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HOME - INTRO - FEATURES - KRYPTIC ARMY - LINKS - CONTACT HORROR 101: THE A-LIST OF HORROR FILMS AND MONSTER MOVIES VOL 1 FAMOUS QUOTES
"Comparisons
would be pointless. Obviously the technical advances in movie-making since
the…30’s give the latter productions| - Peter Cushing on Hammer’s remake of THE MUMMY -
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BIOGRAPHIES - FILM / VIDEO GUIDES - GENERAL REFERENCES - HAMMER STUDIOS PSYCHO-BABBLE - SPECIAL INTERESTS BIOGRAPHIES
IT CAME FROM HUNGER! TALES OF A SCHLOCKMEISTER 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!" This book is filled with tons of stories and lessons of "good-bad" filmmaking, as Buchanan liked to call it. The book starts out at Buchanan's early childhood and his development of love for movies, to beginnings as an actor and performer. But once we get to his start at director, the stories get even more interesting. Like after finishing one of his earliest films, only to have the money backer dump the films into the lake since his wife (the star of the film) left him.
This got the attention of A.I.P. who hired Buchanan to remake several of their pictures, such as IT CONQUERED THE WORLD which became ZONTAR, THE THING FROM VENUS, or INVASION OF THE SAUCERMEN became THE EYE CREATURES. All were made with super low budgets, but still were turned in on time and made money. On one of his latter pictures, he had a young girl wanting to be the script girl who said she'd work for free. That was Debra Hill, who along with John Carpenter, would make one of the most successful independent movies of all times...HALLOWEEN, not to mention going on to become a very successful producer in Hollywood. Buchanan also gave lectures or workshops for upcoming filmmakers later in his career. In the book, he kind of outlines what he would talk about in these workshops. This is enough to scare the hell of young filmmakers who have no clue of what to expect out there in the real film world. But is also very informative for those who still want to follow that dream. But I do have one small complaint about this book. When it came time to discuss some of my favorite films, such as THE EYE CREATURES, or CREATURE OF DESTRUCTION, or CURSE OF THE SWAMP CREATURE, there is very little written. Some times it's only a page or so, sometimes even less. On some of them were there are more pages devoted to the film, it's text that was taken from a fanzine called ZONTAR, THE MAGAZINE FROM VENUS. While it is interesting to read, I would have rather heard from Buchanan himself. But with this being the only complaint I could give, I could not recommend this book enough. If you are a fan of the 'old-time filmmakers' like H.G. Lewis, this is a very entertaining, and very informative book. And even if you're not a fan of the movies, but are interested in filmmaking, there is a lot you could learn from this. McFarland published this book back in 1996, and has since gone out of print. I was able to find mine through a used book store on-line, and it was $40. For a McFarland book, and one this enjoyable, that was a good price. So if you're interested, you might want to to try that route.
Author Boulenger has spent 4 years interviewing Carpenter about himself and his movies. This book reads like one long interview, covering all of Carpenter's films up to GHOSTS OF MARS. This is a very interesting read here folks. From a director that has given us some incredible films in his career, you get to hear how some of these films 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.
STEP RIGHT UP!
I'M GONNA SCARE THE PANTS OFF AMERICA: MEMOIRS OF A B-MOVIE MOGUL I've been a fan of William Castle's for a long time. Not only was he responsible for producing the tv series GHOST STORY which I used to watch at the ripe old age of 6 years old, but photos of his films were always pasted all over the horror magazines and books of my youth. From the shot of the bloody arm coming out of the bathtub in THE TINGLER to the shot of the ghoulish face of MR. SARDONICUS, they were all there. I had heard stories that some of Castle's recollections might not be entirely 100% accurate. Who knows? But at this point, I don't really care. I still found this book extremely enjoyable, and amazing at how movies were made 'back in the day'. I finished this book in less than a week. It's not that it was an amazingly fast read (which it is), but it was such a fascinating story of Mr. Castle and his rise to the King of the Gimmick films! With an great introduction by John Waters, I couldn't recommend this book enough. The only problem is that it's pretty hard to find these days, without paying a very high price at most places.
A lot has been written about Lon Chaney Jr. And a lot of it isn't too kind. Much of it is about his drinking problem and the ultra low budget films that he made at the end of his career. But writer Smith really delves in Chaney's history both in his personal life as well as his professional life. One of the things that I liked best about this book is that Smith is not just a huge fan of Chaney Jr., but is well ready to defend the actor. Countless times does he quote other books and authors who are critical of Chaney's work, and then defends the actor and the work. So it's not like some accounts where the writer is just "a big fan". He's got the ammo to back up his claims. And that is very refreshing. Plus, there were quite a few things that I didn't know about Chaney before reading this book. The biggest was his attempted suicide in April of 1948. Plus, I think anybody who reads this will not only learn something, but I think they'll also see a very different actor than the standard public opinion.
