Category Archives: Book News

Book Review: Human Beasts: The Films of Paul Naschy

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Human BeastsHuman Beasts: The Films of Paul Naschy
Published by CreateSpace, 2018. 344 pages
By Troy Howarth

Followers of the Krypt might know of my slight fondness for the work of Spanish writer/director/actor and all around horror fan, Jacinto Molina, better known as Paul Naschy. Besides his own autobiography, Memoirs of a Wolfman or Muchas Gracias Senor Lobo that showcases all these amazing posters, lobby cars, and other material from his movies, there hasn’t been a book out, at least that I know of here in the states, that covers the massive filmography of Naschy. Until now.

Let me say right from the start that Howarth is not only a good friend of mine, but that I also have a very small part in this book, in the Naschy legacy section in the back. Also, that I’m a die-hard Naschy fan that is just thrilled to death that there is finally a book about him and his films. But I would ask you to believe that if I had issues with Troy’s writing, or this book in general, that I would be up front and honest about them here. I don’t mix words when it comes to reviewing, especially books, even more so when they are about a subject that I am very passionate about.

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Looking for a New Book?

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While I continue my quest to add more books to my personal library that I’ll ever be able to read in my lifetime, I thought I would give a little shout out to a few titles that are currently sitting in my Want List on Amazon. I don’t have any of these yet (key word…yet) so all I know about them is what I’ve read on the Amazon description. But they do sound pretty interesting, and I know that I intend to pick them up at some point. While I’m in the middle of reading 3 different books right now, and have a few piled up that I still need to find room in the bookshelves for, it might be a bit.

Who am I kidding, I’ll probably order them next payday!

I’ll list this these alphabetically so it doesn’t look like I’m playing any favoritism!

Ad NauseamAd Nauseam By Michael Gingold
Any horror fan worth their weight in magazines knows Gingold from his decades working for Fangoria magazine, but has been keeping himself quite busy since those days. His book The Frightfest Guide to Monster Movies is just awesome and is simply a must. But his new book is something that older fans will love paging through, as well as giving younger fans a look into the past. In his youth, Gingold would cut out the ads for horror films, the bigger named ones as well as the smaller titles that snuck out. This book is a walk through the 1980’s in a year-by-year guide to Gingold’s archive, featuring more than 450 ads. Remember folks, years before the internet, this is how we found out movies that were playing so these ads had the tough job of capturing the attention of the person paging through the newspaper and make them want to rush out to see this movie. And more times than not, at least for us horror fans, it worked.

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Human Beasts: The Films of Paul Naschy

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Human BeastsOkay folks, I know I mentioned this a little while ago here but now that it is available, it needs its own special post. Human Beasts: The Films of Paul Naschy, the latest book by Troy Howarth is now available for purchase through Amazon. Now why is this that important? Well, the obvious reason is because it is a book about Paul Naschy!!! Okay, okay… you might have noticed that I’m kind of a fan of Naschy and his work if you’re a regular to the Krypt, so you’ll have to excuse the excitement I have for this release. In all honesty, this is the first book to really dig into the films of this amazing writer/director/actor and all around filmmaker, and not to mention horror fan. Besides his own autobiography, and the amazing photo book Muchas Gracias Senor Lobo by Thorsten Benzel, there hasn’t been a book here in the US that covers all his movies, or at least none that I know of. Until now.

For newer fans that might not be that familiar with Naschy’s work, this is going to be a great place to start, where you can use it as a checklist as you read about and then seek out the films that peeks your interests. Others can go through and learn more about the films, as well as reading about some you’ve might not seen yet. No matter how big of a fan you are, you are bound to learn more about Naschy and his films within these pages. This is a great way to help continuing the celebration of this incredibly talented filmmaker, and keep the memory of him his work alive and well. Continue reading →

What Music They Make

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James GreshamWhat kind of music am I talking about? The kind that you hear when horror fans are looking at horror memorabilia! Okay, maybe not the more recent fans might make those sounds after those big-headed toys that are flooding the market, but I’m talking about old school memorabilia, like original posters and lobby cards. Now, someone of my stature and income, would never be able to afford to even touch some of these items, let alone buy them. And if I did have that kind of money, I wouldn’t be able to sleep with the knowledge floating in my head that there is a piece of paper in my house that is worth thousands and thousands of dollars! That, my friends, is why I love poster books. These give fans a chance to see items that they’ve never seen before, in all their beautiful and colorful glory. But also, the more important aspect of these kind of books is that they archive these images. Some of these posters are already close to a hundred years old, so we know as the years go by, they are going to be harder and harder to even see. Because of these kinds of books, future generations will be able to gaze upon the incredible artwork that was used on these posters and other different kinds of promotional material. It is part of our movie history and one that needs to be kept alive.

One of the guys doing that is James Gresham. I first met James last year at the Cinevent Classic Film Convention in Columbus, Ohio, when he came by our table and we started talking about books and movie posters. Such a wonderful and friendly guy and so much fun to chat with. As we were talking, he mentioned that he had put out a couple of books on movie posters, Children of the Night, which came out in 2007, and then followed in 2010 with They’re Already Here! Children covered the horror films of the ’30s, ’40s and into the ’50s. The second book focus mainly on the science fiction posters (though quite a few of them we know are really horror!). Each one is filled with images of posters, lobby cards of a wide variety and are just amazing to look at. To his amazement, I told him that I actually had copies of both of those books and that I would have to remember to bring them to the next show to have him sign them, which I did!

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Terror in the Desert

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Terror in the DesertBecause I am forever waving the flag that print is NOT dead, when I see a book coming out or already released that is something that I would be interested in reading, I want to make sure others know about it as well. And of course, one of those subjects is on horror films.

