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One of our members, Brian Sammons, dropped in a book review for you all. He read William Friedkin: Films of Aberration, Obsession and Reality, you know the guy who directed the scariest movie of all time, The Exorcist! Read on for the book review..

William Friedkin: Films of Aberration, Obsession and Reality.

By: Thomas D. Clagett.

Published by: Silman-James Press.

Reviewed by: Brian Sammons.



First, let me start off by saying that this is not a good book for horror fans. Why, you may ask? Well, William Friedkin has only directed two films that could be classified as horror and, while one of them was an absolute masterpiece (The Exorcist), the other was, well, far from it (The Guardian). Now, while Exorcist gets the coverage it deserves with a meaty chapter 42 pages in length, Guardian gets only 15 pages devoted to it, which is about what it deserves as well. This means that in a book that has 457 pages only 57 of them have anything related to horror and the other 400 do not! So, can you see why this would not be a good book for horror fans?



Add to that fact that most of what's covered in the Exorcist chapter has been covered elsewhere in other articles or in a more accessible format, namely DVD?s. Yes, if you have any of the special edition versions of The Exorcist on DVD (and as a horror fan I know you do) then you've already heard the most interesting parts of this chapter. While there are some new tidbits of information found here, none of it's really exceptional or noteworthy. Case in point, I can't think of any right now and I just finished the book yesterday. That's never a good sign.



Oh wait, now I remember one. The actress who did the demonic voice in the film had people tie her to a bed to get the right "feel" for the part. She also downed a dozen raw eggs to make herself vomit so she could properly reproduce the vomiting sounds. While that?s a bit of neat trivia and goes a long way in showing that the voice actress (Mercedes McCambridge) was a total freak, it really doesn?t shed any new light on Exorcist.



The chapter on The Guardian might have some more new information in it about the movie that you might not have heard or read about before simply because that movie hasn't had the years and years of attention devoted to it that The Exorcist has. Unfortunately, even though this chapter weighs in at only a paltry 15 pages, much of it is padding because a detailed outline of the movie is included here that takes up 7 out of the 15 pages. I don?t know if the author did this to pad the chapter or because he knew few people saw this horrible little horror film when it came out and quickly died. I do agree with the author when he says: "But at this point in The Guardian, we are reeling from plot blunders, gaffes in logic, and inane character motivation." So, if you want to read an outline of The Guardian and possibly glean the smallest nugget of inside information about this movie then you might want to give this chapter a read. Then again, it's about The Guardian, so who cares?



Now, even with all that I'd written above I'm not saying that this is a horrible book. Actually, it's quite an interesting read if you're a film buff. Let us not forget that Friedkin not only made the amazing Exorcist, but also the outstanding The French Connection and the really well done To Live and Die in L.A. plus many other films that range from "not that bad" to "damn good." Also, while this book is not a "How To" book about making movies, it does have some insights that would-be filmmakers might want to check out. So, for movie fans and aspiring directors this book isn't all that bad, but for horror fans this book offers very little and, since I'm a horror fan and I know you are too (why else would you be here?), I have to say pass on this one.



Rating: 1 ½ skulls out of 5.

Source: Silman James Press, Brian Sammons

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