Paul Naschy's Memoirs of a Wolfman (1997)

I've been enjoying several Paul Naschy movies the latest week or so, from stuff I haven't seen before to revisiting good old classics. During this time I've also been reading the US paperback of Memoirs of a Wolfman, the autobiography that was published in 1997. The version I have was release a couple of years later and includes a bonus chapter and a signed card by Naschy himself. Very nice and it makes me even more sad that I never hade the pleasure to meet him in real life.

The memoirs chronicles his life from childhood and we get a detailed look at his family and relatives - and friends of the relatives, which might seem to be a bit exaggerated - but you will also notice that more or less everyone of these persons is connected to what he did later. They introduced him to things in life, they said something, they experienced things together with him - everyone means something for Naschy and without very few exceptions he gives them their full credits.  Another fine thing he does - up to his 20-30's - is to write down the comics he read at the time and the movies he watched, which also gives a strong hint of what inspired him during his filmmaking career.

It's well known that Naschy had a big ego, close a to narcissistic persona. He's a very proud actor and filmmaker and never shies away from letting us know when he's done something good and brilliant and masterful - but he also, very emotional, digs deep down in his failures and depressions, how he was so weak that he couldn't take care of himself, how he did stuff for money just to be able to pay the rent. The last chapters is actually quite painful to read, and the part where he tells us about his heart attack is so sad! The bonus chapter is the worst, where his self-confidence is rock-bottom and he basically say "goodbye" at the end, to never return. Thankfully he obviously got back on the saddle again and had quite good career even after that, including his best performance ever, in Christian Molina's 2004 film Rojo Sangre. He also starred in an official Spanish Dogme-film, Once Upon Another Time - a film I need to see as soon as possible.

The bitterness overcomes the happiness, the enthusiasm, in the end, which is a damn pity. But we know better and Naschy knew better also. Memoirs of a Wolfman is packed with anecdotes - some of them extremely bizarre - and a good insight in the work of low-budget filmmaking in Spain and Europe during 60's, 70's and 80's. The strangest chapter is when he tells us how he got involved in a cult of real devil worshippers!

His enthusiasm for making horror movies, the macabre and living on the edge of society, which he seem like at the same time as he's missing the recognition from the elite, is the fuel of this book. Naschy seems to more than a good, decent guy - a person who always cared for people who cared for him. An interesting mix between a macho-man and lover of women to a supporter of gay rights, and a guilty-filled catholic and left-wing horror fan. Everything at once and probably the reason why he made such interesting and stand-out movies.

Sometimes difficult to read because of the hardships in his later life, but also a very rewarding story surviving and fighting for what you love. 

It Follows (2012)

I know, it's a rare thing I'm writing about books here, but sometimes I feel it's needed. We're all brainwashed fans of "video violence" and trashy movies dealing with every immoral subject there is in the world, but what's better than a good book where we can use our own sick imagination to create these sick fucking worlds inside us? I recently bought Joe Bannerman's It Follows, a collection of short stories I would never know about if it wasn't for Twitter - so take that Twitter-haters! I love Twitter (and here's Bannerman's Twitter), except those days I hate it more than I hate Facebook. My love for short stories is almost bigger than my love for Biblical melodramatic epics starring Stephen Boyd, so this was a must read for me.

Full Tank is the perfect beginning, a action-packed invasion movie. Zombies? No. Aliens? I don't think so. Demons? I doubt it. Instead there's some freaky grey ultra-fast monsters reminding the main character about his grandmother who suddenly appears and starts killing everyone in sight. Together with his blind friend and a aggressive redneck he flees by car, and the rest of the story is a classic tale of survival. This is good shit, this is close to a masterpiece. No, not close. This is a masterpiece, one of the finest monster stories I've read in a long while.

Next up is Poseidon Rising, a poetic, intimate Lovecraftian story about sacrifice and sea monsters. It's drastically different compared with Full Tank and it's a good choice to relax the readers with emotional action rather than physical one. This one gave me goosebumps and it echoes of Bradbury, Dahl and the above mentioned Lovecraft.

