I picked up this book for £10 a few years back, which was about a sixth of it’s recommended retail price…and was very happy with my purchase! It’s a great book, filled with page after page of creatures from 100 years of cinema! So I thought I’d share some of those pages with you and give you a sneak peek at what’s in store for you if you manage to find it at bargain price (seems to be anywhere from £12 to £99 for the hardback copy 2nd hand online)….
Landis is mostly famous, at least in my experience, for four things....The Blues Brother movie, An American Werewolf In London, Michael Jackson's Thriller video...and for his series of bad decisions and cavalier attitude to safety and protocol that likely contributed to the deaths of Vic Morrow, Myca Dinh Le (age 7) and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (age 6), who lost their lives in a helicopter accident during filming of Twilight Zone - The Movie. The whole situation around that incident is crazy and would require a lengthy post all on it's own, but Landis did not come out of it looking at all good. Steven Spielberg allegedly ended his friendship with Landis over it, and despite being cleared of any charges regarding the deaths, he was reprimanded for breaching Child Labour laws by hiring the child actors, which resulted in stricter safety measures and enforcement of child labor laws in California....
He later went on to direct several comedies, including The Three Amigos, Trading Places, Coming To America and the not-so-great Blues Brothers sequel, and also produced a lot of stuff for TV including Masters of Horror. His latest directing venture is Superhero Kindergarten, an animated show created by Stan Lee, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Andy Heyward....
Regardless of anything else, or how you might feel about Landis after reading about his behaviour leading to the tragedy of Twilight Zone, he certainly does know his horror movies, and this book is a great read, and filled with wonderful photos of all your favourite movies...but also a good resource for finding ones you've maybe not gotten around to watching yet!
Grab a copy for your coffee table if these pictures have tickled your fancy...or, if like me, you don't actually own a coffee table, just buy lots of copies of this book. It's big enough for several to make a very sturdy coffee table themselves!
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