The 60 Greatest Movie Books
Essential page-turners to get you through Christmas...
BY Dec 14th 2009 16:16PMFILED UNDER: Features
User Comments (3)
25. Mondo Macabro: Weird & Wonderful Cinema Around The World
by Peter Tombs
A prime jumping-in point, not least because it graciously includes a few Top 10 lists from those in the know. Tombs favours description and factoid over meaty analysis, but chucks in enough cultural relativism to lend some mind-bogglingly lurid material a valuable degree of context.
Killer Quote: "The next scene shows the tiger licking the woman's bare behind and breasts, before the shaky hand of the censor cuts off any further dalliance."
24. Dark City: The Lost World Of Film Noir
by Eddie Muller
This highly stylised overview rewards patience, initially presenting Muller's titular City as an imaginary shared arena for the plots and personnel of every movie he references.
Get your head around his sprawling conceptual dystopia, though, and the insights and narration are every bit as hard-boiled as you'd hope.
Killer Quote: "Some of the best stories emanate from transients' hotels in the town's tenderloin; cramped rooms clammy with the residue of spoiled hopes."
23. Asia Shock: Horror And Dark Cinema From Japan, Korea, Hong Kong And Thailand
by Patrick Galloway
Galloway's worryingly hungry trawl for mangled manflesh makes you wonder how often he had to break off for a cold shower - the man sniffs out Asiatic viscera with a passion bordering on tumescence, but well-defined chapters (Family, Technology, Psychosis) just about keep him zipped.
Killer Quote: "Gore, ghosts, curses, cannibalism, voodoo, disease, zombies, demons,necrophilia, rape, torture, and bulging bin bags of body parts."
22. The Essential Batman Encyclopedia
by Robert Greenberger
Containing more information about Batman’s varied history than a Batcave computer, this is essential to Batfans old and new.
Cinema-goers introduced to the character by Christopher Nolan may be momentarily confused by many of the entries – including backgrounds of oddities such Ace The Bat-Hound and Harold, Batman’s hunchback mechanic – but then they’ll grin at the fact that literally every element of Batman’s bizarre back-story has been recorded for posterity.
Now, if only Bruce Wayne would get around to writing that autobiography...
Killer Quote: “The Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the criminally insane was located north of Gotham City, and had been the home to both average and superpowered criminals since its founding in the early 20th Century.”
21. Cronenberg On Cronenberg
by David Cronenberg
Most directors in this series treat the gig like 'An Audience With...', spouting endless had-to-be-there anecdotes.
Not so Cronenberg, who instead flings himself gamely onto a homemade shrink's couch to saw through the gore-and-semen-slung wreckage of his psyche. Generously freaky.
Killer Quote: "I would never censor myself... my fantasies, my unconscious...it would devalue me as a film-maker. It's like telling a surrealist not to dream."
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Print Comments (3)
1: DravenCage says
It's a good list of books, a list that surprised myself with how many I actually own already. I second the recommendation on the Batman encyclopedia (it really does cover virtually everything) and, as companion pieces, I'd also extol the virtues of the DC, Marvel and Spider-Man encyclopedias too (with the one on Catwoman rounding out the set if you have the cash - although I picked the latter two up in Poundland for, well, £1 each).
I will say that, despite all the good offerings over the 60 titles, I'm disappointed that 'Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th' didn't make the cut. It's one of the most comprehensive reference books I've ever had the pleasure to read and it gives you a whole new appreciation for both the series and what the Sean S. Cunningham did for movies in general.
Posted: Dec 14th 2009 // 11:01PMAlert a moderator
2: peter says
Not too sure "devil may care" should be in the list but otherwise a pretty good list.
For wannabe filmmakers I would also add:
"All I Need to Know About Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger" by Lloyd Kaufman and James E. Gunn
"How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime" by Roger Corman
"A Siegel Film: An Autobiography" by Don Siegel
Posted: Dec 18th 2009 // 11:24AMAlert a moderator
3: peter says
Oh and "Digital Film Making" by Mike Figgis :)
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