Shock after shock after shock

This year's Halloween playlist is brought to you by "Shock Festival." You see, earlier in 2010, I was browsing the DVD selection at a local electronics superstore when I happened across a reasonably-priced set called "Shock Festival." It promised a collection of exploitation film trailers, a second disc with a horror trailer "reel" and a third disc entirely filled with mp3s of vintage exploitation movie radio ads, transferred from the original vinyl. The package said this was all a companion to a book by Stephen Romano which had apparently caused a stir among sicko cinephiles and fans of good reading. I am not as hip as I attempt to seem, and I had not heard of the book. However, the discs came home with me immediately.

This is indeed a fine collection of trailers. The selection of oddities on the first disc includes "Treasure of the Four Crowns" (the flop 3D follow-up to "Comin' At Ya!"), the trippy French animation "Fantastic Planet," the softcore staple "2069: A Sex Odyssey" and Cronenberg's car racing drama "Fast Company." The horror set is truly excellent, with essential ads for infamous flicks like "Snuff," "Great White" and "Mark of the Devil." In addition, you get a bunch of TV ads ("Cry of a Prostitute," "The House That Dripped Blood," "Rollerball") and a slate of films released by Independent International Pictures ("Brides of Blood," "Satan's Sadists," "Blazing Stewardesses"). Finally, there's a series of trailers for fake movies a la "Grindhouse," these having been based upon the "Shock Festival" book. While none of these homemade jobs have the genuinely retro flavor of a "Don't" or even a "Hobo With a Shotgun," some of them are done pretty well, and combined with Romano's informative, engaging and downright righteous commentary tracks, the concept convinced me to hunt down the 2008 book.

Folks, "Shock Festival" is hands-down the best book I've read in 2010. It is, upon first glance, a giant, heavy, lavishly-designed coffee table book dedicated to classic exploitation films and the colorful characters who made them. Each chapter concerns one or several interrelated movies, providing behind-the-scenes info, interviews and discussion of the movies' place in cinema history. Nudie potboilers, seedy action, no-budget sci-fi, transgressive horror, underground animation, psychedelic exploration and cynical blaxploitation are all represented. As it spans the 1970s and 1980s, the reader is gradually introduced to a fascinating mix of actors, producers, writers and directors whose careers and personal lives intertwined or ran parallel. Some are woefully overlooked, some dangerously wild, some hilariously misguided, some tragically hopeful. Full-color posters and promotional materials, photos from personal collections, newspaper ads and other memorabilia augment the superiorly rendered package.

The book's authenticity and continuity are impressive, especially considering that all of the films and people inside (except Romano, who manages to write himself into the narrative without it becoming a gimmick) are the product of the author's mind. The fictional characters and events may mingle with actual low-budget film history, but sadly, there is not really a lost Italian movie called "Sharkhunters" about damaged Vietnam vets brutally avenging their familes' deaths by shark attack. It's a unique way to present a novel, and the true shock is that in the end, the multifaceted story proves emotionally satisfying. It's much more than a clever list of really awesome ideas for movies that should exist. A blurb on the back cover from Dread Central (whose Uncle Creepy donates an absolutely painful pair of commentary tracks on the DVD trailer reels) praises "Shock Festival" as "'Grindhouse' meets 'Spinal Tap,'" but I'd replace "Spinal Tap" with "Boogie Nights."

The only thing negative I have to mention about the book is its large number of misspellings and other typos. It's such an intricately-designed work, if only that detail had been more thoroughly attended to, "Shock Festival" would be perfect. As it is, the human imperfections hint at the hands-on love that is evident throughout. However, I would like to tell Mr. Romano that I absolutely love, and am mildly obsessed with his book, and if he ever wants someone to do a more thorough read-through before his next one is published, I would very gladly donate my time in exchange for a free copy of the finished product.

So, the aforementioned companion set came out earlier this year, and it's similarly amazing, other than the enthusiastic but content-light Uncle Creepy commentary tracks (seriously, most of it's like, "Aw, yeah! Look at that guy doing that thing! I love movies like this!"). From the third disc, I chose 19 horror movie radio spots, plus one for a stage show based on a Mark Pirro direct-to-video classic, and made a Halloween playlist. I did this partially out of a desire to do something different with the list this year, partially out of laziness, and partially to show off these great vintage ads. Happy Halloween. Enjoy your fun-sized Snickers.

1. "The Gruesome Twosome"/"Something Weird"
2. "They're Coming to Get You"
3. "The Astro-Zombies"
4. "Grizzly"
5. "Twilight People"
6. "Nudist Colony of the Dead"
7. "Deranged"
8. "Squirm"
9. "Cannibal Girls"/"Raw Meat"
10. "House of Usher"
11. "Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde"
12. "Destroy All Monsters"
13. "The Corpse Grinders"/"The Undertaker and His Pals"/"The Embalmer"
14. "Horror of the Blood Monsters"
15. "Maniac"
16. "The Night Visitor"
17. "A Knife for the Ladies"
18. "Ruby"
19. "From Beyond the Grave"
20. "Phantasm"