I came across this the other day and found it pretty amusing. Here is a seller listing copies of my book for $34.95. I guess I should feel honored that someone thinks the book is worth almost twice as much as it was when it was first published. But instead I find it both sad and funny, because not only is it still available on Amazon for $20, you could also ordered it directly from me, and I’d even sign it for you, free of charge!
Here’s another volume for the library of giallo fans. Alexandra Heller-Nicholas has just released the cover of her newest book, The Giallo Canvas: Art Excess and Horror Cinema, which sounds to be much different look at this popular sub-genre of films. While most books on this sub-genre covers everything from the production and making of, sexual subtexts, and a huge focus on style, this title “explores an overlooked yet prevalent element in some of the best known gialli – an obsession with art and artists in creative production, with a particular focus on painting.” Sounds like a very interesting read, that is for sure. Plus, I love that this is something new to consider about these films, focusing on the art used in these movies. The author will be exploring art that is used by some of the masters of Italian giallo cinema, such as Mario and Lamberto Bava, Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, Sergio Martino, Umberto Lenzi, and Michele Soavi.
This will be publised by McFarland, but there is no release date as of yet. Stay tuned and we’ll keep you posted.
Back in Feb. of 2018, we posted a mention about this upcoming book. Well, now it is officially out and can be ordered! In this 600 page book, the author gives us a “love letter to both the stars and often-invisible women who have made the genre what it is today. From Classical Hollywood to alt-Nollywood, mumblegore to J-horror, this book offers a tiny global snapshot of the vast number of women who have worked in the creation of dark and spooky movies for well over a century, both behind and in front of the camera, and in films both widely known and comparatively obscure.”
The book covers over 700 feature films that were either directed by or co-directed by women, and also interviews with a ton of women who have been contributing to the genre over the years. In other words, this is a must for all horror fans because part of the learning about the genre is learning about those within it and the struggles and challenges they have.
This is available in both paperback and hardcover editions, which I would recommend going through Amazon since you can save on the shipping charges that way. The book might seem a bit pricey, $44 for paperback and $54 for hardcover, but at 600 pages, I think that is more than a fair price. So order your copy now!
Horror scholar David J. Skal has a new book coming out this fall, just in time for Halloween, entitled Fright Favorites: 31 Movies to Haunt Your Halloween and Beyond. Presented by Turner Classic Movies, Skal takes on 31 films ranging from the silent era, hitting a few titles from each decade through the ’80s, and a few beyond that. Most of these everyone will agree are classics, with a few comedies listed in the later day titles. The description in Amazon says they are “family-friendly” but not sure The Exorcist (1973) and The Thing (1982) are ones I would be screening for 8-year old Timmy! Continue reading
While there are a few books previously on Terence Fisher, from authors like Peter Hutchings, Paul Leggett, and Wheeler Winston Dixon, I think it is still not enough coverage on this director, who’s name should be right up there with the likes of Romero, Carpenter, Cronenberg, Bava, Argento, and the rest of the horror elite. Now hopefully with this new book by Tony Dalton, Terence Fisher: Master of Gothic Cinema, that will make the change.
Dalton has had full cooperation from Fisher’s family, making this a fully authorized biography of Mr. Fisher. Long before he started cranking out tales of Frankenstein and Dracula (and so much more) for Hammer Films, he had been working in film for quite some time, starting as a clapper boy and eventually moving into the editing department. Maybe now we can learn even more about this talented man and how he help change the face of horror.
FAB Press is taking pre-orders for a special signed hardcover edition of this book, for only £29.99 (approx. $37.50). The regular price is £39.99. Plus, by pre-ordering it is the only way to get the signed hardcover edition. A paperback edition will be released at a later day. This 480 page book, filled with 250 illustrations, won’t be published until next year, but I’m sure this limited edition hardcover edition won’t last long.
For more information, just click HERE.
Just when you think there couldn’t be another book released about the Alien series, this Sept. we will have another one to add to the library! Following up with his The Making of Alien book from last year, this year we get The Making of Aliens, once again from Titan Books.
