Book Review: The Art of Hammer

One of the books I’ve been anticipating most is The Art of Hammer: The Official Poster Collection from the Archive of Hammer Films. Not only am I a fan of Hammer horror and all its lurid but classic films, but I also love poster art! Poster art was, and still continues to be, a major marketing force in cinema, and for good reason. In Hammer’s heyday, posters and handbills were generally the first thing people saw in regards to a film and would greatly influence their decision to see it.  To this day, studios spend a large chunk of change on marketing, which includes poster advertisements. So besides just looking pretty, posters serve a greater purpose in promoting a film.

This, and more, is explained in the introduction by author Marcus Hearn. This informative section gives a brief overview of Hammer Films, its poster artists and the importance of utilizing their posters for marketing. After this short but informative overview, the book moves into showcasing Hammer’s beautiful posters. The level of craftsmanship on these posters is very impressive, considering most of them were hand-painted or hand-crafted, not something you see very often nowadays. The posters are organized by decade, from 1950 to 1979, and really show why Hammer is almost as well known for its promotional posters as it is for the films themselves.

The Art of Hammer showcases the studios’ iconic posters with nearly 300 examples, both familiar and rare, drawn from Hammer’s own archives as well as from private collections worldwide. There are unforgettable images contained in this gorgeous book, from films like Dracula, The Gorgon, Curse of Frankenstein, Devil Rides Out, The Satanic Rites of Dracula, To the Devil a Daughter, Vampire Circus and many, many more! Besides posters of horror films, this book also features comedies, that are perhaps lesser known, that were released by Hammer studios. My favorite posters in the book were the foreign ones, which were just wild in the interpretations of the films! However, my absolute favorite poster was a black and white one for Dracula Has Risen From the Grave, which features a buxom beauty with two pink band-aids over bite marks on her neck! I love the cheeky vibe of this poster!

The Art of Hammer: The Official Poster Collection from the Archive of Hammer Films is a real treat for both fans of both the golden age of Hammer and poster art fans. The beautiful coffee table book showcases some of the best iconic posters from Hammer Films and not only that, it is masterfully made! The pages are glossy, thick and the book itself is huge! It is wonderful to see the colorful posters in such a large format that really pays them the respect they deserve. This is a book that will definitely grace your living room table for years to come.

A while back we reviewed another fascinating book from Marcus Hearn called Hammer Glamour that was filled with stunning photographs of the starlets from Hammer movies. I was extremely impressed with the book, and it looks like Hearn has done it again with The Art of Hammer. There is just an unequivocal joy to flipping through the colorful pages of glossy Hammer posters!

The Art of Hammer is being released November 23rd, 2010 and would make a breathtaking gift for that special person in your life this holiday season!

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Book Review: Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues edited by Loren Rhoads

You might recognize the name Morbid Curiosity, as it was a nonfiction magazine from 1997 to 2006 that has quite a cult following. Though the magazine has been defunct for some years now, its popularity has never really waned…and because of that editor Loren Rhoads compiled some of the best true stories featured in the magazine’s pages and put them in this delightfully dark book!

True Stories of the Unsavory, Unwise, Unorthodox, and Unusual…with that description on the front cover titillating me, I couldn’t wait to explore Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues as soon as I received it. In fact, it wasn’t relegated to my tottering stack of books needing review, but immediately was set by my favorite reading spot. My fingers were itching all day to pick up the book, and when I was finally able I flipped through the pages with gusto!

Here’s the synopsis from the back of the book:

For ten years, Morbid Curiosity was a one-of-a-kind underground magazine that gained a devoted following for its celebration of absurd, grotesque, and unusual tales – all true – submitted from contributors around the country and across the world. Loren Rhoads, creator and editor of the magazine, has compiled some of her favorite stories from all ten issues in this sometimes shocking, occasionally gruesome, always fascinating anthology.

This quirky book is filled with tales from ordinary people – who just happen to have eccentric, peculiar interests. Ranging from the outrageous (attending a Black Mass, fishing bodies out of San Francisco Bay, making fake snuff films) to the more “mundane” (visiting a torture museum, tracking real vampires through San Francisco), this curiously enjoyable collection of stories, complete with illustrations and informative asides, will entertain and haunt readers long after the final page is turned.

I don’t know what draws me to the morbid, the unusual, the weird or the downright offensive. I like to think it is mere curiosity, but I’m sure there’s also a darker nature at work here. The same dark nature that we all share, in varying degrees, that causes us to slow down when passing a horrible car accident.

The experience of reading Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues is also like rubbernecking; you know you shouldn’t be so interested, but you can’t help staring (or in this case, reading). You get sucked into the whole peculiar experience, whether it’s reading about loss of innocence, weird customs, grave-robbing, surviving a bomb explosion, hanging out with sanguinarians, necrophilia, assisted suicide, etc. It’s a very voyeuristic experience as you are given a glimpse into ordinary people’s lives that take an extraordinary turn.

