Video Nasty Mayhem opens the vault on the British film distributor VIPCO, and finds there are plenty of surprises. The book also includes reviews on more than 60 of VIPCO's films, offers a standalone chapter on cult director Lucio Fulci, highlights Mike Lee's turn at producing movies, and more.
A carefree memoir of growing up during the golden age of VHS and video rental stores in the 1980s. This humorous nostalgia trip rewinds to an era of chunky plastic tapes, horror movie sleepovers, and rewinding woes. Relive the magic of discovering cinema through the blurry analogue footage, cheesy effects, and garish cover art of the VHS generation. A warm remembrance of all that was sublime and ridiculous about watching movies on tape during the heyday of the video rental store. From dodgy splatter films to DIY camcorder creations, this book celebrates a bygone media age and the role VHS played in shaping many a budding filmmaker. Sit back and soak in the fuzzy signals of yesteryear for a heartfelt trip back to the fascinating world of VHS.
Who would believe that choral singing could prove such a deadly pastime? Virginia and Richard Grainger, new members of the Standchester Choral Society, are looking forward, nervously, to their first public performance with the choir, in a production of Berlioz's 'Romeo and Juliet'. As the performance opens, though, tragedy strikes in the form of a very public death. While coping with the repercussions of this, Virginia also has to tussle with the personal problems of her next-door neighbour, Caroline. As plans to re-schedule the concert are being made, another death occurs, and Virginia begins to realise that her own life may be in danger, as she feels the tangled web of deceit and malice tighten around her ...
In bestselling author John Gilstrap’s ticking time bomb of a thriller, freelance operative Jonathan Grave penetrates a terrorist cell to stop the detonation of total mayhem on home ground . . . America is under fire. One by one, simultaneous terror attacks have left the country reeling. The perpetrators are former Special Forces operatives working for ISIS. Jonathan Grave and his team are called to go undercover and eliminate the traitors. No need to collect intel. No need for arrest. Wipe them out—and get out. The assaults are rehearsals for extreme disaster. A plot codenamed Retribution. One terrorist is willing to talk—for a price. Grave’s only resort is to slip into a dark web where everything can be exposed. Where the rules of engagement do not hold. The bombs have been set and Grave is the one being hunted. Unless he can save himself first, a terrorist plot of unimaginable scope will become history’s deadliest disaster . . .
A fourteen-year-old gets accepted into a school for extreme athletes. Suddenly, his life goes from ordinary to extraordinary. He learns parkour and all the moves and risks of wingsuits and daredevil stunts. But controversy follows hot on his tail, attracting both positive and negative attention. One source of such attention is a corrupt businessman who tries to weasel his way out of a fair deal, and soon the two square off in an obstacle course of his creation. Miles Monahan's novel Shift to the Extreme is the first in an exciting series focused on young teens and the way they use their extreme-sports skills to change the world and save the day. With this page-turning story, Monahan seems to tell his young readers: Don't just wait for magic to happen-be active now, and maybe you too can do something incredible.
A social history of the ‘video nasty’. In the early 1980s, video technology forever changed the face of home entertainment. The videocassette – a handy-sized cartridge of magnetic tape inside a plastic shell – domesticated cinema as families across Britain began to consume films in an entirely new way. Demand was high and the result was a video gold rush, with video rental outlets appearing on every high street almost overnight. Without moderation their shelves filled with all manner of films depicting unbridled sex and violence. A backlash was inevitable. Video was soon perceived as a threat to society, a view neatly summed up in the term ‘video nasties’. CANNIBAL ERROR chronicles the phenomenal rise of video culture through a tumultuous decade, its impact and its aftermath. Based on extensive research and interviews, the authors provide a first-hand account of Britain in the 1980s, when video became a scapegoat for a variety of social ills. It examines the confusion spawned by the Video Recordings Act 1984, the subsequent witch hunt that culminated in police raids and arrests, and offers insightful commentary on many contentious and ‘banned’ films that were cited by the media as influential factors in several murder cases. It also investigates the cottage industry in illicit films that developed as a direct result of the ‘video nasty’ clampdown. CANNIBAL ERROR, a revised and reworked edition of SEE NO EVIL (2000), is an exhaustive and startling overview of Britain’s ‘video nasty’ panic, the ramifications of which are still felt today.
Four o'clock in the morning, and the lights are on and still there's no way we're going to sleep, not after the film we just saw. The book we just read. Fear is one of the most primal human emotions, and one of the hardest to reason with and dispel. So why do we scare ourselves? It seems almost mad that we would frighten ourselves for fun, and yet there are thousands of books, films, games, and other forms of entertainment designed to do exactly that. As Darryl Jones shows, the horror genre is huge. Ranging from vampires, ghosts, and werewolves to mad scientists, Satanists, and deranged serial killers, the cathartic release of scaring ourselves has made its appearance in everything from Shakespearean tragedies to internet memes. Exploring the key tropes of the genre, including its monsters, its psychological chills, and its love affair with the macabre, Darryl Jones discusses why horror stories disturb us, and how society responds to literary and film representations of the gruesome and taboo. Should the enjoyment of horror be regarded with suspicion? Are there different levels of the horrific, and should we distinguish between the commonly reviled carnage of contemporary torture porn and the culturally acceptable bloodbaths of ancient Greek tragedies? Analysing the way in which horror manifests multiple personalities, and has been used throughout history to articulate the fears and taboos of the current generation, Jones considers the continuing evolution of the genre today. As horror is mass marketed to mainstream society in the form of romantic vampires and blockbuster hits, it also continues to maintain its former shadowy presence on the edges of respectability, as banned films and violent internet phenomena push us to question both our own preconceptions and the terrifying capacity of human nature.
This book chronicles the American horror film genre in its development of remakes from the 1930s into the 21st century. Gus Van Sant's 1998 remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) is investigated as the watershed moment when the genre opened its doors to the possibility that any horror movie--classic, modern, B-movie, and more--might be remade for contemporary audiences. Staple horror franchises--Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980), and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)--are highlighted along with their remake counterparts in order to illustrate how the genre has embraced a phenomenon of remake productions and what the future of horror holds for American cinema. More than 25 original films, their remakes, and the movies they influenced are presented in detailed discussions throughout the text.
The TLA Film, Video and DVD Guide 2004 is the absolutely indispensable guide to worthwhile cinema. It includes over 10,000 entries on the best of film and video that a real film lover might actually want to see. Unlike some of the other mass market guides that tend to be clogged with unenlightening entries on even more unenlightening films, TLA focuses on independent, foreign as well as the best of Hollywood to bring the cineaste an opinionated guide that is both fun to read and easy to use. The guide includes: * Reviews of more than 10,000 entries * Four detailed indexes--by star, director, country of origin, and theme. * More than 300 photos throughout * A listing of all the major film awards of the past quarter century, as well as TLA Bests and recommended films *A comprehensive selection of cinema from over 50 countries. From one of the finest names in video retailing and a growing rental chain comes the latest edition of one of the most respected film, video, and DVD guides. The TLA Film, Video and DVD Guide is perfect for anyone with an eclectic taste in cinema.