Saturday, September 29, 2012

Unmasked, by Kane Hodder and Michael Aloisi

(hb; 2011: biography/nonfiction.  "Foreword" by Adam Green)


From the inside flap:

"Kane Hodder.  To fans, this name is synonymous with horror, an icon on the level of Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and Vincent Price.  Kane has appeared as a stunt man and actor in more than two hundred television shows and movies, in a career spanning over thirty years.  His role as Jason Voorhees in four consecutive films of the Friday the 13th series came to define the character feared by millions of fans the world over.  The man behind the hockey mask would seal his fate as horror royalty years later by starring as the monster Victor Crowley in the Hatchet series.

"Unmasked documents the unlikely true story of a boy who was taunted and beaten relentlessly by bullies throughout his childhood.  Kane only escaped his tormentors when he moved to a tiny island in the South Pacific where he lived for all of his teen years.  After living shirtless in a jungle for  awhile, he headed back to America where he fell in love with doing stunts. . . only to have his love burn him, literally.  For the first time ever, Kane tells the true story of the horrific burn injury that nearly killed him at the start of his career.  The entire. . . story of his recovery, the emotional and physical damage it caused and his fight to break back into the industry that almost killed him. . . and triumphant rise to become a film legend are told in Kane's own. . . voice."


Review:

Fun, interesting, warm and blunt read that may disturb readers who aren't into horror films (particularly slasher films) or are afraid of their own darkness - it may, however, prove engrossing for those who are into Kane's oeuvre, gore and monster flicks, and behind-the-scenes takes on cinematic stunt work. 

Worth owning, this.

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