Monday, March 17, 2008

Tough To Kill Volume 1 now available!


At long last the book by Paul Cooke and myself is ready to go. It is actually a VOLUME 1 of Tough To Kill-a collection of reviews and views and strangely skewed writings on things that go BOOM.

You can order your copy (and even get an ebook edition) by going here.


This is something Paul and I worked on (and off...and on) at for almost 6 years of searching for original Japanese tapes and I'm glad to see it out there. I have to laugh when I realize that between two of us we undoubtedly spent several thousand dollars locating items like JIBOA and widescreen copies of Al Brescia Miami movies! Honestly, I'm thrilled to see this sucker out there, think of it as a big 'zine by two fellas that just love action.

I'm totally fascinated by this period of movies, there are so many huge talents from the Eurotrash boom all at work, and while the films are not horror-they are in some respects no less odd then those earlier films. A film like Tonino Valerii's BROTHERS IN BLOOD may look like a typical Vietnam M.I.A. rip off, but once you see Werner Pochath in drag singing in a "Safari Disco" and being sexually enslaved by a bad guy going on...well, you certainly ain't in Chuck Norrisville. If you want to see a few of the reviews from the book you can check out the Tough To Kill blog. You can also read a few pages of the book at Lulu by going directly to this page here.
Done with fun in mind and lots of Japanese VHS in hand-Paul and I hope you have fun with the first installment of Tough To Kill.

Included are 80 Ballistic reviews from directors such as Enzo G. Castellari, Bruno Mattei, Tito Carpi, Antonio Margheriti, Ignazio Dolce, Lamberto Bava, Alfonso Brescia, Ruggero Deodato and "Larry Ludman" himself, Fabrizio De Angelis.

A Tribute To Bruno Mattei by Paul Cooke.

Of Margheriti And Miniatures-an interview with Edoardo Margheriti

Star Profiles by Paul Cooke including articles on Mark Gregory, Reb Brown and more.

Dystopia Rides A Dune Buggy is an examination of Italian Post Nuke Cinema of the 80s.

And yes...THE TRUTH ABOUT BRONX CRACKDOWN. Some claim to have it! I assure you they do not...

8 comments:

Kim Dubuisson said...

Ok! I need this book!!!!!!!

Rey Nova said...

Wonderful¡¡¡¡¡¡ really.

Dan said...

Been meaning to get over and comment on this for days Z... AWESOME job on the long-anticipated TTK book. Have my copy in hand and it joins my indispensible trash film reference shelf along with PSYCHOTRONIC, SLIMETIME, MONDO MACABRO, INCREDIBLY STRANGE FILMS, and the Joe Bob books. I'm a huge fan of this cinema and you guys have definitely done the genre good... so much of this stuff is still waiting to be discovered, like the brain-melting LAST MATCH (which you intro'd me to) and many more. Top notch!!!

David A. Zuzelo said...

Thanks everyone, I hope you all enjoy it. Paul and I are really happy to finally get the results of our shared love of the subject out there. If just one more person recognizes the name Tito Carpi because of us, I'll be thrilled ;)

Thank you DT, it means a lot to us and that sure is some good company!

Paul Cooke aka Buckaroobanzai said...

Guys, Thanks so much for the positive word. It does indeed mean a Great deal. We haven't done this for any reward other tahn to get the same smile enducing excitement back that we both have everytime we watch or discover one of these rarities.
Tito Carpi - without who's writing such greats as Bronx Warriors 2 - The New Barbarians - Atlantis Interceptors etc may never have been as Cool, but hey ... who has seen his one time Directorial effort for TV (1985) - Adventures Of Pinocchio ?. Not me !!!. Paul

David A. Zuzelo said...

No no NOcchio for me yet, but I'll look around. I'm pretty sure Carpi wrote at least 17 of the films that are in the book! A titan of TRASH that Carpi.
He also wrote a slew of Spaghetti Westerns, and I would be willing to bet that many of those same themes and scripts were reinterpreted for Tough To Kill flix.

Douglas A. Waltz said...

Hardcover???

David A. Zuzelo said...

Sorry, I don't think the Hardcover of V.1 is going to be any time soon-the entire book would need to be resized to do that, however, I will keep it in mind for later collections.