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Straight to Video #1
Straight to Video: An Anthology of B Movie Awesomeness
We were young and on the edge of boredom, when the tapes took hold. With the birth of home video they came; the good, the bad and the bottom-of-the-shelf beautiful. With insane plots and very little money, a group of mad geniuses picked up the tools of moviemaking and crafted a cinema of unmistakable glory; stories of werewolf ballerinas, killer tomatoes, suburban commandos, deathstalkers, centrefold psychos, robot vampires and samurai cops.
In this age of biodegradable blockbusters, a chosen few, a happy few, a band of video store frequenters have come together to resurrect the days of high adventure, that came with awesome covers (that were often times better than the movie) and bad tracking. These are the stories spawned from the minds of those whose childhood ghosts still haunt the aisles of abandoned video stores the world over.
With the indelible impression of the golden age of VHS emblazoned on their banner, this incredible gathering of writers now return you to a time when the B movie was king, in the days before ‘so bad its good’. This is the fiction flavoured with those gems from the junk, the films that bypassed a theatre near you . . . and went straight to video.
"It's like renting a stack of VHS movies so questionable, eye contact with the store clerk is simply not possible, but you gotta get them home."
- Fred Olen Ray (Director of Alienator, Scalps & Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers)
In this age of biodegradable blockbusters, a chosen few, a happy few, a band of video store frequenters have come together to resurrect the days of high adventure, that came with awesome covers (that were often times better than the movie) and bad tracking. These are the stories spawned from the minds of those whose childhood ghosts still haunt the aisles of abandoned video stores the world over.
With the indelible impression of the golden age of VHS emblazoned on their banner, this incredible gathering of writers now return you to a time when the B movie was king, in the days before ‘so bad its good’. This is the fiction flavoured with those gems from the junk, the films that bypassed a theatre near you . . . and went straight to video.
"It's like renting a stack of VHS movies so questionable, eye contact with the store clerk is simply not possible, but you gotta get them home."
- Fred Olen Ray (Director of Alienator, Scalps & Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers)
308 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 5, 2015
2 people are currently reading
96 people want to read
About the author
Kent Hill
46 books24 followersKENT HILL is the “new”, thinking-man’s Jean Claude Van Damme. He has been known to fight in desperate battles against impossible odds against hordes of imaginary foes. He has been known to volunteer for suicide missions, and has been witnessed shooting fireballs from his eyes and bolts of lightning from his arse. He is the author of Alien Smut Peddlers from the Future (StrangeHouse Books), DeathMaster: Adventures in the 39th Uncharted Dimension, The Last Barbarian (with Craig Mullins), Necropolis Tryst, Zombie Park, Retirement Village of the Damned (all for Riot Forge), The Ballad of the Crying Clown in Floppy Shoes Apocalypse, Give me a home among the Zombies in Undead Legacy, The Ghost Mask in Doorway to Death, The Last of the Green Grass in Under the Bridge, Won’t you be my Neighbour in Suburban Secrets, The Day the Pizza Died in JEAPers Creepers, Hercules with a Shotgun in Straight to Video, Army of Dicks in The Sequel: Straight 2 Video, Old Dave dies at the End in Drowning in Gore, That Bastard Loner in Strange Dominion, Natural Born Clerks in MvF (all anthologies for J. Ellington Ashton Press), The Man in the Hand in Destroy All Robots, Sword Dude (both for Dynatox Ministries) Hercules with a Shotgun {Cinema of Awesomeness Series}, Those the Shadows Hide in Conquest of the Planet of the Tapes: Straight to Video III and Contains Crude Language (for KHP).
He lives on “The Downs” in Southern Queensland, Australia, with his wife and son.
He lives on “The Downs” in Southern Queensland, Australia, with his wife and son.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 6, 2015
I absolutely loved reading this one! While not all stories in it might be for everyone, there is no way you're not going to find several others that really hit you in the right spot. The stories run the gamut of potential B grade cinema: Gingerdead men, carnivorous plants that take over the world, Super robot vs giant tar monster of doom, and one that features werewolves vs a biker drug gang just to name a few, and there are so many others in this thing! If you love B and Z grade movies, great stories, horror, sci-fi, and everything in between this book will be a fun read.
September 29, 2015
A hurrah to all those movies that go straight to video. Kent Hill brings authors together to the round table and these stories and poetry give the B-Rated movie genre a reading frenzy of pure imagination. From Werewolves, Robots, Spaceships and attack plants its all written in this powerful anthology.
My two poems make their debut along side some great authors "Geppettoism" A new take on a puppeteer at work and "Pooling Puddles" A mans last sight pools into a puddle of death.
Other stories in this anthology....
John Ledger - The Sleepwalker: Strippers, The Devil and a Blood Bath. What more could you ask for.
John Bruni - Thrill Killers from Planet Galexis: Action packed Sci-Fi blood spatter.
Dona Fox - Space Sirens: A Space Opera with a dash of lesbianism. Pirates in the next installment??
Kevin Candela - Weedeaters: Poisonous plants that spit death....Critters meets Little Shop of Horrors.
Many other stories behind these pages also staring Michael Kanuckel's Black Tar a memorable read. You need to read this....Remember reading the book is sometimes better than the movie, that would of went "STRAIGHT TO VIDEO"
My two poems make their debut along side some great authors "Geppettoism" A new take on a puppeteer at work and "Pooling Puddles" A mans last sight pools into a puddle of death.
Other stories in this anthology....
John Ledger - The Sleepwalker: Strippers, The Devil and a Blood Bath. What more could you ask for.
John Bruni - Thrill Killers from Planet Galexis: Action packed Sci-Fi blood spatter.
Dona Fox - Space Sirens: A Space Opera with a dash of lesbianism. Pirates in the next installment??
Kevin Candela - Weedeaters: Poisonous plants that spit death....Critters meets Little Shop of Horrors.
Many other stories behind these pages also staring Michael Kanuckel's Black Tar a memorable read. You need to read this....Remember reading the book is sometimes better than the movie, that would of went "STRAIGHT TO VIDEO"
July 13, 2015
A great deal of B-movie fun. My favorite story is probably Michael Kanucklel's "Black Tar," which is probably the perfect example of an 'Eighties B-movie experience, aliens and lasers and battle mechs, oh my. Second favorite is probably DF Noble's "Trailer Trash Samurai," which is pure 'Eighties trash cinema. I can't wait until the next installment. And then there's "Hercules With a Shotgun" by Kent Hill, which is great fun with Ancient Greek-ish action. I also have a story in here, but I'll leave its merits up to you to decide. I'm glad to be a part of this awesome anthology.
November 30, 2015
By giving this 5 stars, I'm grading on a curve. Having plowed through a few anthologies lately, I've been frustrated by the uneven quality of them which made them a chore. Straight to Video isn't perfect by any means, but the mean value of the stories within put it on a level far above most other collections. If you have to pick and choose, I recommend "Beast Mode", "Black Tar", "Hercules With a Shotgun", "Bear Rug Blues", and "Monster Cookies." I have to single out "Space Sirens" as the most disappointing; most of the story was setting up the world, then it was wrapped up quickly and nonsensically, so I would skip that one. If you are filled with nostalgia by the title and concept, I don't think you will disappointed!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews