Category Archives: Book News

Sex Murder Art – Revised and Expanded

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Originally published back in 1994, and written by David Kerekes, this book has now been updated with even more information about the infamous German director Jörg Buttgereit. The original version was called the “definitive account of the director’s work, filled with contemporaneous interviews and framed around the author’s visit to Berlin for the filming of Schramm.” But now this new edition digs a little deeper into Buttgereit’s beginning, back when Berlin was still divided by the Wall, and his start as a notorious filmmaker who was once accused of just glorifying violence.

At 294 pages, available in both hardcover and softcover, the book has detailed information and analysis of his feature films, his early short films, and much more, stating that this book “remains the ultimate testament to the obsession, paranoia and politics of underground filmmaking.” The hardcover editions can only be purchased through Headpress’ website (HERE).

While you might not be a fan of his films, one must still give him credit for what he was doing, especially at that time.

New Books from McFarland

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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.

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That Very Witch Double Feature

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On May 30th, at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago, they are hosting That Very Witch Double Feature! Starting at 9:30pm, the first film is the Italian film Baba Yaga (1973), starring Carol Baker, Isabelle De Funès, and George Eastman, in a strange tale directed by Corrado Farina, of a photographer falling under the spell of the witch. Filled with eroticism, strange nightmares, and highly memorable images.

The second feature is Virgin Witch (1971), directed by Ray Austin, and starring real life sisters Ann and Vicki Michelle, who are invited for a weekend photo shoot at country home of Patricia Haines, who plays Sibil Waite, the owner of a modeling agency. But little do the sisters know Sibil has much more on her mind than modeling. In fact, she is in search of a virgin to join her coven of witches!

Both films will be introduced by author Payton McCarty-Simas, who will be selling copies her book That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism & the American Witch Film after the show. Severin Films will also be there with a Pop-Up in the Lounge before and after the screenings.

Just click HERE to get to the Music Box’s page for this event.

House that Hammer Built

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Back in the late 90s, there was a magazine put out by Wayne Kinsey called The House That Hammer Built, with each issue devoted to all things Hammer Films. Because these were put out in England, they were not the cheapest or easiest to find. But now that Kinsey is one of the guys behind Peveril Publishing, starting in 2022, he has been taking all the info from those magazines, plus plenty more gathered in the years since then, and is putting them out in a series of books, appropriately titled The House That Hammer Built. Peveril has already published the first 3 volumes, covering the studio’s work from 1934 to 1958, but have now released the cover of Volume 4, which will cover from 1959 to 1962, and will be released hopefully this year.

I know I’ve posted before about these, and yes, they are not cheap, especially if you’re in the US, shipping from the UK is not cheap. But each volume is incredible, filled with some amazing photos, both black and white and in blazing color, and filled with so much information about the famous Studio that Dripped Blood, that if you are a serious fan of movie reference books, this on-going set are a must. Even if you don’t get the Scrapbooks they put out, I would consider this series as essential. Thankfully, all volumes are still currently available, but I wouldn’t hold out if you have any inclination of getting them. Each one has a run of only 750 copies, so that is not a lot. You can get all the information by heading over to Peveril’s site HERE.

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Natural Thorn Killers Book

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There are a lot of different books out there covering a wide variety of sub-genres, and sub-sub-genres. Trust me, I know, because I have quite a few of them! And when I come across one that covers something completely new and different, I’m even more excited to add it to my library. That is exactly how I felt when I stumbled upon this recently published volume on plant horror! The more I read about the book, the more I realized there are quite a few titles that would fall under this bizarre sub-genre and then realizing that I find most of them pretty entertaining!

Authors Lauren Jane Barnett and Tony Mardon tackle “flora from outer space, man-made monsters, mushrooms and fungi, killer trees, naturally evolved threats, grasslands and cornfields, and a cornucopia of other films related to the genre.” Within the pages, they will cover titles like Creepshow, Godzilla vs. Biollante, Splinter, The Navy vs. The Night Monsters, Die Monster Die, Maneater of Hydra, In the Tall Grass, and many more.

The 253-page book is from Telos Publishing and should be out this month. Priced at £16.99, which is about $22 US, but not sure if it will be available here in the states through Amazon. But you can check out more on the book by going to Telos Publishing’s site HERE, as well as seeing some of the other cool titles they have.

