Kim Newman’s Video Dungeon (Book)
David Gelmini
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Written by Kim Newman
Published by Titan Books
Compressing a lifetime’s worth of notes into one volume was certainly no mean feat, but Kim Newman made the impossible possible with his new book, Video Dungeon. Named after his column in Empire Magazine, the 560-page tome focuses mainly on little known genre films which mostly ended up in the bargain bin, although there are a few mainstream titles like The Maze Runner thrown in for good measure.
So, I guess you’re probably thinking something long the lines of: “Why should I spend my cash on a huge book that’s just going to take up shelf space when I can read about the films online?” Well, firstly, Newman is a phenomenal writer with an incredible way with words, and the reviews are mostly kept short and to the point, making this a book which can be enjoyed by both film fanatics and casual cinema goers looking for some light and entertaining reading.
It should also be mentioned that some of the films reviewed in the book are so obscure that you’d have a hard time finding basic information about them from even the depths of the internet. So if you happen to be an aficionado of the most obscure of obscure cinema, then Video Dungeon will definitely broaden your horizons.
Newman refrains from using a star rating system, which he finds to be unnecessary and intrusive. Whilst I can’t say that I agree, there is no doubt that the lack of a star rating system will encourage people to actually read a review to learn what the critic had to say, rather than just skip to the end to see its score. A star system also seems irrelevant in a book consisting almost entirely of reviews of trashy straight-to-DVD horror films because most of them are either close to unwatchable or enjoyable in their own trashy way. Don’t expect to find many “Certified Fresh” titles here.
One particular review which caught my eye was of the 1980 film Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned, which, as any Marvel fan will point out, is a Japanese anime adaptation of their Tomb of Dracula comic series. As a lifelong Marvel fan, I laughed pretty hard when he described how “the wayward storyline holds interest as it tries to wrestle Stoker’s concept into Marvel’s soap-superhero universe.” Just one of the many memorable quotes to be found lurking within the pages of Video Dungeon. Too bad the writers of Netflix’s “Iron Fist” series never took this into account when they choose to make a poorly scripted soap opera-lite family drama with occasional kung fu sequences.
If you’re a fan of low-budget horror cinema (and I assume you are if you’re a frequenter of Dread Central), I’m sure this is one dungeon you will want to be locked in for a very long time. You might as well just throw away the key upon entering.
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Book
Categorized:Reviews
