Horror Book Covers Have Lost Their Magic

Horror book covers these days look boring as hell... but we want to bring back the magic! CLICK HERE - kck.st/3f3KXjR
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We produced this video with inspiration from the release of 'Paperbacks from Hell', by Grady Hendrix, and the brilliant video 'Horror Books Have Lost Their Identity' by KZbin Channel 'In Praise of Shadows' which you can also check out over here: • Horror Books Have Lost...
This video is the first in a new Channel Hex series called HEX TALK, where Lawrie Brewster hosts discussions and interviews with artists working in the horror genre.

[@britishhorrorstudio]

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[@vickipatterson5930]

I've noticed how vague and bland horror covers have become. I use the covers to help draw me to a book, and if I'm specifically looking for horror, I'm not going to grab an unknown title that looks like a Danielle Steel novel. It's bad design choice and it's hurting the horror community

[@sideshow00]

This d serves more views. As a kid I loved goosebumps covers. In fact I picked the books based on the cover!

[@Noname-xn5tl]

They are still very colorful.

[@babymariobrother3793]

I'm very new to reading horror fiction, but I still completely understood your point. I think it's just a product of having seen the Goosebumps covers as a kid, along with Coraline and other books. And while I really like the minimalism of today's covers, it is kind of a shame the painted ones are far less used now. The whole horror/psychological thriller/suspense confusion has definitely made me have to double check if I was in fact buying a horror novel, in many different instances. So thank you for bringing this up.

[@FCSchaefer]

I'm a DIY indie author in the process of having book covers made for a vampire horror trilogy, and I am determined that the covers for these books will suggest way more than just a "mood."

[@DarthCompton]

Yes! I'm going to be self publishing, and I'm getting a more illustrated style cover for my baby, because I love the illustrated covers of old, and hate the bland mayonnaise lazy covers of today. Great skewering video.

[@JudgeHoldem]

Great video. I've been working on a tiny indie press and this is exactly what we're trying to fix. Slow goings but we'll get there.

[@claykline2830]

Im an illustrator and i hope one day i can bring back great old covers, good video

[@markmark6408]

The same seems to be true for westerns and mysteries. None of these genres seem to have covers that reach out and grab you and make you want to read them. Look at the old pulp covers for the magazines in their respective genres. They promised entertainment, fun, and excitement. Most books of any genre seem to have covers that will make them look like books that you have to read in high school or college for a class assignment.

[@matthew_thefallen]

I've seen another similar video and i am glad there is people talking about it! There are so many artists out there looking for a job and interested in making this kind of stuff and i don't get why big publishers just make graphic design covers that are so dull and have no mood to give to the reader/buyer.

[@starbase7330]

Papyrus font.. BWahahahaha. Again... brilliant.

[@cleverlydevisedmyth]

yeah, I really miss the old Zebra book covers, like on Ruby Jean Jensen or William W Johnstone. Or Robert R McCammon paperbacks. That was some nice art!

[@marcushawke666]

I couldn't agree with this more! For a decent cover today you've got to look at indie horror because you won't find it among those from the big publishers.

[@mikeprendergast1826]

Thank you, so much for this piece. It is such a travesty that not only has the horror section been removed from bookstores but if there is one all it is filled with is Stephen King, Bram Stoker etc. You have made such a great point and I really do hope that publishing companies return to covers that make you want to pick the book up and turn to the back. To look at the front and feel revulsion and also a pull towards the book. It is such a shame that the horror genre in books has disappeared and it has they are now labelled, as you state, as psychological thrillers. I was a high Pan Horror Book fan and just looking at the covers made me want to dive straight in. Recently a new copy of Pan Horror was released, this would be a book with a selection of stories from throughout the series. I ordered it and when it arrived I was so disappointed with the cover. Gone was the lurid skulls, shadowed monstrosities and what I got was a plain black cover with red and white stripes running across the book, I was gutted and it sits on my bookshelf untouched. Paperbacks from Hell was a refreshing drink of water and flicking through the book brought back so many memories. I wish you the very best of lick with your new branch of Horror fiction and I for one will be looking on the website. Thank you once again for a great piece

[@nicholasjones3207]

I want stuff with shocks like Shaun hutson with lurid covers like those from deadite press

[@poohbertgaming]

The fire in fortitude, pure horror novel

[@MrMM-bm5fo]

While I agree to an extent with this, I personally ain’t bothered by book covers. Although, I do agree that more work should be put into them, especially if they want it to be more fitting. I’m mainly referring to the authors, but this also goes for the artist, too.

[@bertsbooks2505]

I'm heading over to ebay to try to find some eighties pulp right now!

[@fiver_rabbit8444]

Didn't someone else do the exact same video theme as this?

[@ancyktube]

Yea this one is fully plagiarised lol hbomberguy where you at

[@fiver_rabbit8444]

@@ancyktubeLol I had no Idea who did it first - I just remember the same video in an American accent. I'm not even sure I know who did the other video.Was it inpraiseofshadows?

