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Creature Features: The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide
A compendium of critical and humorous reviews of sci-fi, fantasy and horror films—from smash hits to box office bombs—the perfect gift for movie buffs!
Updated to include the most recent movie mega-hits, Creature Features has it all—the shockers, schlockers, blockbusters, bombs, cult faves, rare gems, classics, groundbreakers, gorefests, space operas, sorcery, Euro-splatter, and everything in between. From features, made-for-televsion, and straight-to-video, here are all the films you love and hate; the films you forgot about and never knew existed. Horror and science fiction fans will find films that matter and films that splatter in one critical and humorous guide.
Featuring...
� Thousands of capsulized reviews
•ÌýA five-star rating system
•ÌýHundreds of obscure and rare titles
•ÌýCross-references to secondary titles, sequels and tricky retitlings
•�...And more
Updated to include the most recent movie mega-hits, Creature Features has it all—the shockers, schlockers, blockbusters, bombs, cult faves, rare gems, classics, groundbreakers, gorefests, space operas, sorcery, Euro-splatter, and everything in between. From features, made-for-televsion, and straight-to-video, here are all the films you love and hate; the films you forgot about and never knew existed. Horror and science fiction fans will find films that matter and films that splatter in one critical and humorous guide.
Featuring...
� Thousands of capsulized reviews
•ÌýA five-star rating system
•ÌýHundreds of obscure and rare titles
•ÌýCross-references to secondary titles, sequels and tricky retitlings
•�...And more
608 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
1 person is currently reading
192 people want to read
About the author
John Stanley
15Ìýbooks6ÌýfollowersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ database with this name.
John Stanley (b. 1940)
John Stanley (b. 1940)
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 10, 2020
I’m not sure if this book has an equal? If there is, I’d love to get my hands on it. This is like the yearly Leonard Maltin book but only for horror/scifi/fantasy films. I only wish Stanley would make an update to it since it’s been about 20 years.
February 6, 2024
Do you like movies? Sure you do. But do you LOVE movies? If you do, then chances are you discovered the Leonard Maltin guides a very long time ago. These weighty tomes are amazingly addictive, thousands of pages in length, and if you have a complete collection, you can look up just about any movie worth reviewing. Sure, we now have IMDB for that sort of thing, but the internet lacks the charm and witty punch of Maltin.
But…back in the early 90s I discovered something I could relate to a whole lot more, and that’s John Stanley’s Creature Features guide. HOKEY SMOKE! Maltin for the Gore Gore Gang! And that means hundreds of pages of starred reviews of the kind of movies we all love, from “ABADON� to “ZU� and everything in between. WOW! Horror, sci-fi, fantasy, slasher, kitschy crap…it’s all here, or at least as many of them as could be crammed into 460 pages. I have the fourth edition, “Creature Features Movie Guide Strakes Again� (or course) and for Christmas this year I was gifted a copy of what MAY be the final edition…nearly 600 pages of grue that gives you a heads up—or heads OFF, if you will—to what’s coming up on Svengoolie or TCM or Movies! or whatever your channel of choice.
In case you’re not familiar with the Man Hisownself, John Stanley has some impressive credentials. Apart from being the author of these, undoubtedly the cornerstones of the genre, he is himself a former horror show host, with contemporaries like Elvira, Joe Bob Briggs, Zacherly, Vampira, Sammy Terry, Ghoulardi, and more recently, Svengoolie and Dr. Gangrene. In other words, John Stanley knows that of which he speaks. You won't always agree with his assessments, but you can’t argue his right to express himself. He KNOWS.
Bear in mind: this is not something you will read in one sitting. It’s not meant as such. This is a book, like Maltin’s, that you will want to keep next to your favorite viewing chair, ready to look up the next feature that’s lurking around the corner. an absolutely essential guide for cinema that veers toward the sublimely creepy, scary, and ofttimes silly. It’s even got a guide by which you might locate your favorite films on DVD…admittedly somewhat out of date, but that’s okay. It is 24 years old, after all.
Dated as it is, Creature Features is still to be considered essential reading. But be careful! Once you open this book, it’s hard to put it down…it is a genuine verbal rabbit hole of trivia, and you may find yourself looking up from it one night and finding it’s 2:25 AM and you’ve been at it three and a half hours already and…hey! What was that sound outside…like a weird, high pitched whistle? Maybe you ought to go check�
…yeah. It’s like that.
But…back in the early 90s I discovered something I could relate to a whole lot more, and that’s John Stanley’s Creature Features guide. HOKEY SMOKE! Maltin for the Gore Gore Gang! And that means hundreds of pages of starred reviews of the kind of movies we all love, from “ABADON� to “ZU� and everything in between. WOW! Horror, sci-fi, fantasy, slasher, kitschy crap…it’s all here, or at least as many of them as could be crammed into 460 pages. I have the fourth edition, “Creature Features Movie Guide Strakes Again� (or course) and for Christmas this year I was gifted a copy of what MAY be the final edition…nearly 600 pages of grue that gives you a heads up—or heads OFF, if you will—to what’s coming up on Svengoolie or TCM or Movies! or whatever your channel of choice.
In case you’re not familiar with the Man Hisownself, John Stanley has some impressive credentials. Apart from being the author of these, undoubtedly the cornerstones of the genre, he is himself a former horror show host, with contemporaries like Elvira, Joe Bob Briggs, Zacherly, Vampira, Sammy Terry, Ghoulardi, and more recently, Svengoolie and Dr. Gangrene. In other words, John Stanley knows that of which he speaks. You won't always agree with his assessments, but you can’t argue his right to express himself. He KNOWS.