Books, Books, and More Books!

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In case you weren’t aware of it, I’m kind of a book collector. And by that, I mean I collect horror reference books, or books that discuss or cover the horror film genre, from film guides, biographies, deep dives into different sub-genres, and even those titles that I call psycho-babble. I love them all. Maybe because I’m more old school and books are where I first learned about movies, way before the internet was a thing. I know I’ve said this probably a few times here over the years, but I think it is worth mentioning again, possibly for new readers, or just to remind regulars on how important I feel it is to learn more about the genre.

Because this horror film genre is so huge, going on almost 130 years, there are more films already made then we’ll ever get to see in one’s lifetime. Some might consider a fact like that a little overwhelming, others might consider it a challenge! But either way, it means that there is an ever-ending pool of discoveries for us fans. No matter how long you’ve been down this dark and twisted path. Perfect case in point, the recently release from Severin Films, Exorcsmo box set of Spanish films made in a time when it was rather difficult to get them made, let alone released. I consider myself a huge fan of the Spanish genre, but this set has quite a few titles I’d never heard of before. But what does this have to do with books? It’s all about learning more about what we love. And I’ve always found books are a great way of doing that.

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Hammer in Production Hell

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I know most of us out there love Hammer films, from their Frankenstein films, all the Dracula and vampire titles, to the black and white thrillers, and plenty of their sci-fi/horror titles as well. The more you read up on the history of the studio, you realize some titles took years to finally make it to the big screen, sometimes in a very form or version it was originally written as.

But what about the titles and ideas that never it through the process, that lingered for too long to the point there weren’t of interests anymore, or they just couldn’t agree on a final script, or maybe casting, or countless other reasons. Titles like When the Earth Cracked Open, Nessie, or even Zepplin vs Pterodactyls?

But fear no more because author Glen Davies has now given us this new book dedicated to all of those titles in this book Hammer in Production Hell: In Search of Unfilmed Hammer. It’s 222 pages all dedicated to films that were in varies stages of planning but never made it to the big screen. It’s always interesting to read about what almost happened, especially for fans of this studio.

Available in both hardcover ($48) and paperback ($25) version through Amazon. I know you can never have too many horror reference books, and that includes ones on Hammer Films! Trust me, I know all too well!

Those that Inspire

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“Read good books, say kind words, do good deeds, be a good person.”

Earlier this morning, I braved the minus 1-degree temps and headed into Chicago for a screening of the documentary Ishirō Honda: Memoirs of a Film Director, by director Jonathan Bellés. Afterwords would be a Q&A with authors Ed Godziszewski and Steve Ryfle, who’s latest book, Godzilla: The First 70 Years had just come out. They had previously written Ishirō Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa, which came out in 2023. It also gave me the chance to have them sign their new book that I recently got. So even though it was cold as hell, I knew it was an event I didn’t want to miss. The good thing (for me anyway) was because it was so cold, traffic was pretty much non-existent, so getting into the city was a breeze.

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Muchas Gracias Señor Lobo Updated

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Being a collector of horror memorabilia, it’s always nice to be able to see the wide variety of different posters, lobby cards, and other such promotional materials that were made and distributed to promote different features. Seeing the different artwork from different countries, sometimes very similar, other times being dramatically different, but always interesting to see. And depending on how much you tend to indulge in those collecting habits, sometimes just seeing the images is cool enough. Or at least it gives you something to search for!

Back in 2012, Thorsten Benzel and the fine folks from Creepy Images put out the massive volume Muchas Gracias Señor Lobo which was this huge hardcover book filled with images of different posters, lobby cards, and other promo items from different Paul Naschy films, including illustrations from Naschy himself. This volume had just under 400 pages that had over 1400 images within, showing the glorious film work of Naschy. All in color! That book had sold out, becoming out-of-print years ago, going for big bucks on the secondary market.

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Luchadores vs Everything!

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For any fans of the works of El Santo, Blue Demon, or any of the other wrestlers that moved into the world of cinema, there is a new book coming out that you just may want to know about. It’s called Luchadores vs Everything, where you’ll get to hear the story of how one family brought wrestlers, monsters, and mayhem to the silver screen! Join film activist and member of the famed cinematic Calderón and García Besné families, Viviana García Besné and her friends dive into the history of her family’s films of the beloved genre.

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