THE TELEVISION HORRORS OF DAN CURTIS Any one that grew up in the late 60’s-early 70’s knew the work of Dan Curtis. Whether it was because of his famous Dark Shadows series, or the many TV movies that he had been involved with, you knew his work, even if you didn’t know his name. Author Jeff Thompson has done an excellent job detailing the life and work of this man, who had a major impact on the world of horror. The book gives a brief overview of his career, and then delves deeper into the horror titles. There’s a chapters on Dark Shadows, both the series and the films, the adaptations he did of the classics like Dracula, Frankenstein, and Dr.Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, and of course the creation of Carl Kolchak and the Night Stalker, as well as his other films. There’s a lot of information here, with plenty of quotes from Curtis himself, along with reviews of his work from many different sources. It shows just the type hard working and dedicated person that Curtis was, and his desire to produce scary programs for television and the big screen.
B-MOVIE HORRORS This is another great book if you want to learn about the ways of low budget independent filmmaking. Don Dohler has been making movies in his home town of Baltimore since 1976. But even before that, movie magic was his life. This book covers Dohler's beginning interests in filmmaking, from starting his own little magazine, to eventually going on to making feature films. His magazine helped and inspired future hopefuls that shared the same passion. Tom Sullivan, the man behind the special makeup effects of EVIL DEAD said that he learned a lot from Don's early magazine. "In the 1970's Don Dohler published "Cinemagic" a magazine that featured "how to" sections on head casting, making foam rubber appliances and building stop motion armatures and puppets. I could not have made Evil Dead without it." - Tom Sullivan But this book also covers every one of the five films that Dohler directed, from his first film THE ALIEN FACTOR, to his last one, BLOOD MASSACRE. Giving the reader an great insight at all the little stuff that goes on behind the camera of low budget films, from the first conception to the very end.
THE FILMS OF BORIS
KARLOFF This was a book that I checked out at my school library on several occasions. This was probably one of the first horror reference books that I can remember paging through, in awe of the different characters that Karloff portrayed, and wondering if I'll ever get a chance to see all of these films. That is when a list would start, hoping to catch on them on TV some Saturday afternoon. Bojarski & Beals go film by film, listing the information like the cast, credits, year, with a synopsis of the film. The info on some of the earlier silent film work that Karloff are very brief. But after the his success with Frankenstein, with his roles becoming larger, more information is listed. There also notes and reviews for each of the movies. Plus there are tons of stills from the movies throughout the book, showing us the many faces of one of the most talented actors ever to grace the screen. For Karloff fans and scholars, this is must book for their collection. Even if all the information might be found on the internet, this is a fun book just to page through, recollecting the actor's incredible body of work.
BORIS KARLOFF: A
GENTLEMAN'S LIFE Probably one of the most famous of classic horror stars, his name almost being synonyms with Frankenstein. All horror fans know might now a lot about Boris Karloff's career in the horror genre. But there's a lot of information about Karloff's life, and his work outside the genre that they probably don't know. Not to mention that there's plenty of interesting items about his horror films that some might not know. Since Karloff is one of our favorites, we were thrilled to read about this man's incredible life. Did you know that Karloff was one of the founding members of the Screen Actor's Guild? Or that he actually won a Grammy Music Award for Best Children's Album? Or that he played Captain Hook in a stage play version of Peter Pan? All of this, plus plenty more little tidbits can be found in this entertaining and highly informative biography on one of the most famous and most loved Hollywood bogeymen. The book not only lists all his film work, but also the countless radio programs, stage work, and everything else that was part of his long career. We couldn't recommend this book enough.
BORIS KARLOFF: THE MAN REMEMBERED We have read many, many stories of the kindness and gentleness of actor Boris Karloff. A man that couldn't have been farther away from the many characters that he portrayed on the screen, stage, and television. So why do we need another book to add to that? Because he was just that great of a man. Since Karloff was a very private man, there were many things that he did that not too many people realized. And with this book, Shriver recalls stories that he heard first hand from the people who worked with and new Karloff. For fans of this great icon, it will only put him higher up on the list than he already is. It's just a shame that stars like him really are a dying breed. This might not be the most interesting read for fans searching for stories of his horror movies, but if you want to learn more about the man, than you will enjoy this book as much as I did.
SHADOWS & LIGHT: JOURNEYS
WITH OUTLAWS IN REVOLUTIONARY HOLLYWOOD While a
lot of the biographies that I read are usually informative, I have never read
one that was as entertaining as this one. Not only did some of Kent's
stories have me on the floor laughing, but his way of telling them is priceless.
The guy throws metaphors around like a pork chop bones at a Southern Baptist
BBQ. Highly enjoyable read. Plus the fact that his stories of low
budget and "outlaw" filmmaking back in the early days of Hollywood are
incredible. His stories show us what true pioneers these independent guys
were, being able to make movies time and time again with sometime nothing more
than passion.
"I've often referred to BLOOD
FEAST as a Walt Whitman poem. This is a great companion piece to A TASTE OF BLOOD: THE FILMS OF HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS. Like TASTE, this book also covers Lewis' films, but has a lot of background stories to the making of them. There seems to be a lot of direct input from Lewis, with a lot of them being some very funny stories. This book shows a good sense of what really goes on behind the the camera, and how a film starts out, and what happens even before the camera is turned on. For fans of Lewis and his work, this is a essential volume for your collection. There is plenty of great stories on low budget filmmaking, as well as some very sound business advice from one of the kings of low budget filmmaking. A lot could be learned here for future filmmakers.
When I started reading this book, I knew a little bit about the man who gave birth to the gore films that we know and love today, but not a lot. But after reading it, that all changed. This extremely informative book is simply a must for serious fans of the genre. It covers the whole film career of H.G. Lewis, from his start in making the ‘nudie cuties’ to moving on to the gore and other types of exploitation films that he made. The author knows his subject and brings forth tons of information about the man and the movies, such as how the famous title credits to BLOOD FEAST were done. After an extensive look at each of Lewis’ films, the book then finishes up with interviews with Lewis, producer David F. Friedman, and actors Bill Rogers, Mal Arnold, Dan Krogh, and Hedda Lubin. The book is also filled with ad mats, photos, and 8 pages of color photos from his gore films. Once again, this book is highly recommended for all fans of not only the horror genre, but also exploitation films as well. Well worth the money!
FILM
ALCHEMY: THE INDEPENDENT CINEMA OF TED V. MIKELS The name of Ted V. Mikels is one that is not that well known in the film community. Unless you are a fan of cult movies. Then you are well aware of the name, and the man, and the movies that he has given us over the past 40+ years. And now thanks to author Curry, we are able to get a closer inside look at the man and his movies. Mikels' films can pretty much be the definition of "independent cinema". And in these pages, Curry does a great job explaining and showing the readers just what Mikels has gone through to bring his movies from conception to creation. It's not a pretty story in most cases. But as Mikels says in the book, "I always tell people at the beginning of my movies that if they're not here to enjoy the making of a movie then they shouldn't be here." I think that statement perfectly describes Mikels. He simply loves to make movies. This book is not written by a obsessed fan who praises everything that Mikels has done. For anyone who has seen a few of Mikels' work knows there are a few misfires in his cannon. But Curry does show the inner workings of Mikels and why some of his films are not as "good" as others. Not trying to make excuses for them, but at least lets us the readers understand Mikels a little better. Which in turn makes us look at his films under a much different light. But all in all, it does show the Mikels that is an intelligent and very talented filmmaker. A filmmaker that not only loves to make films, but also loves to pass on his knowledge and passion of filmmaking to anyone who is willing to learn. Curry takes a close look at 19 films that Mikels has directed, giving us plot synopsis, cast and crew, and then his thoughts, as well as comments from Mikels and other people involved with the film. There is also a great interview with Mikels at the end of the book. The book is filled with great poster art, promotional material, and some rare stills of behind-the-scenes. The only problem I have with this book is the price. As usual, publishers McFarland have done an excellent job with this product. It's a great looking book, filled with great photos and information. But with a price tag of $50 for a book a little over 200 pages is way too high priced. Which is really a shame, since this book and the subject of the book is something that more movie fans need to know more about. For more information about this book, go to their website: McFarland. You can order this book through the site, or you can call 1-800-253-2187.
For the most part, this book was an enjoyable read. The author covers 43 different actors/actresses known for their roles in the horror genre. Pitts also came up with a pretty good list of people, not the just obvious ones, like Karloff, Price and the Chaney’s, but names like Paul Naschy, John Agar, Lionel Atwill, and Robert Quarry. But there were several different errors that I came across. Yes, the mistakes are pretty petty, but when it comes to simple mistakes, I tend to get pretty anal about it. And the reason for that is simple. If I find mistakes in the writing, it tends to make me question the validity of the rest of the work. Simple as that. Not saying that the whole book is wrong, but there are some mistakes that are obvious to people who have seen and know the films. Here are some that I came across: In the chapter on Peter Cushing and the film BLOOD BEAST TERROR, Pitts writes “…Cushing as an entomologist who tries to create a ‘mate’ for his daughter, who can take on the form of a human moth.” Actually, Cushing played the inspector trying to uncover the reasons for the mystery deaths. Robert Flyming played the entomologist. In the chapter about Christopher Lee, he writes “In 1976 his production company made TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER, with Lee as a warlock at odds with a minister (Richard Widmark)…” First of all, Richard Widmark’s character is an author on occult books, not a minister. Once again, did Pitts see the film? Secondly, Lee’s production company, Charlemagne Productions only produced one film, NOTHING BUT THE NIGHT (aka THE DEVIL’S UNDEAD). TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER was one of the last films produced by Hammer Studios. While there are others, these criticisms are really about the information about the films, not the stars that the author is writing about. So I guess that’s not as bad as say a review book where the author obviously hasn’t seen the movies. One positive point of the writing is that it is pretty much devoid of opinions, other than some minor comments about certain films. He may be talking about an actor who is a “dismal” film, or something to that degree. But other than that, Pitts did a good job of just sticking to the stars. We’re not really sure what the original price was for this edition, but know that McFarland and Pitts have recently updated it in a soft cover edition. I’m not sure if they have made any corrections to the original text, or just added some new stars in it. While it is an interesting read, for that price I would think that you could do much better. It is a nice little book that gives you a little information about a lot of different people. But at that price, it doesn’t make it worth.
RETURN OF THE B-SCIENCE
FICTION AND HORROR HEROES: THE MUTANT MELDING OF TWO VOLUMES OF CLASSIC
INTERVIEWS This is a large book that combines two older interview books by Mr. Weaver. The first book was INTERVIEW WITH B-SCIENCE FICTION AND HORROR MOVIEMAKERS, published in 1988, and featured interviews with 29 different people in the business. Names like John Ashley, Beverly Garland, Richard Gordon, and Mel Wells. The second book was SCIENCE FICTION STARS AND HORROR HEROES, published in 1991. This had interviews with people like Hazel Court, Gordon Hessler, Janet Leigh, Richard Matheson, and Yvette Vickers. This paperback edition combines both of those books into one massive volume. Weaver has always been great at coming up with some interviews with people that nobody else seemed to of thought of. He finds people that may not be huge stars in the eyes of Hollywood, but they are to us fans. So if you are a fan of the classic films of the 30's to the 60's, you will love this book.
WOMEN IN HORROR FILMS, 1930's To be honest, I had gotten this book, along with WOMEN IN HORROR FILMS – 1940’s because they were severely discounted in their price by about 75%. I wouldn’t have even thought about paying full price for them. After reading the book, I still wouldn’t have paid the original price of $45. But for what I did pay for the book, I found it very entertaining, and very educational. Each of the chapters are dedicated to one of the stars from the 30’s. While some of the actresses covered may have only been in one or two genre films at that time, or even in their career, the films were of a major impact on the genre. The book covers 21 actresses, including Elsa Lanchester, Gloria Stuart, Frances Drake, and many more. One of the surprising elements of the book, that really surprised me, was that while other films of the stars are mentioned or talked about, it is not gone into great lengths, only the horror films. This makes it a lot more interesting for someone who wants to read about the horror genre, not necessarily the stars of the 30’s. Such as myself. So Mank does a great job going over the actress’ career and early life. When the horror films come up, more detail is giving, such as her feelings towards the director or fellow actors. There are a lot of interesting stories, a lot of them told directly to the author from the many interviews that he had done for the book. And since a lot of these women have passed away since the time of the interview, it’s nice to see that some of their memories about these films and the people who worked on them are preserved and will be remembered. The book also has over a hundred photos, and lists the filmographies of each star. The only negative remark I could give this book would be the retail price. It was published by McFarland, but I think that price is still too high. If you can find it cheaper, and are interested in the golden age of horror films, I would recommend picking this one up.
FRANKENSTEIN: A
CULTURAL HISTORY I have been a huge fan of the movie Frankenstein (1931), as well as the creature in all it’s appearances that it’s made over the years. So when I heard about this book, I knew I would have to add it to my collection, and started to read it the day in came in the mail. I have read quite a bit about the original story, the making of the film(s) and thought I knew quite a bit. But Hitchcock told me many things that I still did not know. By reading this book you’ll learn such information like where the introduction of the hunchback assistant was added. Or the whole concept of the damaged and/or criminal brain being used. These were not creations of the original novel. The book travels through time, starting with a history lesson on the creator of Frankenstein, Mary Shelly. We then learn of the famous weekend where the birth of the story happened. But the book isn’t just about the novel or the movies. It also goes into detail about the influences of the subject matter, moral implications of the characters actions compared to society, and the constant discussion of the advancement of science. We found this book to be quite entertaining, but more so very informative about a subject that breaks free of it’s presumption of just being a silly story about a monster.
