The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film

Rating:
Summary: We're all here because we're not all there
Review: Absolutely indespensible guide to cult, sci-fi, horror and every other offbeat film genre written by people that understand subculture. Never ceases to amaze with the rare titles the Psychotronic folk somehow managed to track down and review years before we mere mortals knew these films existed. I refer to my copy at least once a week which should indicate how valuable a resource book this is to me.

Rating:
Summary: Night of the Tasteless Flicks...
Review: Beware of this book! It's hard to resist spending hours on end flipping back and forth through Weldon's amazing lexicon of trash, cult, exploitation, and just plain wierd films. Even if you're not a bad-movie junkie, you'll enjoy Weldon's tongue-in-cheek reviews of these cinematic oddities. Vampires, teens, zombies, bikers, mutants, psychopaths, space-vixen, and other B-movie fixtures abound, and the Psychotronic Encyclopedia guides you through them all with humor and more than a little insight into this bizarre cultural phenomenon. Tons of rare production photos, film stills, and movie poster images help make this book an indispensable addition to any film lover's library.

Rating:
Summary: We're all here because we're not all there
Review: I am the first to confess that not everyone spends their time wondering if they might like to watch Untamed Women tonight, or have an Ed Wood film festival, but I am one of them. Call me crazy (ahem!), but I like really bad old movies, especially the ones that try to scare/pander you. Perhaps I yearn for the time when showing a bit of cleavage was considered racy. So I nose around the discount rack looking for such gems as Mermaids of Tiburon or The Earth Dies Screaming. I come across a copy of Demonoid. Should I buy it or not? Comes the rescue the Psychotronic guide which safely guides me through these murky dark waters. It and its companion Video guide are essential for those who share my idea of fun, with reviews of 6000 screen gems, such as Curse at Cactus Creek and Robot Monster.

Perhaps my only objection is that the guide makes no pretense at being authoritative. For example, When a Stranger Calls is reivewed (favorably), but its sequel, When a Stranger Calls back, does not appear at all (and is arguably the better movie). There is also a smattering of "legitimate" film, such as Pursuit of the Graf Spee, and Polyester. No matter, all the films reviewed are, at the least, quirky, and there is a pretty good chance, at any rate, that the film you seek is reviewed. If not, you will have great fun just looking for it.

My only grief is that the concordance is limited to an index. After all, what more important thing could there be than a filmography of Barbara Steele, the geratest actress that ever lived?

These things aside, I recommend this without hesitation. There are other books listing gore/sleeze/exploitation films, but you will find none better.

Rating:
Summary: Night of the Tasteless Flicks...
Review: It's scary to think 16 long years have gone by since this landmark was published. Michael Weldon's book -still the crown jewel of B movie books- remains a colossal work for the same reasons it towered over ALL competitors back in '83: he's crazy enough, and loves these movies enough, to do the job RIGHT. When the world of genre and grindhouse movies was more reliant on oral history than on a few sketchy reference works, he scaled an Everest of obscure trash art to reclaim the form away from the snickering contempt of the Medved Bros (who, till then, had made the most impact in this specialized publishing subgenre with their GOLDEN TURKEY books), giving it back to people who, for good or ill, were similarly exposed to these amazing movies at a very young age and were impacted forever by them. The followup VIDEO GUIDE is equally essential, but just can't engender that same powerful affection those of us who bought this baby hot off the presses in 83 feel for this one. And contrary to what you might read, the black + white graphics are stunning and work PERFECTLY here. Most of the pix are old AP wire photos related to various outrageous studio promo campaigns that you won't find in any other film book. Tremendous artifacts of a time we won't see again. Buy this book and wallow again in the intense dopey pleasure of being a 14-year-old movie nut who's especially susceptible to lurid advertising!

Rating:
Summary: Useful in its time, but made obsolete by the internet
Review: The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film consists of plot summaries of the kind of movies that come on at 3 am. No not porn - get your mind out of that gutter. Weldon chronicles 50's movies with huge mutant animals from the old nuclear test site, vampires, werewolves and anything with killer androids.

Each movie has a plot summary and many have publicity stills or small news articles about the film culled from Weldons home collection. The introduction includes a section on the psychotronic film zine which Weldon ran. The zine included a listing of which weird movies were on that week and included plot summaries of said movies. What I found entertaining about this section was Weldons description of the difficulties getting his girlfriend to xerox the copies on the office copy machine when no one was looking. This book grew out of that zine.

When it was published in the early 80's this book would have been a great idea for any fans of bad movies. It is still a good source for info about bad movies up through the 70's. (I checked it out of the library and kept it for a semester during which I investigated such classics as Doctor Goldboots and the Go-go Girls and found that it was pretty thorough in the bad movies department.) As Weldon points out it was very difficult to find information about the kinds of films covered here at the time when this was published. However with the internet and sites like badmovies.org and the ever handy Internet Movie Database it is possible to get the information elsewhere.

