Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen, and Candy Stripe Nurses - Roger Corman: King Of The B Movies

Now that's a title and a half for a book.
But that's fair enough because it's a lovely book, both to look at and to read. It's lavishly illustrated with movie stills, film posters and behind the scenes photographs, all illustrating the story of a quite remarkable man.

In case you don't know, Roger Corman is a hugely prolific film-maker who produced enough films to make him practically a studio. He's the man who shot THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS in two days, but also made my favourite THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, which is just a gorgeous film.

This is not a critical biography of the man, though. The story is told in interview snippets from so many people that worked with (and for, let's be honest) Roger Corman and other movie luminaries. John Landis, Jack Nicholson, Joe Dante, Jonathan Demme, James Cameron and many more all put in their penny's worth.

And pennies seems to have been Corman's ethos. Pay as little as you can get away with and make a profit on everything that you put out. Some of the films were outright exploitative rubbish, but others were bona fide masterpieces.

If only through the people whose careers he helped to kickstart, Roger Corman has been a huge influence on the movie industry and this bright, cheerful and fun read seems just the right way to celebrate him.