Stephen Kings' Danse Macabre: A Blu-ray Checklist

[bipbop13]

Danse Macabre is a 1981 non-fiction book by Stephen King, about horror fiction in print, radio, film and comics, and the influence of contemporary societal fears and anxieties on the genre.

King then turns to two separate chapters of horror in the motion pictures. In "The Modern American Horror Movie—Text and Subtext," the "subtext" he refers to consists of unspoken social commentary he sees in the films. The 1951 film The Thing from Another World implies commentary on the threat of communism, "the quick, no-nonsense destruction of their favorite geopolitical villain, the dastardly Russians," King writes. The popular 1973 film The Exorcist was aptly suited in the wake of the youth upheavals of the late 1960s and early '70s. 1975's The Stepford Wives, King says, "has some witty things to say about Women's Liberation ... and the American male's response to it." In The Amityville Horror, King sees "economic unease" and maintains that the film's 1979 release during an extended economic slump "could not have come along at a more opportune moment." He also calls The China Syndrome, released the same year, a horror movie that "synthesizes technological fears ... fears of the machinery gone out of control, run wild."

In the following chapter, "The Horror Movie as Junk Food" King begins by making the statement: “I am no apologist for bad filmmaking, but once you've spent twenty years or so going to horror movies, searching for diamonds in the dreck of the B-pics … you begin to seek the patterns and appreciate them when you find them, you begin to get a taste for really shitty movies.” He makes the point that his agent Kirby McCauley had selected the obscure 1977 film Rituals as his favorite, while King himself chose 1979's Tourist Trap as one that “wields an eerie spooky power. Wax figures begin to move and come to life in a ruined, out-of-the-way tourist resort.” He continues a reviews of such films as Prophecy (1979), I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958), The Horror of Party Beach (1964), and The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), among others; concluding: “Bad films may sometimes be amusing, sometimes even successful, but their only real usefulness is to form that basis of comparison: to define positive values in terms of their own negative charm. They show us what to look for because it is missing in themselves.”

The index of this fantastic book is filled with different lists of Kings' favorites. Of course the one we're dealing with here is the films. Here is the list. I'll warn you ahead of time that I'm horrible with keeping up with threads. Feel free to message me to update things when you see fit.

1.The Abominable Dr. Phibes 1971
2.Alien 1979
3.Asylum 1972
4.The Bad Seed 1956
5.The Birds 1963
6.The Bird with the Crystal Plumage 1970
7.Black Sunday 1960
8.The Brood 1979
9.Burnt Offerings 1976
10.Burn, Witch, Burn 1962
11.Lady in a Cage 1964
12.Carrie 1976
13.The Conqueror Worm 1968
14.Creature from the Black Lagoon 1954
15.The Quatermass Xperiment 1955
16.Curse of the Demon 1957
17.The Day of the Triffids 1963
18.Dawn of the Dead 1978
19.The Deadly Bees 1966
20.Deep Red 1975
21.Deliverance 1972
22.Dementia 13 1963
23.Diabolique 1955
24.Dr. Terror's House of Horrors 1965
25.Don't Look Now 1973
26.Duel 1971
27.Enemy from Space 1957
28.Eraserhead 1977
29.The Exorcist 1973
30.The Exterminating Angel 1962
31.Eye of the Cat 1969
32.The Fly 1958
33.Frenzy 1972
34.The Fury 1978
35.Gorgo 1961
36.Halloween 1978
37.The Haunting 1963
38.The H-Man 1958
39.Horrors of the Black Museum 1959
40.Hour of the Wolf 1968
41.The House That Dripped Blood 1971
42.Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte 1964
43.I Bury the Living 1958
44.The Incredible Shrinking Man 1957
45.Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1956
46.Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1978
47.I Saw What You Did 1965
48.It Came from Outer Space 1953
49.It! The Terror from Beyond Space 1958
50.Jaws 1975
51.The Killer Shrews 1959
52.Last Summer 1969
53.Let's Scare Jessica to Death 1971
54.Macabre 1958
55.Martin 1978
56.The Masque of the Red Death 1964
57.Night Must Fall 1964
58.The Night of the Hunter 1955
59.Night of the Living Dead 1968
60.Not of This Earth 1957
61.No Way to Treat a Lady 1968
62.Panic in Year Zero! 1962
63.Picnic at Hanging Rock 1975
64.Pit and the Pendulum 1961
65.Psycho 1960
66.Rabid 1977
67.Race with the Devil 1975
68.Repulsion 1965
69.The Creeper (A.K.A. Rituals) 1977
70.Rosemary's Baby 1968
71.Salem's Lot 1979
72.Seance on a Wet Afternoon 1964
73.Seizure 1974
74.The Seventh Seal 1957
75.Sisters 1972
76.The Shining 1980
77.The Shout 1978
78.Someone's Watching Me! 1978
79.The Stepford Wives 1975
80.Strait-Jacket 1964
81.Suddenly, Last Summer 1959
82.Suspiria 1977
83.The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1974
84.Them! 1954
85.Shivers 1975
86.The Thing from Another World 1951
87.The Tomb of Ligeia 1964
88.Trilogy of Terror 1975
89.Village of the Damned 1960
90.Wait Until Dark 1967
91.What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? 1962
92.When Michael Calls 1972
93.The Wicker Man 1973
94.Willard 1971
95.X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes 1963
96.X the Unknown 1956

[bipbop13]

Originally Posted by ravenus

US Releases

*The Abominable Dr. Phibes and The Pit & The Pendulum are currently only available in the US in the Vincent Price Collection.
*The Alien anthology bonus disc contains extras for the first film not present in the single BD release of Alien
*The H-Man is currently available in the US only in The H-Man / Battle in Outer Space Blu-ray double feature.
*Hour of the Wolf is only available in the Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema set
*Race with the Devil is currently available in the US only as a Dirty Mary Crazy Larry / Race with the Devil double feature.