Bear in mind: this is not something you will read in one sitting. It’s not meant as such. This is a book, like Maltin’s, that you will want to keep next to your favorite viewing chair, ready to look up the next feature that’s lurking around the corner. an absolutely essential guide for cinema that veers toward the sublimely creepy, scary, and ofttimes silly. It’s even got a guide by which you might locate your favorite films on DVD…admittedly somewhat out of date, but that’s okay. It is 24 years old, after all.
Dated as it is, Creature Features is still to be considered essential reading. But be careful! Once you open this book, it’s hard to put it down…it is a genuine verbal rabbit hole of trivia, and you may find yourself looking up from it one night and finding it’s 2:25 AM and you’ve been at it three and a half hours already and…hey! What was that sound outside…like a weird, high pitched whistle? Maybe you ought to go check�
…yeah. It’s like that.
October 17, 2020
If you are any kind of an horror, sci-fi, fantasy fan, this is the greatest read. It has the classics you can probably see in every critics work but the most important part of this book for me was discovering all these straight to video, made for TV movies, movies from late 80's through early 90's not on dvd yet or only released in foreign countries and are either other region coded or extremely hard to find. Most of the reviews have very funny sarcastic remarks and tons of puns (all intended)! I specially love the way Stanley exposes the directors hiding behind Alan Smithee or some other pseudonyms, or shlocky italian directors with anglicized names!
I use this as a companion book to another one called simply "Video Movie Guide" by Mick Martin which I use mostly to look up movies not included in the Creature Features.
A pointer to find a lot of these movies, if you can't find a copy online or all you can find is a very low quality rip, you can try visiting or possibly ordering from these two best remaining video stores:
1. Videotheque in South Pasadena
2. Cinefile in West Los Angeles
Have a great, ghoulish, creepy time picking out your nightmare here!
I use this as a companion book to another one called simply "Video Movie Guide" by Mick Martin which I use mostly to look up movies not included in the Creature Features.
A pointer to find a lot of these movies, if you can't find a copy online or all you can find is a very low quality rip, you can try visiting or possibly ordering from these two best remaining video stores:
1. Videotheque in South Pasadena
2. Cinefile in West Los Angeles
Have a great, ghoulish, creepy time picking out your nightmare here!
January 1, 2023
The single most important book of my childhood. I used to read this book so much I went through three copies because they kept falling apart. It is almost single-handedly responsible for turning me into a horror film fanatic. Are the reviews great? No, but I’ve always liked Stanley’s sense of humor. He uses a lot of bad puns and it makes the book very entertaining. And this book probably had the most obscure horror films out of any other movie guide at the time. My only complaint is I wish he had jettisoned the sci-fi and fantasy to make room for even more horror films. (Just my personal preference. I understand why he included them since these genres are all closely related.)
March 6, 2020
Do you like scary movies?
Good. This book has nothing but reviews of scary movies. Some frightening, some scary because they are so damned bad. Whichever category of bad movie you need to watch, Stanley has something here for you.
Best served with popcorn.
Good. This book has nothing but reviews of scary movies. Some frightening, some scary because they are so damned bad. Whichever category of bad movie you need to watch, Stanley has something here for you.
Best served with popcorn.
November 5, 2007
Stanley knows more about monster movies than one person really should. According to his introduction, he personally watches each of the movies in the book. His friends and family must be afraid for him; very afraid.
But Stanley knows his stuff. Within moments of opening the book I had a list of movies to hunt down. Stanley writes in a familiar, friendly style. Although he comes across as “one of the guys,� no quality of writing will ever convince me that the demonic travesty Batman & Robin is worth 3 stars (out of 5), the same as far superior films such as The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Akira, and Escape from New York. But even with that weakness, the information in Creature Features is invaluable. Who'd have thought that David Twohy, the talented writer/director of The Arrival and Pitch Black, did an earlier made‑for‑cable film? Or that the 1991 director’s cut of Blade Runner was actually, according to director Ridley Scott, a test work print (an “approved� director’s cut was released in 1992)? That is important information for SF geeks.
But Stanley knows his stuff. Within moments of opening the book I had a list of movies to hunt down. Stanley writes in a familiar, friendly style. Although he comes across as “one of the guys,� no quality of writing will ever convince me that the demonic travesty Batman & Robin is worth 3 stars (out of 5), the same as far superior films such as The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Akira, and Escape from New York. But even with that weakness, the information in Creature Features is invaluable. Who'd have thought that David Twohy, the talented writer/director of The Arrival and Pitch Black, did an earlier made‑for‑cable film? Or that the 1991 director’s cut of Blade Runner was actually, according to director Ridley Scott, a test work print (an “approved� director’s cut was released in 1992)? That is important information for SF geeks.
January 14, 2008
The latest incarnation of guide book that John Stanley, a former horror TV show host, has published. This book is written by someone who is a fan of the genre, and takes the subject seriously. My only complaint is that some films listed in previous editions are dropped to keep the book at a manageable size. So I keep my early editions on the shelves as well.
August 11, 2011
Stanley's guide was unquestionably an invaluable guide to genre film before the internet, and it's still an interesting volume to flip through. Unfortunately, Stanley's wildly inconsistent star ratings and some glaring factual errors make this much more of a quick look-up to see what he has to say on anything than a serious reference.
November 24, 2007
It's hard to find a book of film reviews that balances selection with an opinion that jives with your own. This is one of the few of those I've managed to find. Stanley's reviews are more like capsule reviews and are not very in depth, yet he gets his point across well.
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June 26, 2008I would have thought i saw more of the movies in this book. it has a lot of listings
June 20, 2012
I pretty much disagreed with Stanley's opinions 95% of the time. The book I had (which I sold back at a loss at a Hastings) a different cheaper looking illustrated cover. Date read is approximate
July 10, 2021
So many of us (horror nerds) have this book in our shelves, and rightfully so. It is a classic.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
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