The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 2003, Volume 14

by Stephen Jones

  Goad: The Many Moods of Phil Hale was available from Donald M. Grant in two different dust jackets, as a $100 de luxe edition or in a $360 limited leather-bound edition with an original drawing by the artist.

  The Art of John Bolton contained images from 1988-2001 selected by the artist himself, while Gahan Wilson’s Gravediggers’ Party was another collection of ghoulish cartoons from the acclaimed illustrator.

  From American Fantasy, The Broecker Sampler was an attractive chapbook of black-and-white illustrations (several previously unpublished) by Chicago artist Randy Broecker, compiled and introduced by Robert T. Garcia. From the same imprint came a two-colour broadsheet poem by Jo Fletcher: Midnight Monster was illustrated by Gahan Wilson and limited to just 400 numbered copies. Both publications coincided with the contributors’ Guest of Honour appearances at the Chicago World Horror Convention.

  For small children, there were plenty of illustrated Halloween books, including Knock Knock It’s Halloween by Betty Schwartz, Halloween Has Boo! by Harriet Ziefert and Rebecca Doughty, Halloween Countdown by Jack Prelutsky, How Do You Know It’s Halloween? by Diana Curtis Regan, Halloween Colors by Carla Dijs, Corduroy’s Trick-or-Treat illustrated by Lisa McCue, In a Dark Dark Wood by David A. Carter, and In a Dark Dark House, Trick or Treat? and Vampire’s Halloween, all illustrated by John Bianchi. Toni Trent Parker’s Sweets and Treats explained Halloween for African-American children, while Diane Stortz’s Let’s Shine Jesus’ Light on Halloween was designed to reassure youngsters of their faith.

  TV’s The Bear in the Big Blue House appeared in the glow-in-the-dark Eek! It’s Halloween! by Laura Driscoll, and a pair of piggy siblings returned in Martha Weston’s Tuck’s Haunted House. Gus and Grandpa and the Halloween Costume was the eighth title in the series by Claudia Mills, and Harriet returned for the twentieth anniversary edition of Harriet’s Halloween Candy.

  For a more hands-on approach to the holiday, there was always Haunting on a Halloween: Frightful Activities for Kids by Linda White and The Halloween Activity Book: Creepy Crawly Hairy Scary Things to Do by Mymi Doinet.

  “Discworld (Reformed)” readers could keep their appointments in the Vampyre’s Diary 2003 by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs, which was supposedly published by a group of vampires who had stopped drinking blood. It was illustrated by Paul Kidby. Bizarrely, Pratchett’s fictional “Discworld” city, Ankh-Morpork, was twinned with the English town of Wincanton, Somerset, in December. More than 1,000 fans turned up for the ceremonies along with the author and artist Kidby.

  On 5 March, Christie’s auction house in London’s South Kensington held a sale of Vintage Film Posters, including the collection of Belgium-born Baron Alexandre de Groote (1906–91), whose 3,500 horror and science fiction posters were offered as 122 lots. Among the many rare American one-sheets never before offered at auction were posters for Doctor X (1932), The Crime of Dr Crespi (1935) and The Devil Doll (1936). The collection also boasted the largest group of Universal Studios titles to be offered at auction, including a rare one-sheet for The Wolf Man (1941), designs for Dracula’s Daughter (1936) and The Invisible Ray (1935), and a Belgian poster for The Mummy (1932), which sold for £15,275 ($21,600). An American one-sheet for the 1936 Universal serial Flash Gordon was only the second time this poster had appeared at auction, and it consequently sold for £18,800 ($26,600) to a London dealer. The record for a poster sold at auction is held for an American one-sheet of The Mummy, which sold in 1997 for $453,000.

  Published by Cinematics Publishing, John B. Murray’s The Remarkable Michael Reeves: His Short and Tragic Life was a biography of the talented but troubled director of such British movies as The Sorcerers and Witchfinder General.

  From McFarland, Donald F. Glut updated his previous studies in The Frankenstein Archive: Essays on the Monster, the Myth, the Movies and More (which included fifteen essays and fifty-five photographs), while Gary D. Rhodes edited Horror at the Drive-In: Essays in Popular Americana. Thomas M. Feramisco revealed The Mummy Unwrapped: Scenes Left on Universal’s Cutting-Room Floor, and Susan D. Cowie and Tom Johnson looked at The Mummy in Fact, Fiction and Film for the same imprint.

