Book Reviews »
Book Review: Screenwriter’s Compass (by Guy Gallo)
Here’s the deal with Guy Gallo’s book “Screenwriter’s Compass: Character as True North”: if you can survive the first 50 pages or so, it’s a very handy, practical how-to guide to get started writing...
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Book Review: Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
R has problems. Not least of which is the fact that he’s a zombie. Part of the living dead in a post-apocalyptic world overrun with the leading dead. No, that’s not really R’s biggest...
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Book Review: Swedish Sensationsfilms: A Clandestine History Of Sex, Thrillers, And Kicker Cinema
When you think of Sweden you probably imagine the picturesque Scandinavian countryside, universal healthcare, and buxom young blond women, who, at least as portrayed by every sitcom of the 1980, are ditzy and easy....
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Book Review: Zombies! An Illustrated History of the Undead
Zombies are in! After decades of mindless shambling in the confines of pulp magazines and B-movies, the living dead have finally reached the mainstream with the box-office success of 28 Days Later (2002) and...
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Book Review: Dark Stars Rising by Shade Rupe
Though unrelated to Lovecraft, in spite of the allusive title, Dark Stars Rising is a true Necronomicon, a Black Bible of transgression and transcendence, of the Other and the Beyond. Big words, I know,...
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Book Review: Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist
Undead is the new black. Vampires used to hold sway in horror fiction, with the fashionably black clad children of the night reigning in the 90′s and early 2000′s. But bloodsuckers are so 2003;...
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Book Review: Destroy All Movies!!! The Complete Guide To Punks On Film
“I think people, once you put a camera on them, they just can’t help but say some stupid shit.” -Ian MacKay A movie guide should make you want to watch movies, and none has...
Read More »Simon Pegg Talks Up His Memoir
Simon Pegg has done a lot of things over the course of his career. He’s battled zombies, journeyed into deep space, and been the inspiration for a comic book character (Wee Hugie in Garth...
Read More »Book Review: The Day After The Day After
In 1983 the made for TV movie “The Day After” exploded all over the faces of the American television audience. It famously drove home the potential horrors of nuclear war to President Ronald Reagan...
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Book Review: Just When You Thought It Was Safe — A JAWS Companion
With the 35th anniversary of “Jaws” arriving, it’s a bit surprising Universal Studios hasn’t done much to commemorate this landmark film. No Blu-ray release, no reboot, not even a theatrical re-release. Thankfully, author Patrick...
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Book Review: Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth
One day you’re boinking the President’s daughter, and the next you’re the unwitting partner of an honest to goodness vampire, who just happens to moonlight (get it?) as a secret agent/weapon for the United...
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Book Review: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
With all the hype surrounding the new Dan Brown novel, you’d expect to achieve orgasmic bliss upon turning the final page. The plot was deemed mega secret, and by some incredible miracle didn’t get...
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Book Review: Draculas, Vampires, and Other Undead Forms – Essays on Gender, Race, and Culture
Not yet another book on vampires! You may be excused for reacting like this upon seeing this title: vampires have been done to death – in movies, in comics, in fiction, in non-fiction, in...
Read More »Book Review: The Spirit Movie Visual Companion by Mark Cotta Vaz
There’s no denying the hard work. talent and sheer enthusiasm author Mark Cotta Vaz pours into his movie companion books. The Spirit: The Movie Visual Companion is definitely some of his best work, to...
Read More »Book Review: Bad Taste by Jim Barratt
The guys of the ‘Cultographies’ series are back at it again, with some new titles! We’ve already presented their first three books on this site: THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, DONNIE DARKO and THIS...
Read More »Book Review: German Expressionist Cinema – The World of Light and Shadow
Before there were genres, before there was Hollywood in its full glory, the cinema as art (but also as entertainment) flourished in Europe. The results were nowhere more astounding, groundbreaking nor more influential than...
Read More »James Bond: Devil May Care (2008) Book Review
(Book Review by Wes Topher) In celebrating the centennial of literary legend Ian Fleming’s birth, the trustees of the author’s estate appointed one of Britain’s most popular novelists to revisit the world’s most famous...
Read More »Film Genre: From Iconography to Ideology (2007) Book Review
This book is another one in the long and precious series ‘Short Cuts’ by Wallflower, made up of short guides to various aspects of cinema. The series includes titles like CRIME FILM: Investigating The...
Read More »Seagalogy: A Study of the Ass-Kicking Films of Steven Seagal (2008) Book Review
There are so many categories of fans. Take the average sports fan, for example. A sports fan, if he’s dedicated, can quote a plethora of statistics about his favorite team, highlight the strengths and...
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