TEXAS SCHLOCK is an essential guide to a fascinating, overlooked region of cult cinema. Author Bret McCormick knows this territory inside and out, writing not only as a fan but as a filmmaker himself. McCormick perfectly captures the crackpot appeal of low-budget classics like ZONTAR the Thing from Venus and rounds up an amazing rogue's gallery of schlockmeisters to tell their behind-the-scenes tales. If you love B-movies, you need this book right now! -David Szulkin, author LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT: THE MAKING OF A CULT CLASSIC
In its 114th year, Billboard remains the world's premier weekly music publication and a diverse digital, events, brand, content and data licensing platform. Billboard publishes the most trusted charts and offers unrivaled reporting about the latest music, video, gaming, media, digital and mobile entertainment issues and trends.
Welcome to Texas, where the things that go bump in the night are bigger and badder than anywhere else. Thirteen spine-tingling tales await, including Pendulum Grim, a chilling look at the disappearance of Ambrose Bierce, and Nia, a cautionary tale of political extremism. The real terror lies in stories like Warren, a haunting, ripped-from-the-headlines tale of how one man killed Halloween for a generation. E. R. Bills, a master of non-fiction and a voice for the forgotten, takes readers on a journey into the heart of fear with his latest collection of short fiction. With comparisons to Stephen King and Ray Bradbury, Bills’ writing is urgent and horrifying, blurring the lines between truth and fiction.
Through a top-secret process, 33 combat-hardened Vietnam veterans are headed into the past on a mission to secure the richest oil land in history as American territory.
John W. Campbell was the man who made modern science fiction what it is today. As editor of Astounding Stories (later Analog), Campbell brought into the field such all-time greats as Asimov, Heinlein, Sturgeon and many others, while his own writing blazed new trails in science fiction reading pleasure. The Moon is Hell is this great writer-editor's vision of the first men on the moon - written 18 years before Neil Armstrong made history. This is the story of the American space programme - not as it happened, but as it might have been.
An anthology of short stories in loving homage to those wonderful gorefest movies and books of the 1980's, that golden age when horror well and truly came kicking, screaming and spraying blood, gore & body parts out from the shadows...It was the decade that brought us everything in the cinema and VHS, from the Italian 'nasties' to Elm Street, The Lost Boys, Hellraiser, The Thing, Day of the Dead, Reanimator, Return of the Living Dead, My Bloody Valentine, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Cannibal Holocaust¿.and superlative directors such as David Cronenburg, John Waters, Roger Corman and - of course - Clive Barker. This exemplary 80's themed/inspired tales of terror has been adjudicated and compiled by one Mr Bret McCormick, himself a writer, producer and director of many a schlock classic, including Bio-Tech Warrior, Time Tracers, The Abomination, Ozone: The Attack of the Redneck Mutants and the inimitable Replicator. Todd Sullivan, Timothy C Hobbs, Mark Thomas, Andrew Post, James B. Pepe, Thomas Vaughn, Edward Karpp, Jaap Boekestein, Lisa Alfano, L.C.Holt, John Adam Gosham, Brandonn Cracraft, M. Earl Smith, Sarah Cannavo, James Gardner, Bret McCormick, James H Longmore
The New Republic of Texas is ripped from the headlines realistic, full of suspense, intrigue and adventure! Hank Pennington was happy being a rancher, watching over a few thousand acres of prime Central Texas land. He did his bit for God and country, paid his taxes, and left Texas politics well enough alone. But one day an odd, secretive man named Paul Anderson showed up and turned Hank’s life upside down. Soon he would find himself not merely thrust into the heart of Texas gubernatorial politics but entangled in a life and death struggle with forces only talked about on late night radio shows. When Paul Anderson first shook hands with Hank, he was a man with a mission. He’d single-handedly chosen Hank Pennington to be the man to wrestle Texas away from a United States of America he could no longer support or defend, an America controlled and manipulated by a cabal of wealthy men who lived in the shadows, pulling strings and controlling every aspect of government. There was only one chance, one option, and one man who could pull it off: Hank Pennington. Get ready for a rumble… Texas style!
What the critics are saying: "Beyond the bounds of depravity!"–London Evening Standard "Despicable . . . ugly and obscene . . . a degrading, senseless misuse of film and time." –The Los Angeles Times "People are right to be shocked." –The New Yorker From the murky depths can come the most extraordinary things. . . . Profoundly Disturbing examines the underground cult movies that have–unexpectedly and unintentionally–revolutionized the way that all movies would be made. Called "exploitation films" because they often exploit our most primal fears and desires, these overlooked movies pioneered new cinematographic techniques, subversive narrative structuring, and guerrilla marketing strategies that would eventually trickle up into mainstream cinema. In this book Joe Bob Briggs uncovers the most seminal cult movies of the twentieth century and reveals the fascinating untold stories behind their making. Briggs is best known as the cowboy-hat wearing, Texas-drawling host of Joe Bob's Drive-in Theater and Monstervision, which ran for fourteen years on cable TV. His goofy, disarming take offers a refreshingly different perspective on movies and film making. He will make you laugh out loud but then surprise you with some truly insightful analysis. And, with more than three decades of immersion in the cult movie business, Briggs has a wealth of behind-the-scenes knowledge about the people who starred in, and made these movies. There is no one better qualified or more engaging to write about this subject. All the subgenres in cult cinema are covered, with essays centering around twenty movies including Triumph of the Will (1938), Mudhoney (1965), Night of the Living Dead (1967), Deep Throat (1973), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Drunken Master (1978), and Crash (1996). Accompanying the text are dozens of capsule reviews providing ideas for related films to discover, as well as kitschy and fun archival film stills. An essential reference and guide to this overlooked side of cinema, Profoundly Disturbing should be in the home of every movie fan, especially those who think they've seen everything.