McFarland has announced a new title called Terror in the Desert: Dark Cinema of the American Southwest, by Brad Sykes. Now offhand, one might not realize the films that take place in the desert. Sure, we immediately think of Hills Have Eyes, but what about titles like The Hitcher, Tremors, or even the more recent Bone Tomahawk?

Sykes looks back at this sub-genre of films to give them a critical and analysis that haven’t been done before. With rare stills, promotional materials, filmographies and more, not only does this sound like an interesting read, I have a feeling its going to make me add quite a few more titles to my “Need to Re-Watch” list!

You can find out more information by heading to McFarland’s website HERE.

Coscarelli’s Tales of Independent Filmmaking

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Coscarlli BiographyDon Coscarelli. The man that created an amazing cinema legacy with his Phantasm series, not to mention a few other incredible cinematic journeys he’s taken us on, and usually outside of the Hollywood system. I can’t even fathom how hard that must be, and to do for it for over 40 years.

But now he is coming out with a book called True Indie: Life and Death in Film Making, being published this October by St. Martin’s Press. The 320 page book will be filled with tons of behind-the-scenes stories from over the years from his different films, such as “like setting his face on fire during the making of Phantasm, hearing Bruce Campbell’s most important question before agreeing to star in Bubba Ho-Tep, and turning Phantasm into a franchise phenomenon.”

While the book will be filled with some crazy stories, it will also “serve as a crash course on the indie film world”, one that Coscarelli is more than experienced in. That is the one of the many things that I’ve always admired about Coscarelli, that he never sold the Phantasm off to some major studio, but decided to keep it so he could have control over it. Lot of kudos to him for that.

So make sure you add this book to your Amazon Wish List, or wherever you get your books, because I’m sure this one is going to be a great read.

Science vs Fiction

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A few years ago while browsing through a local Half Price Books, I came across a book that really through me for a loop. I almost past it up at first because it looked like book on science fiction movies, but as it turned out, there was more than enough of the horror genre covered within. The book was called The Biology of Science Fiction Cinema, originally published in 2005, by McFarland, and written by Mark C. Glassy. As I learned more about Glassy, I discovered that he is an actual professional scientist (now retired) with “extensive study in biochemistry and molecular immunology”, as well as a huge fan of science fiction movies, ever since seeing Earth vs. the Flying Saucers when he was four years old. In this book, he goes through some of our favorite films and discusses the actual science behind it, such as in The Fly (both versions), The Blob (both versions again), White Zombie to John Carpenter’s The Thing to even Lucio Fulci’s Zombie! He covers what parts of the science in the film are correct and what parts are not. This is a lot of fun to read through.

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New Book on Dr. Phibes!

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Dr. Phibes CompanionWhen I first really got into horror films, one of my favorites was The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), starring the wonderful campy Vincent Price. Even though he was the villain, you always rooted for him! And even though he never actually “talked” in the film, he still commanded your attention each and every frame he was on screen. With a beautiful mixture of horror and humor, director Robert Fuest and Price created a highly memorable character that we got to experience in not only the first film, but its sequel, Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972).

Last year, one of my favorite books that I read was Interviews Too Shocking To Print by Justin Humphreys. So when I discovered that he was coming out with a Dr. Phibes companion book, I was just ecstatic. BearManor Media has announced that The Dr. Phibes Companion is now available for pre-order, both in hard and soft cover editions ($32 & $22), though they don’t have a publication date on the site just yet.

Humphreys had previously written about the first Phibes movie in “The Kind of Fiend Who Wins” and now takes that and expands on it, giving us the definitive history of our favorite devious doctor, as well as a new essay on the sequel, Dr. Phibes Rises Again. There is also a new forward by William Goldstein, one of the creators of this wonderful character. Adding in interviews with many of the people involved with the films, such as director Fuest, screenwriters Goldstein and James Whiton, art director Brian Eatwell, sound designer Peter Lennard, organist Nicholas Kynaston, composer John Gale, and many others. The book will also include never-before-seen production artwork by Fuest from his personal shooting script, as well as photos that have never been published. And one part that I’m really interested in reading, the thorough history of the sequels that never came to be.

I know this will definitely be added to my library once it comes out and can’t wait to dive into it. For more information, just head over to BearManor Media’s website HERE.

Discover Women in Horror!

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1000 Women in HorrorNever too early to start to promote an upcoming book, right? Especially one that helps shine the light on not only the horror genre, but a specific part that often goes unnoticed, or at least not getting the attention it should. But thanks to author and scholar Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, maybe that can change.

Next year, BearManor Media will be publishing her new book, entitled 1000 Women in Horror. Heller-Nicholas has already penned five different books on cult horror and exploitation cinema, such as Found Footage Horror Films: Fear and the Appearance of Reality and Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study, as well ones on titles like Suspiria and Mrs. 45.

But this new title will cover over a century of women who have contributed to the genre, helping make it what it is today.  While this isn’t due until next year, it is one that I know I will be looking forward to adding it to the library!

Stay tuned on BearManor Media‘s website for details when they come available.

Beyond Terror…Second Chance

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For those that didn’t pre-order a copy of the newly revised edition of Stephen Thrower’s Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci, that comes in this amazing Eibon case, in a few days, you will have a chance at getting one of the overstock copies left over.

On Wednesday, Feb. 7th, at 2pm CST, Fab Press will have 50 copies of the book go on sale on their website (fabpress.com). You’re going to have to be quick because these will sell out relatively quickly. Not sure what the pricing will be, but I will say, having my own copy, it is well worth the investment.

Beyond Terror Box