FLESH AND BLOOD Reay Tannahill

Flesh and Blood: A History of the Cannibal Complex is readable enough for the purposes of entertainment. It feels like the book compiled mainly to satisfy prurient interest. One chapter near the end deals with both werewolves and vampires. It is a rather disorganised collection of early myths and stories relating to these creatures. The version I have is the hardback from 1975, the cover shown is for a later paperback edition. This book is an inoffensive novelty but worth acquiring only if you want a really complete collection of vampire non-fiction. It contains nothing that cannot be found in other, superior volumes.

2/10

R.I.P. Corey Haim (1971-2010)

The Lost Boys was an archetypal eighties vampire movie. Released in 1987 (the same year as Near Dark) the Lost Boys combined teenage chic and vampire menace with a classic tale of outsiders standing up for themselves and brothers looking after each other.

Corey Haim played the younger brother, Sam. But life imitated art when Haim was introduced to drugs on the set of the Lost Boys. The drugs plagued and it seems finally took his life, at the age of 38. Unlike the fictional vampires, drugs were a monster he fought but ultimately succumbed too. Corey Haim was found dead in his mother's apartment, from an apparent overdose.