As a painful chapter in my life ended several years ago, I nonetheless found myself having four addresses in as many months. Among the casualties of that chaotic string of pinballing moves was Chris Alexander’s Blood Spattered Book. Although overpriced for a mere 104 poorly laid-out pages, the 2010 paperback offered enjoyable criticism of exploitation films from the horror and fantasy realms.
Luckily, a good chunk of its contents exists in the former Fangoria/current Delirium editor’s newest collection, Art! Trash! Terror!: Adventures in Strange Cinema. And this time, I don’t have to cart it around in a dangerously flimsy cardboard box, which is extra-wonderful because at 460 glossy pages, this book is heavy. And because it’s from Headpress, publisher of Alexander’s acclaimed Corman/Poe in 2023, we also don’t have to deal with ghastly design.
Worthy of its punctuation, Art! Trash! Terror! touts 25 interviews, including Werner Herzog, Joe Dante, Caroline Munro and, most welcome of all, Richard Benjamin. But the book’s main attraction is more than 100 movies reviewed at length, each examined with introspection, know-how and wit (and an overuse of “a marvel” and “full stop”). Flicks cover the gamut of cult, with titles such as The Vampire’s Night Orgy and Godmonster of Indian Flats rubbing elbows and other extremities with Abby and Psychomania, plus newer fare like The Love Witch or Alien: Covenant (not to mention 10 Twilight Zone episodes).
With the exception of 1975’s X-rated Helena, there’s no film here of which I wasn’t already aware. But don’t you dare let that register as a complaint. Alexander’s greatest skill as a writer is connecting his reviews to his personal life, most especially recalling the experience surrounding that initial viewing — whether quietly watching a verboten tape as parents slept or acquiring pneumonia by trekking across town in Arctic temps to catch a Hammer double feature. Given streaming’s everything-everywhere-all-at-once availability, such stories are becoming rarities deserving of record.
That could be why the author chose to fill the book strictly with only plaudits, no pans. The essays herein have convinced me to give several lambasted flicks a try, like 2020’s The Turning, the Dean R. Koontz adaptation Hideaway and even James Franco’s Mother, May I Sleep with Danger? remake for the Lifetime cable channel. In the rare cases I disagree (say, William Friedkin’s The Guardian), I appreciate Alexander’s passionate defense; were I to be prosecuted in court for my viewing tastes, I’d want him to represent me.
Among all these Adventures in Strange Cinema, only one recommendation strikes me as a bridge too far: “Night Patrol is probably the funniest movie ever made. You should see it.”
Nah. But you should read it. —Rod Lott