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…..
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!
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.
For those out there that are horror reference book collectors, then you know the amazing editions that FAB Press has released over the years. And if you know about FAB Press, then you know that their titles tend to not only quicly go out of print, but once they do, they fetch some high prices on the secondary market. I know for the longest time, finding a copy of Stephen Thrower’s Nightmare USA would set you back well over $100. Of course, now that a 2nd printing has happened, you can find them easily around the $50 price tag. Or course, even at that price, well worth the investment!
We all have our favorite “bad” movies that we enjoy. Hell, I hold two events a year dedicated to these kind of movies. For years, Ed Wood’s Plan 9 From Outer Space was regarded as the worst film ever made, but I know from personally experiences that not to be true. But there is one title that seems to have risen to the top and is one that is brought up the most when talking about the top turkey! And that film would be Harold P. Warren’s 1966 epic film Manos: The Hands of Fate. A film of this caliper has to have its stories and now you can learn more about this film than you probably ever wanted to!