The third story is Does It Ever Get This Cold In Paris?, a darkly humorous story set from the perspective of the zombies in an upcoming zombie-invasion. It's solely based on dialogue, on a wittiness that's directly from one of those old horror comics - or Creepshow, you know the deal. It's dark but never mean-spirited and somehow, weird enough, very human in it's macabre setting.

Fourth man out is the very disturbing Hello, Lovely. The set-up is a couple of guys staking out a house in the suburbs, but what seems to be a very simple job suddenly turns out to be something very different. I don't want to say so much about this one, but it has a fantastic gallery of characters and both a mystery and just plain out horror. I could easily see this as an episode of Tales from the Crypt or some other similar TV-show.

The last one is Salad Days, which begins like every normal social-realistic drama set in kitchen but soon transforms to something way more complicated. Also very well-written with amazingly real characters, and also something you should read to experience to the fullest.

After reading this ninety pages long collection, well worth every penny, it feel I want to read more. I want to have more of Bannerman's stories, I would love to see him make a full-blown novel from at least Full Tank. Salad Days could also be the beginning of something much longer, it SO good. Usually I try to give some constructive criticism, but I can't honestly find anything to complain about. Here we have five excellent, intelligent stories about humans - not some not so human - how faces pure terror.

I think you should go to this place and buy a copy of It Follows. It cost me 17 dollars including shipping to Sweden, which is a steal if you want to read something good and also support a great author. 

IT FOLLOWS from Daily Grindhouse on Vimeo.

You wanna read about Mark Dacascos and exploding helicopters?

Then I suggest you head over to Exploding Helicopter ("Celebrating the cinematic art of helicopter explosion") and read my guest review of DNA, the amazing DTV-classic starring Mark Dacascos and Jürgen Prochnow... and Pong Pong. Read all about it here!

Tips till Svenska läsare, Chimärerna - ny svensk SF roman!

Som en del av er vet har jag ett litet bokförlag som heter Oddbooks. Vi har precis i dagarna släppt KG Johanssons nya roman, CHIMÄRERNA. KG's förra roman, Googolplex utsågs av Spektakulärt till årets sci-fi roman 2010! Läs mer här!

Chimärerna i korthet:

Sommaren 1962. Marilyn Monroe dör och misstankar mot Bröderna Kennedy växer sig allt starkare. På hösten upptäcker amerikanska spionplan sovjetiska kärnvapenmissiler på Kuba. Presidenten är hårt ansatt och krisen slutar inte som han hade tänkt sig. I en liten by i Norrbotten försöker människorna förstå vad som har hänt, och vad som kommer att hända.

Våren 1982. Efter ett attentat sitter Olof Palme i rullstol. Samhället har slagit tillbaka hårt mot terrorismen och Sverige håller gradvis på att förvandlas till en polisstat. Ungdomar försöker dämpa oron med sprit och droger men allting blir långsamt väre. En flicka med rötter i den Norrbottniska byn drabbas hårdast.

Nutid. Gymnasieläraren Martin blir pappa och går ut och firar. Han träffar en ung flicka som han snart hamnar i ett förhållande med. Flickan har udda intressen och Martin dras in i en häxkittle av sex och satanism. Han inser att han är på väg mot en katastrof men klarar inte att avsluta förhållandet. Martin försöker förtvivlat förstå om flickan menar allvar med sina teorier, eller om alla hennes berättelser bara är fantasier...

En rekommenderad shop är www.kulturbutik.se som har den för 72 kr! Vi väntar fortfarande på att recension ska komma, men stöd gärna ett litet förlag med stora ambitioner - och dessutom stödjer ni också min kommande DVD utgivning :)

Är man sugen på mer så finns även novellsamlingen BÖGSKRÄCK, HBT + makabert = jävligt sant! Finns också för en spottstyver på www.kulturbutik.se!

Tack!

Gory-Glory nr 4!

Just det, jag vill tipsa om att nya numret är ute nu. Riktigt bra matat med intressanta artiklar, bland annat en lång artikel i fyra delar skriven av mig om King Kong-filmer genom åren (dvs både riktiga och rip-offs), intervju med Kit Gavin och Silvia Collatina (båda på engelska också) och en hel del mer. Det finns information på den här sidan hur man kan köpa den.

