I enjoy a fun horror novel and am a lifelong fan of comic books. So when I received a copy of Pizza Man: Or, the Pizza That Crawled Out of My A-Hole by Bryan Higby and Rick Snyder I was pleasantly surprised. The narrative was so vibrant, it’s about the closest you’ll get to a comic book without any visuals. If you’re looking for a story that never takes itself too seriously and maintains a consistent level of adult humor than this is page turner is for you.
“Why do good people like bad movies?” B movie director, Bret McCormick, not only poses this question but gives us a 250-page answer courtesy of Texas Schlock: B-Movie Sci-Fi and Horror from the Lone Star State. In fact, this book presents such an incredible homage to Texas’ low-budget films of the ’60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s, he made this lifelong Chicagoan feel like he’d grown up there. Not that you have to be a Texan nor seasoned movie fan to appreciate this as it’s the perfect resource for ingratiating younger fans to these movies while inspiring us older ones to nod with understanding.
The 2017 Rondo winning Scary Monsters Magazine just dropped their latest issue #108 and it’s so thick (178 pages) it could qualify as a book – and a Best Selling one at that! The theme is Outer Limits and I can honestly say it had an impact. The weekly sci-fi series aired several years before I was born though I was familiar with its famous intro. This issue peaked my interest and inspired me to actually get my money’s worth on HULU for a change and start watching. I’m currently on episode ten and plan to finish the whole series by summer.
Having graduated Class of ’89, the early ‘90s heralded my transition into adulthood. Although I had a job and was attending community college, those hedonistic days were also spent partying and having drunken horror movie marathons with friends. Although we may not have had any trouble staying dry, the same couldn’t be said for our entertainment. The golden age of slashers seemed to disappear as fast as our teens with trips to the video store yielding fewer and fewer results. Needless to say, any ‘80s-style horror stragglers were a welcome sight and today’s SteelBook Spotlight is a prime example. Whether the film’s charismatic masked killer or its “movie within a movie” homage to ‘50s sci-fi films, Popcorn made for an unexpectedly fun night back in 1991. And now, nearly three decades later, it’s been given an upgrade.
Horror books often find themselves on the silver screen and with mixed results. The Exorcist, JAWS, and The Omen are positive examples of book-to-movies but, unfortunately, for every Misery, there’s a Dreamcatcher. Sometimes the book is inspired by the film rather than its source material but, either way, there’s bound to be differences; subtle or profound. Today’s vintage book discussion is more of a rumble than a review and between one of my favorite John Carpenter films and a book written by Dennis Etchison to promote it. So let’s jump back to 1980 and revisit The FOG…
Special thanks to Angela “Bunny” Urban for sharing tidbits and photos from this past 2017 “Days of the Dead” Chicago!
Terror from Beyond the Dave 