THE
HELLRAISER FILMS AND THEIR LEGACY Like the film series itself, this book is a mixed bag. Let's get to the negative parts first. There's close to 50 pages on each of the first two films. Which is great and goes into a lot of detail. But by the time we get to the 7th and 8th film (DEADER & HELLWORLD), we are only getting a little over 10 pages on each film. Now granted, most fans care about the early films anyway, so that's not that big of a deal. And it seems that a good chuck of the later coverage is on the previous work of the people involved. So-and-so worked on this movie and and this person worked on that movie, and the cinematographer worked on this film and that film, and on and on, and less time on the actual film itself. But once again, do the fans care? But for the good points, author Kane has definitely done his homework here, digging up a lot of material about the series. He starts off with the original creator, Clive Barker, and his start up and how it lead to the creation of HELLRAISER. He also goes into some details about symbolisms in the films and different themes, but doesn't go way overboard, making them more Psycho-Babble than they are. He also discusses on certain changes of the films through their development. For example, on HELLRAISER: BLOODLINE, Kane talks about some of stories and outlines from the original scripts that had been written. This gives us a great idea of what some of the original concepts were, before the studios got a hold of them. There's plenty of interviews and quotes from many of the people involved throughout the movies. These are not only new quotes but also taken from interviews at the time the films were being made. Gives a nice perspective, from then and now. But lastly, the other bad part of this book, is the price. Sorry, but $45 is really way too much for this book. It really shouldn't be more than $25, or even $30 at the most. I understand that it is McFarland, and they do put out exceptional books. But for your average fan, they will not dropped that kind of money for a book about a series of movies that they really only like the first couple of films. Granted, it didn't stop me. For die-hard HELLRAISER fans, you will enjoy this book. But it really would sell a lot more copies if the price was quite a bit lower.
THE
TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE COMPANION There was a point where I really didn’t want to hear anymore about TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. Yea, I know the dinner scene was a real hell shooting it, but I had heard it so many times before, I just didn’t care. So the only reason I started to read this book, was to read about the sequels, and maybe come across something about the original that I hadn’t read or heard about over the last 20 years. Damn, was I surprised. I wasn’t expecting it to be so interesting of a read. You get to hear from just about everybody involved in the movies. And it’s in basically in interview form, so we’re not getting some critic's or writer’s ‘thoughts’ or ‘interpretations’ of the movie, but from the people who actually worked on them. Some of the remarks are taking from older interviews, but that still gives you a very good look at what was going on behind the scenes, as well as in front of the cameras. I was very surprised to read about the hell that Hooper went through to make the first sequel, which seemed to be an even worse of a time then the first film. I guess the only criticism I could give would be that it tends to spend more time with the original, and then less and less with each sequel. But then…do you blame them? If you are a fan of the series, or just one of the films, you are going to want to read this. If you want to hear about low budget filmmaking, you need to read this book. If you want to read about how producers can really screw with a movie, you need to read this book. And lastly, if you are any kind of a fan of horror films, this needs to be in your collection.
This book is long overdue. Finally, someone has taken a very serious look into this huge sub-genre of the horror film. While the zombies really became popular in the 80's, from Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD and Fulci's ZOMBIE, they have been around a lot longer than you think. Russell does a great job uncovering the beginnings of this sub-genre, that actually started in written 'travel / exploration guides'. Some of these were more sensational than anything else, but it gives a good history of the background of how the whole zombie thing started...with voodoo. And then that's where Hollywood came in. But by the time the 60's where coming to a close, George Romero took them in another direction. And once the late 70's / early 80's grabbed hold of this sub-genre, they took it to a whole new level. This is a must for any fan of horror films. Even if you're not a fan of the more gory Italian zombie films, this book still covers the early films like WHITE ZOMBIE and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, and plenty more to keep you happy and informed. |
While most
of Buchanan's work may be considered a waste of time and effort, he was not
without talent. For one of his first features, THE NAKED WITCH, was
brought to life when someone came up to Buchanan and said: "I want to make
a drive-in picture with lots of nudity and very little dialogue and all I can
spend is $8,000". And THE NAKED WITCH was born. This little
picture went on to make $80,000 in less than a month. Not a bad
investment, huh?
A
