INTERVIEWS TOO SHOCKING TO PRINT! CONVERSATIONS WITH HORROR FILMMAKERS AND THEIR ACCOMPLICES (paperback)
Nominated for a Rondo Award for Best Book of 2016
Mel Brooks quoted from and cited the author's interview with William Tuttle for his book on the making of "Young Frankenstein"
Interviews Too Shocking to Print! collects conversations with some of horror and science fiction cinema's finest directors and writers, along with other outstanding talents. The interviewees' films range from the mightiest blockbusters to esoteric drive-in arcana, but they are united by the imagination. Their creations represent some of the freshest, most popular, vital, and inventive works in fantastic filmmaking.
The interviewees:
- Alan Ball- The author of American Beauty, whose True Blood has become a favorite of vampire lovers everywhere.
- Wah Chang- The sculptor and multi-talented f/x genius who created the monstrous menageries of “Star Trek,” “The Outer Limits,” and George Pal’s films, among many others.
- William Finley- The gangly, unforgettable cult star who essayed the title role in Brian De Palma’s Phantom of the Paradise and headlined Sisters, Eaten Alive, and other cult classics.
- Jack Fisk- Now one of Hollywood’s top production designers (There Will Be Blood), Fisk cut his teeth crafting the eerily unforgettable worlds of Phantom of the Paradise, Messiah of Evil, and Carrie.
- Gene Fowler, Jr.- Fritz Lang’s former editor, Fowler directed two minor masterpieces whose lurid titles barely hint at their high quality: I Was a Teenage Werewolf and I Married a Monster From Outer Space.
- Chuck Griffith- A bizarre master screenwriter, Griffith wrote immortal low-budget favorites like The Little Shop of Horrors, A Bucket of Blood, Not of This Earth, and Death Race 2000.
- Stewart Stern- The author of Rebel Without a Cause recalls writing the role of Mr. Kurtz for Boris Karloff in his television production of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.
- Herbert Strock- Strock discusses the making of his psychotronic gems I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, How to Make a Monster, and The Crawling Hand.
- William Tuttle- The head of MGM’s makeup department for decades and the first makeup artist to win an Academy Award, Tuttle’s make-up career stretched from Mark of the Vampire with Bela Lugosi and The Wizard of Oz to Young Frankenstein’s zipper-neck monster.
- Robert Wise- The director of two of the all-time most popular musicals– West Side Story and The Sound of Music– discusses his long and varied career, including editing Citizen Kane and directing the distinctly un-musical The Body Snatcher, The Haunting, Curse of the Cat People, and The Andromeda Strain.
Also included are several of Humphreys’s essays on the cinema of imagination.
Justin Humphreys is the author of Names You Never Remember, With Faces You Never Forget (also from BearManor) and the authorized biography of director/producer George Pal. A three-time Rondo Award nominee, he has sold over 130 articles, been quoted in magazines like The Virginia Quarterly Review, and interviewed for documentaries by the Starz Channel, Paramount, and others. He is also the Primary Research Editor of two-time Academy Award-winner Robert Skotak’s upcoming Retrospect magazine.
"Justin Humphreys approaches his subjects with the intellectual devotion of a historian and the infectious enthusiasm of a fanatic. If you care about genre films, and you care about film history, do yourself a favor and buy this book."
- Movies Made Me (Joseph Maddrey)
"... a charming love letter to monster movies of old, and an essential collection for cult film fans. Highly recommended."
- Starburst Magazine
Review from SFCrowsNest.org.uk