UNTOLD OUTRAGEOUSLY TRUE STORY OF SHAPIRO GLICKENHAUS ENTERTAINMENT REVIEWED
“The Untold Outrageously True Story of Shapiro Glickenhaus Entertainment” took me two reads. If you’re looking for a traditional interview narrative, that goes out of the window about 60 pages in. What you do get is a glamorous coffee table book about being a non mainstream production/distro house in the 80s and 90s. These guys got a few cult horror titles, but they also dealt in a ton of awful DTV releases. Some of the poster art for early Michelle Williams and later Robert Mitchum work are rather atrocious. But, that’s part of the fun.
Hell, I enjoyed seeing some of that vintage video store promo that studios used to pimp. SGE was big on getting video stores to buy VHS copies in exchange for rather neat looking phones. In terms of the interviews, my favorites were with William Lustig and Frank Henenlotter. They gave a lot of insight into the SGE machine and what it took to succeed. But, this Golden Age was a life time ago. Most of the people interviewed look back on this like it was the Golden Age of Cinema.
In a way…it was pretty damn special. If you miss your neighborhood video store and the sense of wonder….this book is for you. If you miss finding a random treasure starring a soon-to-be famous person, this is for you. Hell, if you just like VHS box art…you’ll find something here. Pick it up and give it a chance.
CLICK HERE TO READ MY INTERVIEW WITH BOOK AUTHOR MARCO SEIDELMANN
BOOK STATS
- 482 pages
- Editions Moustache
- Marco Seidelmann, Nadia Bruce-Rawlings, and Stephen A. Roberts
