Landis: The Story of a Real Man on 42nd Street

Landis: The Story of a Real Man on 42nd Street
Author: Preston Fassel
Publisher:
Total Pages: 146
Release: 2021-12-07
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780578304809

At the dawn of the 1980s, there was one serious name in horror and exploitation film criticism: Bill Landis. While other magazines were concerned with behind-the-scenes information, tributes, and SFX tutorials, Landis' Sleazoid Express was one part film journal and one part anthropological study, seriously critiquing the grindhouse movies that played the theaters of 42nd Street while also documenting the dying subculture that had grown up around them. Profiled in Film Comment and Rolling Stone for his pioneering work, Landis' over-the-top "Mr. Sleazoid" persona and double-life as an adult film star masked the pain behind the excess: a child genius whose intellect alienated him from his peers; a sexual abuse survivor who numbed his trauma with drugs; a consummate outcast who only felt at home among other outcasts. After settling into life as a husband, father, and author in the 90s, it seemed that Landis had turned a corner-but the ghosts of Times Square were never far behind him. Dead at the age of 49 on the eve of what should have been a successful comeback, his legacy has nominally been forgotten, most of his work lost, and his memory relegated to a footnote in journalism history. Now, award-winning author and journalist Preston Fassel (Our Lady of the Inferno; Fangoria magazine; The Daily Grindhouse) pieces together the full story of his life for the first time, from his turbulent childhood, to his meteoric rise in the New York vice scene, to his tragic demise on the streets of Chicago. Featuring exclusive interviews with Kurt Loder (MTV; Rolling Stone), Michael J. Weldon (Psychotronic Video), Art Ettinger (Ultra Violent Magazine), Carl Abrahamsson, Mike McPadden (Heavy Metal Movies; Teen Movie Hell), and others, plus excerpts from Landis' unpublished autobiographical novella Last Exit in Manattan and a reprint of Landis' seminal Fangoria interview with Andy Milligan, Landis at last pulls back the curtain on one of genre writing's most influential-yet unknown-figures. In that lost, damned, golden age called the 80s, there was a movie star named Bobby Spector and a writer named Mr. Sleazoid. Most importantly, there was a man named Bill Landis. This is his story.

Sleazoid Express

Sleazoid Express
Author: Bill Landis
Publisher: Touchstone Books
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2002-12-03
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN:

A complete collection of the British comedy show following Rowan Atkinson's hapless, rubber-faced clown. The set includes all episodes from the original series and the animated spin-off, as well as the two 'Mr Bean' movies. In 'Bean - The Ultimate Disaster Movie' (1997), Mr Bean (Atkinson) has obtained a job as an attendant at the National Gallery in London. He enjoys the protection of the chairman, but the gallery's governors are keen to be rid of him. When the Grierson Gallery in Los Angeles asks for an expert to give a speech on the recently-purchased painting of Whistler's mother, Bean is quickly despatched. On his arrival in America he begins wreaking havoc in the art world. In 'Mr Bean's Holiday' (2007), Bean has won a church fete raffle's top prize, consisting of a trip to France, where the language barrier predictably causes our hero no end of grief until he meets Emil (Karel Roden), a Russian director on his way to judge at Cannes.

Our Lady of the Inferno

Our Lady of the Inferno
Author: Preston Fassel
Publisher: Cico Kidz
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2018
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781946487087

Spring, 1983. Sally Ride is about to go into space. Flashdance is a cultural phenomenon. And in Times Square, two very deadly women are on a collision course with destiny-- and each other. At twenty-one, Ginny Kurva is already legendary on 42nd Street. To the pimp for whom she works, she's the perfect weapon-- a martial artist capable of taking down men twice her size. To the girls in her stable, she's mother, teacher, and protector. To the little sister she cares for, she's a hero. Yet Ginny's bravado and icy confidence hide a mind at the breaking point, her sanity slowly slipping away as both her addictions and the sins of her past catch up with her... At thirty-seven, Nicolette Aster is the most respected woman at the Staten Island Landfill. Quiet and competent, she's admired by the secretaries and trusted by her supervisors. Yet those around her have no idea how Nicolette spends her nights-- when the hateful madness she keeps repressed by day finally emerges, and she turns the dump into a hunting ground to engage in a nightmarish bloodsport...

"Bold! Daring! Shocking! True!"

Author: Eric Schaefer
Publisher: Duke University Press
Total Pages: 492
Release: 1999
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 9780822323747

A social and cultural history of exploitation films, which were produced on the fringes of Hollywood and often dealt with subjects forbidden by the Production Code.

Tales of Times Square

Tales of Times Square
Author: Josh Alan Friedman
Publisher: Feral House
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2012-09-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1936239698

“Friedman has drawn a vivid picture of the Times Square area and its denizens. He writes about the porn palaces with live sex shows, and the men and women who perform in them, prostitutes and their pimps, the runaways who will likely be the next decade's prostitutes, the clergymen who fight the smut merchants and the cops who feel impotent in the face of the judiciary.”—Publishers Weekly This classic account of the ultra-sleazy, pre-Disneyfied era of Times Square is now the subject of a documentary film of the same name to be theatrically released this year. With this edition, Tales of Times Square returns to print with seven new chapters.

