pursue new forward directions. The geographic slant is expressed right away in early pieces like editor Eric McNaughton’s “The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of” and John Llewellyn Probert’s “The Most Important Decade In My Life”, which are laced with evocative references to HTV and ATV, poster mags, and Gussie’s model shop in the town of Shildon. It’s also there in a pronounced bias toward British production, which is all the more noticeable given the book’s near-complete neglect of any 1970s horror fare originating from Europe or Asia.
Of course, as with any book entrusted to this many writers, there is unevenness in quality and personality, as well as in coverage. This irregular- ity is somewhat exacerbated by the editor’s deci- sion to corral all the bylines on the Table of Contents page, with each chapter credited to its author with a set of initials at the close of each text. Possibly this decision was made to downplay the fact that much of the book was written by a core group of contributors (Daz Lawrence, Steven West, Cranston Macmillan, Ernie Magnotta, Darrell Buxton, Steven Mosley, Daz Lawrence and editor McNaughton), but the absence of bylines imposes an appearance of uniformity that really isn’t there; it also flies in the face of the first-person approach taken by most of the writers, which sends the frus- trated reader back to the contributor keys on pages 2 and 3 with maddening frequency.
Playing by the same near-anonymous rules as everyone else are a few better-known contributors including Richard Klemensen (his broadly titled “Fanzines of the 1970s” focuses primarily on his own LITTLE SHOPPE OF HORRORS), Tony Earnshaw (on the books of Alan Frank), VW contributor Cleaver Patterson (on THE NEW AVENGERS), Troy Howarth (on the best made-for-TV horrors of the decade), Tim Greaves (on THE HOUSE OF HAM- MER) and Pierre Fournier (a sidebar on the mys- tery surrounding the cover of MONSTERS OF THE MOVIES #2 that covers a single insufficiently framed page and, in so doing, seems to meld into the middle of the surrounding article).
The presence of certain meaty topics prepare one for more rigorous handling than they receive, as in the case of Graham Payne’s chapter on Nigel Kneale, which reads like a dry, synoptic overview of this important writer’s 1970s output, failing (not really aspiring) to engage with the subject more than superficially. Elsewhere, as in the case of Dawn and Jonathon Dabell’s survey of 1970s horror film novelizations, and Steven West’s “No Cure For Crabs” (about pulp paperback horror), the over- view approach works far better, given the addition
of a real critical sensibility. West is one of the book’s most skilled contributors, also bringing to the table enjoyable chapters on JAWS and its oddball mer- chandising (“You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Wallet”) and the ambitious “Terror on the Tube: American TV Horror Movies of the 1970s” (which only over- laps with Howarth’s similar subject in their shared encompassing of Spielberg’s DUEL). Ryan Brennan’s “1970s Horror Vinyl: Releases in the US” is also noteworthy, while the low point among the offerings is almost certainly Ernie Magnotta’s in- terview with magazine cover artist Basil Gogos, three pages of filler that include such answers as “Thanks, Ernie” and “(smiles).” Speaking of Gogos, who remained active in the ’70s but is most asso- ciated with his 1960s work, there is some content here that leans into earlier decades from the stance of the 1970s, such as David Brilliance’s memoir “When A 10 Year Old Boy Met the Universal Mon- sters” and Robert Morganbesser’s ode to Aurora’s classic monster model kits.
There is some appetizing reading to be found here—Stephen Mosley’s critical appraisal of Ivan Butler’s HORROR IN THE CINEMA, Steven Jacobs’ interview with monster toy collector Dave Swift, J.M. Cozzoli’s histories of THE MONSTER TIMES and CRACKED monster magazines like FOR MON- STERS ONLY, Peter Fuller’s survey of the Vincent Price radio show THE PRICE OF FEAR, Douglas Whitenack’s appreciation of Calvin T. Beck’s books HEROES OF THE HORRORS and SCREAM QUEENS, and Ryan Brennan’s reviews of impor- tant US horror soundtrack releases on vinyl, to name a few—but bear in mind that it’s all very magaziney, if not fannish, more in the vein of leisurely reading than what is usually packaged in the form of a reference book.
BRONSON’S LOOSE AGAIN! On the Set With Charles Bronson
By Paul Talbot BearManor Media
www.bearmanormedia.com PO Box 71426 Albany GA 31708
456 pp., Softcover or PDF eBook, $28.00 ppd. (postage refunded for eBook purchase) Reviewed by John Charles
A dedicated researcher, Paul Talbot wrote the definitive chronicle of the Death Wish series in BRONSON’S LOOSE!: THE MAKING OF THE DEATH WISH FILMS [VW 127:75] and is back to cover more of the taciturn star’s output in this equally com- prehensive and rewarding follow-up, which displays
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