From Publishers Weekly
As Michael Weldon says in the foreword to his Psychotronic Video Guide: "Unlike other movie guides, nothing is omitted because it's in bad taste." Bad taste barely begins to cover the 3000 resolutely grade-B movies (some with grade-A aspirations and budgets) and the odd TV show included here. Weldon, who invented the word "psychotronic" and compiled The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film, includes horror (there are 15 movie titles beginning with the word "zombie"), science fiction, Blaxploitation, porn, spaghetti westerns and "anything that Roger Corman had anything to do with" in his purview.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Weldon is the leading authority on films deemed to be "psychotronic," a designation he stretches to encompass horror flicks, spaghetti westerns, low-budget quickies, exploitation films of all stripes--in short, anything disdained by the critical establishment. He made his mark with
The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film (1981), to which this is a genuine sequel rather than an update. There is surprisingly little overlap in coverage between the two books, which makes this one attractive whether or not you own the
Encyclopedia. Some new entries--
Saturday Night Fever,
Beverly Hills Copare questionable, not being, one would think, psychotronic by any stretch. But most of these 3,000 movies are thoroughly deranged, from
The Abductors, in which slavers kidnap three cheerleaders, to the Hong Kong martial arts fantasy
Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain. An index would be nice, for although the book is enjoyable browsing, who wants to sift through hundreds of entries to locate, say, the Mamie Van Doren movies? But then, where else can you find any info on
Face of the Screaming Werewolf?
Gordon Flagg