Liten uppdatering angående kostnaden:
"Om ni vill beställa tidningen så kostar den inklusive frakt 52 kr. Vi har tyvärr smällt 100 grams gränsen och måste därför betala mer i porto."

The Amazing World of Mr B.I.G - An Autobiographical Journey by Bert I. Gordon

I can honestly say that together with Inoshiro Honda and Roger Corman, Bert I. Gordon is one of my favorite directors ever. My first taste of his work was with Food of the Gods, which I bought on an old x-rental when I was a teenager. The insane monster-mash that was delivered in front of my innocent eyes still affects me. From giant hens and that disgusting worm/larva to mosquitos and the nasty rats – this was one awesome movie.

No no, I just lied! My FIRST taste of Bert I. Gordon’s work was Empire of the Ants. I was 7-8 years old and my english in Sigtuna pal, Neil, showed me some scary movies – and one of them was the ant-movie. THAT one scared the hell out of me and I didn’t watch horror movies for a long time after that. It might no be scary today, but it’s still a great fun monster-movie.

Bert I. Gordon gives us entertainment. I’m not sure theres any deeper messages in his movies, but who needs that when monsters roam and animals attack? At the tender age of 88 he finally gives us his memoairs, which is a film-by-film recollection from his first wild days in Hollywood to his last, for now, movie: Satan’s Princess. What strikes me is how determined he was to be a filmmaker in Hollywood. Friends and collegues laughed at him, but somehow he just ignored them, started to knock on doors and finally got a chance to make his first movie, King Dinosaur.

Gordon is a one-man army of filmmaking and churned out everything, including commercials and sex-comedies for 35 years. He was a pioneer in visual effects (who knew he shot all the ant-scenes in a hotel room in a couple of days?!) with cheap and effectiv – and sometimes corny – effects. And it’s not surprising the book mostly deals with his first year in Hollywood and then the techincal aspects of the rest of the movies. It’s an easy to read book, filled with facts and anecdotes. What I miss is more about the shooting of the movies, working with actors, dealing with scripts and selling the production to distributors. The last part of the book is filled with photos – including the one where the cool Joan Collins is making out with an ant!

I also realize that I haven’t seen any of his occult-themed movies, which is three: Necromancy, Burned at the Stake and Satan’s Princess. I also decided, after reading the story behind The Mad Bomber, to find the uncut version and give that one a new try.

You can easily buy the book from his homepage, and maybe like me, also choose the version with a dedication and autograph.

...And Henry Fonda as The President

If Henry Fonda was alive I would hire him and do a movie where he plays The President. The whole flick will be in his office where he talks in telephone how dangerous the situation is out there because of fires, killer bees, earthquakes and tsunamis. Only him and a telephone.

He would look more tired during the whole two hour movie. At the end he will have no tie and look a bit sweaty, a bit worn after the shocking events.

The credits would have all the stars: Charlton Heston, Lee Majors, George Kennedy, Ava Gardner, Olivia De Havilland... and Bradford Dillman as Major Baker. But you would never see them, only hear. Only two telephones, one normal and one red.

In the end the glowing sun raises behind him, thru the window in the oval office. He made it. With all these phone calls and looking worried, he made it. He saved the world. Pity his wife who died, crushed by a falling train, stung by bees and threaten by Marjoe Gortner.

But the President, still proud and strong after defeating the disasters, stands there with his gaze somewhere beyond the brighter clouds, brighter for a future without volcanoes setting fire to brand new skyscrapers.

The End.

Ray Harryhausen's Film Fantasy Scrapbook

This is one my favorite in my little book collection, Film Fantasy Scrapbook by Ray Harryhausen. I haven't read it in a couple of years, but it's filled with beautiful black and white photos from his movies and of course from behind the scenes too.

