Bobb Cotter
I recently learned that author Bobb Cotter passed away on Saturday, February 8, 2020. According to his obituary, Bobb was a lifelong comic book collector and a horror and sci-fi movie fan. These interests are evident in the eight books (affiliate link) he’s published with McFarland Publishing.
Being a lifelong horror fan myself, and having written on all things horror for well over a decade now, there comes a time every so often where I think I’ve seen it all and read it all in the horror genre. But when I reviewed Bobb’s book, Vampira and her Daughters (affiliate link), it reminded me that there’s always more to read and learn. Additionally, I love reference books that seek to encompass an entire subject. Bobb has done this with his titles, including the books he wrote that included Hammer horror films.
Hammer Horror Films
Hammer Film Productions is a British film production company based in London that was founded in 1934, and they are best known for their gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Although Hammer is a well-known horror studio, approximately only 1/3 of their films are horror. Hammer has an excellent outline of their history, characters, and films on their website.
Ingrid Pitt, Queen of Horror
Ingrid Pitt is best known for her vampire roles in the early 1970s, including The Vampire Lovers (1970) and The Wicker Man (1973). Cotter wrote Ingrid Pitt, Queen of Horror: The Complete Career (affiliate link), which includes rare photographs and images from the entire span of Pitt’s career. It even includes a foreword from Ingrid Pitt!
The Women of Hammer Horror
The Women of Hammer Horror: A Biographical Dictionary and Filmography (affiliate link), written by Cotter, provides detailed information about hundreds of actresses who appeared in Hammer’s horror films. Details include a brief biography, their Hammer filmography, and other film credits in the horror genre. Photos are also included throughout the book.
One of my favorite parts of this book? An index! I love being able to see the list of who is included in a book, and then be able to easily find information when I want to refer to it.
Cotter’s Other Titles
Bobb Cotter leaves behind quite the legacy with the books he’s written. In addition to the two detailed above, he has six other titles with McFarland Publishing that can be found on Amazon (affiliate link).
- Vampira and Her Daughters: Women Horror Movie Hosts from the 1950s into the Internet Era
- The Mexican Masked Wrestler and Monster Filmography
- The Complete Misfits Discography: Authorized Releases and Bootlegs, Including Recordings by Danzig, Samhain and The Undead
- A History of the Doc Savage Adventures in Pulps, Paperbacks, Comics, Fanzines, Radio and Film
- The Great Monster Magazines: A Critical Study of the Black and White Publications of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s
- Caroline Munro, First Lady of Fantasy: A Complete Annotated Record of Film and Television Appearances