DIY. Three delicious letters that hold
more power than entire scripts consisting of the rest of the
alphabet. The ethos of do-it-yourself is one that has spearheaded
everything from political revolutions to cultural movements. The
former in the past could inspire things like rioting and
decapitation. The latter could be slightly more gentle, with one of
its many forms resulting in the zine movement. This inspired an
assortment of writers and simply enthusiastic fans creating their own
magazines. This shined brighter in fewer fields than film, with
horror and cult movies becoming a huge part of the DIY periodical
zenith. At last, a tome dedicated to this rich, fun and occasionally
troubled field has come out, all thanks John Szpunar's meticulously
put together XEROX FEROX: THE WILD WORLD OF THE HORROR FILM FANZINE.
XEROX FEROX begins from, where else,
the beginning, with its chapter/interview formatting starting with
such genre film writing legends as Steve Bissette, Bhob Stewart, Gary Svehla, Tim Lucas and Chas Balun, as well as the young Turks that
came along a little later, like Bill Landis, Keith Crocker, Greg Goodsell, Mike McPadden, Shane Dallmann, Tim Paxton and Andy Copp. And they are just
the tip of the iceberg! In fact, each individual profiled in this
book ranges in personality, approach and aesthetics. From old school
Universal Monsters moon-eyed love to a celebration of all things
grue-filled and naked nubile flesh, all of them are unified by one
very important thing. The sheer drive and need that only the purest
of passion and enthusiasm can breed. It's like obscenity. Hard to
define but you'll know it when you see it.
Matching the subjects enthusiasm is the
sheer amount of research and care that both Szpunar and the book's
publisher, headpress, put into this work. It is an instant
historically important tome and a needed read for both genre film
fans and nonfiction writers, young and seasoned alike. These are
stories that were needing to be documented and bless all involved for
doing just that. Hopefully, it will be a touchstone for other
like-minded compendiums to bear fruit. Imagine XEROX FEROX-quality
books covering the music zines, the poetry zines, the DIY comics, etc
etc. All of this is art that is not really that old but yet is in
continual danger of being lost due to its fringe, low-budget origins.
The only real negative with this book
is how little women are featured. No singular woman is mentioned. It
would have been nice to see someone like Maitland McDonagh get
mentioned, since she's a great writer who has been in this field
since the 1980's. Michelle Clifford does at least get mentioned in
conjunction with Bill Landis, since she worked with him on the latter
stages of Sleazoid Express, as well as being the main figure behind
Metasex. This isn't necessarily Spuznar's fault, but is more of a
symptom of a bigger problem that is the boy's club of genre film
writing where women have been relegated more to the sidelines, only
to be dusted off for the occasional female-centric bone thrown their
way. It can be a well meaning thing, but the best surefire route to
equality is just to treat a female writer like you would a male
writer. But all that aside, this is a fine book that will inform and
inspire those of any category. Long live the DIY press!
© 2014 Heather Drain
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