For the uninitiated the author has obligingly supplied a definition for the slasher/splatter film: "Any motion picture which contains scenes of extreme violence in graphic and grisly detail...." For those film viewers who think this is a good thing and are more likely to select The Texas Chainsaw Massacre than The Remains of the Day, or for those who are not quite sure but are nevertheless drawn to the phantasmagoric, or for those horrified by gratuitous violence and blood for blood's sake but are researching this filmic phenomenon, this reference book provides all the gory details. From At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul Away to Zombie 2: The Dead Are Among Us, this book is an exhaustive study of the splatter films of the 1960s and 1970s. After a history of the development of the genre, the main meat of the book is a filmography. Each entry includes extensive credits, alternate names and foreign release titles; availability of the film on videocassette; availability of soundtracks and film novelization; and reviews. Extensive cross-referencing is also included.

この本は単なる名鑑ではなく、六〇年代から七〇年代の「血の美学」を体系化した暗黒の聖書です。著者のスタインは、スプラッターという形式を人間の深層心理を抉る芸術として捉え直しました。その徹底した偏愛と緻密な分析は読者を戦慄と恍惚の境界へ誘い、暴力がいかにして歴史を刻んだかを情熱的に訴えかけます。 映像化作品との関係も重要です。書籍が提示する歴史的文脈という「知」に、映像の肉体的な「衝撃」が加わることで、双方向の深いシナジーが生まれます。文字で深淵を理解し、映像で狂気を追体験する。この重層的な体験こそが、私たちがなぜ残虐な美に惹かれるのかという、根源的な問いへの答えとなるはずです。