    6. Reference works   

Features

• Illustrated

Reviews (8)

The Best Book on The Marx Brothers I've Ever Seen
This is the most detailed book on the Marx Brothers I've ever seen.I highly recommend it.Every single movie they ever made,together and alone,is so fully detailed.Plus every actor and actress the brothers ever worked with(including the legendary Margeret Dumont of course)is also fully reviewed.
Everything but the kitchen sink is included in this book....
Actually, I think I saw the sink somewhere in the book too!;)
While we wait for the dvd's...Bob
Wonderful book full of trivia for even the most expert Marx fanatic. Revised edition is well worth the investment for info such as the butchering of "Night at the Opera"...which is the film with the stateroom scene asked about previously. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cinema/Film: Book    2. Film & Video - History & Criticism    3. Film & Video - Reference    4. Individual Actors And Actresses    5. Performing Arts    6. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    7. Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts    8. Individual film directors, film-makers    9. MARX BROTHERS   

Reviews (8)

American Sideshow
Great sideshow book!
A Good Read
This book was a good read. But I would not recommended it for research purposes unless you have read other books on the subject. In this book Hartzman makes numerous side comments that are insulting especially to an individual who suffers from a disability. I do not find his personal feelings or side comments worthwile. My hope would have been that Hartzman had cited his sources rather than stating all his research as if it were fact. It is a pretty well known fact that Giants, Midgets, and Fat People were not as tall, short, or fat as advertised. This book would make a good read but only after one has done other research on the matter.

Compelling encyclopedia of fascinating people, more context would have been great
This book makes fascinating reading.It's mainly done in an encyclopedia style, with entries for many, many people who chose to exhibit their unusual features or talents.The author obviously feel strongly that they have a right to do so, and shows much caring and respect for them.I really liked how he followed their lives all the way through if he could find the information, so they were presented as people and not just shows.
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Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Circus    3. Circus performers    4. Dictionaries    5. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    6. New Age    7. Performing Arts    8. Performing Arts/Dance    9. Sideshows    10. Specific Groups - General    11. United States    12. Biography: film, television & music    13. Body, Mind & Spirit / Spirituality / General   

Reviews (24)

Best resource for Old Time Radio
This book is for the old time radio amateur and fanatic.Covers all the well-known radio shows from the golden age of radio as well as the not-so-well-known ones.Details for each show include times, networks, theme songs, directors, producers, actors, and dates run.Each show entry also contains a summary of show plot and background information on the actors and writers.Thoroughly cross-indexed.Yes, it's a steep price, but you will not regret the purchase.

The Best Available Reference On The Subject
In the job I do to earn my living, I spend a lot of time of time outside, working alone; so when the iPod was first introduced a few years ago, I saw it as a boon to those who do similar work--a way to keep entertained while engaged in tedious labor. So I bought one of the first models, way before everyone had an iPod, as they do today.
All you ever wanted to know about old time radio shows
The listing seems complete and the information about each program is useful.Some programs have only minimal descriptive information but, all in all, this is a very helpful reference work for old radio aficionados.I'm glad I own a copy. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Dictionaries    2. Performing Arts    3. Performing Arts/Dance    4. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    5. Radio (Performing Arts)    6. Radio - History & Criticism    7. Radio programs    8. United States    9. Film, Media, & Performing Arts | TV & Radio    10. Performing Arts / Radio / Reference   

Editorial Review

This masterful follow-up to the 1993 Read more

Reviews (13)

Not what I expected...
I'm sure that this would be a wonderful book for anyone interested in the history of the fantasy genre - including movies and television shows, characters and certain authors.However, if you are looking for a book that contains information of the fantasy world itself (ie. mythical beasts, worlds, spells, etc...), like I was, this is definately the wrong book for you.I am a fantasy writer and was looking for information that would help in my writing.This book, now that I have had a good look at it, will sit on my shelf and collect dust until I can find someone to give or sell it to.If you are looking for information on movies, this is a book for you... If not, then don't waste your time and money on this book.It is not worth it.

all I can say is thank heavensIboughtthisused!!!!
There are so many disappointments here I don't know where to start but I'll give it a try just in case you are considering purchasing this paperweight. All I can say is Thank God I bought it used! First, no pictures AT ALL. Second, there is a very annoying problem with the text. When you read the sentence above with the words 'AT ALL' in capital letters you probably emphasised those two words in your head. This is a normal thing to do especially now with e-mail etiquette using words written in capital letters as a form of 'written yelling'. Well, the authors, editors, whomever, chose to capitalize [as opposed to italicize],all the words in each listing that appear elsewhere in the book as a heading. This makes for very dis-jointed and annoying reading. Of course this is a personal opinion of mine, it may not bother you. So here is another one, jargon, or I should say more correctly, made-up terms by the authors supposedly referring to fantasy books. This book is filled with these imaginary terms that no one else has heard of but them. It reads like someone's lame thesis. As if they wrote this overblown dissertion all about fantasy books and tried to make themselves soundso very literary and intellectual. Kind of pathetic folks! Bloody Amazing
Fantasy Geeks can't complain any longer--not with the addition of this volume to their already heavily burdened bookshelves: their readerly fetish is now fully indexed, glossed, and cross-referenced.Read more

