Even though money is tighter and tighter these days, it doesn’t stop me from adding more books to my want list for the Kryptic Library. Browsing through McFarland’s website, I found 4 titles that I will need to add at some point.

I’ve been a fan of director Jim Mickle ever since I saw his first feature film, Mulberry St. (2006), but then even more so with his follow up, Stake Land (2010). He’s only worked on 5 feature films and a couple of series, but I’ve really enjoyed everything I’ve seen. Now coming later this year, is Jim Mickle’s World: Critical Commentary and Interviews on the Films and Television Series by Ernie Rockelman, priced at $39.95. I know Ernie from his Rondo Award winning work in HorrorHound Magazine so it’s great to see friends continuing to contribute to everyone’s horror education! I can’t wait add this to my library, dig into the book, which I know in turn will want me to revisit Mickel’s films.

Next up is a book for those like that those films that delve into our bodies, sometimes showing us things we don’t want to see! Dissecting Body Horror: Essays on Violation and Meaning is edited by Cassandra O’Sullivan Sachar. Not much info is given on this book, other that it’s priced at $55, so I’m hoping it’s a good-sized book. But that subject matter is a very interesting one so I’m curious on what it will be covering.

For those Kaiju fans, we have Scoring Godzilla: An Analysis of Akira Ifukube’s Musical Narratives by Erik Homenick, also priced $55. As fans of the Godzilla films, we all know that Ifukube’s score helped contribute to the success, the longevity, and just how popular those films are. So, it will be a very interesting read to delve into the work of Ifukube.

And lastly, the only title that has some information about the book on the McFarland’s site is Strange Illusions: The Films of Edgar G. Ulmer by David Luhrssen & Paul McComas. Ulmer is a director that I feel definitely needs some more attention. Even though he directed one of the early Universal films, The Black Cat, the first film that Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi appeared together, he doesn’t seem to be talked about as much as someone like James Whale. Just the bizarre subject matter, to what some of the implications of what was going on or had already taken place in that film is shocking it ever got passed the censors. And while he only directed a handful of titles in the horror & Sci-Fi genre, such as Man from Planet X (1951) and Daughter of Dr. Jekyll (1957), what he did give us is pretty memorable, if not very strange.

Hopefully with this new book, which examines his personal life, his filmography, and much more. The book is intended for “both general and academic audiences, the study examines Ulmer’s works within the broader contexts of film history, genre cinema, and the socio-cultural and industrial conditions that shaped mid-twentieth-century filmmaking.”

For more information on these books, and plenty more, just head over to McFarland’s site HERE.