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A Vault of Horror book cover
A Vault of Horror
A Book of 80 Great British Horror Movies From 1956 - 1974
2004
First Published
3.87
Average Rating
396
Number of Pages
From Night of the Demon to House of Whipcord... 80 British horror films which collectively made a lasting impression on the psyche of a nation. Author Keith Topping chronicles the films which shaped his childhood, taking a wry and often irreverent look at their triumphs and failings, their cast and crew, their continuity blunders and their impact on the genre as a whole. Illustrated with many rare photographs, this is one film guide guaranteed to raise a smile as we take you back to the terrors of yesteryear. Includes entries on the following films: Night of the Demon, The Curse of Frankenstein, The Trollenberg Terror, Dracula, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Mummy, The City of the Dead, Peeping Tom, Village of the Damned, The Curse of the Werewolf, Night of the Eagle, The Kiss of the Vampire, The Haunting, The Masque of the Red Death, The Black Torment, Dr Terror's House of Horrors, Rasputin - The Mad Monk, Dracula Prince of Darkness, The Plague of the Zombies, The Witches, Invasion, Frankenstein Created Woman, The Sorcerers, Night of the Big Heat, Quatermass and the Pit, The Blood Beast Terror, The Devil Rides Out, Matthew Hopkins Witchfinder General, Curse of the Crimson Altar, Twisted Nerve, The Haunted House of Horror, Dracula Has Risen From Grave, The Oblong Box, The Corpse, Fragment of Fear, Incense For The Damned, I Start Counting, Scream and Scream Again, Taste the Blood of Dracula, The Vampire Lovers, Virgin Witch, The Blood on Satan's Claw, The Beast in the Cellar, The Horror of Frankenstein, The House That Dripped Blood, Lust for a Vampire, And Soon the Darkness, Assault, Hands of the Ripper, Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde, Twins of Evil, Doomwatch, Crucible of Terror, Vampire Circus, Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter, Demons of the Mind, Revenge, Tower of Evil, Dracula AD 1972, Frenzy, Dr Phibes Rises Again, The Creeping Flesh, Psychomania, Nothing But The Night, Tales That Witness Madness, Death Line, Theatre of Blood.
Avg Rating
3.87
Number of Ratings
31
5 STARS
29%
4 STARS
39%
3 STARS
23%
2 STARS
10%
1 STARS
0%
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Author

Keith Topping
Author · 17 books

Keith Andrew Topping is an author, journalist and broadcaster most closely associated with his work relating to the BBC Television series Doctor Who and for writing numerous official and unofficial guide books to a wide variety of television and film series, specifically Buffy the Vampire Slayer.He is also the author of two books of rock music critique. To date, Topping has written over 40 books. One of the leading players in British Doctor Who fandom's fan-fiction movement during the 1980s, Topping's first published fiction was the BBC Books "Past Doctor Adventure" The Devil Goblins from Neptune in 1997. The novel was co-written with his friend and frequent collaborator Martin Day. The pair quickly followed this up with the acclaimed novel The Hollow Men in 1998. Following Day's move into TV scripting, Topping wrote the novels The King of Terror (2000) and Byzantium! (2001) solo. The latter novel is the only BBC Books Past Doctor Adventure to be set entirely within one episode of the television series Doctor Who — 1965's The Romans by Dennis Spooner. Topping also wrote the Telos Doctor Who novella Ghost Ship which was published in 2002 and proved so popular that it was one of only two novellas reissued as a paperback edition in 2003. As well as writing fiction, Topping has also authored numerous programme guides to television series as diverse as The X Files, The Avengers, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Sweeney and The Professionals. These were all published by Virgin Books, and co-written with Martin Day and Paul Cornell. Cornell, Day and Topping also collaborated on the popular Doctor Who Discontinuity Guide, published by Virgin Books in 1995 and re-issued, in the US, by MonkeyBrain Books in 2004, a lighthearted guide to the mistakes and incongruities of the television series. The trio had first worked together co-writing two editions of The Guinness Book of Classic British Television (1993 and 1996 respectively). Subsequently, Topping wrote The Complete Slayer: An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Every Episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a number of related texts on this popular series as well as guide books to The West Wing (Inside Bartlet's White House), Angel (Hollywood Vampire), 24 (A Day in the Life) and Stargate SG-1 (Beyond the Gate), amongst others. According to the 2003 book Slayer Slang by Michael Adams (Oxford University Press), Topping was the originator of the word 'vampiry' (adj. "exhibiting features of a vampire") in the January 2000 edition of his book Slayer (pg. 26). In addition, Topping is a regular contributor of articles and reviews to several TV and genre titles including TV Zone, Xposé and Shivers and is a former Contributing Editor of Dreamwatch. He also worked as Project Consultant on Charmed: The Complete DVD Collection. On radio, Topping was the Producer/Presenter of the monthly Book Club (2005-2007) and currently co-presents a daily television review slot, Monday to Friday, on The Simon Logan Show for BBC Newcastle. He has also contributed to the BBC television series' I Love the '70s, Call The Cops and The Perfect Detective and has written for Sounds, the Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Times Culture Supplement and many other magazines and periodicals. Topping writes, and occasionally performs, stand-up comedy and has written radio comedy sketches, an (unproduced) stage play and a TV pilot (with Martin Day) that is, currently, stuck in “Development Hell.” Topping continues to live and work on Tyneside. He achieved a lifetimes ambition in 2005 when his book on The Beatles, Do You Want to Know a Secret was published by Virgin Books.

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