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Bleeding Skull Unleashes a 1990’s Trash Horror Deep Dive In New Book

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The internet may very well be the greatest creation ever wrought by mankind. A wealth of human knowledge is available at the tips of our fingers through our smartphones and computers.  And in all honesty… it’s made movie searching a little boring. There was a time when the only way to look up movies were through guidebooks or word or mouth. Horror movies in particular would catch on by word of mouth, like a gory version of telephone hyping up a title until you could potentially find it. Or catching the tail end of something wild and bloody at random late at night on a local channel. Lately, it’s felt like there is no longer much uncharted territory. Which is why I’m so thankful for the cinemaniacs at Bleeding Skull and their latest book, A 1990’s Trash Odyssey!

Image via Fantagraphics

 

Bleeding Skull is a website that was founded in 2004 by Joseph A. Ziemba with the mission statement “to share a passion for obscure trash-horror films and honor the filmmakers behind them.” Since then, the website has reviewed and catalogued hundreds of independant, SOV, DIY, and lo-fi movies that most often defy categorization, logic, or sanity. A few years back in 2013, they released their first book, Bleeding Skull! A 1980’s Trash Odyssey and have now followed it up with the following equally trash filled go-go 90’s co-authored with Annie Choi and Zack Carlson and published by Fantagraphics.

 

Image via Fantagraphics

The book opens on a forward by SOV filmmakers Mark Polonia who was involved in numerous facets of dozens of video horror movies including HellspawnSaurians, and Savage House. Giving a history lesson and salute to those who made their own movies thanks to the more readily available technology that the 1990’s wrought and the drive and determination such a field entails. Sure, these movies are of varying quality, but you have to salute someone who went through all of that and came out the other side with a completed movie. After that is an introduction by Ziema, Choi, and Carlson that repeats their mission statement and prepares readers for the trash tome they are about to dive into.

What follows is an ‘A to Z’ guidebook of some of the most absurd and zonked out lo-fi horror you never could have imagined. from 5 Dark Souls to Zombie Genocide, you are certain to unearth something that will be of interest. Each entry featuring a usually anecdote laced review and partial synopsis by one of the authors along with a screencap, promotional, or poster to give just a brief glimpse into what kind of madness you can expect from any given title. And with 250 titles to read through, you have a bounty of b-movies to binge and all but guaranteed to discover something new you would have never even heard about otherwise.

Image via Fantagraphics

Sometimes the anecdotal sections of the recaps can feel a little distracting from the entry, but each author always makes each title enthralling to hear about even if you’re not as interested in actually watching the movie in question. It’s also fun to see a few titles that have had some form of revival through video labels such as Severin Films and The American Genre Film Archive to movies like Dark Harvest and Scary Tales for example, adding further credence to the worth of even ‘trash’ movies. Who knows what else from the book might find second life on DVD and blu-ray! The quality of the book itself is quite nice, being a softcover with glossy and colorful pages as opposed to the prior books black and white paper newsprint style. A bright upgrade to an arguably brighter decade cinematically.

Which is one of the highlights of the book and the foundation of Bleeding Skull! Though they highlight trash-horror, and they do poke fun at it, they celebrate it instead of tearing it down. Low budget titles like Dream StalkerJack-o, and Rot among many other have their follies and insanity examined but still get a recommendation for being what they are. In ode to those brave enough to bring their vision to life no matter if it defied budget or common sense.

At the end of the day, if you’re someone seeking new experiences and unknowns in horror and bizarro movies, this tome is your Hellraiser puzzle box and Bleeding Skull has such sights to show you and hours worth of entertainment!

Bleeding Skull! A 1990’s Trash-Horror Odyssey is available now from Fantastigraphics and wherever books are sold.

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‘Alien’ is Being Made Into a Children’s ABC Book

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Alien Book

That Disney buyout of Fox is making for strange crossovers. Just look at this new children’s book that teaches children the alphabet via the 1979 Alien movie.

From the library of Penguin House’s classic Little Golden Books comes A is for Alien: An ABC Book.

Pre-Order Here

The next few years are going to be big for the space monster. First, just in time for the film’s 45th anniversary, we are getting a new franchise film called Alien: Romulus. Then Hulu, also owned by Disney is creating a television series, although they say that might not be ready until 2025.

The book is currently available for pre-order here, and is set to release on July 9, 2024. It might be fun to guess which letter will represent which part of the movie. Such as “J is for Jonesy” or “M is for Mother.”

Romulus will be released in theaters on August 16, 2024. Not since 2017 have we revisited the Alien cinematic universe in Covenant. Apparently, this next entry follows, “Young people from a distant world facing the most terrifying life form in the universe.”

Until then “A is for Anticipation” and “F is for Facehugger.”

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Holland House Ent. Announces New Book “Oh Mother, What Have You Done?”