Subjects:  1. Encyclopedias    2. Fantasy fiction    3. Fantasy films    4. Fantasy in art    5. Fantasy literature    6. General    7. Reference    8. Science Fiction & Fantasy    9. Science Fiction And Fantasy    10. Fantasy    11. Reference works   

Reviews (1)

Essential Reference book for British film fans !
Until now, British film fans have always had to make do with rather slim pickings in the big international reference books on cinema, the likes of Halliwell and Thomson, where British performers and filmmakers are often given short shrift, and that is when they are granted inclusion: more often than not they are completely ignored. But here, with Brian McFarlane's impressively weighty Encyclopedia, we have the very first major reference text devoted entirely to a national cinema that may be frequently maligned (and no more so than on its home territory) but which has actually made a significant contribution to world cinema. Aided by an impressive list of contributors McFarlane has drawn up a staggeringly large list of all the movers and shakers in British cinema from its nineteenth century origins to the present day, giving equal attention to those behind the scenes as to those in front of the camera. There's clearly an attempt to avoid auteurist bias by giving equal room to writers, composers, casting directors, cinematographers, producers, costume designers, continuity personnel and editors alongside the directors. This desire to give credit to those often neglected in film history continues in the entries on actors. Searching for stars, we can find neat summaries of the careers and personas of all the best-known British ones, from Betty Balfour and Ivor Novello to Kate Winslet and Ewan McGregor; but perhaps more importantly, there's a wealth of material on the unsung heroes of British cinema, the battalions of obscure character actors who have helped to give British films their specific dramatic texture. One of the delights of the material on the half-forgotten faces that populate British films is how it frequently goes beyond the strictly biographical and sparks into life with a few beautifully chosen adjectives, a telling little anecdote or a quotation of one of the actor's typical lines of dialogue. Like all good reference books, you go to it to look up one thing and find yourself still browsing through it an hour later. One gets the sense of a real person with a distinctive voice behind the monumental enterprise, and that voice is undoubtedly McFarlane's. One of the most useful aspects of the book, alongside the entries on important individuals and organizations, is the inclusion of short essays on general topics such as (to pick a few at random) sex and sexuality, rural life, Europeans in British film, crime films, black representation, and travel and transport. These provide an ideal springboard for further study and they also act as a powerful reminder of the diversity of a film culture too often labelled dull, over-literary and emotionally frozen. There's ample evidence here that there's much more to British cinema than its buttoned-up reputation might suggest. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cinema/Film: Book    2. Film & Video - General    3. Film & Video - Reference    4. General    5. Performing Arts    6. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    7. Films, cinema    8. Performing Arts / Film / General    9. Reference works    10. United Kingdom, Great Britain   

Editorial Review

In this important book, Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy present anenormous amount of information about 2,000 series and features, detailingtheir plots and relationships to other anime properties. In these areas, thebook is definitive, and readers can only wish a comparable volumeexisted for American animation. The authors are less sure about non-Japaneseinfluences (Read more

Reviews (47)

Good idea, bad execution
The idea of a book like this was a great one, and the fact is you are able to find out about a lot of anime in this book that are completely overlooked, not just by companies in the US, but fansubbers as well.The book sure is epic, and covers an absurd amount of stuff.
the seventh wonder of the anime world
if the first wonder of the anime world is astro boy
the ultimate anime guide
This is the only one of my college text books that I hung onto last year when it was all over. Why? Because i love it so much. It has something contentious or fascinating to say about most of the anime in the world, and it draws the most incredible links; the authors really know their film, TV and popular culture references, which is a refreshing change from certain other authorities, who have either watched no anime at all, or nothing *but* anime. Either way Clements and McCarthy beat them all. Before this book, anime was a wasteland. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cinema/Film: Book    2. Film & Video - General    3. General    4. Performing Arts    5. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    6. Popular Culture - General    7. Animation    8. Performing Arts / Film / General   

Editorial Review

This is the best single volume book on the horror film, the definitive reference work devoted to the subject. It contains entries on every movie even remotely connected to the genre, whether it is a 19-century silent, a grade "Z" schlocker, or an "art" film by the likes of Fritz Lang or Ingmar Bergman.Each entry contains a full list of credits and a descriptive review. Hardy writes about horror movies with such enthusiasm and intelligence that you feel you're getting the low down on the genre from a sincere and learned friend. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Comprehensive, but seriously flawed...
In terms of exhaustiveness, this book is probably second to none. Not only does it survey almost every American horror movie ever made, it contains a good lot on international films, especially italian giallos. A new edition of this 1994 book would be most welcome.
from alien to zomie nightmare this book has it all
The overlook film encylopedia:horror, not to be confused with the horror at the ove