From the back cover: "S. Michael Wilson has unearthed lost gems from vintage zines and commissioned reams of new material to brew up a devil’s cauldron of monsteriffic entertainment! Explore, if you dare, a sampling of the demonic delights within: The Black Pope of Satan’s favorite fear films! The mindbending connections between DARK SHADOWS and H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos! The perverse paganism of LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM! The links between mobster Tony Soprano and GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE’s Caleb Croft! Shoot down Peter Jackson’s overstuffed remake of KING KONG! Trip out on the truth about LSD, Commies and THE ANGRY RED PLANET! Survey apeman savagery on film with a genuine Bigfoot expert! They’re all here: Karloff and Lugosi, Freddy, Jason, Argento, Craven, Romero, werewolves, vampires and zombies; Criswell, Santo, psycho-killers, cannibals, Big Bugs and so much more!" ( )

A Monster Mashup

(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review through Library Thing's Early Reviewer program.)

S. Michael Wilson’s MONSTER RALLY is an eclectic anthology of pop culture essays (new and old) which share one common thread: namely, monster movies! The “monsters” highlighted in this fun volume run the gamut, from Mutants (EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, INVADERS FROM MARS, THE ANGRY RED PLANET) to Monsters (KING KONG, GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE, Mexican horror films, Yeti/Abominable Snowman monster movies) to Madness (Jason, SCREAMING MIMI, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, FREAKS, THE BLACK CAT, Jim Jones, Charles Manson). While novice fans will mostly enjoy this collection, monster movie geeks will get more out of MONSTER RALLY, as some of the references are more obscure than others. Likewise, the bulk of the films discussed are “retro”/B movies, with little culled from the 21st century.

As is usually the case with anthologies, some of the essays are stronger than others, and of course personal favorites may vary according to taste. As a Kong fan, I quite enjoyed editor S. Michael Wilson’s contribution, “A Giant Falls: A Critical Looks at Peter Jackson’s KING KONG,” but perhaps you might prefer Patrick O’Donnell’s “Curse of the Abominable Snowmen: A Bigfoot Researcher Sheds Light on Three Yeti Films.” To each her own! What’s certain is that these geeks (primarily S. Michael Wilson, Patrick O’Donnell and David Jacobs, who penned most of the essays in MONSTER RALLY) know their stuff.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2009/05/19/monster-rally-edited-by-s-michael-wilson/ ( )