Weirdumentary: Ancient Aliens, Fallacious Prophecies, and Mysterious Monsters from 1970s Documentaries

by Gary D. Rhodes, Stephen R. Bissette (Foreword)

Genres: Film

336 pages, Paperback

First published March 4, 2025

About the author

Gary D. Rhodes is Head of Film & Mass Media at the University of Central Florida. He is the author of Lugosi (1997), White Zombie: Anatomy of a Horror Film (2002), Emerald Illusions: The Irish in Early American Cinema (2012) and The Perils of Moviegoing in America (2012). Rhodes is also the writer-director of the documentary films Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula (1997) and Banned in Oklahoma (2004). Currently he is at work on a history of the American horror film to 1915, as well as a biography of William Fox.

Reviews

[Bill Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a surprisingly entertaining book about the heyday of “weirdumentaries,” a term that the author invented to describe the raft of odd feature films (many produced by Sunn International) that played in theaters and “four wall” venues from 1970-1981. I recall seeing some of these shows, “The Legend of Boggy Creek,” “The Bermuda Triangle” and the “In Search Of . . .” series being the most memorable. Each film or program gets its own entry, describing the context, quality, writers, directors, and producers.

Some of these movies sound truly awful, but Rhodes call out a few that are worth watching again. You can tell that the author is delighted by his subject, even thought he is clearly a skeptic. His enthusiasm is contagious.

These “weirdumentaries” are the ancestors of the modern Finding Bigfoot, Ancient Aliens and ghost hunting programs, though today’s slick productions lack the amateurish charm that marked the work from the 1970s. Rhodes describes these new entrants as “pale imitations of the Weirdumentary, bastard children without a name to call their own. These descendants are nothing more than troglodytic TV, poorly imitating an art form created by the Weirdumentaries.”

Well, there you have it! Bon appetit.

[Steve Wiggins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is perfect for those who grew up in the seventies and are craving some weird nostalgia. Weirdumentary is about pseudo-documentaries on unconventional topics that really began to spring up in the seventies. They include television series, television movies, and theatrical releases. All claim to be documentaries, but the truth is a bit more complex than that.

Gary D. Rhodes is an able, and witty, guide through this territory. It’s clear that he deeply appreciates the genre. The book discusses, usually in about two pages, films about monsters, UFOs, ancient astronauts, biblical archaeology, ESP, ghosts and more. Rhodes isn’t trying to debunk, but rather inform. And it’s clear he’s having a good time doing it.

I knew I’d have to read this book as soon as I saw it advertised. I wrote a little more about it on my blog (Sects and Violence in the Ancient World) as well. If you’re interested in the culture of that strange but formative decade, you’ll probably enjoy this lavishly illustrated book.

[Chloe Eaton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know that this is a collection of reviews of fundamentally unserious material but can we PLEASE tone down the jokes and puns happening every other line