A Genuine Monster


Book Description




Slimetime


Book Description

Utilising in-depth reviews, cast and plot details, Slimetime wallows in those films which the world has deemed it best to forget - everything from cheesy no-budget exploitation to the embarrassing efforts of Major Studios. Many of these films have never seen a major release, some were big hits, and others have simply vanished. To compliment the wealth of reviews on sci-fi, schlock, flower power and puppet people films are detailed essays on specific sleaze genres such as Biker, Blaxploitation and Drug movies. Fully updated and revised with new reviews and new illustrations.




Ishiro Honda


Book Description

“An appreciation of Japanese fantasy-film history through the eyes of a filmmaker whose name is obscure but populism remains influential.” —Chicago Tribune Ishiro Honda, arguably the most internationally successful Japanese director of his generation, made an unmatched succession of science fiction films that were commercial hits worldwide. From the atomic allegory of Godzilla and the beguiling charms of Mothra to the tragic mystery of Matango and the disaster and spectacle of Rodan, The Mysterians, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Honda’s films reflected postwar Japan’s anxieties and incorporated fantastical special effects, a formula that created an enduring pop culture phenomenon. Now, in the first full account of this overlooked director’s life and career, Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski shed new light on Honda’s work and the experiences that shaped it—including his days as a reluctant Japanese soldier, witnessing the aftermath of Hiroshima, and his lifelong friendship with Akira Kurosawa. The book features close analysis of Honda’s films (including, for the first time, his rarely seen dramas, comedies, and war films) and draws on previously untapped documents and interviews to explore how creative, economic, and industrial factors impacted his career. Fans of Godzilla and tokusatsu (special effects) film, and of Japanese film in general, will welcome this in-depth study of a highly influential director who occupies a uniquely important position in science fiction and fantasy cinema, as well as world cinema. “Provides the reader with a lasting sense of the man—his temperament, values, philosophies, dreams, and disappointments?behind some of cinema’s most beloved characters.” —Film Comment




Japan's Favorite Mon-star


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Bigger, badder, and more durable than Hollywood's greatest action heroes, Godzilla emerged from the mushroom cloud of an H-bomb test in 1954 to trample Tokyo. More than 40 years later, he reigns as the undisputed monarch of movie monsters, with legions of fans spanning several generations and countless international boundaries.




In the Spooklight


Book Description

IN THE SPOOKLIGHT is a collection of 115 horror movie review columns by Stoker nominated author and film critic Michael Arruda, covering movies from the silent era up until today. The column "In the Spooklight" has appeared monthly in the pages of THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE HORROR WRITERS ASSOCIATION since the summer of 2000. If you love horror movies, you're sure to enjoy Arruda's take on the genre. It's informative, humorous, and most of all, it's a heck of a lot of fun. Make a movie monster happy.