The novel is nicely balanced in tone – the stories range from scary (“Lock it Behind You,” “This Is a Very Old Scar”), heartbreaking (“Killing Max”, “A Night in the House of Dr. Moreau), depressing (“Souvenir of Hell”), gross (“DIY Urology”) and shocking (“Holiday in Genoa”), but all are fascinating. My personal favorite stories included “The Keeper of the Shop” by Jill Tracy, a bittersweet tale about the mysteries of life; “Going into Tombs” by Hugues Leblanc about exploring and photographing the interiors of old mausoleums; “Feed” by Katrina James, about vampires in San Francisco; “Halloween Hell” by Mary Ann Stein, about managing a Halloween super-store; and “Blood Gags” by Frank Burch, about making fake snuff films.

Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues is a collection of the strange, the shocking and the sinister, but at the same time the stories are all so personal that they are also heartfelt and heartwrenching. These stories go beyond mere voyeurism, as through them you take a journey with the authors themselves to some very dark places. Like the authors, you won’t emerge unscathed, but perhaps you’ll have a deeper understanding of the dark side of the human psyche, including your own.

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Book Review: Vampires Don't Sleep Alone by Elizabeth Barrial and D.H. Altair

How would you like to snag your very own Eric, your very own Bill, or maybe your very own Edward (though BARF on that last choice!)? The cleverly cute Vampires Don’t Sleep Alone: Your Guide to Meeting, Dating and Seducing a Vampire can be your guide to unlocking the secrets to being lucky in love with your very own immortal.

From the back cover:

Passionate and dangerous, the vampire is the ultimate lover. Stalking his prey in the dark of night, he is not easily tamed. But armed with the right skills for seducing a sexy immortal, you can meet, date and ultimately sleep with the vampire of your dreams. Vampires Don’t Sleep Alone provides the vital information you need to take a walk on the dark side and delve into the pulse-pounding world of vampire love and lust!

Let me tell you, if I could have an opportunity to seduce Eric from True Blood…::swoon::…I’d do it in a second! And with the helpful hints from Vampires Don’t Sleep Alone at least now I’d be prepared!

Written like a self-help dating book that assumes vampires are real, it is a very enjoyable, funny and sexy book that covers many different aspects. You can definitely tell the authors have done their homework! First, it gives you an introduction to vampires and basic info on different types (“Nosferatu, Lord Ruthven, or Carmilla: What Sort of Vamp are You Looking For”), their complicated relationships with their makers and addresses the large age difference between most vamps and their human companions (“VILFs: He’s 700 Years Old, and So Are His Hang-ups”). It then moves onto a section on the etiquette of dating a vampire, including chapters on what to wear for your vamp, “The Lucy Westernra Predicament: What to Do if He’s Turning Your Friends”, “The Van Helsing Issue: What to Do When Your Friends Dissaprove” and how to address the issue of his past. The third and final section of the book delves into the romancing and bedding a vampire. It covers subjects like “Shapeshifting: A Form of Roleplay” and “Is Feeding Cheating?”, among other things.

Authors Elizabeth Barrial (co-owner of Black Alchemy Lab) and D.H. Altair (the nom de plume of author and Dark Delicacies proprietor Del Howison) have crafted an amusing and enjoyable read. I especially appreciated the fact that it avoided lovey-dovey Twatlight-like romance. Instead of glittery, emo vampires, Vampires Don’t Sleep Alone emphasized the danger and unpredictability of vampire lovers. Which, hello, is what makes vampires so attractive in the first place!

Darkly witty and seriously sensual, Vampires Don’t Sleep Alone is the perfect book for all vampire fans!

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Book Review: Horror Movie Freak by Don Sumner

Horror Movie Freak is a “gore”-geous guide to essential horror movies that will certainly be a treat for any horror fan, especially with Halloween right around the corner! This beastly book and its glossy, full-colored photos will definitely fit right in on any horror fiend’s bookshelf!

Plus, you know you’re in good hands when the book in question is written by the knowledgeable Don Sumner of Best-Horror-Movies.com! Don has compiled quite an enjoyable book here, full of essential horror films, plus a few fun surprises! The book is broken down by categories, including “Aberrations of Nature”, “Classics” that has sub-sections like Universal Horror, Hammer Horror and Other Classics, “Foreign Horror”, “Psychotics” and so on. Not only does it have essential horror film picks for numerous sub-genres, but it has great sections like “Beginner’s Shelf”, with horror movie recommendations for newbies, “Remake Nation” that discusses horror movie reimagings, a section dedicated to scream queens and even a section that has recommendations for horror flicks to watch on Halloween.

I really dug how the book is organized. Each film is given about a page of space, and in this page Sumner gives a brief synopsis and why the film was chosen to be included in the book. There are also quotes and full color posters and photos from each film. The page layouts are beautiful and eye-catching, making the book a complete package of both brains and beauty!

Though the book covers well-known horror films that most fans have seen, it is still enjoyable to read! I may not agree with all the selections in the book (Dead Silence?! Really?!), but Sumner backs up his choices with eloquent descriptions and explanations. For the most part all of the selections are indeed essential horror viewing and I agree with about 98% of the picks.

