The Amazing Colossal World of Mr. B.I.G. – An Autobiographical Journy – Book Review

The Amazing Colossal World of Mr. B.I.G. – An Autobiographical Journey
By Bert I. Gordon
Published by CreateSpace Publishing, 2009. 258 pages.

Flat out, this has to be one of the worst autobiography that I’ve ever read, and one of the most disappointing ones. Let me start off by saying that I am HUGE fan of Bert I. Gordon and his films. I loved his movies when I was younger and still can find entertainment in them today. No matter how cheesy they might seem today, they are always fun to watch. So I was very excited when he told me a few years ago that he was working on writing his autobiography and that McFarland was gong to be putting it out. But it was a few years later when I see that it had finally come out, but that it was self-published. That should have been a clue, but I eagerly ordered it right away and dove right into it when it got here.

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Peter Cushing Autobiography Reviews

Peter Cushing: An Autobiography and Past Forgetting
By Peter Cushing
Published by Midnight Marquee, 1999. 256 pages.

Peter Cushing is probably one of the most famous British actors known for his horror roles, primarily due to his work with Hammer Films. Though he played in countless other types of genres, he loved to give his fans what they wanted. Turning the spotlight of Hammer’s Frankenstein films from the creature, Cushing made the doctor himself the real monster, always giving 110% to his role, making his character and the films unforgettable.

These books cover his life, his start in pictures, and his work with Hammer Films. This book combines the two autobiographies that Cushing wrote and published, the first one An Autobiography in 1986 and the second one Past Forgetting in 1988. The second book was done due to many people asking him why he didn’t talk a lot about his film work, especially his work with Hammer Films.

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Book Review: Jaws 2: The Making of a Hollywood Sequel

October 23, 2015 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Horror Reference Book and tagged BearManor Media, Jaws 2, Louis R. Pisano, Michael A. Smith | Leave a comment

Jaws 2: The Making of the Hollywood Sequel
By Louis R. Pisano & Michael A. Smith
Published by BearManor Media, 2015. 343 pages.

I have to say that out of all the movies I’ve seen in my lifetime, I really can’t think of one that effected me as much as Jaws did, first seeing it on a re-release around 1977. Because of it, any movie that deals with sharks, or really any aquatic terrors, really has a emotional effect on me…meaning it really gets under my skin! And even though the original film terrified me to the core, I was somehow anxious to maybe do it all over again when Jaws 2 hit the screens a few years later. Yeah, we all know that it is not even close as being as good as the first one, but I did enjoy it back then and think that even today it still holds up for the most part. There also has been more than a few books written about that original summer blockbuster, but not too many on the sequel. Until now. Authors Louis R. Pisano and Michael A. Smith have spent a few years pulling together information, interviews, stories, and so much more, all jammed into their new book, Jaws 2: The Making of a Hollywood Sequel.

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Book Review: So Deadly, So Perverse – Volume 1: 1963-1973

September 22, 2015 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Horror Reference Book and tagged Italian Giallo, So Deadly So Perverse, Troy Howarth | 1 Comment

So Deadly, So Perverse – Volume 1: 1963-1973
By Troy Howarth
Published by Midnight Marquee, 2015. 233 pages.

Italian giallo films are something that most horror fans are somewhat familiar with. I mean, it’s pretty hard to be a horror fan and not have some familiarity with directors like Dario Argento and Mario Bava, and their work in the dark, mysterious, and violent thriller sub-genre called giallos. Even if you might not be a fan of them, you at least know about them. If you are a fan of this strange sub-genre, then you know there is a serious amount of ground to cover. That is where Troy Howarth’s book comes in as handy as black leather gloves and a bottle of J&B.

One of the things I loved most about this book was the history lesson. Sure, I’ve been a horror fan most of my life, but this book just shows you that there is always room to learn more. Even before we get to the actual reviews, we get several chapters of a history lesson that I think should be required reading for any horror fan that has an interests in Italian films, as well as those interested in giallos. With a ton of information, writer Roberto Curti gives us a great history lesson on when and where this giallo genre actually started, and from where they came from. There was a lot of information that I wasn’t even aware of.

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Book Review: John Carpenter: The Prince of Darkness

August 25, 2015 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Horror Reference Book and tagged Gilles Boulenger, John Carpenter | Leave a comment

John Carpenter: The Prince of Darkness
By Gilles Boulenger
Published by Silman-James Press, 2003. 296 pages.

Author Boulenger has spent four years interviewing Carpenter about himself and his movies. This title reads like one long and intricate interview, covering all of Carpenter’s work up to Ghost of Mars. This is a very interesting read here folks, giving us a ton of insight to this man, as well as his filmography. From a director that has given us some incredible films in his career, many that still hold up today, you get to hear how some of them came about, and also about some of the problems that came with it.

I think my only complaint about this book is that there are several occasions when a project that Carpenter had worked on, either as scriptwriter or doctor, but it’s mentioned in passing and we don’t get to hear any detail about it. I was amazed to hear how many projects that Carpenter was connected to at one time or another. But this is a minor complaint.

But in any case, this book is well worth the price, and really can give young filmmakers some depressing stories of what they might have to deal with. There is a great story Carpenter tells about a director and producer stranded in the desert that is hilarious. Obviously if you are a Carpenter fan, then this title is a must for your collection. If not, it is still one great read.

Book Review: Boris Karloff: More Than A Monster

July 3, 2015 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Horror Reference Book and tagged Boris Karloff, Frankensein, Stephen Jacobs, Tomahawk Press | 3 Comments

Boris Karloff: More Than A Monster
By Stephen Jacobs
Published by Tomahawk Press, 2011. 568 pages.

