The last folder contains non-fiction and other works that are not science fiction or fantasy. I don’t write reflections for every book I read tending towards the positive. I do write reflections good or bad for the collections but usually the overall question is why I like this work or author.
This writing is a little different than other reflections in that it is a true review being posted on Amazon etc. I do this for artist and writers who I interact with on facebook but limit it to recent works. I interact with Michael Moorcock but only write reviews on Amazon for works that have been published recently.
Cryptid Cinema: A Boggy Creek Primer by Stephen R. Bissette
“A Boggy Creek Primer '' is the beginning of the sequel to Stephen Bissette’s “Cryptid Cinema: Meditations on Bigfoot, Bayou Beasts, Backwoods Bogeymen and Bloodwater Brutes”. “Primer” is the first 100 pages of a longer upcoming work focused on the cinematic path that led to the Cryptic Classic “Legend of Boggy Creek”. It’s a scenic path with a lot of meandering as Bissette heads towards the 1972 premiere of “Legend of Boggy Creek”.
If you have read “Meditations”, you know that Bissette digresses, regresses and makes you feel like you are having a great conversation with an expert on horror films. The style is similar to any great lecturer always tying the digression or regression to the theme. It isn’t a dry read, it’s a book packed with personality connecting divergent pieces of cinema history. The writing isn’t linear, it sometimes jumps ahead in time and other times regresses. I actually prefer this style since it allows for more connections to be made. I can’t say if it is a good or bad thing but Bissette steps out of the text unlike “Meditations” where you get a good amount of personal story from Bissette. That isn’t to say that Bissette detaches, far from it.
Reading this, be prepared to learn new tidbits about old favorites. As a lifelong Godzilla fan, i didn’t know that there was a radio hoax ala Orson Welle’s “War of the Worlds” that preceded 1954 production of “Godzilla” that carried many of the elements that appear in that film. I found myself, often turning on my TV to check what movies mentioned were available for streaming. Both Bissette and I will admit some are good, some not so good and a few are to be watched by completists only.
Tim Paxton did layout design and Heather Ley proofread the book. Paxton lays the book out similar to his magazine “Monster!” which harkens back to Famous Monsters of Filmland etc. Nice layout, sometimes a little hard to distinguish between narrative text and photo text but no worse than other cinematic books I’ve read. Understand that this is also a visually dense book with lots of movie posters and stills linked to Bissette’s content. I’ll also add a plug in for picking up issues of Paxton's “Monster!” on Amazon.
Because of the marketing of Legend of Boggy Creek, there is a lot of information here concerning films that are secondary in the grand scheme of movies. Films that aren’t ever going to be up for Oscars but were the bread and butter of many theaters in the past. Often these movies fall into the “exploitation” category. Others have limited distribution but due to word of mouth etc. they became successful. So for me it’s an added bonus to revisit some of these gems of my youth.
I highly recommend this work to horror movie fans especially of the monster variety but also to Cryptid fans who are curious about the cinematic history of Sasquatch/Bigfoot/Yeti. For me it’s an easy read but I also savor the work. Yes, there will be a longer, bigger work in the future but I suggest wetting your appetite with the “Primer”.