Horror Movie Freak is a polished and fun book that is chock full of horror movie info for everyone from seasoned horror fans to genre newbies. Its high quality, both in content and design, makes it a book that is deserving of any horror fan’s bookshelf! Let your Freak flag fly and pick up this stunning book today!

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Book Review: On Monsters - An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears by Stephen T. Asma

What do you think of when you hear the word “monster”? Do you think of what could be lurking in the shadows or do you think of the latest murderer to pop up on the news? Are our fears governed by the unknown or the ever-present threat that a monster could be living next door? Where do our fears of monsters even come from?

Stephen T. Asma’s masterful and whimsical tome, On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears, seeks to answer these questions by giving a comprehensive account of all kinds of monsters and their changing roles in society. Asma takes on through different eras to show us how monsters were perceived and how humans tried to explain and rationalize them. He covers five different parts with his book, starting with ancient monsters (griffins, Cyclops, gorgons, etc.) to Biblical monsters (Behemoth, Gog and Magog, demons, etc.) to scientific monsters (where seemingly supernatural or abnormal “monsters” were explained and rationalized by science) to the more modern “inner” monsters and examining their psychological aspects to the final part of the book which examines monsters today and tomorrow (terrorists, technology, etc.).

Asma’s expansive book seeks to examine monsters from the past and present and exactly pin point how and why each era’s monsters so terrified its denizens. The book explores how monsters were handled and how some became incorporated into scientific rationality while some defied (and continue to defy) logic.

On Monsters is an amazingly insightful, educational and even humorous book and begins with detailing some of the oldest recorded writings on monsters. Asma presents all the facts, then postulates on whether ancient monsters were actually real or just embellished accounts of extraordinary animals. He continues to do this across each era he examines, presenting more and more monsters that have been written about through the centuries. On Monsters would be a fascinating read if it were merely a catalog of monsters, but Asma goes much, much further than cryptozoology and examines the philosophies of many different cultures when dealing with “monsters”. For example, Asma delves into the philosophies of Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Darwin, Freud and many, many more to try and discern their views on the monstrous and how monsters fit into their world views.

Asma accompanies his cultural and philosophical studies of monsters with his many detailed drawings along with reprinted photographs and pictures from other texts. These add to an overall comprehension of the monsters and each era’s apprehension about them. It’s so great to be able to see interpretations as to how certain by-gone monsters looked (griffins, Cyclops, manticores, Behemoth, the dog-headed version of St. Christopher, sea monsters, etc.) as well as more misunderstood “monsters”, including people with medical conditions that were put into side shows (Fedor Jeftichew – the “dog-faced boy” and William Henry Johnson – “Zip the Pinhead”) and medical anomalies like the so-called “headless children”. Asma’s own drawings are extremely detailed and really look like sketches one might find in old scientific texts on supposed “monsters”.

On Monsters is an insightful and wondrous book packed to the gills with the history of monsters and how views on monsters have changed across time. Yet, each era will have its own examples of monsters and the monstrous can never be fully eradicated. Asma shows us that if we learn to live with our “monsters” our lives might be all the better for it.

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Book Review: George A. Romero Pocket Essential Guide

 

People usually associate George A. Romeo with zombie movies due to his reinvention of the zombie subgenre with his groundbreaking film, Night of the Living Dead and his masterful follow-ups, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. His zombie films are memorable not only because they are so spectacularly scary and gory productions, but also because they are socially conscious, delivering commentary on consumerism, racism, war, etc. that is still relevant today.

Romeo went on to make two more zombie films in his Dead series – Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead – and has plans to make more, but people don’t realize just how varied his filmography really is. People tend to overlook his other horror films like Martin, The Crazies, Bruiser in favor of his zombie yarns, but these underrated flicks deserve to be seen too.

In Tom Fallows and Curtis Owen’s new book, the George A. Romero Pocket Essential Guide, the two authors explore many of George A. Romero’s films, horror or otherwise, with an in-depth analysis on each of his works. They chronologically cover Romero’s films, giving us a kind of timeline to chart Romero’s maverick career. Each film is broken down over several categories, including a synopsis, any trouble the production ran into, trivia, social commentary within the film, history, etc. Each entry offers an insightful look at the filmmaking process and Romero’s career.

Authors Fallows and Owen do a marvelous job of covering Romero’s filmography from his well-known Dead series to lesser-known works. The direct and strong writing style ensures that the authors cover a ton of information in a small amount of space. The amount of trivia, facts and other information they have compiled is pretty expansive and covers Romero’s films in-depth. Their enthusiasm is engaging and really makes you want to check out lesser-known Romero titles or re-watch ones you already have. The only complaint I had was what I saw as unfair treatment of Land of the Dead. They barely covered the film and gave it a pretty scathing review, though most of the other films were treated with reverence or at least respect (even the awful Diary of the Dead!).

Beside that, though, the book made me fall in love with Romero’s cinema all over again and actively seek out and re-watch many of his films. George A. Romero Pocket Essential Guide is a must-own for any George A. Romero fan, whether you own all his films or have just seen a few. Either way, you’ll learn a lot about the “Don of the Dead” and come to appreciate his films, both well-known and obscure, much more.

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