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By The Reverend AK-47
Oh man! the mighty FAB Press, What can I say? Well, maybe only virtues…like they have been making the dreams of B-Movie Maniacs and Film Enthusiast come true for a long time. That they publish the most beautiful and well documented and well written books about every kind of underground cinema.
They have fought againts stupid censorship, they have true passion on the subject of docummenting the beauty of how this cult cinema gems were made. And the best of all is that FAB Press helps to expand the knowledge on how to produce cinema despise having all againts you! Movies are something to fight for.
FAB Press simply Rocks!
So go to FAB Press, delight yourself with all their books and products, order them now and be ready to be the king of movie kingdom!
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1.- Tell us a little bit about the history behind FAB Press:
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2.- Everybody loves their kids but, which is your all
time favourite FAB Press release:
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FAB is an acronym for Flesh And Blood, the movie fanzine I started in 1993. I was spending a lot of time at the Scala cinema in London during the early '90s, watching all the exploitation films that you could not otherwise see in England at that time due to the heavy censorship of video tapes. I decided to put something back into the world by writing about these movies, and because the Scala was my spiritual movie home at the time, I felt it was the right place to give birth to FAB Press - I handed out the first issue of the fanzine, for free, to people waiting in line outside the Scala to see an all-day exploitation movie festival. Flesh And Blood lasted for about 4 years, and then I published the first FAB Press book, a history of Wes Craven's Last House on the Left, in 1997. Luckily enough it was a big hit, so I continued publishing books, and have been doing so ever since. |
Your question hits the nail on the head - I really can't pick a "favourite" because they all represent a great investment of time, energy and care, but we can use different definitions rather than "favourite". How about: "most important"… Last House on the Left, because if that had not been successful I would not be doing this now; "most popular"… Book of the Dead, FAB's best-seller by a long stretch; "most striking"… the gold-embossed limited edition of The Gospel of Filth; "most ground-breaking"… No Borders No Limits, because it took 50 years before anyone outside of Japan published anything on Nikkatsu Action cinema; "most original"… the Rick Trembles Motion Picture Purgatory books, which are totally unique; "most controversial"… AntiCristo. It caused me all sorts of trouble… |
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3.- In your opinion which country develops the worst censorship over your products?
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I really don't know, and I care even less. Funnily enough, the only real feedback I get about this sort of nonsense is the occasional letter from American jails, where they vet the books that prisoners attempt to purchase. Behind the Pink Curtain and Blood & Dishonour have both been banned from some US jails, apparently. |
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4.- Which are your favourite filmmakers and why?
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We all know who the real masters of cinema are, and of course I enjoy films by Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, David Lynch, Mario Bava, David Cronenberg, Werner Herzog, etc, etc… I could go on… but it's probably more interesting to highlight the fact that I am always on the lookout for the latest film by Sion Sono, whose work I find consistently enthralling, or to disclose my lifelong interest in British film director Mike Leigh, who I've been following since I saw Abigail's Party in the 1970s. Nothing to do with horror whatsoever, but Leigh gets under the skin of the English psyche better than anyone else of his generation. For the record, as time goes by I'm increasingly of the opinion that the original King Kong might well be the greatest movie ever made, for a wide variety of reasons that I don't really have the time or space to discuss here. |
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5.- As a fan of horror you are also a fan of...?
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Edgar Allan Poe, Slayer (hands down the most electrifying band I've ever seen play live), warm English beer, Jimi Hendrix, Beethoven, Chelsea Football Club, cowboy boots, Indian food, and 1980s VHS tape packaging. |
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6.- Do you ever plan on making a book about Mexican exploitation films?
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Not an individual, dedicated book, no, but a few years ago FAB Press did publish a book that's now out of print (and due to be re-printed when the time is right, hopefully soon)… Fear Without Frontiers had a chapter on 1930s Mexican horror films, covering movies such as El misterio del rostro palido, La Llorona, El fantasma del convento, Dos monjes, El superloco, Los muertos hablan, and El signo de la muerta. |
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7.- Which are the main influences that made FAB Press a reality?
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Back to the Scala - I can't understate the importance of that incredible, unique place, and the inspiring programming that kept me going back time and time again. One night there'd be a Russ Meyer triple bill, then Dario Argento films all night, then a day of Sergio Leone's "dollars" movies, and the next day there might be a double-bill of Cafe Flesh and Thundercrack. The place warped me irreparably. |
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8.- Do you think that in a way FAB Press has helped underground filmmakers and their movies become more popular?
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It all helps, I guess… but I'm not going to take any credit for anything apart from doing the best job I can to try and communicate my love and respect for exploitation films and the people who make them. How people in the outside world interpret these books, and what influence they eventually might have is out of my control, so it's not something I concern myself with particularly. |
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9.- In you opinion modern horror is…
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There is good and bad, as always, but really, if there's one thing that is guaranteed to keep me away from a movie these days, it's promo art showing someone tied or chained to a chair or an operating table or a rusty pipe… the whole captivity and torture thing is so tired now. Let's put it this way, I got about 20 minutes into SAW III, then walked out and gave up on that franchise altogether. I just don't get the appeal at all. However, there is a great deal of excellent horror being produced too. I already mentioned Sion Sono - I'll watch anything his name is attached to, but recently I've been particularly impressed by Red, White & Blue by Simon Rumley, which was devastating. Let the Right One In is an absolute masterpiece - one of the greatest vampire movies ever made. I also appreciated Pontypool, Black Swan and REC for a variety of different reasons. So all in all there is still plenty of imaginative work going on out there. |
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10.- Tell us, what holds for FAB Press in the near future?
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Next up is Cinema Sewer Volume 3, then on the horizon are some real epics, including the definitive book on Jess Franco, which is being put together at the moment by Nightmare USA author Stephen Thrower. I've also got plans to publish House of Psychotic Women, which is a disquietingly personal look at female psychosis in the movies, written by Kier-La Janisse, an old friend of mine, but more importantly a woman who has suffered as much as many of the protagonists in the films themselves. I really think it's going to prove to be another ground-breaker for FAB Press. |
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