  Charles P. Mitchell conjured up Satanic movies in The Devil on Screen: Feature Films Worldwide, 1913 Through 2000, Douglas G. Smith’s H.G. Wells on Film was subtitled The Utopian Nightmare, and McFarland also published Michael R. Pitts’s updated third edition of Horror Film Stars as a softcover.

  Terence Fisher: Horror, Myth and Religion by Paul Leggett looked at the career of the Hammer Films director (1904–80) from the viewpoint of Christian mythology. Science Fiction Confidential: Interviews with 23 Stars and Film-makers from McFarland contained Tom Weaver’s interviews with more minor celebrities, including producer Alex Gordon and actors David Hedison, Denny Miller and Dan O’Herlihy.

  Published by Midnight Marquee Press, Monsters, Mutants and Heavenly Creatures included another fourteen interviews by Weaver with, among others, producer William Alland, directors Irvin S. Yeaworth, Jr. and William Witney, actresses Marie Windsor, Stella Stevens and Patricia Owens, and actors Michael Ansara and Peter Mark Richman.

  John Jewel’s Lips of Blood was subtitled An Illustrated Guide to Hammer’s Dracula Movies Starring Christopher Lee and included more than 100 rare photos. In Jack the Ripper: The Murders and the Movies, Denis Meikle looked at the historical background of the Ripper murders and the movies based on them.

  From Plexus, Eaten Alive! Italian Cannibal and Zombie Movies featured lengthy reviews and interviews from editor Jay Slater and such contributors as Kim Newman, Christopher Frayling, Ramsey Campbell, David J. Schow and others. In the same publisher’s “Ultrascreen Series”, Tim Burton: A Child’s Garden of Nightmares was a guide to the director’s career with essays and interviews by, among others, Alan Jones, Steve Biodrowski, Chuck Wagner, Anthony C. Ferrante, Mark Salisbury and Kim Newman.

  Edited by the ever-busy Newman, Science Fiction/Horror: A Sight and Sound Reader was published by the British Film Institute and collected essays and reviews that were originally published in Sight and Sound magazine.

  The second edition of VideoHound’s Cult Flicks & Trash Pics edited by Carol Schwartz contained more than 1,300 reviews, many of them updated and expanded, with a Foreword by Bruce Campbell.

  C.J. Henderson’s The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies: From 1897 to The Present also reviewed around 1,300 titles.

  The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion was a look at the ten-year history of the TV show (1955–65) by Martin Grams Jr and Patrik Wikstrom. It included extended interviews with actor Norman Lloyd and producer Joan Harrison, plus a Foreword by Patricia Hitchcock.

  In Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy Television, Joe Nazzaro interviewed seventeen creators of popular TV shows, including Chris Carter, Neil Gaiman, J. Michael Straczynski and Joss Whedon.

  Following the collapse of FilmFour earlier in the year, Britain’s Granada announced in September that it was also closing its movie-making arm, Granada Film. That left the BBC as the only UK broadcaster still making movies.

  In 2002, Peter Jackson’s fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers helped increase cinema takings in the United States by 14 per cent to a record $6.6 billion. Although income for the sequel was down slightly on the first film, it still managed to gross a respectable $200 million before the end of the year. Meanwhile, in Britain, it was the younger generation that was credited with pushing up cinema admissions 13 per cent to a twenty-one-year high.

  In development for twenty years, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, based on the Marvel comic book, was the fastest movie ever to pass the US domestic $200 million barrier – in just two weeks. The film also led to a radical shake-up of British censorship laws in August, with a new “12A” rating being introduced to allow children accompanied by an adult to see films containing more mature material.

  After taking $83 million in its first four days of release in the US, George Lucas’s Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones briefly
sat at No.3 behind Spider-Man and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone for record openings. At least Lucas had learned from the mistakes of the previous entry and included nice-looking homages to Ray Harryhausen and Roger Corman’s The Raven, along with a great villainous role for Christopher Lee.

  However, the film’s position was quickly usurped by the disappointing live-action version of Scooby-Doo which, despite scathing reviews, broke records for the biggest June opening ever (beating Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me) when it grossed a surprising $56.42 million in its first weekend. In Britain, the film took £1.5 million over its opening weekend, and London Underground produced its own Christmas tie-in. Meanwhile the full-colour “Official Collectors’ Magazine” contained everything you needed to know about Scooby-Doo, including a complete episode guide and a look at merchandising.

