Peter Nicholls: Two Horror Film Top Tens

Peter Nicholls was the editor of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and the author of Fantastic Cinema. He made two top ten lists for The Encyclopedia of Horror Movies, edited by Phil Hardy (Harper & Row, 1985, p. 397). Each he presenred in "roughly chronological order. He rejected inclusion of films by "sleazy downmarket directors" Mario Bava, Roger Corman, Terence Fisher, and John Landis, and noted his antipathy for Univesal's Frankenstein series and James Whale in general. He found himself unable to determine which David Cronenberg or Brian De Palma film was best, omitted Rosemary's Baby because other Roman Polanski films are better, but managed to find room for one Val Lewton production despite finding him "a little patronizing and genteel." He suspected The Texas Chain Saw Massacre belonged on the list but hadn't seen it. He noted omitting Jean Cocteau and Peter Weir, categorizing their films as fantasy, found Dreyer's Vampyr boring but intellectually undertanding its acclaim.