BOOK LAUNCH AT MIDNIGHT MASS BOOKS
Sunday July 13^th – 2:00pm
1034 Dundas St., London, Ontario (Canada)
IG: @midnightmassbooks

Writers/filmmakers Kier-La Janisse (House of Psychotic Women, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched) and Chris Alexander (Corman/Poe, Delirium Magazine) will appear in person at Midnight Mass Books in London for an afternoon reading, signing and in-conversation event showcasing their latest books, COCKFIGHT: A FABLE OF FAILURE and ART! TRASH! TERROR! ADVENTURES IN STRANGE CINEMA, respectively.

Books will be for sale on site, and both authors are happy to sign any other films/books/projects brought by audience members.

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About the books:

ART! TRASH! TERROR! ADVENTURES IN STRANGE CINEMA
By Chris Alexander
Published by Headpress

From filmmaker, former Fangoria editor-in-chief, and Corman/Poe author Chris Alexander comes ART! TRASH! TERROR! Adventures in Strange Cinema, a treasure trove of in-depth essays and edifying interviews that celebrate some of the most eccentric and unforgettable movies in cult cinema history. From recognized classics (George A. Romero’s Dawn Of The Dead, David Lynch’s The Elephant Man) to misunderstood masterpieces (Michael Mann’s The Keep, Boris Sagal’s The Omega Man) to unfairly maligned curios (Kostas Karagiannis’ Land Of The Minotaur, Brett Leonard’s Hideaway), the author takes an alternately serious and playful but always personal look at several strains of international horror, dark fantasy, and exploitation film — motion pictures that transform, transgress, challenge, infuriate, shock, and entertain.

Connecting these passionate and critical essays are insightful interviews with revered talents, such as John Waters (writer/director, Cecil B. Demented), Michael Winner (director, The Sentinel), Nicolas Cage (actor, Vampire’s Kiss), Gene Simmons (co-founder/bassist, KISS), William Crain (director, Blacula), William Lustig (director, Maniac), Werner Herzog (director, Nosferatu: Phantom Der Nacht) and many more, as well as witty, heartfelt memoirs charting the author’s oddball experiences on the fringes of Hollywood and beyond.

Illustrated with more than 200 startling photographs and colour throughout!

About the author:
CHRIS ALEXANDER is a Canadian author, editor, teacher, composer and filmmaker. He is the former editor-in-chief of iconic horror film magazine FANGORIA and the editor-in-chief/co-founder of DELIRIUM magazine as well as the writer, director and composer of the feature films BLOOD FOR IRINA, QUEEN OF BLOOD, FEMALE WEREWOLF, SPACE VAMPIRE and PARASITE LADY. He is the composer and producer of the full length electronic music albums MUSIC FOR MURDER, BLUE EYES OF THE BROKEN DOLL, BODY DOUBLE and the upcoming DRAKULON (from the UK label “Library of the Occult”). He is also the author of the bestselling book “CORMAN/POE”, which chronicles the making of director Roger Corman’s “Poe Cycle” of horror movies and the new book “ART! TRASH! TERROR! Adventures in Strange Cinema”, both available from Britain’s Headpress Publishing. For more on Alexander visit www.ChrisAlexanderOnline.com.

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COCKFIGHT: A FABLE OF FAILURE
By Kier-La Janisse
Published by FAB Press

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 2012 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.

About the Author:
KIER-LA JANISSE is a film writer, producer, acquisitions executive for Severin Films and Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Communication and Creative Arts at Deakin University. She is the author of Cockfight: A Fable of Failure (2024), House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films (2012/2022) and A Violent Professional: The Films of Luciano Rossi (2007) and has been an editor on numerous books including Warped & Faded: Weird Wednesday and the Birth of the American Genre Film Archive (2021) and Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s (2015). She wrote, directed and produced the award-winning documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror (2021), produced the acclaimed blu-ray box sets All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror (2021) and The Sensual World of Black Emanuelle (2023), and is the creator/showrunner of The Haunted Season on Shudder. For more see https://www.kier-lajanisse.com