  Chris Columbus’s much-anticipated Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets grossed an incredible $87.1 million in its first three days, knocking Scooby-Doo out of the No.3 slot. In Britain, the much darker sequel took £9.8 million over its opening weekend, breaking the £8.6 million record set by its predecessor.

  Although easily breaking the $100 million mark in its second week, the Potter film initially lost its pole position to the fortieth-anniversary James Bond adventure Die Another Day. Despite subsequently bouncing back into the top slot, the movie’s year-end take of $240.3 million was somewhat behind the $317 million (more than $966 million worldwide) grossed by the first Potter film.

  To tie in with the release of the film, the Isle of Man issued gold and silver crown coins featuring Harry Potter on one side and the Queen of England’s head on the other. The currency was legal tender.

  WWF star “The Rock” (Dwayne Douglas Johnson) was the Conan-ish hero of Chuck Russell’s Ancient Egyptian sword & sorcery adventure The Scorpion King, a prequel to The Mummy Returns (2001) and originally set for a direct-to-video release.

  Former model-turned-actress Milla Jovovich discovered that a secret subterranean research facility had been overrun by scary-looking cannibal zombies in Paul W.S. Anderson’s Resident Evil, based on the popular video game.

  Wesley Snipes revived his moody half-vampire hero in Blade II, director Guillermo Del Toro’s belated but stylish sequel to the 1998 original.

  Shot in twenty days for Canadian television, Guy Maddin’s Dracula – Pages from a Virgin’s Diary recreated silent-film techniques to record The Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s production of Bram Stoker’s novel.

  Based on the books by Anne Rice and originally rumoured to go directly to video until star Aalyah’s tragic death, Michael Rymer’s rambling Queen of the Damned was dumped on the market in February.

  Despite a sincere performance from Kevin Costner, Tom Shadyac’s saccharine supernatural drama Dragonfly was also dumped out in February, and quickly disappeared.

  Anyone who watched a certain videotape died seven days later in Gore Verbinski’s box office hit The Ring, a disappointing remake of the 1998 Japanese cult success, which received its premiere at the “Scary Movies: Thirty Years of Horror” event, presented by New York’s The Film Society of Lincoln Center in October.

  From Hideo Nakata, director of the original version of The Ring (Ringu), came Dark Water (Honoguri Mizu no Soko Kara), another supernatural thriller, this time about a mother and daughter who moved into a haunted tower block. Meanwhile, the Thai film The Eye involved a woman who could see ghosts after an operation to restore her sight.

  Julianna Margulies and Gabriel Byrne were definitely slumming as members of a salvage crew who investigated an ocean liner lost at sea in 1962 in the Hallowe’en treat Ghost Ship.

  Released either side of Hallowe’en, both FearDotCom and Wes Craven Presents They failed to scare up a decent audience.

  Based on a supposedly true story, The Mothman Prophecies featured Richard Gere as a Washington Post reporter looking into the mythical creature that was said to be a harbinger of doom.

  Rob Bowman’s enjoyable Reign of Fire was Day of the Triffids with dragons. Unfortunately, the film-makers apparently forgot to include the key scene (depicted on posters) where the CGI dragons laid waste to civilization.

  Mining engineer David Arquette and unlikely sheriff Kari Wuhrer discovered that the local spider population had been transformed into Eight-Legged Freaks by a chemical spill.

  Larry Fessenden’s low-budget Wendigo took the plot of The Shining and added a legendary monster deer.

  David Hasselhoff starred in the dual roles for Jekyll & Hyde – The Musical, a high-definition recording of the Broadway musical given a selected digital cinema release.

  Bill Paxton’s critically acclaimed directorial debut Frailty featured the actor as a Texas father who attempted to convince his two sons that they were surrounded by demons. It came with poster quotes from Stephen King and Roger Ebert.

  Red Dragon was a redundant remake of Thomas Harris’s novel, previously filmed in 1986 as Manhunter with Brian Cox as Hannibal Lecter, a role now indelibly identified with Anthony Hopkins.

  Filmed two years previously, French director Claire Denis’s Trouble Every Day featured Vincent Gallo and Béatrice Dalle as a couple of cannibalistic lovers in Paris. The film was refused a rating in the US.

  John Dahl’s Joyride was retitled Roadkill in the UK and owed more than a nod to Richard Matheson’s “Duel”, as a trio of teens were pursued by an unseen psycho truck driver (voiced by Ted Levine) seeking revenge for a prank.

  Erika Christensen was the psycho Swimfan who stalked Jesse Bradford’s high-school swimming champ in John Poison’s teenage version of Fatal Attraction.

