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Reviews & Commentary by Adam Groves
MOVING VIOLATIONS
The “institutional comedy” model, established in 1984 by POLICE ACADEMY, was given a fair-to-middling workout in this science fiction-tinged comedy
FIFTY MILLION YEARS AGO
Or: 1925’s other dinosaur movie
THE CROW (1994)
A 30-year-old nineties time capsule that’s well worth a revisit
DEFENDING YOUR LIFE
One of the best afterlife comedies on the market
SERIE NOIRE
A 1979 French language take on Jim Thompson’s A HELL OF A WOMAN, directed by the talented Alain Corneau
THE COMMITTED MEN
The apocalypse-themed first novel by England’s enormously gifted M. John Harrison, who in more recent years has all-but disowned it
FUTURE WITHOUT FUTURE
A collection of six science fiction stories from an uncommonly skilled wordsmith and surrealist
DIONYSOS SPEED
A visionary concoction that can be categorized as surrealist poetry or avant-garde science fiction
LOT LIZARDS
Truck stop dwelling vampires, courtesy of the sorely missed Ray Garton
THE LOST STRADIVARIUS
An early entry in the music-based horror fiction trope that included Algernon Blackwood’s “Human Chord” and H.P. Lovecraft’s “Music of Erich Zann”
LIVING IN FEAR: A HISTORY OF HORROR IN THE MASS MEDIA
Just what the title says
PSYCHEDELIC SEX
What a great idea: a profusely illustrated guide to pornography of the psychedelic era, put out by the prestige outfit Taschen!
LANDIS: THE STORY OF A REAL MAN ON 42nd STREET
A must-read due to the fact that, simply, this is the only biography that exists on SLEAZOID EXPRESS’ late Bill Landis (1959-2008)
HOLLYWOOD ENDING: HARVEY WEINSTEIN AND THE CULTURE OF SILENCE
The latest in a long line of nonfiction accounts of the crimes committed by Harvey Weinstein
I LOST IT AT THE VIDEO STORE
This short and sweet oral history of the VHS era is enjoyable enough, but far from the definitive book on the subject
Barbie, Movie Star?
On the Barbie headlined films SUPERSTAR: THE KAREN CARPENTER STORY, BARBIE (1977), COOL KIDS HIGH and DOLLA MORTE.
FLICKER vs. ANCIENT IMAGES
I’ve always believed that in the category of movie-themed fiction horror is the ideal genre, as proven by FLICKER by Theodore Roszak and ANCIENT IMAGES by Ramsey Campbell
Cult Fiction 3: XXX Fiction
Here I’ll be turning my gaze to the most widely derided format of them all: smut, or XXX, books
Cult Fiction 2: Movie Novelizations
Movie Novelizations: the good, the bad and the hard to find!
Cult Fiction 1: Horror
Until just a few years ago one of the major plusses of collecting horror fiction was that it was incredibly easy, and inexpensive, to acquire. Not anymore!