Hardcore: The Novelization

by Leonard Schrader

The sacred and the profane clash when a Calvinist patriarch (George C. Scott) journeys from Grand Rapids to California in search of a daughter who’s become enmeshed in the world of pornography. Writer-director Paul Schrader, raised in a strict Calvinist home himself, has described Hardcore as his film about his father and the film seethes with an array of personal themes and obsessions from the nature of sin and the redemptive power of violence.

130 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 1979

About the author

He and his brother, Taxi Driver (1976) screenwriter Paul Schrader, were born in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Their family, of the Dutch Calvinist religious sect, forbade them to see any movies in their youth. Paul was quoted as saying, "That was a church edict. What they called worldly amusements were prohibited."

It wasn't until he was in college in the 1960s that Schrader saw his first movie.

Living in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s, Schrader taught American literature to Japanese students.Paul Schrader also wrote numerous screenplays for Japanese films during this time.

His first film, The Yakuza (1974), was co-written with his brother Paul. in addition to The Yakuza Leonard Schrader's other well known work is Kiss of the Spider Woman: The Screenplay.

Reviews

[Agerius · Rating 2 out of 5]

A strange bit of pulp ephemera here. Hardcore is not a novelization of its better-known film, per se, but a product which was written based on the screenplay and released concurrently with the film. Hardcore sees Schrader trading in the seedy underbelly of the 70s flesh trade with the exact combination of righteous anger and salacious titillation one might expect and desire from this kind of pulp. Pious Calivinist Jake VanDorn’s daughter has gone missing on a church trip to California and has fallen into the clutches of a pornographer who drags her down into the hell of wrong-side-of-the-tracks Los Angeles and it’s up to papa to put an end to all the nonsense. What proceeds is what one might expect: a guided tour through peep shows, strip clubs, brothels, and porno sets as Jake gets his hands dirty to keep his daughter clean. It’s short on surprises and long on grit: in the rare moments where Schrader gets in full Prose Mode, he’s a surprisingly evocative writer, full of striking imagery and crunchy, adverb-heavy sentences which are a joy to read when you ain’t got a bitch in your ear telling you it’s nasty. But Hardcore is also a very slim 160-something pages, so those moments are few and far between, and much of the book is unsurprisingly clunky and functional: Jake asks bad people where his daughter is, he gets frustrated and moves on to the next lead. It’s a plot-driven book without a whole lot of plot to drive it, and while I have some affection for it simply due to the style and depraved subject matter, I can’t say this is essential for anyone.

https://hideousrecollection.substack.com

[Lexi O'Donnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was jokingly shown this book at a small local store (because I like hardcore music) I was actually really intrigued by the story. The guy owning the store acted really turned off by it and really was trying to emphasize how bad it is. He seemed kinda weirded out that I wanted to read it, but it wasn't that wild. There is one scene that is particularly graphic and VERY hard to get through but that was necessary to the theme and story.

I wasn't sure if it would be worth the read, but the intersection of conservative strict religion and the inhumane /dehumanizing workings of the underground porn industry juxtaposed well.

Now I just have to watch the movie

[Reevrb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this story, really made me think about how evil the porn industry was and still is....