[@rachelh9985]

I loved that Alchemists Cat cover! Great book too

[@lindseyp-3059]

This has happened to romance books too. You can’t tell the difference between rom com and romance. Or between adult romance and ya or new adult romance.

[@Slimebeast]

Damn right. When I was a kid, and I would see a horror VHS rental on a shelf, I'd get sickened/scared. I look at the covers and such today, and it it's usually headshots of what might as well be Marvel Cinematic Universe villains or - as you mentioned - lazy non-horrific imagery.

[@angusorvid8840]

The pretentions of modern horror writers and literati gatekeepers in big New York publishing houses fresh out of MFA programs is the culprit behind boring covers. I really hate it when they give a mediocre cover to an old classic from the 70s or 80s, contaminating a noble work with an unimaginative piece of art. If anything, the popularity of Grady Hendrix's retrospective Paperbacks from Hell has proven just how much the horror reading public is clamoring from that old wild cover art and full tilt horror stories.

[@codyclaeys2008]

While I agree you don't read the book for the cover alone you can be turned off by a book cover if it doesn't grab your attention to open it

[@hatchetmouth8211]

Totally agree, man.

[@philipmsearle1399]

I agree totally, the horror novels of the 70s and 80s still stand out as attention grabbers. Just looking at the cover makes you want to look inside and start reading immediately. There s very little to commend current books in the genre; they are colourless, safe, and neutral, offering little excitement or anticipation. I remember the giant crab on the cover of Night of the crabs, Guy N Smith, NEL, and the bloodied face of Carrie, Stephen King, in its original NEL edition and many others. Pretty sad, but also unncessary as horror fiction seldom appeals to mainstream readers, anyway.

[@Emily-Whitfield]

I miss the vintage horror covers especially from the 1980s! The artwork was what drew me into the books! Now horror novel covers are so blah looking! Great video!!

[@michaelkleu9802]

Very interesting! Your point is a good one!

[@Thievius333]

Add this to the list of things affected by the homogenization of everything having to do with culture. Music, movies, video games, comic books, fiction, and now book covers. There's a reason things seemed better in the 60s and 70s. Its because they were.

[@MikeFowlerguitars]

I suspect Lawrie that you're a little younger than me, so I *fully* take your point, and I agree wholeheartedly. As a child of the seventies I was intrigued beyond measure at these books on the shelves depicting lurid scenes, atmospheric castles or even just plainly demonic faces. I used to go into Smith's just to look at the covers of some, and I'm not even just referring to those Dennis Wheatley novels which I eventually acquired when I was about 13 🤭😉. The magic has gone from the covers. Maybe the publishers are saving money in this cash strapped world by limiting their budgets to in house graphic designers, rather than spending extra on artists... But I think they're losing out. It's the cover that grabs you first surely?

[@racewiththefalcons1]

Where can I find an artist making book covers in the old-school style today? I will pay.

[@Noname-xn5tl]

I miss the old horror book covers! Books now a days are so plain.

[@jsega9393]

What is the name of the book from the thumbnail?

[@theassassinrapper]

This video is amazing. It's amazing because your speaking the truth. I'm saying this for yeats but you have explained it brilliantly how I feel and so many more. I hope people like us will be heard. I used love the Nancy drew and hardy boys covers of the 80s and now there so far from that magic. Those covers in paper backs from hell are absolutely amazing. Good luck with your publishing and film company 😀 keep up the great work

[@thatgoodoldappleseller2644]

The Graphic designs with Texts in large fonts on present day book covers aren't attractive at all. The hand-painted illustrations on book covers are all I want. I'll grow up to become an illustrator and hope to bring a change in this culture.

[@nightbreed2244]

Truer words have never been spoken. The Same goes for DVD cover art. I remember one VHS names Eyes of the Beholder. The german cover promised a shocking and brutal movie. When I watched the movie (a mental patient escapes from an asylum and takes his doctor and other people as hostages) It turned out the movie was not so much brutal and shocking (stil a good movie). It was the cover which made me interested into this film. Today most covers are not drawn but computer generated what is kinda sad.

[@darkwoods1954]

Many comic book covers now have become generic and boring too. There's a reason why all the comic book posters and canvases you see being sold feature covers from the 80s and earlier.

[@Virginia22793]

its like all the talent and ideas died in the 80s

[@simianshakenspere8521]

ten..

[@simianshakenspere8521]

x

[@keithdonald6583]

Great vid ...covers have got so bland . Consider me a new subscriber!

[@simianshakenspere8521]

book club

[@Nationalfrontdisco71]

Great vid. I think that classic covers would require trigger warnings. Even the word "horror" probably needs one, that's why they don't use it.

[@tomsenick2033]

Yep new horror book covers suck

[@rickschwab3963]

Why has the art work changed ? Something needs to be done and stop this abstract art atrocity to Horror books.

[@DarthCompton]

It's cheaper to have a secretary slap something together now, than it is to pay an artist to do paint.