Ghouls, Gimmicks, and Gold: Horror Films and the American Movie Business, 1953-1968

Rating:
Summary: A must read for vintage horror film fans!
Review: This book is a well-written piece dealing with the period of horror films that many people remember--That of the early 1950's-late 1960's(i.e. From the start of 3-D films to the release of Night of the Living Dead). It largely argues that the horror boom during this time was due to two things:

1. Theaters needed product for their screens
2. TV stations(UHF stations in particular) needing movies for their programming

In a good sub-argument, it also mentions about the rise of imported horror from Britain and Italy(largely due to tax and other economic issues and also as a reciprocal to the expansion of the US film industry overseas). Lots of good research and it is written in a way where you get plenty of information, but yet it does not feel like a dry read. The chapter on horror film TV syndication packages is a highlight for me(outside of a talk that the author did about 2 years prior to publication at a UC Berkeley conference on Trash Cinema, I had not seen anybody do any research on this before.)

I also recommend the work of Eric Schaefer(who has a sequel coming to his book Bold! Daring! Shocking! True!), when when combining these works would give you a well-grounded education on horror and exploitation film cultures.