Elsewhere, MacDougall writes: "Tangled in the complex rural histories of Romania and other Slavic countries are a number of references to different types of Strigoi." However, Romanians have long insisted that they are not Slavic, but a Latin people, descended from Roman colonists (hence, Romanian). No small point. Ethnic issues in Eastern Europe remain contentious and politically pregnant. The late Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, in seeking Western aid, would stress that Romania is "a Latin island in a Slavic sea."

I know less about the other nationalities in the book, and thus can't comment on it. I can comment on MacDougall's use of "revenant," which he defines as: "A corpse that has been reanimated and has risen as a vampire, ghost, zombie, or angel. For the purposes of this book, Revenant will be used as a term to describe those vampires that are human corpses that have returned from the dead. These vampires are often pale and shambling, their bodies showing signs of decay."

It's no biggie, but for purposes of horror film analysis, I define a revenant as a corpse with a degree of self-awareness and intent (usually revenge, as often seen in Tales From The Crypt). By contrast, a zombie lacks self-awareness and is usually under another's control (e.g., White Zombie, I Walked With a Zombie), or is of the often mindless, flesh-eating variety. Unlike MacDougall, I don't equate revenants with vampires. But then, we use the term for different purposes. Like I said, no biggie.

An oddity: The book prominently announces that Shawn MacDougall is the pen name of Jonathan Maberry. Likewise, the book's promotional material. Sort of defeats the whole point of having a pen name, no?

Oddities aside, MacDougall does a fine job gathering vampire folklore from around the world, compiling their names and characteristics, along with tales and legends for many of them. The illustrations are attractive, if not always pertinent. All black & white, aside from a 14-page "Color Gallery." 540 pages of main text, plus 132 pages of appendixes covering vampire websites, unset groups, bibliographies, filmographies, glossary, etc.

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Thomas M. Sipos's essays in horror film aesthetics may be found in Halloween Candy.