Smoldering Embers: On the Set of Director Tobe Hooper's Spontaneous Combustion

by Stan Giesea

Smoldering Embers is a unique, day-to-day account of life on the set of a motion picture, chronicling the making of the notorious "Spontaneous Combustion," from the late, great director Tobe Hooper's (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Poltergeist, Lifeforce). Here is an opportunity for the reader to meet the cast and crew of talented craftsmen, technicians and artisans and to follow their progress as they work together to realize Hooper's vision.Summarily dismissed or ignored in its initial release in 1990, Spontaneous Combustion has since enjoyed something of a resurgence in interest and appreciation. Starring Brad Dourif (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) and Melinda Dillon (Close Encounters of the Third Kind),

Hooper's dark tale of nuclear conspiracy and betrayal resonates now more than ever and Charred Remains provides a fascinating glimpse behind-the-scenes for anyone with an interest in the horror genre, Hooper's career in particular, or just filmmaking in general.Derived from a contemporaneous account composed during production on the film, the book not only serves as an invaluable research tool for academics and film students alike, but also provides a window into Hooper's working methods and an entertaining glimpse into the fascinating craft of moviemaking.

Author Stan Giesea takes a deep dive into the making of one of Tobe Hooper’s least well-known movies with intimate knowledge of the process. It’s a loving, intricate portrait into how the horror icon created an everlasting legacy of horror, in knowing detail.

-filmmaker and novelist Mick Garris (The Stand, Sleepwalkers)

283 pages, Paperback

Published December 16, 2021

Reviews

[Mark Dubovec · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Spontaneous Combustion" is not regarded as one of director Tobe Hooper's better pictures. Stan Giesea, who worked on the film as a crew member, contributes this book, a journal chronicling the filming and his experience as the journalist on set.

The book contains behind-the-scenes stories (some of the nutty people who worked on the movie wouldn't be out of place as characters in a Tobe Hooper film) and reveals the amount of work that went into the movie as well as just how conceptually complex the whole enterprise was, especially for a relatively low budget film on a tight schedule. If the movie falls short, it's not for lack of trying.

The film reportedly had a hell of a post-production, and apparently, the released version differs greatly from Hooper's vision. Giesea describes elaborate scenes that were ultimately cut, but he was not present for the conversations that decided their fates. As a result, a big part of this movie's making feels missing.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boyish yet well written, this detailed account of the entire filming (including reshoots) of Tobe Hooper's mishandled 1990 sci-fi thriller is nothing but candid. Even if every Polaroid moment isn't necessary, there's so much "gee-whiz" enthusiasm and personality, the book is fun and preferable to so many other bloated, pretentious dissections of film sets. Unfortunately, the preface is a severe, vocabulary-saturated introduction that seems to be more about the author than the movie and clashes with the majority of the book, which is congenial. Warning: the book contains enough hard to read tragic chapters (and footnotes) to haunt any film-maker whose survived sets of extremely painstaking physical work, production and hours only to see the finished product gutted of so much creative effort--and for no logical reasons.