Rob Freese — The All-Night Video Guide:Slashers 70's & 80's (bo

The All-Night Video Guide: Slashers 70’s & 80’s is a glorious dive back into the golden age of slash ‘n’ stalk films. Instead of an in-depth/ definitive guide to the genre/ period, this is much more of a personal look at some of the favourite films of writer Robc. And it’s all the better for it, as it’s a wonderful, honest, down-to-earth, sometimes informative book, which feels like you're chatting in a bar with a buddy about films, instead of a stuffy study of the genre.

The glossy-covered & perfect-bound paperback runs at the two hundred and seven-page mark. It’s a purely text-based affair, with each review running around a page to two pages apiece. These reviews are layered out in an alphabetical sequence.

Mr Freese is a lifelong fan of the slasher genre. He’s been writing about horror/ genre films for the last thirty-plus years. Contributing to the likes of Rue Morgue, It Came From Hollywood, Scary Monsters, and Videoscope.

After the ten & a half page introduction. Moving from looking at the history of the slasher, key moments in its development, and why Mr Freese loves the genre so, we’re into the reviews themselves.

For the titles he covers, he selects an even mix of classic examples of the slashing ‘n’ stalking genre, more quirky-wild card films, and lesser-known fare. So, you get to read about films you already know (making you want to revisit them), and films you don’t know- but are now keen to check out.

Each of the reviews is laid out with the film's title & a list of what format the films are available in (my one criticism of the book comes here, as it seemingly only stateside-based- with no UK/worldwide listings). Then we get a brief plot detail, Freese‘s own personal thoughts, and then at the end of the review, we find interesting trivia points/lesser-known information.

As mentioned earlier, Mr Freese writes in a down-to-earth/totally unpretentious manner. Yet he often comes at reviewing the films from a slightly different angle from what you’ve read in the past, which makes reviews of films you're very familiar with/ read about before still worthy.

I believe this is the start of a series of books from Mr Freese, with each upcoming volume of The All-Night Video Guide series looking at different cult/exploitation sub-genre, so I can’t wait to check these out.

In finishing, if you’re a fellow live long slasher fan, and you enjoy reading about the form in a down-to-earth/ honest manner, The All-Night Video Guide: Slashers 70’s & 80’s is a must. As I said in my intro, it’s just like sitting down in a bar with a buddy, chatting about slash 'n' stalk films you love.