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Screenwriter and Director Tom Holland is delighting fans with books containing scripts, visual memoirs, continuation of stories, and now behind-the-scenes books on his iconic films. These books offer a fascinating glimpse into the creative process, script revisions, continued stories and the challenges faced during production. Holland’s accounts and personal anecdotes provide a treasure trove of insights for movie enthusiasts, shedding new light on the magic of filmmaking! Check out the press release below on Hollan’s newest fascinating story of the making of his critically acclaimed horror sequel Psycho II in a brand new book!

Horror icon and filmmaker Tom Holland returns to the world he envisioned in 1983’s critically acclaimed feature film Psycho II in the all-new 176-page book Oh Mother, What Have You Done? now available from Holland House Entertainment.

‘Psycho II’ House. “Oh Mother, What Have You Done?”

Authored by Tom Holland and containing unpublished memoirs by late Psycho II director Richard Franklin and conversations with the film’s editor Andrew London, Oh Mother, What Have You Done? offers fans a unique glimpse into the continuation of the beloved Psycho film franchise, which created nightmares for millions of people showering worldwide.

Created using never-before-seen production materials and photos – many from Holland’s own personal archive – Oh Mother, What Have You Done? abounds with rare hand-written development and production notes, early budgets, personal Polaroids and more, all set against fascinating conversations with the film’s writer, director and editor which document the development, filming, and reception of the much-celebrated Psycho II.  

‘Oh Mother, What Have you Done? – The Making of Psycho II

Says author Holland of writing Oh Mother, What Have You Done? (which contains an afterward by Bates Motel producer Anthony Cipriano), I wrote Psycho II, the first sequel that began the Psycho legacy, forty years ago this past summer, and the film was a huge success in the year 1983, but who remembers? To my surprise, apparently, they do, because on the film’s fortieth anniversary love from fans began to pour in, much to my amazement and pleasure. And then (Psycho II director) Richard Franklin’s unpublished memoirs arrived unexpectedly. I’d had no idea he’d written them before he passed in 2007.”

“Reading them,” continues Holland, “was like being transported back in time, and I had to share them, along with my memories and personal archives with the fans of Psycho, the sequels, and the excellent Bates Motel. I hope they enjoy reading the book as much as I did in putting it together. My thanks to Andrew London, who edited, and to Mr. Hitchcock, without whom none of this would have existed.”

“So, step back with me forty years and let’s see how it happened.”

Anthony Perkins – Norman Bates

Oh Mother, What Have You Done? is available now in both hardback and paperback through Amazon and at Terror Time (for copies autographed by Tom Holland)

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Sequel to ‘Cujo’ Just One Offering in New Stephen King Anthology

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It’s been a minute since Stephen King put out a short story anthology. But in 2024 a new one containing some original works is getting published just in time for summer. Even the book title “You Like It Darker,” suggests the author is giving readers something more.

The anthology will also contain a sequel to King’s 1981 novel “Cujo,” about a rabid Saint Bernard that wreaks havoc on a young mother and her child trapped inside a Ford Pinto. Called “Rattlesnakes,” you can read an excerpt from that story on Ew.com.

The website also gives a synopsis of some of the other shorts in the book: “The other tales include ‘Two Talented Bastids,’ which explores the long-hidden secret of how the eponymous gentlemen got their skills, and ‘Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,’ about a brief and unprecedented psychic flash that upends dozens of lives. In ‘The Dreamers,’ a taciturn Vietnam vet answers a job ad and learns that there are some corners of the universe best left unexplored while ‘The Answer Man’ asks if prescience is good luck or bad and reminds us that a life marked by unbearable tragedy can still be meaningful.”

Here’s the table of contents from “You Like It Darker,”:

  • “Two Talented Bastids”
  • “The Fifth Step”
  • “Willie the Weirdo”
  • “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream”
  • “Finn”
  • “On Slide Inn Road”
  • “Red Screen”
  • “The Turbulence Expert”
  • “Laurie”
  • “Rattlesnakes”
  • “The Dreamers”
  • “The Answer Man”

Except for “The Outsider” (2018) King has been releasing crime novels and adventure books instead of true horror in the past few years. Known mostly for his terrifying early supernatural novels such as “Pet Sematary,” “It,” “The Shining” and “Christine,” the 76-year-old author has diversified from what made him famous starting with “Carrie” in 1974.

A 1986 article from Time Magazine explained that King planned on quitting horror after he wrote “It.” At the time he said there was too much competition, citing Clive Barker as “better than I am now” and “a lot more energetic.” But that was almost four decades ago. Since then he’s written some horror classics such as “The Dark Half, “Needful Things,” “Gerald’s Game,” and “Bag of Bones.”

Maybe the King of Horror is waxing nostalgic with this latest anthology by revisiting the “Cujo” universe in this latest book. We will have to find out when “You Like It Darker” hits bookshelves and digital platforms starting May 21, 2024.

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