DVD Delirium: Volume 3 (Book)
Johnny Butane
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Edited by Nathaniel Thompson
Published by FAB Press
When I spent most of a solid week pursing the last volume of DVD Delirium, I really didn't think it was possible for editor/writer Nathaniel Thompson to get any more exhaustive with his examination of all things digital and versatile.
Guess I was wrong.
Volume 3 of the on-going series is bigger, better, and when it comes right down to it even more indispensable than previous volumes. Thompson, along with contributing writers Tim Greaves, Tim S. Greer, Kim Newman, and Don Guarisco, has yet again complied one of the most well-researched, expertly written, and engrossing books about every horror fan's favorite home video format. But it's certainly not just horror covered within the tome's 618 pages; in here you'll see thorough reviews for pretty much any film that is just outside of the mainstream, from Sherlock Holmes movies to the Turkish Klink films and everything in between. If there's a DVD that's come out in the past few years that you've been on the fence about getting, chances are it's covered within.
With a book so full of reviews and opinions you'd think it'd get downright preachy sometimes, but Thompson and crew are nothing if not fair to every movie they see, even if it is another Emmanuelle entry. Hell, they even gave a semi-positive review to Strawberry Estates, one of Uncle Creepy's most hated movies of all times. Levelheaded they are.
But that doesn't mean they don't know how to call a spade a spade, and as is the case with most negative reviews written by intelligent people, the bad ones are usually the most entertaining reviews to read. The crew all has a great wit about them, with a great grasp of the language and an ability to use it to its most devastating when necessary. It's the kind of writing you take for granted after a few hundred reviews, until you go and read someone else's attempt at writing a biting, scathing review of a positively atrocious movie and realize how much better it can be done.
Yeah, I'm a little bit jealous of their skills.
What's most amazing about DVD Delirium Volume 3 is not its size or the writing skill behind it, but the simple fact that the bulk of these reviews were done by Thompson solo. Don't get me wrong; the other four turn in their fare share, but I found myself going dozens of pages before I would see the tell tale initials at the end of a review indicating it was written by someone else other than Thompson. I've never met the man in person, but something tells me he doesn't see the sun very often…
Other than being intelligently written DVD reviews, the crew within knows their stuff about the technical aspects of the format, a heady task for anyone to tackle to be sure, and they also have the background on seemingly every single release covered, able to detail how many countries the film's been out in on DVD, what features are better on one release than on another, or the slight differences from one version to the next, down to a mere few frames added or subtracted. Truly amazing, but that's what makes this series the one to beat for DVD aficionados the world over.
I'm sure a new volume is already in the works, indeed this is a series that could continue for a long, long time, and I can't wait to see what is thrown into that volume's pages. For now, get your ass over to the link below and order this book pronto, and never have to question what region's version of Starcrash you should get.
4 1/2 out of 5
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