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.

The Most Dangerous Game and Other Stories of Adventure, by various authors

(pb; 1957, 1967: story anthology)

OVERALL REVIEW:

Solid, action-oriented anthology, with only one stinker in the mix. Worth checking out from the library.


REVIEW, STORY BY STORY:

1.) "The Most Dangerous Game" - Richard Connell: Sanger Rainsford, an American hunter, gets trapped on the island of a homicidal Cossack (General Zaroff), and becomes Zaroff's prey in literal manhunt. Gripping, sharp work, with a zinger end-line.

Numerous film versions have resulted from this story.

The first film version was released stateside on September 16, 1932. It was directed by Irving Pichel and Ernest B. Schoedsack, from a script by James Ashmore Creelman.

Joel McCrea played Bob. Fay Wray played Eve. Robert Armstrong played Martin. Leslie Banks played Zaroff. Steve Clemente (billed as Steve Clemento) played Tartar. An uncredited Buster Crabbe plays "Sailor who falls off boat".

Other versions include, but are not limited to: A Game of Death (1945), The Most Dangerous Game (1953), Bloodlust! (1961), Surviving The Game (1994, sporting a great cast, among them Rutger Hauer).


2.) "Leiningen Versus the Ants" - Carl Stephenson: A Caucasian gung-ho plantation owner and his native "peons" battle an ant invasion in Brazil. If you can ignore its era-inherent racism, this is a visually wild and thrilling tale.

This story was released stateside as a film on March 3, 1954. Titled The Naked Jungle, it was directed by Byron Haskin, from a script by Ranald MacDougall and Ben Maddow (credited as Philip Yordan).

Charlton Heston played Christopher Leiningen. Eleanor Parker played Joanna Leiningen. Abraham Sofaer played Incacha. William Conrad played "Commissioner". Romo Vincent played "Boat Captain".


3.) "Journalism in Tennessee" - Mark Twain: Witty, raucous take on Southern firebrand newspapermen.


4.) "Alone in Shark Waters" - John Kruse: After a hurricane sinks his ship and leave him afloat in the Indian Ocean, a fisherman (Mike Gardener) fends off dehydration, sharks and other forms of ocean-borne death. Harrowing, intriguing story.


5.) "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" - Rudyard Kipling: This story lost me almost immediately, interest-wise, so I didn't finish reading it - his writing style here is so jangly-noisy, perhaps too vivid.

Two animated films resulted from this story.

The first animated version aired on stateside television on January 9, 1975. Chuck Jones directed and scripted the thirty-minute short.

Orson Welles provided the voices for Narrator, Nag and Chuchundra. June Foray provided the voices for "Nagaina the Cobra, Wife of Nag", Teddy's Mother and Darzee's Wife. Les Tremayne voiced Father. Michael LeClair voiced Teddy. Shepard Menken voiced Rikki-Tikki-Tavi the Mongoose. Lennie Weinrib voiced Darzee the Tailorbird.

A later animated version, made by a different film crew, aired on Hungarian television on November 10, 1983.


6.) "To Build a Fire" - Jack London: In seventy-five-below-zero degree weather, a man wages a spirited struggle for survival against an omnipresent Yukon threat. Infotainment, with a nature-centric, telling finish.

Two film shorts have resulted from this story.

A twenty-minute short resulted from this story in 2003. Directed and scripted by Luca Armenia, Olivier Pagès played The Man.

A second, thirty-minute short was released stateside in October 2008. Mark Dissette co-directed this with Dave Main (who also scripted the short).

Michael Elmendorf played The Man. Eldon Cott played The Old Man of Sulfur Creek. Steven Kramer played Macmorvan. Chad Rowland played Bud. Bill Selig played Jedadiah.


7.) "Locomotive 38, The Ojibway" - William Saroyan: A seemingly crazy Indian (Locomotive 38) and a fourteen year-old boy (Aram, aka "Willie") go on a fishing trip in Locomotive 38's new Packard. Odd, light and charming, this.


8.) "High Air" - Borden Chase: Tunnel miners encounter a potentially fatal emergency. Solid, crises-exciting story.


9.) "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" - James Thurber: A wife- and society-pecked older man (Mitty) imbues his mundane life with unseen but intuited adventures. Fun, brief, to the point.

One film has resulted from this story. A remake of that film is rumored to be on the way.

The first version, released stateside on September 1, 1947, was directed by Norman Z. McLeod, from a script by Ken Englund, Everett Freeman and Philip Rapp.

