PERFORMING ARTS

I Was a Teenage Monster Hunter! How I Met Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing & More!

Knuckle Samwitch Bks. Nov. 2022. 352p. ISBN 9798353545842. pap. $45. FILM
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As a teenager in the 1970s, biographer (Kay Thompson) and film director (Elvira’s Haunted Hills) Irvin created his own horror movie fanzine called Bizarre. It only lasted four annual issues, but Irvin managed to conduct an amazing number of interviews with horror movie stars, directors, producers and composers. This enthralling over-sized book (packed with color photos) collects those surprisingly astute and knowledgeable interviews while weaving in his own delightfully dishy memories as a gay boy coming of age. Horror fans will greedily devour his encounters and conversations with Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Ingrid Pitt, Diana Rigg, and others. Gossip fans will delight in Irvin’s naked encounter with Hammer Films heartthrob Shane Briant and chatting with a nude John Carradine at a NYC gay bathhouse in 1975. There’s also a (discreetly described) sexual encounter with Jonathan Frid (TV’s Barnabas Collins in Dark Shadows). Irvin can also vouch for Vincent Price’s bisexuality. A juicy, absolutely spellbinding collection of vintage interviews and amiable gossip.
VERDICT Irvin is an engaging raconteur with a star-studded cast of interview subjects. A terrific reference resource for horror movie fans.
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