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Zombiemania: 80 Movies To Die For by Dr. Arnold T. Blumberg and Andrew Hershberger
01/04/2007 . Source: Neale Monks 
pub: Telos. 495 page illustrated enlarged paperback. Price: £12.99 (UK), $22.95 (US), $29.95 (CAN). ISBN: 1-84583-003-2. Buy Zombiemania: 80 Movies To Die For in the USA - or Buy Zombiemania: 80 Movies To Die For in the UK  check out website: www.telos.co.uk
'Zombiemania' is simply one of the best horror-slash-cinema books on the market and for the price, an absolute steal. It is generously illustrated, genuinely witty and relentlessly intelligent. If you like zombie movies or even cinema in general, go buy it, you won't be disappointed.
Blumberg and Hershberger have assembled a massive amount of information and each of the eighty movies they review gets several pages of small print text including a synopsis, explanations of the logic behind the film and notable lapses in its implementation, notes on the cast and crew. Perhaps most usefully of all, descriptions of the DVD releases. The range of films covered is decidedly catholic, from the obvious, like 'Night of the Living Dead', through to the obscure, like 'White Zombie'.
There's an international flavour to the selections as well. So while American films predominate, there are also films from Britain, Italy, Spain, Japan, and elsewhere. 'Zombiemania' is equally comprehensive in terms of time, too, with classics from the 1930s and 40s balanced with video-nasties from the 70s and 80s. From George Romero to Ed Wood, it's all here. A rich appendix at the back summarises literally hundreds of other movies that feature at least some zombie content, including such diverse titles as 'Dalek Invasion: Earth' and 'Nudist Colony of the Dead'.
So, it's comprehensive, but that's really only part of its appeal. Where 'Zombiemania' really scores over other cinema books is in the erudition and respect the authors have for the genre. That isn't to say there isn't any fun. There's lot of wry humour and sly commentary, but the authors consistently use the humour to highlight their affection for zombie movies rather than to look down on the whole undoubted silliness of the thing.
The authors gamely critique each film they review, but not before giving it a chance to tell its own tale first through an exposition of what they call necrology. Presumably used here to mean 'the study of death' though the word itself apparently means 'an obituary notice'. Be that as it may, this sort of intelligent humour does the authors great credit.
At first sight, though, what will grab the attention of the reader is the style and quality of the layout. This is a book that simply screams out its high production values. There's no skimping on artwork and typography and every movie is accompanied by stills and poster art. The photographs are usually accompanied by rather witty one-liners (look out especially for the one on page 35) that don't interfere with the seriousness of the text but do make the book as much fun for flipping through as reading in depth. The text itself is small and tightly packed, but still clear and easy to read. Given the length of the book, there's clearly enough reading here to keep any horror movie fan busy for weeks.
Each page of 'Zombiemania' is bordered at the bottom with shambling crowd of zombies silhouetted against a foggy grey sky. The cover art is delightfully menacing and coloured in shades of ghoulish grey and corpse green. Even the colophon contains a nice joke about Macintosh computers, liquorice, and tasty living flesh.
As with any book about cinema, reviews of the movies aren't complete without discussion of production, the theatrical release, any television versions and availability of the film on DVD. In the case of 'Zombiemania', the authors handle all of these issues carefully and clearly. Information on the initial release are right at the top of each entry, starting with the basics like cast and crew (including such critical crew-members of any zombie flick production as the makeup people and the costume designers).
Taglines and alternate titles are provided, as well as BBFC certification, where applicable. These certification ratings are in themselves rather interesting because they reveal how standards have changed over the years. 'The Dead One', for example, going from an 'X' in 1961 to a 12 in 2005.
A detailed behind-the-scenes section reveals information shared by members of the cast and crew, providing insight not just into the nuts and bolts of horror movies but also why some movies work so well but others go so tragically wrong. There's information on budgets, locations, interactions between directors and producers, problems with the cast members and all the gory details that makes the film business such fun to read about.
A peculiarity of horror movies is their tendency to be edited before television broadcast and 'Zombiemania' thoroughly covers these. This is followed through with a discussion of what's available on the DVD market for fans of the undead wanting to add the movie in question to their collection.
One mildly annoying thing for British readers will be that the section on DVDs is oriented very much towards Region 1 North American released DVDs rather than Region 2 British DVDs. This quibble aside, 'Zombiemania' generally lists all the different versions available of a single movie and then makes recommendations where relevant as to which of these is the definitive edition.
There's really not much else to say. The authors are thorough, funny, respectful and in command of their subject. The book is nicely produced and fun to read. There aren't all that many books that immediately feel like money well spent, but this is one of them. Highly recommended.
Neale Monks
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