Danny Kaye played Walter Mitty. Virginia Mayo played Rosalind van Hoorn. Boris Karloff played Dr. Hugo Hollingshead. Fay Bainter played Mrs. Eunice Mitty. Ann Rutherford played Gertrude Griswold.

The second version is scheduled for stateside release in 2012. According to comingsoon.net, Gore Verbinski is set to direct it, from a script by Steve Conrad.

I'll update this remake listing, as more information becomes available.

Raising The Dead, by Daniel Cohen

(hb; 1997: non-fiction)

From the inside flap:

"If you have ever sat through a Frankenstein movie and gasped when Boris Karloff as the monster comes to life, you are in for a treat.

"Wait until you find out about zombies, walking mummies, mad scientists trying to bring bodies back to life, and people who were alive long after they should have been dead and buried.

"Then there are the body snatchers, the grave robbers without whom no mad scientist cold really do his job.

"Are these stories true? Endless films have been made, numerous books have been written. But where did the original tales come from? Daniel Cohen sets forth all the facts as they are known today. None of Raising The Dead has been made up; all of it is based on extensive research.

"It is fascinating reading -- gruesomely fascinating -- all you ever wanted to know about the undead, and the unburied.

"A list of ten classic films having to do with raising the dead is included. All are available on videotapes."

Review:

Short, fun and interesting primer for those looking into the subjects described on the book's jacket flap. The writing and subject matter is broad enough to be approached by those new to the undead genre(s), but detailed and factual enough to likely include something for those, like myself, who are fairly well-versed in undead lore, history and media.

Check it out. This is a great "gateway" book for those who are looking to research (non-religious) death and resurrection history and horrors.

Behind the Mask of the Horror Actor, by Doug Bradley

(pb; 1996, 2004: cinema/biography)

From the back cover:

"Doug Bradley -- the actor who portrays the terrifying Pinhead in Clive Barker's Hellraiser film series -- provides his own unique and personal perspective on cinema monsters and the men who play them. He also briefly examines the cultural and dramatic history of the mask, from cave art through Greek theater to trick-or-treat.

"In addition to the classic horror actors Lon Chaney and Boris Karloff, Bradley covers such unforgettable characters as The Wolf Man, The Phantom of the Opera and The Hunchback of Notre Dame in detail. He also discusses the European tradition, such as Jean Marais' Beast in La Belle et la Béte, the work of Vincent Price and the Hammer films of the fifties and sixties.

"Bringing the subject up to date is the resurgence of interest in modern-day movie monsters, which has spawned recent horror hits Halloween: Resurrection, Freddy Vs Jason and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, among others. With commentary from the actors behind The Texas Chainsaw Massacre's Leatherface, Freddy from A Nightmare on Elm Street, Jason from Friday the 13th and Michael from Halloween, along with his own experience of the creation of Pinhead, Bradley creates a vivid picture of exactly how it feels to be the man behind the mask."

Review:

With warmth, dry wit and knowledge born of long experience, Bradley charms as he writes about how the job of acting came to be, and how it changed as it went from shamanistic showmanship to plays to Christianized rites, then back to plays, to movies (which have visually and stylistically evolved with CGI and other technologies).

His first few chapters, about cave art, the all-important development and meanings of masks, and the evolution of plays are well-written and informed. Bradley regularly cites his information sources and goes out of his way to state that he isn't an expert on these things. What he knows is acting, and the long hours masked horror actors, as well as make-up and special effects artists, put into creating the molded illusions known as cinematic monsters.

Following chapters about workaholics Lon Chaney and Jean Marais, alcoholic Lon Chaney Jr. (sometimes billed as Lon Chaney), "easy-going and patient to a fault" Boris Karloff, and patron-of-the-arts Vincent Price are entertaining, with fun anecdotes thrown into the informative recollections.

Interview bits in following chapters are made up of: Gunnar Hansen (actor who played Leatherface in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre); stuntman Kane Hodder (who played Jason Voorhees in several Friday the 13th films, Parts VII: The New Blood through Jason X); Robert Englund (who played Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street films. . . quick side-note: Englund and Doug Bradley co-starred in Killer Tongue).

These interviews, coupled with Bradley's kind, practical and clever observations (one chapter is titled "Finding Pinhead Or. . .With Nails and I"), makes this an utter joy to read. I plan to own this, soon.

Clive Barker's short introduction is as warm and smart as Bradley's book. (Barker and Bradley have been friends with, and worked with, each other since they went to High School together, so Barker, like Bradley, should know what he's writing about.)

Check this out!