If you have an internet connection then don't bother with The Psychotronic Encyclodedia. If you like bad movies and don't have internet access then this is a very useful reference for plot summaries and information on bad movies made prior to around 1980 and would be worth buying.

Rating:
Summary: Doesn't hold up to it's promise
Review: This is the granddaddy of all those doorstoppers that review 1000s of obscure films. And one has to be grateful that Weldon was able to draw some attention to obscure classics. This book was published in 1982 and there was nothing like this around. But unlike Hardy's (Aurum) Overlook Enc. of Horror Films, where the author's actually have seen all the films, Weldon here far too often puts together all of the propaganda material he obviously possessed without having seen the movie. So the book reads more like a collection of flyers and is not a help for anyone that wants to check out if the film is worth the effort. Now-nearly 20 years later, a lot of those rare gems are available through specialised distributors and it's Weldon's Book that started it all. But I would not recommend it - now, there are better books out there.

Rating:
Summary: The Amazing Colossal Film Guide
Review: This mind-boggling encyclopedia grew out of Michael Weldon's handmade, xeroxed "Psychotronic" zine in the early '80s, a weekly program guide to low-grade and forgotten movies airing on TV in New York. The term 'psychotronic,' lifted from the 1980 B-movie "The Psychotronic Man," is used by Weldon to describe not only the world of odd horror and sci-fi flicks, but cult and exploitation films of all kinds. From the flying saucer movies of the 1950's to the James Bond series to the glut of disaster epics from the 1970's, they're all covered with obsessive consistency. Before this wonderful resource came along, it was nearly impossible for the average viewer to find any serious information on a majority of these films. At the time, these movies were scoffed at by critics and ignored in reputable film guides. For better or worse, their legacy has been preserved in Weldon's book. It was published in 1983, prior to the cable TV boom and the rise of video cassette rentals, so most of Weldon's info came from the original movie press kits, old newspaper ads and articles, and by watching the films themselves on late-night movie marathons on TV. The individual entries are brief but informative, detailing the directors, writers, and producers involved, notable cast members and cameos, the year of release, the studio that released it, and any other titles the movie was released under. Entertaining trivia and production notes are often included along with a succinct plot description. The book is filled with an indispensable array of archival press photos, vintage movie ads, and B&W stills, and a handy index that helps you locate the entries with your favorite people (be they Bela Lugosi, Roger Corman, or even Nancy Sinatra). More than a decade later, Weldon returned with the equally-impressive "Psychotronic Video Guide to Film," addressing the new independent and straight-to-video markets, as well as any films that came out since 1983 or were left out of this one. Whether you're a casual viewer or a dedicated film buff, this fantastic book is strongly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: The Amazing Colossal Film Guide
Review: This mind-boggling encyclopedia grew out of Michael Weldon's handmade, xeroxed "Psychotronic" zine in the early '80s, a weekly program guide to low-grade and forgotten movies airing on TV in New York. The term 'psychotronic,' lifted from the 1980 B-movie "The Psychotronic Man," is used by Weldon to describe not only the world of odd horror and sci-fi flicks, but cult and exploitation films of all kinds. From the flying saucer movies of the 1950's to the James Bond series to the glut of disaster epics from the 1970's, they're all covered with obsessive consistency. Before this wonderful resource came along, it was nearly impossible for the average viewer to find any serious information on a majority of these films. At the time, these movies were scoffed at by critics and ignored in reputable film guides. For better or worse, their legacy has been preserved in Weldon's book. It was published in 1983, prior to the cable TV boom and the rise of video cassette rentals, so most of Weldon's info came from the original movie press kits, old newspaper ads and articles, and by watching the films themselves on late-night movie marathons on TV. The individual entries are brief but informative, detailing the directors, writers, and producers involved, notable cast members and cameos, the year of release, the studio that released it, and any other titles the movie was released under. Entertaining trivia and production notes are often included along with a succinct plot description. The book is filled with an indispensable array of archival press photos, vintage movie ads, and B&W stills, and a handy index that helps you locate the entries with your favorite people (be they Bela Lugosi, Roger Corman, or even Nancy Sinatra). More than a decade later, Weldon returned with the equally-impressive "Psychotronic Video Guide to Film," addressing the new independent and straight-to-video markets, as well as any films that came out since 1983 or were left out of this one. Whether you're a casual viewer or a dedicated film buff, this fantastic book is strongly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Utterly delightful and essential
Review: This tome makes one yearn for the good old days, long gone, of the drive-in movie of the 60's and 70's now replaced by video bins. B movie makers of those days- their names are legion - made an honest attempt to entertain their audiences with meagre resources and often more meagre talent(unlike exploitation film makers of today, whose direct to video releases are lazy and witless). Weldon chronicles this glorious time in a very generous compendium, chocked full of wonderful black and white stills and capsule reviews of the inane and the obscure, thw wild and the wonderful, the unbelievable and the unforgettable. A feast for the fan of offbeat cinema.