By
Michael Vaughn. (2017/352 pp).
At
first glance, one might understandably assume The Ultimate Guide
to Strange Cinema is yet-another book dedicated to cult films.
After all, most movies embraced by the fringe crowd are
indeed strange and you'll find a lot of them discussed among these
pages.
But
author Michael Vaughn has a different agenda than providing the
umpteenth shout-out to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. In fact,
Vaughn only fleetingly mentions that cult classic when discussing some lesser-known films, such as its spiritual precursor, Phantom
of the Paradise, or Rocky Horror's completely forgotten
sequel, Shock Treatment.
In
addition to films with indisputable cult credentials, there are
detailed write-ups of obscure titles from around the world - bizarre Japanese mash-ups, Italian giallo &
gorefests, high falutin' art films, crazy classics, microbudget massacres...even
some major Hollywood movies that also happen to be really, really
weird. Some entries include interesting trivia footnotes and brief
interviews with people involved in the production.
Movies
are grouped in chapters by category and, for some genres, further
broken down by country of origin. Vaughn's knowledge and enthusiasm
for the subject is readily apparent, his writing style displaying
great fondness for most of these films (even made-for-TV cheapies
like Killdozer).
Though
he occasionally misuses an idiom or two and a few of his facts can be
disputed (no reference book is perfect), The Ultimate Guide to
Strange Cinema lives up to its title. Chances are even the most
dedicated fan of off-center entertainment is likely to learn of a
few movies they never knew existed.
KITTY CONSENSUS:
PURR-R-R...LIKE A GOOD SCRATCH BEHIND THE EARS
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