Out of all the actors in the horror genre, Boris Karloff has always been my favorite. I’m sure it has something to do with the fact that Frankenstein is one of my favorite films, where his performance there has never lost its impact on me. But even though he was typecast as a “boogyman”, he didn’t mind it, nor did it stop him from having such a diverse career, working in so many different genres, on film as well as the stage. He was also never ashamed of his work in the field, especially with the role that made him immortal, often calling the creature his “best friend”.

There have been quite a few books written on Karloff over the years. I even have 10 different titles in my own collection, such as Dear Boris by Cynthia Lindsay, Karloff by Peter Underwood, and The Films of Boris Karloff by Richard Bojarski and Kenneth Beals, which was a title that I was eventually told to stop checking out at my school library because I needed to give other people a chance to get it! One of the best biographies I had read on him was Boris Karloff: A Gentleman’s Life by Scott Allen Nollen, which came out in 1999. I learned so much more about this great man reading this book. But now, I have recently finished another biography that I have to say surpasses that incredible volume. And that would be Boris Karloff: More Than A Monster by Stephen Jacobs.

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Book Review: Making and Remaking Horror in the 1970s and 2000s

June 13, 2015 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Horror Reference Book and tagged Dawn of the Dead, Halloween, Hills Have Eyes, psycho-babble, Texas Chain Saw Massacre | 1 Comment

Making and Remaking Horror in the 1970s and 2000s By David Roche Published by University Press of Mississippi, 2014. 335 pages.

Sometimes I really regret asking for a book to review. Especially when I had just finished reviewing one epic size book of Psycho-Babble, and then along comes this relatively new book by David Roche. He is a professor at the Université Toulouse Le Mirail with some publishing credentials under his belt. In other words, he’s no slouch. In fact, Roche is a very smart man and can do some amazing fact finding research, which he puts to use in this book. The concept of the book is to try and figure out the differences between the original ’70s versions of Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Dawn of the Dead, Hills Have Eyes, and Halloween, and their remakes that were all made in the 2000s, or what makes them better or worse and for what reasons.

That initial concept is what intrigued me at the start. But once I dove into it, I quickly realized what I had gotten myself into once again. This is not written for the casual fan, but for a very academic crowd. In fact, I had a dictionary opened most of the time when I was reading it to make sure I was getting the point he was stating. Gotta say though…even that didn’t help a lot of times. These University style books love to go way out of their way to explain something about a movie that really doesn’t need it or even have an explanation other than what is at face value. Here, Roche does a lot of quoting from other works of this sort, as well as giving his own insight, which I frankly think all of which is putting way too thought on this stuff. Let me give you a couple of examples.

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Book Review: The Horror of it All

May 8, 2015 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Horror Reference Book and tagged Adam Rockoff, horror movies, horror reference books | Leave a comment

I first met Adam Rockoff in 2008 at a Fangoria Weekend of Horrors in Chicago. He was going to be there to help run one of the Q&A panels that was going to be in the evening at the Music Box Theatre. I knew of Adam because of his book Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, which was later adapted for the documentary of the same name, both of which are worth your time. So I was actually excited to meet him and have him sign my copy of his book that I had brought, which he graciously did once we did finally meet. Which in fact, was rather funny since I had no idea what this guy looked like. So when he came up to my table and started looking through the books I was selling, talking about different reference books, and then casually mentioning that he had written a book. Once he told me his name, I told him that myself and friend Aaron Christensen were the ones he was suppose to meet up with for the Q&A panel later. Small world. From that moment on, we became good friends. He’s been over the Krypt several times for some movie screenings and other get-togethers.

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Book Review: The Films of Larry Buchanan

April 2, 2015 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Horror Reference Book and tagged Larry Buchanan | 2 Comments

The Films of Larry Buchanan
By Rob Craig
Published by McFarland & Company, 2007. 271 pages.

While the films of Larry Buchanan might be an acquired taste, he is probably my favorite of the low (or no) budget filmmakers. And hearing stories about his films and the making of them are sometimes more entertaining then the movies themselves.

Author Craig does an amazing job dissecting Buchanan’s film, giving us a ton of information about the films, the people who worked on them, and Buchanan himself. The only problem is that I think Craig has looked at the films at little too close and started to see things and meanings that I don’t necessarily believe are there. Now granted, with any film study, there are those who see deeper into the pictures than others can. That is not to say they are right or wrong, but for me I think if you stare and examine anything long enough, you will find whatever it is you might be looking for. As much as I love and enjoy Buchanan and his films, I don’t think some of these deeper messages that Craig points out were really there or at least never consciously intended to be there. Again, this is just MY opinion.

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Book Review: It Came From Hunger! Tales of a Schlockmeister

April 2, 2015 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Horror Reference Book and tagged Larry Buchanan | 3 Comments

IT CAME FROM HUNGER! TALES OF A SCHLOCKMEISTER
By Larry Buchanan
Published by McFarland & Co, 1996. 215 pages.

For those out there that think that Roger Corman made movies with incredibly low budgets, then you need to learn who Larry Buchanan was. Station out of Texas, Buchanan churn out film after film with embarrassing low budgets, some of them making some decent money. This is one of my favorite quotes from the book:

“Roger Corman had been giving three times the budget we had. His version was in black and white, and he had as his leads Peter Graves, Beverly Garland, and Lee Van Cleef. And the running time was only 71 minutes. For $30,000, I was expected to shoot 80 cut minutes of color and bring in three young stars from Hollywood. Their board, hotel, and air fare alone would be $15,000!”

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