Customer Reviews

Re/Search #10: Incredibly Strange Films

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book changed my approach to writing, filmmaking, and life itself. It's an extremely unaffected yet affecting tome, which allowed a half-intellectual such as myself the unashamed ability to love the dumb things I love. It's a striking example of how art and entertainment lie in the world of heart, commitment, and sincerity, as much as in the world of craft or ability. Without it I would not have been able to write the filmmaking book I wrote with Lloyd Kaufman, All I Know About Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger.

It's been a year since I bought this book and read it; I still frequently go back to it. This is one of the best books on the subject of forgotten and low budget films, primarily exploitation. One of the key elements that makes this book stand out is that it does not view the films as a novelty or apply that so over used term "So bad their good." There's a real sincerity, respect, and intelligence regarding the subject, which is unfortunately rare. This book can see beyond the simple aesthetics, most of which are product of budget or lack there of, and get to the meat of what is significant and interesting about these films. The interviews and essays are interesting and intelligent, and the film list in back has yet to disappoint me. This book was able to articulate and intellectualize something I've felt ever since I saw Plan 9 from Outer Space when I was 11 and thought "I must get a copy of this." The Introduction alone is one of the best critiques of cinema I've come across, and I went to film school for two and a half years. A very valuable book in anyone's collection from a frequently fascinating source, Re/Search.

This book is an excellent guide to the odd side to film. It really made me enthusiastic about low-budget, high-creativity films. Besides excellent interviews with strange film-makers, it has a great guide to the many genres of strange films and an even more amazing guide to strange film personalities. I recommend this book for anyone, whether a film enthusiast or not, as an excellent way to find good entertainment and great reading.

As with all the Research Series books, Incredibly Strange Films lavishes the reader with little known information on a marginal subject with great detail. I originally received this book in 1986 and was immediately impressed with the exhaustive research of all our forgotten films as well as the profiles on directors such as H.G. Lewis. It also includes a helpful index (as far as I can remember) that will send you running for the video store. I haven't written a book on films but I know that you need not be a film buff or major to enjoy this book. The photos are reason enough to buy this book.If you don't believe me, just view the cover!

I have to agree with James Gunn in saying that the Incredibly Strange Film book changed my life forever. This book gives relevance to films that were, for the most part, regarded as B's, drekk, sleaze or just plain trash.

And again, like James Gunn, with out it I wouldn't have been able to write my own book about H.G. Lewis entitled, A Taste of Blood: The Films of Herschell Gordon Lewis.

If you are a fan or collector of `B' Films and rare eccentric movies, then this book is made for you. You will find commentaries and editorials of everything from low budget horror films like "Corpse Grinders" to many of those tantalizing Russ Meyer beauties. This book dredges through the archives of film to document some of the most under-appreciated directors of all time and hails those films made outside the chains of mainstream production. Re/Search #10: Incredibly Strange Films not only appeals to a large audience of cult film fanatics, but also is an incredible book to add to any collection.

I owe my eclectic taste in cult cinema largely to this book. It was seminal for me when it came out!

I love many of the films featured in this book, have seen many of them, and have read many books on the subject. Despite that, I just can't bring myself to like this book. Many of the worst attributes (gore, depravity, etc.) are glorified, analyzed, and rationalized in this book, while many of the more innocent pleasures of low-budget films are largely glossed over.

While I disliked the vast majority of the book, finding it ponderous and pretentious, I gave it an extra star (I had originally given it only one) for the insightful interviews with Ray Dennis Steckler and Doris Wishman, two of the true giants of the genre. Steckler and Wishman contrast markedly with the ghastly Frank Henenlotter, and the insufferably long interview with the ever self-important Larry Cohen plods on for an excruciating 26 pages.

The book has a modestly interesting "Genre Articles" section, which is like a longitudinal study of trends in B-movies (and therefore is useful to serious students of film) but the self-indulgent "Film Essays" section is a painful exercise in over-analysis.

As much as I love most of these films, I can't recommend this book. It is smug and intolerant (especially of organized religion and the US military) at all turns, and there are many better guides available.

As a side note, the book itself is very poorly made. The binding on my copy cracked and fell off, with all the pages falling out during the first reading. The book was in such poor condition that I put it in the recycling bin at the airport when I finished it today...not that I'll miss it.

Two stars for Steckler and Wishman (and for mentioning Coleman Francis).