There are no secrets of the trade I'm afraid. Landis makes this very clear in his introduction when he calls his book 'a labor of love' and not 'a ponderous examination of film theory.' Budding special effects geeks out there should take note that the book is also missing detailed descriptions from the creators of how movie monsters actually get made. So this is not an academic treatise on cinema culture.

Watch this guy in person and you'll see what I mean. No amount of exclamation points however, can truly capture Landis's passion and enthusiasm for the medium, his sparkling eyes, his fervent gesticulating, his habit of leaning forward as if he spends most of his life perched on the edge of his seat (which I firmly believe is the case). So many I began to giggle and couldn't help but remember this scene from Seinfeld. Seriously, this book has A LOT of exclamation points. Landis's characteristic exuberance pours across every page captured in about 1000 exclamation points. This entire book really does read like a love letter from a fanboy. Landis hasn't made a lot of monster movies, but what makes him the perfect person to put together a book like this is two-fold: 1) he's a screaming fanboy for the genre and 2) he's best friends with a lot of the directors - and more significantly, special effects masters, who make the monsters come to life. He's also famous for Animal House and The Blues Brothers (and a plethora of cheesy stinkers that I won't mention here).

Landis, who wrote and directed one of my favorite movies of all time - An American Werewolf in London. I have a bit of fangirl squee going on for Mr. How could I resist a behemoth, colorful coffee table book about cinematic monsters put together by the legendary John Landis? I couldn't of course, it would have been impossible, which is why I'm writing this review.

Monsters in the Movies by John Landis