METALLICA Guitarist's 'Too Much Horror Business' Book: 13-Minute Video Feature Posted Online

A 13-minute video feature on METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett's book, "Too Much Horror Business - The Kirk Hammett Collection", can be seen below.

Hammett spoke recently with the San Francisco Chronicle about "Too Much Horror Business", which came out on September 25. The oversized 228-page hardback book documents Hammett's love of all things related to the horror genre and features more than 300 photos of items from the collection of horror memorabilia he has accumulated over the years. The book also includes three lengthy interviews with Hammett, who also wrote the captions for many of the photos.

Hammett told the Chronicle, "I've been into [horror] stuff since I was five years old . . . My love for this stuff is insane and totally obsessive-compulsive. It's just one of those things. I'm still waiting to outgrow it or get tired of it or get bored with it. But it does not seem to happen."

The guitarist figures that he may have the second best horror memorabilia collection in the world, but until now only his family and close friends have seen it.

Hammett has two young children and he has been slowly showing them the monster movies he grew up on. He explained, "The other day (my kids and I) watched 'Bride Of Frankenstein', and they loved it."

He added that during a recent viewing of "Ghostbusters", "I said to the younger one, 'This is a little scary, but I'll be sitting right next to you.' And he goes, 'You don't have to do that, Dad. I'm tough.'"

Hammett, who has been collecting items and watching horror movies since he was a child, told Loudwire why he thinks the genre is so popular. He explained, "They're just fun. They're a fun experience. It's not unlike a roller coaster ride, you know? A good horror movie should have peaks and valleys, a good horror movie should move you emotionally, a good horror movie should be exciting to watch and energizing in a weird kind of way . . . horror movies deliver that."

Hammett added, "I've always been attracted to the darker things in life. I was never one to go for light, airy stuff, even as a child. My whole aesthetic has always been one of the darker side. That rings true also in my tastes in music."

Asked to name his favorite horror films, Hammett mentioned movies like 1932's "The Mummy" and a '70s low-budget cheesefest called "Dracula Vs. Frankenstein" before saying, "To me, it's just endless. I think about certain movies and I think, 'Oh, that's my favorite.' Then I think about others and I say, 'No, that's my favorite.' It's so difficult for me."

The book's title is taken from a song by punk legends the MISFITS and Hammett was asked if he spoke with any members of the band about using it. He replied, "I told Glenn [Danzig, singer] that I was making this book when I saw him last December. He seemed all right with it. I think by now if he wasn't all right with it I would've heard something."