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SUMMARY

Imagine immersing yourself in a world of unimaginable horrors for a month. Now imagine doing it every year for 16 years. Horror critic Robert J Gannon does it ever year. The #31Days challenge is to watch and review a different horror property–film, TV series, book, game, play, etc.–every day for the month of October.

In this newly revised and expanded collection of essays, Robert J Gannon celebrates the horror genre with a focus on film and television. #31Days features 65 essays and reviews covering everything from Don Coscarelli’s “Phantasm” series to the anthology horror show “Masters of Horror.” This non-fiction collection follows the spirit of Sketching Details, Robert’s long-running entertainment media criticism website. Horror deserves the same level of respect and analysis as any other genre. Robert J Gannon has built a career out of analyzing and sharing a passion for genre fiction–horror, sci-fi, and fantasy–and he’s ready to show the world in his debut non-fiction collection.

REVIEW

Every year Robert Ganon spends 31 days in October consuming and reviewing different types of horror media. His most recent critical reviews are collected in #31Days: A Collection of Horror Essays, Vol. 1. These reviews focus on film from a wide range of horror history with everything from the Phantasm series to Death Note and even has a healthy smattering of documentary and reality show material he has reviewed.

Horror fans will be glad to know that Ganon does a good job of avoiding major spoilers in any of his reviews. Another thing many fans of horror will appreciate is the content warning he gives for each review. This makes it much easier to know if a particular show or movie might not be right for you.

Most of the reviews are objective and Ganon clearly knows his history of horror and what does and does not work well in a visual horror story. He does tend to lean towards films and shows that can be a bit experimental. If you are a horror fan who has seen everything under the sun you will likely appreciate some of the more rare findings he speaks about. For fans of more popular films and shows, Ganon has several of those in there as well so anyone who does like horror is bound to find at minimum one thing worth watching.

If you don’t happen to be a fan of the Phantasm film series you may want to skip those reviews as he does go through every single film. However, in my opinion, and Mr. Ganon’s that series is majorly undervalued by media critics at large and is worth a viewing. He sums up its place in film history very well.

One other thing that is refreshing about these reviews is that they are at times intimate and personal. One of the stand out reviews is about a documentary that was made touching upon the homophobia surrounding A Nightmare on Elm Stree 2: Freddy’s Revenge. It’s not often that you find such thoughtful criticism of horror in general and it’s a great touch here in #31Days: A Collection of Horror Essays, Vol. 1.

Fans of horror would all do well to give this book a look. You’re not going to like everything in it but if you are a fan of horror at all there is something here for you. If Mr. Ganon decides to put out another book for next October I will be getting myself a copy to see what in the world of horror is worth my time.