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"I urge you: learn how to look at 'bad' films, they are so often sublime." This remark by Ado Kyrou heads up the introduction to
Immoral Tales, from which horror and exploitation film fans, especially Americans, can learn much indeed. Not so much a movie guide as an insightful critical overview of European sex/horror films (there is much overlap between the two genres), this book is elegantly organized into a sequence of essays proceeding from general themes (the history of horrific art, the surgical metaphor), to regional styles (Italian, German, French, Spanish), to individual directors (Jesus Franco, Jean Rollin, José Larraz, José Bénazéraf, Walerian Borowczyk, Alain Robbe-Grillet). The writing is intelligent, engaging, and packed with fascinating historical and technical details. The book includes plenty of photos and poster art (including many in color), a useful appendix covering miscellaneous actors and directors, an index, and a bibliography.
Immoral Tales was a finalist for the 1995 Bram Stoker Award in Nonfiction.
In the 1960s and 1970s, European filmmakers took the lead in beautifully mounting haunting hybrids of sex and horror. After profiling the sex-and-gore film industries of Italy, Germany, France, and Spain, Tohill and Tombs focus on six directors: Jesus Franco, Jean Rollin, JoseLarraz, JoseBenazeraf, Walerian Borowczyk, and--surprise! (maybe)--Alain Robbe-Grillet. They discuss these auteurs' works in terms of their contributions to the genre and their commercial trials and tribulations. A post-appendix chapter on European adult comics provides insight into a related popular art format. Read through, the book affords a comprehensive, fascinating, and even loving look at the sleazy, gory, sexy, blasphemous underside of European cinema, an often suppressed area of artistic endeavor distinguished, it seems, by some visually stunning films (by the way, it's copiously illustrated).
Mike Tribby
