From Dusk Till Dawn by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Kurtzman

 

(pb; 1995: screenplay)

From the back cover

“You’d better hope you don’t cross paths with the infamous Gecko brothers—Richie and Seth. They’re fond of banks—robbing them, that is. They’re tough. In From Dusk Till Dawn, we follow them as they tear a path through the heartland of America on their way to the border. It is there, near El Paso, that they will meet up with their Mexican partners-in-crime to divvy up the loot they’ve acquired.

“Along the way, though, an innocent family will enter their lives—an ex-Baptist preacher, his teenage son, and sexy daughter. We watch as Richie and Seth enlist the family’s help in getting them safely across the border in the family’s Winnebago. When they arrive at their dreamed-about world south of the border, they are met with a terrifying twist.”

 

Review

Tarantino and Kurtzman’s down-and-dirty exploitation screenplay hits all its marks while creating a multi-subgenre stew that incorporates Blaxploitation, Mexploitation, vampires, 1970s road movies, sexploitation, and a lot of other -ploitations. Its well-sketched, sometimes -fleshed characters spout snappy dialogue, as rapid-fire as their wild what-the-hell situations and resulting, improvised re/actions. This is a landmark screenplay (and later, film) that truly felt down and dirty, nostalgic, yet distinctly 1990s direct-to-video sleazy and unique in its elements. Great read and great film, one worth reading, it you like sleazy genre works and swift, twisty action and characters.

#

The resulting film was released stateside on January 19, 1996. Robert Rodriguez directed it, with a lot of notable—most of them great—players.

Tawdry Tales and Confessions from Horror’s Boy Next Door by William Butler

(oversized pb; 2021: nonfiction/memoir)

From the back cover

“In the last forty years, actor, director and former effects artist William Butler has easily lived three lifetimes. From his early beginnings creating super-8 horror shorts and working the circus midway to a blissful existence as a producer-director living in the Hollywood hills, he’s seen it all, gained it all and lost it all.

“Tawdry Tales chronicles the jaw-dropping, sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking life an industrious young artist who started out with an unflinching determination to work in film and who’s somehow became ‘Horror’s Boy Next Door,’ appearing in dozens of movies along the genre’s most legendary villains, including Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13^th, Leatherface from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the George Romero zombies from Night of the Living Dead. Butler chalks it all up to having a face you just want to hit with a butch knife.

“Butler lovingly has transcribed thirty-five years’ worth of journals he kept into one fascinating and heartfelt memoir that follows his story around the world as he worked with and, in some cases, lived with some of Hollywood’s most beloved and ‘colorful’ personalities including Viggo Mortensen, Leslie Jordan, Tom Sizemore and the legendary Prince.”

 

Review

Tawdry is a fast-moving, heartfelt, funny, smart, and relatable tell-all book about how Butler went from making backyard films and FX with his small-town childhood friends (including John Vulich, who later went on to become a legendary FX artist) to becoming an FX artist himself, as well as a successful, LA-based writer and director, one who struggled with chemical addiction and his sexuality.

There’s a lot of great stories in this, from his chance meeting with film director Joe Dante, working with FX legends Tom Savini and John Carl Buechler, as well as actors Kane Hodder, Malcolm McDowell, Barbara Crampton, Jeffrey Combs, Klaus Kinski, Royal Dano, Yvonne DeCarlo Christopher Reeve, Danny Trejo, and Madonna.

An excellent and hard-to-set-down read, this is worth owning, whether you’re a hardcore movie fan or a more casual reader who enjoys reading about celebrities and character actors.

The Animal Factory by Edward Bunker

(pb; 1977)

From the back cover

"The Animal Factory goes deep into San Quentin, a world of violence and paranoia, where territory and status are ever-changing and possibly fatal commodities. Ron Decker is a newbie, a drug dealer whose shot at a short two-year stint in the can is threatened from inside and outside. He's got to keep a spotless record or it's ten to life. But at San Quentin, no man can steer clear of the Brotherhoods, the race wars, the relentlessness. It soon becomes clear that some inmates are more equal than others; Earl Copen is one of them, an old-timer who has learned not just to survive but to thrive behind bars. Not much can surprise him -- but the bond he forms with Ron startles them both; it's a true education of a felon."


Review

The Animal Factory is an immediately immersive, character-intriguing and waste-no-words novel that's simultaneously a caveat and a pulp read (inherent, given its subject matter).

This, for me, is a perfect novel. All the delicate plot and character elements work together to form a raw-truth, hard-to-lay-down read that should appeal to those who've read prison writing before, as well as those who haven't.

Worth owning, this. Landmark, informative work.

#

The resulting film was released stateside on January 24, 2000.

Steve Buscemi produced and directed the film, from a script by book author/co-producer Edward Bunker and John Steppling.

Willem Dafoe played Earl Copen. Edward Furlong played Ron Decker. Danny Trejo played Vito. Mark Boone Jr. played Paul Adams. Seymor Cassel played Lt. Seeman. Mickey Rourke played Jan the Actress.

Tom Arnold played Buck Rowan. John Heard played James Decker. Chris Bauer played Bad Eye. Michael Buscemi, Steve Buscemi's brother, played Mr. Herell.

Book author Edward Bunker played Buzzard. Director Steve Buscemi played A.R. Hosspack. Independent filmmaker and actor Larry Fessenden, billed as Larry Fesenden, played Benny. Independent filmmaker, producer and actor Sal Mazzotta played Florizzi.