  Halloween Resurrection saw the popular franchise reduced to the level of a reality TV show, thanks to the dull direction of Rick Rosenthal, who was also responsible for the second entry back in 1979. Meanwhile, Jason Voorhees, the hockey-masked murderer from the Friday the 13th series, was thawed out aboard a twenty-fifth-century spacecraft and lost no time in hacking up the scantily clad crew in Jason X.

  Alcoholic FBI agent Sylvester Stallone found himself trapped with a serial cop-killer in D-Tox, another by-the-numbers slasher film.

  Alaskan psycho Robin Williams played a cat-and-mouse game with L.A. detective Al Pacino in Christopher Nolan’s intelligent serial-killer thriller Insomnia, a remake of a 1997 Scandinavian film. Williams was equally as creepy in Mark Romanek’s One-Hour Photo, in which his disturbed loner developed a pathological obsession with the perfect families he saw in snapshots.

  Al Pacino also turned up as a monomaniacal movie director whose digitally created star S1mOne became an overnight success in Andrew Niccol’s SF comedy.

  Based on the short story by Philip K. Dick, Steven Spielberg’s overlong SF thriller Minority Report starred Tom Cruise as a policeman hunted for a murder he had not yet committed. It grossed more than $123 million domestically and certainly fared better than the year’s other Dick adaptation, Gary Fleder’s Impostor, featuring Gary Sinise as a scientist accused of being an alien replicant in a war-torn future.

  Although most of the major cast members returned, Barry Sonnenfeld’s decidedly short sequel Men in Black II was a big disappointment, despite taking $182 million at the US box office. The climax was re-shot to remove New York’s World Trade Center towers from the film.

  An unnecessary and pointless remake of H.G. Wells’s classic novel The Time Machine was, after the events of 9/11, pushed back from a December 2001 release to rework the ending and remove scenes of the Moon falling on New York City. Director Simon Wells (the author’s great-grandson) was reportedly replaced after eighteen days by an uncredited Gore Verbinski.

  Mel Gibson, playing a widower, found his farm and family menaced by little green men in M. Night Shyamalan’s tricky Signs, which grossed an impressive $221 million in the US.

  In Teknolust, Tilda Swinton created three colour-coordinated clones of herself who survived on a steady supply of male chromosomes.

  Despite the star presences of George Clooney in Steven So
derbergh’s remake of Solaris and Eddie Murphy in The Adventures of Pluto Nash, both films flopped spectacularly at the box office. Meanwhile, Star Trek: Nemesis looked set to be the final nail in the coffin of the once-successful film franchise, as Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his ageing crew confronted a race of Nosferatu-like aliens.

  Robert Rodriguez’s inventive sequel Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams gave more than a passing nod to Ray Harryhausen’s Sinbad films. Although The Santa Clause 2 took more than $125 million in the US, other family films such as Clockstoppers and Stuart Little 2 didn’t fare so well at the box office, and a twentieth-anniversary reissue of Steven Spielberg’s E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial grossed just over $30 million domestically.

  For cartoon fans, the Oscar-nominated prehistoric comedy Ice Age was the year’s top earner, followed by Disney’s Elvis-obsessed alien and friend, Lilo & Stitch. The studio’s other major release, Treasure Planet, took less that $30 million at the US box office, despite costing more than four times that amount. The super-powered Powderpuff Girls failed to make the leap from TV to the big screen.

  There was something of a renaissance in British horror films in 2002, although the quality left much to be desired. Despite Alex Garland’s script showing the influence of a wide range of other sources, from Day of the Triffids, TV’s Survivors and Italian cannibal-zombie movies of the 1970s, Danny Boyle’s low-budget 28 Days Later, shot on high-definition video, still managed to generate some genuine scares. It was launched with an innovative comic-strip “teaser” campaign in British newspapers.

  Six soldiers led by Sean Pertwee encountered seven-foot-tall werewolves while on exercises in the Scottish Highlands in Neil Marshall’s cleverly titled Dog Soldiers.

  Veterans Udo Kier and Terence Stamp were on opposite sides of an attempt to clone Jesus Christ in Stuart Urban’s occult thriller Revelation, which also featured Derek Jacobi and Ron Moody.

  A group of World War II German soldiers were stalked by psychological evil in Rob Green’s low-budget British film, The Bunker, while first-time director Michael J. Bassett’s Deathwatch covered much the same muddy ground from the Allied perspective.