THINGS TO CHECK OUT // HOT TYPE!
A few film-related books are out now that look promising. If you’ve been finding yourself just about to forget the lost art of reading words, this is good news for you; doubly-so if you have an interest in the horror genre. New York Times and Vanity Fair contributor Jason Zinoman has just come out with his new book, Shock Value. The 1970s have already been given countless amounts of attention with regards to pioneers like Scorsese, Spielberg, Coppola, et al, yet this is the same time period when horror came into its own. What began with George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and evolved into the era of John Carpenter’s Halloween was a true guerilla filmmaking movement, almost punk in how it thumbed its nose at the system and established norms of cinema decency. Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left, is case in point. Zinoman traces all of this in an effort to, finally, legitimize a still oft-scoffed-at genre.
If you want more where that came from, Texas Chainsaw Massacre legend Tobe Hooper has a novel out called Midnight Movies. It’s about a long-lost film by Tobe Hooper himself (he’s a character in his own book), that turns out to kickoff a zombie apocalypse once enough people see it, The Ring-style. This seems like an entertaining read, and I would expect as much from Hooper. He’s had ups-and-downs project-wise, but he’s without a doubt got the genes of a pedal-to-the-metal storyteller. The first Texas Chainsaw is well-known enough, but far too under-seen is its 1980s sequel with Dennis Hopper. If you haven’t already, do yourself a huge favor and check it out. Seriously fun, any time of the year.
Finally, if you’ve ever been a fan of The State, Viva Variety, or Reno 911! then you already know of Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant. As off-kilter as those shows can be, what is just as amazing is that Lennon and Garant also collaborated on the cash-grabbing scripts for Night at the Museum, The Pacifier, Taxi, and Herbie: Fully Loaded. That makes these guys super cool and super lame all at once! And super loaded…fully loaded even! At any rate, their new book has a great title, Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can, Too! Amidst all the BS screenwriting books out there, these guys seek to genuinely break things down and explain (humorously, of course) the nuts and bolts of how things get made in Hollywood, what kinds of things get made, how to go about it, and all the weird LA-isms you may encounter along the way. If you like your secrets-of-the-trade books off-color and full of gushing for In-N-Out burgers, pick ‘er up!