True Indie: Life and Death in Filmmaking
Published by St. Martin’s Press, 2018. 342 pages.
By Don Coscarelli

Having the chance to see Bubba Ho-Tep in the theater with the director Don Coscarelli in attendance is well worth me traveling into Chicago for it. Even more so if Coscarelli is there promoting his new autobiography as well! Hearing him talk about the book after the screening made me want to dive into it right away. In fact, I started reading this the next day. And two weeks later to the day, I finished it. If you want to get the gist of this review without having to read it all, just go by the book. It is one of the most entertaining biographies I’ve read in a long time. But if you want more details, read on.

I’ve always admired Coscarelli and his work, especially the Phantasm films, and have met the man more than a few times at different conventions over the years. Each and every time I have met him, he has been one of the most genuine and friendly person you could meet. In fact, as me and a friend we’re waiting outside the theater for the book signing, Coscarelli walks up to us and says “Hi, I’m Don. Are you hear for the singing and movie?” Such a class act.

His book covers his beginnings in the world of filmmaking which will astonish you, but also show you the hard work and dedication required for it. He also shows how “fun” it is working in the industry, especially with the studios. But his tales of working outside of that system is really where the interesting tales come from. One of the things I’ve always admired about the first Phantasm film is how creative they were for such a low budget. He mentions early in the book, saying “visual effects did not necessarily require a lot of money, but rather true creativity and ingenuity.” I couldn’t agree more and wish more young filmmakers would take that approach.

I was even amazed at some of the things I learned in this book and even more surprised at the fact that I already didn’t know it. Like that Coscarelli directed the music video for Dio’s The Last in Line! I was a huge Dio fan back in the day and knew who Coscarelli was back then. So why did I not stumble across that bit of info back then??? See that, kiddies? You can actually learn stuff from these books!

He goes through each of his films, from his very first, Jim The World’s Greatest, to the final (or is it?) entry in the Phantasm series, with plenty of stories that will make you laugh as well as gasp at how he managed to pull off what he did. While he remains very positive when mentioning people that he’s worked with, he doesn’t pull any punches when there is a problem either. You will fly through this book faster than a flying sphere and enjoy every page. This comes highly recommended.