I found it quite cheap maybe... 12-13 years ago in Gamla Stan, Stockholm at Aspingtons. I was so happy, because I've been searching it for a while then. Nowadays it's easier to find I guess. This is also (I think) the first print, which is extra nice for a nerdy collector like me ;)

Tea-Drinking and Excavations: The Adventures of Ben Hammott

In November last year I saw, and wrote an review of, Bruce Burgess documentary Bloodline. I've seen work by Mr Burgess before, and though I like him as a character and the subjects he focuses on, I've always felt that he is very, very uncritical. Bloodline is, of course, about the theory that Mary Magdalena and Jesus had children and that their dad probably survived and moved to France, or just died on the cross and was buried there. This is not a new theory at all, but it became very popular when Dan Brown hit gold with The Da Vinci Code. The first time this was mentioned was in the nine or tenth century, and has been discussed ever since. Anyway, I wrote about the documentary and also about a detail that I thought was fishy - and good some unexpected feedback.

Bloodline features Ben Hammott (an anagram for The Tomb Man), a British hobby-researcher that claims that he found a tomb outside Rennes-le-Château. He found it through decoding the clues that the priest Bérenger Saunière has buried around the landscape. Bruce follows Ben on the hunt, and they also finds some interesting stuff and films the tomb! This is sensational stuff, but somehow it's TO good. It's like a movie, a novel. Something made up using wild imagination. But still, it has nothing to do with UFO's, Bigfoot, Yetis or ghost - so why not. 

Ben commented on my second post about the Bloodline-documentary, and he's a nice bloke and obviously a good salesman too, so I bought his monster of a book, over 600 pages of facts about his quest for the treasure and tomb: Lost Tomb of the Knights Templar! So, what do we have here? First of all, it's a very detailed account of his interest in the Rennes-le-Château-mystery, from how he first saw a documentary about it on TV and how this led him to go on expeditions first together with his brother Mick and then together with other fellow researchers. What happens in the documentary seem to take five minutes, which raised my suspicions about a hoax, but according to the book it involved more people over a long period, and many hours on every place they found a lead. But that would probably be to boring to show in a documentary.

Some stuff is... no, I just don't agree with Mr Hammott on everything. It seem to far-fetched. But on the other hand, there's stuff that's very impressive. Would you risk everything, many years of your life, career, friends, family, to just make such an elaborate hoax? Maybe, but the down-to-earth style of Ben Hammott makes me believe that he's on to something here. He also himself admits to stuff that some of his critics had said before and after - and also seem convinced that some of the leads was made to "real" leads by Saunière by just using the details in them without changing anything himself, which seem more logical in many of the cases.

But 600 pages of dry facts, turning of stones and walking in the French forests wouldn't be so interesting if it wasn't good written, and to my surprise (I have to admit), it's not a bad writer we have here. Ben writes with a lot of that classic British dry humor, with small witty remarks - sometimes a bit to mean - but still very funny. If you're not that interested in the mystery, this is also quite a good travel book with a lot of information about culture, nature, food and friendships. And tea-drinking. LOTS of tea-drinking.

My advice to you who are interested, is to read the book first (the link is to Ben Hammotts official site). After that, go buy the DVD and see some of the stuff for real. Lost Tomb of the Knights Templar is the child of Ben Hammott, and it shows. This is his life (and I hope his wife can stand him!) and is labor of love and passion. 

I'm still a skeptic, but boy, this was great reading!

Gory-Glory Magazine nr 3!

Vad har jag inte i min hand om inte Gory-Glory Magazine nr 3! Direkt levererad av redaktören själv här i Märsta, vilken lyx! Detta är det snyggaste och mest välmatade numret hittills. Tre intervjuer, gott om recensioner och bra bilder. Detta numrets karlakarl blev också Paul Naschy, vilket tragiskt nog kändes väldigt lämpligt.

Den går säkert att hitta på Sci-Fi Mässan i helgen, men vill ni beställa den så kostar den 42 kr inkl. porto genom den officiella hemsidan.

The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross

Let's put movies aside for a moment and read a little bit. I've been reading more lately than watching movie, and the latest book to find it's way home to me is the new print of John Allegros The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, from Gnostic Media. It was release for the first time in the early seventies and has been a collectors item since then, but here's a new release finally.

And if you wonder what's it's all about: Jesus and Christianity was the result of hallucinogenic mushrooms. Just what I always thought! :)