Movies
[Book Review] ‘Monsters in the Movies’ Nothing Short of Stunning
From B-movie bogeymen and outer space oddities to big-budget terrors, “Monsters in the Movies” by legendary filmmaker John Landis showcases the greatest monsters ever to creep, fly, slither, stalk, or rampage across the Silver Screen!
Landis provides his own fascinating and entertaining insights into the world of moviemaking, while conducting in-depth “conversations” with leading monster makers, including David Cronenberg, Christopher Lee, John Carpenter, and Sam Raimi– to discuss some of the most petrifying monsters ever seen. He also surveys the historical origins of the archetypal monsters, such as vampires, zombies, and werewolves, and takes you behind the scenes to discover the secrets of those special-effects wizards who created such legendary frighteners as King Kong, Dracula, and Halloween’s Michael Myers. With more than 1000 stunning movie stills and posters, this book is sure to keep even the most intense fright-seekers at the edge of their seats for hours!
Ryan Daley was blown away by the book, now available at retailers from DK ADULT. Read his review inside.
Wow, wow, and…wow. Monsters in the Movies is nothing short of stunning. John Landis’s photographic tribute to 100 years of horror cinema is a veritable treasure trove of dazzling images. Even though I’m constantly emerged in horror books and films, I never truly get sick of horror, but John Landis’s weighty tome (literally; the thing has got to weigh 8 pounds) is a compilation that has completely rekindled my love of the genre.
It’s not a book of film criticism, but rather, as Landis unequivocally states in his foreword, “This is a book with a lot of photographs of monsters in the movies.” And ain’t that the fucking truth. It’s 320 glossy, full-color pages of glorious cinematic monstrosities, each photo captioned in Landis’s unmistakably witty voice. In between chapters, Landis interviews fellow icons of horror like Sam Raimi, John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, and others. Their widely different answers to a similar set of questions (“How would you define a monster?”) provide an intriguing context to Landis’s glorified photo album.
I turned the page immediately following the foreword and was met with an incredible visual: a lavish photo from 1931’s Frankenstein, featuring Mae Clark laying supine on a bed as the monster peers in through a bedroom window, shot in a haunting black-and-white and spanning two full pages. It’s an auspicious introduction to the dozens of Kobal Collection photographs that are packed into Monsters in the Movies.
The book is organized by subject, rather than chronologically, grouping monsters based on their subgenus of scary. You’ll find a two-page spread devoted to “stakings” in the “Vampires” chapter, and a page on “gorgons” in the “Myths, Legends, & Fairy Tales” chapter. It’s not an all-encompassing horror encyclopedia, as Landis readily admits–some omissions, like Stuart Gordon’s Dolls, for example, are particularly egregious–but the photo selections (and prose) have obviously been culled directly from the author’s horror-nerd brain. What results is a peek into the very specific genre tastes of a legend like John Landis: the aspects of horror that he LOVES (lesbian vampire nudity; Near Dark) and LOATHES (Joe Johnston’s The Wolfman remake). But even if you’re not a Landis fan, the loads of breathtaking photos in Monsters of the Movies make this book a must-own for horror lovers.
4.5/5 Skulls
Described as “Ted meets ET,” David Mikalson’s raunchy comedy Goblin is being brought to life over at A24, and Will Forte (“The Four Seasons”) is now in talks to star.
Deadline first reported the news this afternoon.
Kenneth Branagh has been cast to voice the titular Goblin in the upcoming A24 movie, with the character said to be “green-colored” as well as “anatomically correct.”
Skyler Gisondo (Superman) is reportedly playing the Goblin’s human best friend.
The mysterious project sounds a bit like films including A Gnome Named Gnorm and more recently, Frankie Freako, though it’s important to note that it’s not billed as a horror movie.
Deadline details, “After [Mikalson] hatched the idea to make an outrageous buddy comedy about a goblin, using a practical puppet and operating outside the Hollywood system, his script quickly got him a rep team. While others might have eyed the raunchy comedy as a writing sample or planned to wait to see the micro-budget version Mikalson has been directing in Kentucky, A24 jumped all over it. The hot indie essentially has agreed to finance a full feature.”
“There was a lot of interest, but A24 came with what Mikalson really wanted, after spending all his money crafting the puppet title character: they acquired the movie and agreed to let him make it with a significantly increased budget than what he had left after creating the anatomically correct title character,” Deadline’s report goes on to explain.
What does the titular Goblin actually look like? Well, a cake that Mikalson had whipped up for his reps might give us our first look at what to expect. Deadline explains the photo you’ll see down below, “Take a look at the cake he commissioned with Marc Gravelle at Cake Art in West Hollywood, to present to his reps as thanks for making his dream come true.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.