Immoral Tales: European Sex & Horror Movies, 1956-1984 [Paperback]

Cathal Tohill (Author), Pete Tombs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 1995

European cinema has always excelled when it comes to "bad" movies. When continental moviemakers combined horror with sex, they unleashed a tidal wave of celluloid strangeness that lasted nearly thirty years. From sexy thrillers to pulp surrealism, from decadent erotica to blood-soaked vampire epics, nothing could go too far. Immoral Tales tells the fascinating story of this unique period, peeking into the kaleidoscope of visceral horror, maverick directors, and erotic invention.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"I urge you: learn how to look at 'bad' films, they are so often sublime." This remark by Ado Kyrou heads up the introduction to Immoral Tales, from which horror and exploitation film fans, especially Americans, can learn much indeed. Not so much a movie guide as an insightful critical overview of European sex/horror films (there is much overlap between the two genres), this book is elegantly organized into a sequence of essays proceeding from general themes (the history of horrific art, the surgical metaphor), to regional styles (Italian, German, French, Spanish), to individual directors (Jesus Franco, Jean Rollin, José Larraz, José Bénazéraf, Walerian Borowczyk, Alain Robbe-Grillet). The writing is intelligent, engaging, and packed with fascinating historical and technical details. The book includes plenty of photos and poster art (including many in color), a useful appendix covering miscellaneous actors and directors, an index, and a bibliography. Immoral Tales was a finalist for the 1995 Bram Stoker Award in Nonfiction.

From Library Journal

Sex and violence have been staples of the film industry since the beginning. Invoking this tradition, Tohill and Tombs do an admirable job of defining that particular genre of film that occupies a realm somewhere between pornography and horror and is inhabited by European independent filmmakers and mavericks. The usual topics are broached: economics, censorship, and the validity of artistic expression. Throughout, the authors employ a jaunty, informal tone, and their enthusiasm for the subject is apparent. That these films have literary antecedents ranging from Romanticism to comic strips justifies them as valuable pop culture products. Whether or not you buy into the authors' premise that, because these films eschew realism for the fantastic, they are somehow less exploitative or misogynistic than the hardcore stuff is another issue. Well researched and replete with interviews, critiques, and illustrations, this book is recommended for strong film collections.?Jayne Plymale-Jackson, Univ. of Georgia Libs., Athens
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (September 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031213519X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312135195
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #782,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars most interesting, April 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Immoral Tales: European Sex & Horror Movies, 1956-1984 (Paperback)

There are lots of books on sex films and there are lots of books on horror films. This is the only book I know of that looks at the sex/horror hybrid. I cannot explain why, but on-screen titillation is that little bit more piquant when shown in the context of a horror film. This is a marvellous book, and it contains interesting information about my favourite film of all time, "Vampyros Lesbos". Buy this book and seek out the videos.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential for Euro-horror and sleaze freaks!, September 6, 2005

By 

Prelati (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Immoral Tales: European Sex & Horror Movies, 1956-1984 (Paperback)

An instant classic, Messers Tohill and Tombs (and with a name like that you've got to go into horror or undertaking) lead the reader into the bizarre realms of European horror and sleaze cinema with verve and style. The movies they describe aren't for everybody, and neither is 'Immoral Tales', but if you enjoy poetically choreographed gore, naked chicks with too much mascara, and sheer oddball exotica, this volume's your unholy bible. The book's as slick, garish, sleazy, playfully pretentious, and exquisitely tasteless as its subject is apt to be (though not nearly as cheap-looking!). It's easy to forget in the age of the DVD how alien and obscure much of this was when 'Immoral Tales' was first published a decade ago, and its authors deserve kudos as authentic pioneers, just as you owe yourself a copy of this book you sick little cine-phile!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Essential, but does not cover all the ground, November 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Immoral Tales: European Sex & Horror Movies, 1956-1984 (Paperback)

Living in Europe, I had the extreme pleasure and opportunity to see a lot of Euroflics in cinemas - one experience that drew me to J. Franco was seeing "Freiras Perversas" in a century-old ex-opera house on vacation in Portugal ... in the cellar with some raincoat locals who clearly thought I was mad showing up there. Anyway. This book contains a lot of essential information on some filmmakers, most notably Franco and Rollin, whose work really is explored further than in all other books there are. But... the book tends to concentrate on directors rather than countries which makes sense as a lot of directors worked euro-wide. But then, you can't have everything. I found this book much more attractive than Mondo Macabro.