zine review:
So Bad It’s Good Movies
As the editorial attests to, So Bad It’s Good Movies is a true labour of love–a spirited tribute to B-movies that simply beams with passion. Editor Katie Durant has an extensive knowledge of the genre, and under this issue’s theme of “monsters,” she has collected a hefty assortment of film reviews and features, including articles devoted to foreign E.T. rip-offs, spider horrors, man-made monster flicks and Japanese Kaiju cinema. Contributed to by a slew of Z-flick experts, the articles range from best-of liststoexplorationsofsubgenrehistories. Especially intriguing was Greg Woods’ in-depth look at 1953’s Cape Canaveral Monsters, which investigates director Phil Tucker’s largely undocumented career. It’s the sort of thing you might expect to read in an issue of Psychotronic Video. Admittedly, the writing itself is inconsistent (among other lapses, several writers confuse “its” and “it’s”), but such can be expected in a Xeroxed fanzine such as this. Still, the level of dedication here makes up for any grammatical indiscretions, and the writers’ enthusiasm will render even trash-film amateurs eager to scope out their local rental store’s VHS liquidations. The overall message here is that when one commits to poring through Hollywood’s cast-outs, embracing the unique humour in failure, many obscure treasures can be rescued from the daunting mass of detritus that film history has left behind. (Michael Tau)
Fanzine, Issue 2, Katie Durant, [email protected], $4