Book Review: The Argento Syndrome

April 2, 2015 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Horror Reference Book and tagged Dario Argento, Derek Botelho, Italian horror | Leave a comment

The Argento Syndrome
By Derek Botelho
Published by BearManor Media, 2014. 261 pages.

Do we really need another book on Dario Argento? I mean, after the great tome from Alan Jones, what more could be said? The answers to those two questions is Yes and a LOT! There are some books that are just fact based, like reading something from IMDB. Or others are just loaded with stories from the authors point of view. But the real beauty of Botelho’s book is that it is a combination of those two types, making it not only a great read, but very informative.

He covers all of Argento’s movies, but also gives us a little story behind it of how he first saw it, which gives the reader an insight to the author, but it also shows that he is a fan, just like most of us. Reading a book on a filmmaker that is basically someone’s college thesis can sometimes be a bit dry, but Botehlo gives us some great stories about the man, the movies, and the different people that worked on them.

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Book Review: A Companion to the Horror Film

March 17, 2015 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Horror Reference Book and tagged companion to the horror film, Horror films, horror reference books, psycho-babble | 3 Comments

A Companion to the Horror Film
Edited by Harry Benshoff
Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2014. 588 pages.

My first thought about this book of collected essays was the cost, retail price of $180. Now, this is a very thick and heavy hardcover book, close to 600 pages, written by a group of people that have Professor or other intellectual monikers before or after their names. But is any book worth that much? Are you going to get that much out of it? Well, right away, Tim Lucus’ Bava book comes to mind and yeah, I do think that is worth the heavy price. Plus the fact that Lucus’ tome is quite a bit larger in size, and is chocked full of amazing color photos. With a price of $180, it is going to take a special collector and fan to afford this volume for their collection. But even if you have the money, is it still worth buying?

For me personally, there were a few things that I found very interesting, such as Aaron Smuts chapter “Cognitive and Philosophical Approaches to Horror”. He discusses what is known as the Paradox of Horror, which is a slight take-off of the Paradox of Tragedy, which asks the question of why we would want to indulge in, like reading or watching something, that is “likely to arouse negative emotions.” He asks the age old question of why horror is popular. But at the end of essay, all he does is recap his and others theories but never answers the question that he posed. But none the less, I enjoyed what he was discussing.

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Book Review: Beyond Ballyhoo

February 22, 2015 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Horror Reference Book and tagged Beyond Ballyhoo, Mark Thomas McGee, Movie Gimmicks | 2 Comments

Beyond Ballyhoo: Motion Picture Promotion and Gimmicks
By Mark Thomas McGee
Published by McFarland & Company, 1989, republished in 2001. 237 pages.

Beyond Ballyhoo

I’ve always been a sucker for a gimmick when it comes to the movies. It definitely was something for a different era of movie promotions, though there are a few out there that still practice this old way of getting your audience’s attention, but nothing like it used to be. But even though those days are gone for the most part, reading about them is a lot of fun. Sure, it makes you wish you were around during those times. I mean, who wouldn’t have loved getting an “Up Chuck Cup” when going to see I Dismember Mama? Or getting to drink some ‘green blood’ when you went to see Mad Doctor of Blood Island? But it is fun to read about all the different wild and crazy things that studios used to come up with to try and get people to come to see their movies….even if the movie wasn’t that great.

Once again, McGee does an excellent job as our storyteller, giving us not only a lot of facts, but personal references and memories as well, which makes the stories even more entertaining. We get to hear about gimmicks like the coming of sound pictures…yes, that’s right. Sound pictures started out as just another gimmick to get people to the theaters. Then we have the coming all the different types of presentations, like CinemaScope…Dynamation….VistaVision….and the list goes on. Of course, then there is the invention of 3-D movies, and all the different kinds of those! Needless to say, we get to hear about them all in McGee’s well written book that is just packed with information.

And most of all, it is so much fun to read.

Chain Saw Confidential Review

February 21, 2015 by Jon Kitley in Reviews: Horror Reference Book and tagged Gunnar Hansen, TCM, Texas Chain Saw | 2 Comments

Chain Saw Confidential
By Gunnar Hansen
Published by Chronicle Books, 2014. 240 Pages.

Texas Chain Saw Massacre really is a movie of legends. For a low-budget film made by a bunch of youngsters, with more hardships than one could ever imagine, resulting in a truly classic horror film that is astounding that the product was ever even finished. Because of its huge following, over the years there has been several documentaries, pages and pages of retrospectives and articles written about it, with each and every one expanding the legacy that it has so rightly deserved. And I have seen most of those and read quite a lot about this film. I’ve also seen the film more times than I could count. So do we really need another book on the making of this film?

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