The Sci-Fi Movie Guide


Book Description

From the trashy to the epic, from the classics to today's blockbusters, this cinefile’s guidebook reviews nearly 1,000 of the biggest, baddest, and brightest from every age and genre of cinematic science fiction! Once upon a time, science fiction was only in the future. It was the stuff of drive-ins and cheap double-bills. Then, with the ever-increasing rush of new, society-altering technologies, science fiction pushed its way to the present, and it busted out of the genre ghetto of science fiction and barged its way into the mainstream. What used to be mere fantasy (trips to the moon? Wristwatch radios? Supercomputers capable of learning?) are now everyday reality. Whether nostalgic for the future or fast-forwarding to the present, The Sci-Fi Movie Guide: The Universe of Film from Alien to Zardoz covers the broad and widening range of science-fiction movies. You’ll find more than just Star Wars, Star Trek, and Transformers, with reviews on many overlooked and under-appreciated gems and genres, such as ... Monsters! Pacific Rim, Godzilla, The Thing, Creature from the Black Lagoon Superheroes: Thor, Iron Man, X-Men, The Amazing Spider-man, Superman Dystopias: THX 1138, 1984, The Hunger Games Avant-garde masterpieces: Solaris, 2001, Brazil, The Man Who Fell to Earth Time travel: 12 Monkeys, The Time Machine, Time Bandits, Back to the Future Post-apocalyptic action: The Road Warrior, I Am Legend, Terminator Salvation Comedy: Dark Star, Mars Attacks!, Dr. Strangelove, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension, Mystery Science Theater 3000 Aliens! The Day the Earth Stood Still, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Contact, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Signs Mad scientists! Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Abominable Dr. Phibes Shoot-em-ups: Aliens, Universal Soldier, Starship Troopers What the...?: Battlefield Earth, Prayer of the Rollerboys, Repo: The Genetic Opera, Tank Girl, The 10th Victim Animation: WALL-E, Akira, Ghost in the Shell Small budgets, big ideas: Donnie Darko, Primer, Sound of My Voice, Computer Chess Neglected greats: Things to Come, Children of Men Epics: Metropolis, Blade Runner, Cloud Atlas and many, many more categories and movies!! In addition to the nearly one thousand science fiction film reviews, this guide includes fascinating and fun Top-10 lists and sidebars that are designed to lead fans to similar titles they might not have known about. The Sci-Fi Movie Guide: The Universe of Film from Alien to Zardoz will help ensure that you will never again have to worry about what to watch next. Useful both as a handy resource or a fun romp through the film world of science fiction. It also includes a helpful bibliography and an extensive index, adding to its usefulness.




Destroy All Monsters, and Other Stories


Book Description

Winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction, Greg Hrbek’s Destroy All Monsters, and Other Stories is a collection that explores what it means to be human—and inhuman. These ten stories have won an array of honors—and whether set in the historical past or in a speculative future, each is wildly imaginative and shockingly real. In “Sagittarius,” selected for The Best American Short Stories, a mother and father search a dark forest for their missing newborn, who is either a child with profound birth defects or a miraculous creature. In “False Positive,” a ghostly girl visits her biological father ten years after being aborted in utero. In “Bereavement,” a marriage is falling apart following a child’s accidental death, but a combination of myth and technology provides hope for a second life. Fantastic, horrific, painfully familiar, these stories are the work of a consummate storyteller.




To Outlive Eternity and Other Stories


Book Description

From the aftermath of World War III to a world inherited by robots, where humans are unwelcome . . . from a handful of human survivors on a starship desperately searching for other ships carrying survivors of the destruction of the entire Earth by an unknown enemy, who may strike again at any time, to another starship hurtling through the cosmos at a speed so close to that of light¾and unable to slow down¾that relativistic effects make millennia fly by for each tick of the clock onboard . . . from a team striving to make Venus habitable for humans to a group of men who find the ominous secret behind a new quasi-religious philosophy that is sweeping the world. . . . The wide-ranging imagination and exciting storytelling of Poul Anderson brings many different worlds to vivid life in a great volume of his best stories that will thrill all fans of science fiction. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).




Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters


Book Description

Behind-the-scenes hero to anyone who's thrilled by giant monsters duking it out over Tokyo, Eiji Tsuburaya was the visual effects mastermind behind Godzilla, Ultraman, and numerous Japanese science fiction movies and TV showsbeloved around the world. The first book on this legendary film figure in English, this highly visual biography details his fascinating life and career, featuring hundreds of film stills, posters, concept art, and delightful on-set photos of Tsuburaya prompting monsters to crush landmark buildings. A must-have for fans, this towering tribute also features profiles of Tsuburaya's film collaborators, details on his key films and shows (most available on DVD), and features on the enduring popularity of the characters he helped create.




Monster Girl Doctor Zero (Light Novel)


Book Description

Before Glenn Litbeit opened his own clinic, he was just a med student--in an academy full of monsters! Take a trip back through time in this volume about young Glenn's trainee days at the lab run by his upperclassmen Sapphee and Lime. Dog-headed girls, hypersensitive marionettes, amorous silkworm-ladies and more--with such tantalizing adventures in consultation under his belt, it's no wonder Glenn became the doctoral sensation he did!