Thanks to Ravenus for all the work getting this first post into great shape circa 2021!

[bipbop13]

Originally Posted by ravenus

UK BD releases:

*H-Man is currently only available as part of the Ishiro Honda Double Feature: The H-Man + Battle in Outer Space

Thanks go to Ravenus (Again!!) for getting this all done. Looks complete now.

[bipbop13]

Originally Posted by ravenus

4k UHD movies released in the US:



4k UHD movies released in the UK:

*Apart from Zavvi LE steelbooks The Birds UHD In the UK is released only as part of the Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection 4K set

Thanks go to ravenus for his work finding these, I just did a copy & paste!

[The Great Owl]

This is a great idea for a thread. I've been re-reading Danse Macabre lately (for perhaps the 100th time in my life), and having a few chuckles at his takes on these films.

I've seen 74 films from the list, and I own several of them on Blu-ray, thanks to y'all.

[bipbop13]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

This is a great idea for a thread. I've been re-reading Danse Macabre lately (for perhaps the 100th time in my life), and having a few chuckles at his takes on these films.

I've seen 74 films from the list, and I own several of them on Blu-ray, thanks to y'all.

You sound like me. I've read the book 1/2 dozen times at least. First time I read it I was a kid, and those black & white pics and that movie list was delicious forbidden fruit! I've got the original hardcover that I need to read because there was some "mistakes" that were corrected for the paperback, and future releases. I've seen about 50 of the movies so far.

*Favorite part of the book. When King & his friends find a dead cat and spend the summer doing things to it to see what would happen. It's hilarious, and pathetically gross at the same time! It didn't stop me from trying the same things out on the local dead raccoon though....lol.

[ravenus]

It's one of my favorite books. love his reviews of the quintessential horror archetype novels and yes, it's a great set of recommendations. Also got into getting vintage radio plays off Archive.org based on his childhood memories of being mesmerized by the power of radio,\.
Would be more interested in him writing a newer instalment of this book than yet another novel.

[happydood]

Yeah, great thread. I read this at just the right age (14) to help me reconcile my love for Saturday afternoon creature features with the more unsettling contemporary stuff coming out of the 70's and 80's that legitimately scared me at the time. Made me realize horror movies are a healthy thing.

[MJD64]

I read this as a teen when it first came out (it was the first King hardcover I ever purchased, because I simply couldn't wait for the paperback). It's a great read, with some terrific insights into horror fiction as well...but I still remember how devestated I was to read King hated the Kolchak: The Night Stalker TV series, which to this day remains a favorite!

[Keymaster]

I wasn't familiar Danse Macabre, which is bizarre considering I'm a huge fan of Stephen King and own almost all of his films released on blu-ray.

Mr. King has impeccable tastes when it comes to horror based on the films listed here. I'm going to check this out, for sure.

[DiscoDan]

What a great thread!

[EvilAshLives]

53. Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971)

Unfortunately there's no blu-ray release for this film, and the DVD is currently out of print. Great atmospheric film though; highly recommended.

[bipbop13]

Suddenly Last Summer & Rituals (aka Creepers) are coming later this year from Twilight Time & Scorpion Releasing respectively.

[klauswhereareyou]

This is a great book, and it gives people some real context as to what helped shape King's vision of horror.

[Hellraiserfan]

Cool idea for a thread!

[bipbop13]

The Us & Foreign release lists are done. I left one more post reserved in case someone has suggestions that warrant another list post being made. I see we have most of the list released already, I just thought it would be nice to have it in one place to refer to if need be. I hope Mr. King decides to write a sequel at some point. I should walk the 2 miles down my road and leave a note in his mail box suggesting such!

[bipbop13]

Giving this old baby a bump, and will let anyone update the thread how they choose. It does need it. Some of these great movies have finally got Blu-ray releases in the U.S. & around the world

[happydood]

Originally Posted by bipbop13

Giving this old baby a bump, and will let anyone update the thread how they choose. It does need it. Some of these great movies have finally got Blu-ray releases in the U.S. & around the world

I JUST found a copy of this wonderful book in my local used shop up the street. I'd read it many times as a kid and then lost it somewhere between the last 30 years and now, so I'm stoked to re-read it after all this time. I'll be on the lookout for any titles that have been released since you last updated...

[ravenus]

Recent UK releases that can be included in the list:

[dubhousing]

Originally Posted by bipbop13

I've got the original hardcover that I need to read because there was some "mistakes" that were corrected for the paperback, and future releases.

I remember one of the mistakes - King refers to Spider-Man as emerging in the comics in the late 50s. This was corrected to the early 60s in reprints.

Surprisingly, there are at least two errors that still haven't been corrected, and remain in the latest edition. King refers to The Sex Pistols' single "Anarchy from the UK" (the title is "Anarchy in the UK"), and calls Peter Pan's gang "the Wild Boys" (it's "the Lost Boys"). I'm surprised that these remain after 40 years.