Suburban Grindhouse

Suburban Grindhouse
Author: Nick Cato
Publisher: SCB Distributors
Total Pages: 469
Release: 2020-08-03
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 190939467X

“In SUBURBAN GRINDHOUSE, Nick Cato becomes the Marcel Proust of trash cinema, resurrecting memories of the kinds of late, lamented, Mom and Pop fleapits in which seeing an anti-social movie with your buddies was a gloriously anti-social act.” — Michael Marano, movie columnist Cemetery Dance Film review books may be a dime a dozen, but how many include the actual experience of witnessing the movie in a theater? Zine editor and online columnist Nick Cato shares his time growing up in seedy NY and NJ theaters, and how these screenings helped to shape opinion of the movies. Whether one of his beloved local theaters in Staten Island, NY, or at a double feature at the infamous 42nd Street in Times Square during its heyday, audiences were always lively and outspoken. Part memoir, part film criticism, SUBURBAN GRINDHOUSE looks at the audiences as much as it is a book about exploitation movies themselves.

The Forty-Deuce

The Forty-Deuce
Author: Hilton Ariel Ruiz
Publisher: powerHouse Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012-06-12
Genre: Photography
ISBN: 9781576875780

In the 1970s and 80s New York was internationally renowned for its seedy underbelly; the world capital of leisure, luxury, and sin. And the epicenter of New York vice, hands down, was 42nd Street-Times Square-a.k.a. the Forty-Deuce. On any given night on the Forty-Deuce you could take in the latest blockbuster, B-movie, or skin flick; cop drugs or cop a feel. A playground for the perverse, as well as a destination for thrill-seekers and partiers from every borough of New York City and beyond, Times Square was the electric heart of the city that refused to sleep. The Forty-Deuce: The Times Square Photographs of Bill Butterworth, 1983-1984 is a series of photographs capturing a gritty, glamorous, and authentic old-school New York, well before Mickey Mouse took over Times Square and scrubbed it clean. Curators and editors Beatriz and Hilton Arial Ruiz have collected and preserved the work of local street photographer Bill Butterworth, and have drawn from his work to create a revealing portrait of the Forty-Deuce, inside and out-capturing the unique street life and street style of the era, but also drawing us deeper in, to the peep shows, sex shops, backroom brothels, dimly lit arcades, and low-budget theatres where the action happened. In the tradition of Jamel Shabazz's classic, Back in the Days, The Forty-Deuce showcases the early-80s style of New York's first b-boys, out on the town and dressed to impress, but it adds some sin to the mix, with the Deuce's own slick pimps, strung out hustlers, and the spandex and leather clad prostitutes, strippers, and trannies that worked 42nd Street nightly, and defined it for years.

The Ghastly One

The Ghastly One
Author: Jimmy McDonough
Publisher: Nicolas Winding Refn Presents
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2022-10-04
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781913051150

One of the most acclaimed film director biographies ever published. The Ghastly One: The 42nd Street Netherworld of Director Andy Milligan is back in print in paperback, following the run-away Sold Out success of its large format slipcased limited edition. Andy Milligan, perhaps the most compelling lone wolf in cinema history, gets his due in this definitive work. A dressmaker, actor and puppeteer, Milligan cranked out explosive titles like Bloodthirsty Butchers, The Body Beneath, and The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! on threadbare budgets. Biographer and journalist Jimmy McDonough's book serves as a history of not only the shadowy New York City sexploitation business, but also of the Caffe Cino - a tiny storefront café many consider to be the beginning of Off-Off Broadway theatre in America. Starring a cast of unforgettable, elusive characters, the gripping narrative turns grimly personal, and it's told with unflinching honesty. Hilarious at times, deeply unsettling, and ultimately heartbreaking, THE GHASTLY ONE will haunt you long after the last page is turned.

A Whole Bag of Crazy

A Whole Bag of Crazy
Author: Pete Chiarella
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2018-02-22
Genre:
ISBN: 9781985824133

"I am known as 42nd Street Pete, a character that I created as a living reminder of that lost decade, the '70s. I was one of a million nameless, faceless kids with no direction and no future. We all had the ugly specter of the Vietnam War hanging like a sword over our heads. We weren't college material; we were clerks, gas station attendants, custodians, the like. Pretty much cannon fodder for the front lines. Most of us knew that we stood a good chance of being drafted and coming back in a bag, so we lost ourselves in the explosion of drugs, alcohol, sex, violence, and music that were the '70s." Hustler, pot fiend, porn expert.Take a walk down a dark alley with 42nd Street Pete as he recounts his tales growing up on "The Deuce." Criminal activity, classic undesirable cinema, pot, booze, pros, cons. The '70s: uncut, uncensored. If you really remember the '70s, you were lucky to have survived them.

The Despicable Fantasies of Quentin Sergenov

The Despicable Fantasies of Quentin Sergenov
Author: Preston Fassel
Publisher:
Total Pages: 112
Release: 2021-05-28
Genre:
ISBN:

His name was Quentin Sergenov - the unexpected hero of the 90s wrestling scene. A middle-aged bruiser called up to the big leagues on the eve of what should've been his retirement, his story of late-in-life success and can-do attitude won the hearts of fans all over the world- and the heart of Wave, his in-ring rival. The two shared a forbidden love that was doomed from the start; but the end of their affair would prove to be the beginning of something terrible for Quentin... His name is Quentin Sergenov - recluse, artist, romantic. Something happened to Quentin after he was cast out of the wrestling world: something that left him less-and more-than human. Now that he's been given a second chance, Quentin is about to go on a quest-one that will find him crossing paths with Nazi scientists, internet celebrities, sci-fi groupies, and bodybuilding CEOs. It's a quest to reunite with Wave and finally take back what was stolen from them; and the results will be as gruesome as they are hilarious...