Tuesday, May 06, 2008

No Ripcord Reviews Horror Films of the 1980s


Film journalist George Booker has a new review of my book, Horror Films of the 1980s up at No Ripcord, the independent music and film magazine. Here's a sample:

"...Prolific North Carolina writer and cult cinema advocate John Kenneth Muir is a good 18 steps above the usual dubious faux scholar/blogger. His books have laid the groundwork for a future academic canon on horror auteurs such as John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper. It isn't just that he loves even the lowliest obscure grindhouse relic. He takes enormous time and effort analysing, unmercifully yet attuned to heretofore dismissed value, every release he turns his attention to..."

"...Eloquent examinations of both acknowledged greats like Carpenter's The Thing and Cronenberg's The Fly as well as lesser known gems such as Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark and Thom Eberhardt's Night of the Comet are finally as thoughtful as these films deserve..."

"...In addition to thoroughly dissecting the horror films of the decade, Muir takes the time to put them into the context of world events and keep a running tab of motifs and themes that mark them. Brilliantly, he lines up many of the decade's cinematic triumphs (as well as failures) within a disconnect between the optimistic fantasy sold by politicians and the real dread that dire circumstances created...


You can read the rest of the piece
here.

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