FAB Press

Tony Tenser has earned an unrivalled position as the godfather of low-budget British films. Amongst his many movies are the notorious ''nudie'' Naked - As Nature Intended and Roman Polanski''s ground-breaking Repulsion. Most notably it was Tony Tenser whose entrepreneurial wit and creative spark fanned the flames of the entire Folk Horror genre with his seminal classics Witchfinder General and Blood on Satan''s Claw. Tenser worked with household names such as Christopher Lee, Vincent Price, Raquel Welch and Norman Wisdom, and his early career highlights include using strippers to picket central London cinemas and converting a Soho basement into Britain''s most successful private cinema club. By the time he started producing films such as The Black Torment and The Pleasure Girls, Tenser''s name was a byword for colourful titles, controversial themes and outrageous publicity stunts. He would enjoy mainstream success with the likes of Cul-de-Sac and Hannie Caulder but his company, Tigon, is not only synonymous with the Folk Horror genre, but also with a great many other spectacular horror hits including The Sorcerers, Curse of the Crimson Altar, Frightmare and The Creeping Flesh. By drawing on exclusive interviews, original production files and private correspondence, John Hamilton pieces together the stories behind the movies that made Tenser the most admired and successful exploitation producer in British cinema. From battles with the censor to studio in-fighting, and from tantrums on set to post-production interference, the cut and thrust of British filmmaking on a budget is revived in glorious detail. ''It may very well be that with ''Beasts in the Cellar'' John Hamilton and FAB Press have produced the best ever single subject book in the field of British horror cinema.'' - MJ Simpson, SFX magazine.

There is no shortage of loaded - and often gendered - symbolism in the sport of cockfighting. And this becomes a starting point for author Kier-La Janisse (who broke new ground in film criticism with her acclaimed book House of Psychotic Women) to investigate the themes of obsession, competition, mobility and nobility that dominate the hyper-masculine world of Monte Hellman''s existential and controversial film, Cockfighter (1974), based on the 1962 novel by crime writer Charles Willeford (Miami Blues). Infamously touted as the only movie that producer Roger Corman ever lost money on, Cockfighter stars character actor Warren Oates as Frank Mansfield, a career cocker who has taken a vow of silence until he can win the Cockfighter of the Year Award. Surrounded by fellow cockfighters played by Harry Dean Stanton, Ed Begley Jr, Steve Railsback, Richard B. Shull and even author/screenwriter Charles Willeford himself, the film traverses the underground cockfighting world of the Deep South, with a highly detailed documentation of this unique subculture brought vividly to life by esteemed cinematographer Nestor Almendros. Densely illustrated and featuring interviews with director Monte Hellman, producer Roger Corman and several surviving cast and crew members, Janisse''s study explores the many mythologies that intersect in Cockfighter, approaching the story and its backdrop through a variety of lenses, using a combination of cultural criticism, production history and even personal anecdotes, as the author delves into the contradictory world of cockfighting in the American South. At its core it is a story about work, honour, conviction and finding religion and beauty in strange places. ''Janisse leverages her impressive scope of research toward a truly dazzling analysis of the film.'' - LA Review of Books.

HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN has attained canonical status, having ushered in a new way of writing about film. Kier-La Janisse's acclaimed book is an autobiographical exploration of female neurosis in horror and exploitation films that examines hundreds of films through a daringly personal lens. In this pioneering work, anecdotes and memories interweave with film history, criticism, trivia and confrontational imagery to create a reflective personal history and a consideration of female madness, both onscreen and off. Following the extraordinary success of its 10th anniversary expanded hardcover re-issue, which features new reviews of 100 more films - many of which were inspired in part by the book itself - and hundreds of new images, FAB Press have now published an affordable paperback edition. Cinema is full of neurotic personalities, but few things are more transfixing than a woman losing her mind onscreen. Horror as a genre provides the most welcoming platform for these histrionics: crippling paranoia, desperate loneliness, masochistic death-wishes, dangerous obsessiveness, apocalyptic hysteria. Unlike her male counterpart - 'the eccentric' - the female neurotic lives a shamed existence, making these films those rare places where her destructive emotions get to play. This sharply-designed book, including a 48-page full-colour section, is packed with 680 rare stills, posters, pressbooks and artwork throughout, that combine with family photos and artifacts to form a titillating sensory overload, with a filmography that traverses the acclaimed and the obscure in equal measure. Films covered include The Entity, The Corruption of Chris Miller, Singapore Sling, 3 Women, Toys Are Not for Children, Repulsion, Let's Scare Jessica to Death, The Haunting of Julia, Secret Ceremony, Cutting Moments, Out of the Blue, Mademoiselle, The Piano Teacher, Possession, Antichrist and hundreds more!