Shock Festival [Hardcover]

Stephen Romano (Author, Artist), Tim Bradstreet (Author), Michael Broom (Author), David Hartman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 17, 2008

An illustrated history of 101 of the strangest, sleaziest, most outrageous movies you've never seen! An elaborate work of illustrated fiction, SHOCK FESTIVAL is a raunchy, hilarious tall tale of imaginary sleazebag exploitation films, lavishly brought to life with hundreds of exclusive, never-before-seen original movie posters and memorabilia items! It's the retro-dazzle of GRINDHOUSE meets the authentic 'mockumentary' appeal of SPINAL TAP in over 350 full color pages! From wild monster flicks like UNIVERSE OF BLOODY ZOMBIES; to the streetwise blaxploitation of CHOCOLATE CHERRI ON TOP; this illustrated epic is guaranteed to blow the most jaded movie geek's mind . . . and leave everyone else cheering in the aisles for more!

Editorial Reviews

Review

One of the greatest homage to B-cinema ever undertaken . . . SHOCK FESTIVAL is a breathtakingly thorough overview of over 100 movies and a slew of filmmaker and actors who never existed -- but which you'll believe actually did by the time you finish reading. And your eyes don't even have to touch the words to be convinced, thanks to the down-to-the-smallest-detail perfect collection of posters, newspaper ads, still photos and other visuals Romano and his art team have created. --Fangoria

Take a drop of Joe R. Lansdale's blood. Then a slice from David J. Schow's scalp. Scrape some phlegm off Tarantino's tongue. Inject some of Robert Rodriguez's sperm. Pour in some Karo syrup. Mix it in a blender. Pour. These are just some of the ingredients of Stephen Romano's unique work . . . If the buzz surrounding his new book, SHOCK FESTIVAL, is any indication, Stephen Romano's work will not only turn heads, it's going to make heads roll... --ChuckPalahniuk.net

While the term mockumentary practically wrote itself, it's going to take a clever writer to describe Stephen Romano's fictional alternate history of exploitation films . . . (Romano) has created a vivid universe filled with films you'd love to see and personalities you'd line up at a convention to meet, lavishly illustrated with a plethora of eye-popping posters, lobby cards, on-set still and ad mats for such ficional films as THE UNDERTAKER AND HIS WIFE and STARFIRE BEYOND THE GALAXY... Fans swept up in the recent wave of grindhouse nostalgia NEED to buy this book! --Rue Morgue Magazine

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Idea & Design Works Llc (November 17, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1600103227
• ISBN-13: 978-1600103223
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 9.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #761,882 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful. Bloody. A must read!, February 21, 2009

By 

J. Krall "Horror/Bizarro/Noir Author" (Noir Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shock Festival (Hardcover)

This book is for anyone who has ever dreamed of making their own movies, coming up with crazy plots ideas, crazy ideas for posters, etc. This is a book for those who enjoy the sleazy grindhouse movies of the 70s through the 80s: Horror, SF, exploitation, blaxploitation, action, and everything in between.

This book is for anyone who can appreciate creativity that is clearly a result of a labor of love.

Basically this is a book filled with faux histories and reviews of movies that never existed by should have. It's so detailed and realistic that if someone who is unfamiliar with the genres were to start reading, they probably would have no idea that the movies were nonexistent. That's how well written it is.

The book is filled with BEAUTIFUL retro-artwork. You remember all the cool movies posters of the 70s-80s? Well, you get tons of pictures that look just like that and they're so effective that you will start to get pissed off over the fact that there is no movie behind the poster.

You also get covers of faux novelizations of those books which will also make you sad that you cannot go on Amazon and order those books.

If you like exploitation/horror/grindhouse movies...I recommend snatching this book up before it goes out of print. You'll kick yourself for not ordering this, I kid you not.

I guess the downside of this book is that those people who do NOT like tongue-in-cheek false histories will not enjoy it. But that's not the fault of the book but rather a matter of taste.

However, I'd say my only criticism is that it's not longer! Don't get me wrong.. This is a hefty hardcover book that's about 350 pages so it's worth every penny. But this book is so good that no matter what, you don't want it to end.

Like I said, this seems like a true labor of love. It is evident that there was so much time and effort put into this book that you will start snubbing your nose at other books that cover the same topic (grindhouse/horror/exploitation films) even though they are covering real movies.

That being said, this is a truly BEAUTIFUL book that deserves to have a permanent spot on your coffee table.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite present!, September 27, 2009

By 

Karl Keene (Westville, Florida USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shock Festival (Hardcover)

In my 27 years of life I have never felt the need to review a product here or anywhere else. That changed when I received this book as a gift four days ago. Since then I have been marveling at the great grindhouse artwork and the equaly great stories of making these movies. I want to urge people to read from start to finish and not skip around so you will have the full effect of these characters lives in the movies. Thank you Stephen Romano for the best present of my life.

The only negative some of the pages came unglued from the spine very quickly.

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy the Book and the DVD Set Together, December 13, 2010

By 

Michael Costa (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shock Festival (Hardcover)

For anyone who is deeply interested in grindhouse/horror/exploitation/cult cinema from the 60's/70's/80's, this book is a must-have. All the proper accolades have already been articulated in previous reviews, but you will be blown away at the amount of detail and work that went into this--it's extraordinary.

For the full experience, also pick up the Shock Festival DVD/CD set. You get a ton of trailers that inspired the pseudo-flicks in Shock Festival, as well as original trailers based on some of Shock Festival's movies, created by moviemaking fans of the book. Lots of TV spots and an audio CD of radio commercials round out the fun. An amazing collection, and a great companion to the book.

It's a real affirmation to know others out there share the same bizarre passion for this era of filmmaking that I do. I grew up in the 80's, and although I never saw most of those movies at the theater/drive-in, they were easily identifiable by their oversized VHS boxes at the local video store. If the box was big, something jaw-dropping was inside. I feel sorry for anyone growing up today that doesn't have a chance to experience that sort of organic, warped serendipity.

Finally, if you haven't seen the 42nd Street trailer compilations (1-5) they're also a must view. #5 is entirely compiled by the folks at the Alamo Drafthouse, and Stephen Romano edited a documentary about the Drafthouse for the DVD extras. You can also catch the Alamo gang featured prominently in the Troll 2 documentary "Best Worst Movie."