Priced at $60 and 300 pages, this volume tells “the complete story of how Cameron and Hurd, together with their immensely talented cast and crew, brought heroine Ellen Ripley back to the big screen—and upped the stakes by introducing a whole army of aliens for her to face.”
It will features interviews with the cast and crew, filled with tons of photos, illustrations, and concept art, and so much more. There is a reason this film is still loved and worshiped today, so this will be a nice look back at one of our favorites.
For those fans out there like me, that grew up watching Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, we all wondered at some point in our fandom, “I wonder whatever happened to those paintings?” Now, not only will those questions be answered, but soon you’ll be able to page through a single book and view every one of those incredible and memorable pieces of art. Continue reading
Being horror movie fans, unless you’re on the inside of the business, I don’t think we really know of the real horror that lies inside working in the Hollywood system. We see what is finally released, but what about all the ones that never made it to the greenlight and are now lost in oblivion? Well now we’ll have a chance to learn about a few of those, from the filmmakers that were there involved.
Coming this November, Dave Alexander, the former editor-in-chief of Rue Morgue magazine, gives us Untold Horror, a collection of interviews from directors, screenwriters, and producers like Guillermo del Toro, George Romero, Takashi Miike, and many more, that tell the tales of developmental hell they’ve been involved with in their careers. From the unmade Re-Animator sequels, to all the different remakes and sequels that never made it to the screen, such as the Halloween franchise. The book will feature art, scripts, and other production notes from films that never made it to the final product.
Coming from Dark Horse Books in November, with a price tag of $39.99, this looks like a must for any fan of horror films that love to see behind the curtains of Hollywood. I’m sure there are going to be more than a few stories of films that us fans would have loved to see happen but didn’t. Stay tuned for more details when they become available.
We all know that there are title upon title on movie reference books that cover the same topic. Whether it is on slasher films, the zombie sub-genre, or any number of those Freudian psycho-babble entries, there are more than enough to keep this fan of horror reference books busy and broke! But I recently came across three titles that are either out or coming out that cover a unique and interesting theme that immediately grabbed my interests. Even more so, at first thought, I didn’t think there would be enough movies under each of these subjects to merit a whole book. But once again, it just shows you can always learn more!
Masks in Horror Cinema: Eyes Without Faces is by Alexander Heller-Nicholas, and has been published by University of Wales Press. This one is a bit pricy, at $51.37 on Amazon, and is 288 pages long. According to the description, “This book explores its transformative potential historically across myriad cultures, particularly in relation to its ritual and myth-making capacities, and its intersection with power, ideology and identity.”
With this striking cover, using poster art from Georges Franju’s Les yeux sans visage (aka Eyes Without a Face, 1960), this doesn’t look to be a book covering a certain number of specific movie titles, but is broken up into different categories, such as Skin Masks, Blanks Masks, Animal Masks, and such. There are separate chapters on pre-1970 films and post-1970. I have to say, it does sound kind of interesting. Continue reading
I know I may be a little late to the party on this one (and kind of pissed at myself that I’m just finding out about this) but there is a book about this amazing composer out now, called Ennio Morricone: In His Own Words. Whether you are a fan of western soundtracks, horror, and any of the other genres Morricone worked on, you know he created an unbelievable amount of magic through his music. For me, going back to films like Nightmare Castle to the work he did with Dario Argento, his scores are always amazing.
According to the description, Morricone and Alessandro De Rosa had a years-long discussion of “life, music, and the marvelous and unpredictable ways that the two come into contact with and influence each other.” Published by Oxford University Press last March, this 368 page book covers the Maestros work and those he collaborated with, names like Leone, Carpenter, De Palma, Almodóvar, Polanski, and many more. According to Morricone himself, this is “beyond a shadow of a doubt the best book ever written about me, the most authentic, the most detailed and well curated. The truest.” How can you argue with that?
I know this will be among my next order with Amazon and I can’t wait to dig into it.
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