Monday, April 22, 2013

Shock Value


Shock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern HorrorShock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror by Jason Zinoman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First things first: I took a class on horror films at Brown University.  Pardon the douchey opening but I want to be clear that I've probably read a hundred or more essays, books, and articles on horror movies, their creators, and the themes that these movies present.  So, when I tell you that Shock Value contains talking points that I have never read about the horror scene of the 60s and 70s, I am pointing out a valuable service done by Jason Zinoman.  Recounting the lives, successes, and failures of Wes Craven, Dan O'Bannon, John Carpenter, and others, Zinoman lays out the development of the modern era of the horror movie, a genre that continues to evolve as one of the world's most enduring and fascinating to this day.  While the book could do with a bit tighter editing on a chapter-by-chapter basis, often jumping from anecdotes of a famous director to tangential subjects like popular horror magazine editors, the overall theme of a new generation of creators fighting to push their message of shifting social mores out of the ghetto of "monster movies" flows clearly off the page.  Chapters devoted to O'Bannon (you might know him as the writer of "Alien") are especially fascinating for the recounting of the career of a typically unsung creator.
Be warned: if you are a horror devotee simply because of your annual pilgrimages to the cineplex for the latest "Saw" or "Paranomral Activity" entry, I imagine this book will be too cerebral a discussion to maintain your interest.  To end with the same tone as I began, only true fans of the genre need apply.  Very Good.


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