I was first approached by friend and colleague Professor Christopher McGlothlin about contributing to a series of books discussing one of his favorite topics, sci-fi/horror films. This is a fellow who regularly is on the thank-you list of Kickstarter donors for RiffTrax, and frequently posts on social media about what films/TV series hold his attention at the moment. We also share a love of the pop band Steely Dan: the title of one of their songs is from whence the series title is drawn: Everyone’s Gone to the Movies.
I accepted his invitation, particularly since the rest of my writer career seems to have stalled out. Hey, the pay is decent, and I get to set my own hours – what’s not to like?
I have many favorite films, and while I don’t have the academic background to dissect them in such a manner, I believe I’ve written some fairly cozy and accessible film critiques for the four volumes that have made their way out into the world so far. (NOTE: volume five is in the final editing stages as I write this, so is not yet available.)
The first volume is called Transgressive Horror: Reflections of Scare Films That Broke the Rules (https://www.drivethrufiction.com/en/product/378202/transgressive-horror-reflections-on-scare-films-that-broke-the-rules?src=sistersite). Doesn’t exactly come trippingly off the tongue, but it gives casual viewers a solid idea of what’s inside. My essay in that volume was on Congo, based on the Michael Crichton novel. Perhaps not a horror film per se, Congo still has plenty of terrifying moments, so I thought it qualified.
The next book’s title is Subversive Sci-Fi, (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/428384/subversive-sci-fi) and I wrote about Terry Gilliam’s 1985 film Brazil. I also accepted a second assignment for this one, covering The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension to fulfill a Kickstarter stretch goal.
The third volume is Fantastic Flops, (https://www.drivethrufiction.com/en/product/477825/epub-fantastic-flops-reflections-on-misjudged-films-that-broke-the-rules?src=also_purchased) and I couldn’t help myself, writing about one of my all-time favorite films, Big Trouble in Little China.
The fourth book is titled Transgressive Horror Resurrected, (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/516376/transgressive-horror-resurrected-more-reflections-on-scare-films-that-broke-the-rules) and the film I opined about here is the big screen version of What We Do in the Shadows.
Last but not least the newest version, Subversive Sci-FI: Evolution, highlights the fact that to date the Sci-Fi editionshave sold much better than the Flops, and somewhat better than the horror-themed titles. For this one I wrote about one of the great classics of 50s sci-fi cinema, Them!, one of the first — and arguably the best — of the giant creature films so prevalent at that time.
I consider myself fortunate to have been invited to participate in each of the volumes to date, and to share a table of contents with so many talented and skilled writers, most of whom (including yours truly) have been involved with writing for projects in the tabletop gaming industry. The array of films discussed in these books ranges from the wacky and inexplicable to films commonly referred to as masterpieces of cinema, and each writer dissects the film they cover in a variety of ways, some more academic, some more chatty, but all entertaining to read.
The books are available on Internet commerce portal DriveThru RPG (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/) in both digital and print-on-demand editions. Ghost show Press is the publisher, but they’re putting these out through a partnership with Fainting Goat Games They can also be found in Kindle format only on the site of that one Internet retail giant, but I try to steer people elsewhere whenever possible. I hope you’ll take a moment to check out these fun volumes of essays on pop-culture films, and maybe pick up one or two for further reading. You may well discover a silver-screen gem with which you’re currently unfamiliar and would enjoy, and that, my friends, is the point of the exercise.