Well, if you grew up in a video store in the ’80s and ’90s like I did, then you are at least aware of some of the movies they put out. Releasing titles like The Exterminator, Black Roses, Moontrap, Maniac Cop, and a trio of terror from cult director Frank Henenlotter, not to mention its fair share of martial arts/action flicks like No Retreat, No Surrender, Shapiro Glickenhaus Entertainment gave audiences some fine family entertainment. Okay..maybe not for the whole family.
We are huge fans of Peveril Publishing and have several of their titles in our library. They consistently put out amazing editions that not only look gorgeous, but are filled with a ton of information. And across the pond, one of the biggest authorities on Hammer Films is Wayne Kinsey. So anything with his name on it, is well worth the money. Peveril announced some time ago that they were working on their latest volume, The Hammer Dracula Scrapbook and it is close enough to being completely that they have released the final cover, as you can see below.
The one of the many great things about Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein is that even though it is a paraody of those classic Universal horror films that we all love, it still is done with such honor and respect for the subject matter. And nobody did that better than Brooks, of course with the help of writer/actor Gene Wilder.
For those fans of lycanthropic cinema, ones that like their monsters a little bit on the hairy side, author Bryan Senn has written a new book to give us werewolf fans a checklist to start marking off. Coming from McFarland sometime at the end of this year, or early 2017, this book will feature more than 300 reviews of werewolf cinema, from the classicas like The Wolf Man (1941) to modern day films, covering all the usual suspects, like The Howling (1981), plus many more. Each review has information on the production, the cast and crew, along with a critical look at the title. I’m sure we’ll see just a few titles from Paul Naschy in here…..
Just in time for Halloween, the one and only Mistress of the Dark is putting out her own coffee table…or should we say coffin table book, of a collection of photos, many never before published. This 240 page hardbound book will contain 350 images and original commentary from Elvira’s alter-ego, Cassandra Peterson.
BearManor Media is having a huge Memorial Day sale that ends midnight on May 31st, where all of their paperback editions are 30% off. I have quite a few of BearManor titles in my collection, and have reviewed a few of them here on my site. Just do a search for BearManor Media and you’ll see which ones I’m talking about.
There are three reasons you should order a book or two (or more) from them. The first and obvious reason is because they are having a 30% off sale! Kind of a no-brainer, don’t you think?
Okay American Werewolf fans, listen up! I’m sure we all remember the great documentary called Beware the Moon (2009), that was written and directed by Paul Davis. Well now Davies has turned that documentary into book form, with a lot more added to it!
Any fan of cult movies, turkeys, MST3K, or just a lover of crazy sci-fi/horror films, knows of the 1953 classic Robot Monster. You know the one…featuring a man in a gorilla suit wearing a space helmet? An image that is kind of hard to forget. It is usually found at the top of most Best of the Worse Film Lists. But no matter how bad some might think it is, or that it was supposedly shot in only 4 days, or that the title terror has to be one of the most unique movie monsters ever, it is still an entertaining movie, even if you are shaking your head through most of the time! And if you are entertained, then it is not a bad movie, right?
But what is even more astounding is the fact that someone has written a book about this movie and the people behind it. And not just a book…but one that is just shy of 700 pages!!!
As horror fans, we all know just how crazy some of these films can be. Hell, the ’80s alone had some of the most crazy-ass, rubber monsters, doing in their victims in all sorts of bizarre ways. That was one of the things that made some of those films so much fun, always looking for what we called a good “quality kill”, which meant a death scene like something we’d never seen before. For example, while the rest of Wes Craven’s Deadly Friend is a sheer waste of time, the “basketball to the head” is legendary!
But now, Christopher Lombardo and Jeff Kirschner, two Toronto horror writers that love the genre, and decided to move a little past their regular outlet of insanity, their website ReallyAwfulMovies.com, and publish a book! But not just any book. Covering 100 films and filled with some of the horror film world’s most bizarre, strange, and downright crazy murder weapons, you’ll get to read about exercise equipment, deer antlers, ears of corn, and so much more.
Published by BearManor Media, this 188 page book sounds like a lot of fun. Plus, with a forward by Lloyd Kaufman, how could it be bad? I know once we get a copy of this in our library, we’ll dive right into and let everyone know what we thought.
For all the info, you can order your edition (in hardcover or softcover) at BearManor’s site HERE.
Some time ago, we posted a little announcement about a new book coming from Peveril Publishing, called The Hammer Dracula Scapbook. Now they are still working on their on-going series of Fantastic Films of the Decades series, with volumes 1 (the Silent Era) and 2 (the 1930s), and have another 7 volumes planned out. While a bit pricey to get them from across the pond, they are worth every penny. Beautifully laid out, filled with glorious photos and tons of information.
But apparently that wasn’t enough for them to have us fans drooling over the next installment. They go ahead and announce this Hammer Dracula Scrapbook, that will have a “lavish tome full of rare images, posters, lobby cards, advertising materials, set design drawings, script pages, schedules, documents, contracts and other assorted ephemera from Hammer’s Christopher Lee Dracula series.” But silly me, it didn’t dawn on me that this was going to be just the first in its own series. Following this title will be The Hammer Frankenstein Scrapbook, the Hammer Vampire Scrapbook, the Hammer Monster Scrapbook ( covering the misc. beasties like mummies, werewoves, zombies, reptiles etc). and lastly, The Hammer Sci Fi Scrapbook.
So in other words, time to start looking for that part time job…
For all the latest details about Peveril Publishing, you can check out their website HERE or their Facebook page HERE.
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