NOW AVAILABLE FROM IDW PUBLISHING and RAW ENTERTAINMENT! VOTED "BEST FICTION BOOK OF 2008" by RUE MORGUE MAGAZINE!
It's finally here, and available at AMAZON.COM at the amazingly LOW PRICE of just 26 bucks and some change! It's a very cool "illustrated novel," which is presented in the style of psychotronic film journalism, depicting a fictional B-movie universe, illustrated with hundreds of swell posters, like the ones you see in this ad right here:
And, yes that's THOMAS JANE! He plays the role of Elliot Swann, just one of many bizarre characters you will find in SHOCK FESTIVAL, which is getting rave reviews. But allow the critics to explain:
"Take a drop of Joe R. Lansdale's blood. Then a slice from David J. Schow's scalp. Scrape some phlegm off Tarantino's tongue. Inject some of Robert Rodriguez's sperm. Pour in some Karo syrup. Mix it in a blender. Pour. These are just some of the ingredients of Stephen Romano's unique work . . . If the buzz surrounding his new book, SHOCK FESTIVAL, is any indication, Stephen Romano's work will not only turn heads, it's going to make heads roll . . . "
---CHUCKPALAHNIUK.NET
“A stone groove and as badass a tome as you're likely to come across this year or the next. If you love grindhouse, sleaze cinema, or B-movies in general, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy.â€
---FILM THREAT.COM
“One of the greatest homage to B-cinema ever undertaken . . . Shock Festival is a breathtakingly thorough overview of over 100 movies and a slew of filmmaker and actors who never existed -- but which you'll believe actually did by the time you finish reading. The breadth and variety of personalities and events rival many a “serious†novel. â€
---FANGORIA
"While the term "mockumentary practically wrote itself, it's going to take a clever writer to describe Stephen Romano's fictional alternate history of exploitation films . . . (Romano) has created a vivid universe filled with films you'd love to see and personalities you'd line up at a convention to meet, lavishly illustrated with a plethora of eye-popping posters, lobby cards, on-set still and ad mats for such fictional films as THE UNDERTAKER AND HIS WIFE and STARFIRE BEYOND THE GALAXY . . . Fans swept up in the recent wave of grindhouse nostalgia NEED to buy this book!"
--RUE MORGUE MAGAZINE
“Stephen Romano is the Robert Rodriguez of horror! Whether he's writing short stories, novels, comics, screenplays, or designing movie posters, it seems there's nothing this cat can't do. Not only do I give (SHOCK FESTIVAL) my highest recommendation, I'm even calling it my favorite book of 2008.â€
--COMICS 101.COM
“Hilarious, crude, incisive, exploitative . . . Romano’s pseudo-journalistic Endeavour (is) a genuine revelation, an event that’s rarely, if ever, been done before . . . the merging of fact and fiction into something too outrageous to be the truth, and too disarmingly ghastly/gorgeous to be anything but.â€
--THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE
“Spectacularly over-the top and gloriously fictional . . . the posters are eye-poppingly accurate riffs on the genre; the profiles of the principals, though fictional, are arresting and reflect the interview-driven reporting of cinema studies. It’s a sure conversation starter, and an inspiration to revisit some of those real guilty pleasures of the grindhouse past.â€
---BUTLER UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES
HOT DAMN, HUH!!!? Get you copy now! They're selling fast!!!
Here is one of my favorite images from SHOCK FESTIVAL:
These bad boys is just ONE one of hundreds of awesome new movie posters, lobby cards and other rare memorbilla images from my new book SHOCK FESTIVAL, which is just sooooo damn cool that I had to start a new MySpace Page and A NEW WEBSITE for it!
COMING OCTOBER 25, 2008 FROM IDW PUBLISHING AND RAW ENTERTAINMENT!!!NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER AT AMAZON.COM!!!
Get you lazy asses over to www.shockfestival.net to order your TODAY copy at the insanely low price of 26 BUCKS!!! THAT'S 36 percent off the retail cover price of 49.95! DIRT CHEAP, BABY!!!! And check out the swell new posters Stephen keeps on creating for actual exploitation films, such as BLACK DEVIL DOLL and the just-off-the-easel BEYOND THE DUNWICH HORROR!!!!
WARNING!!!! WARNING!!!!! This website contains images and phrases that will ABSOLUTELY be considered offensive and/or racist to anyone without a sense of exploitation film history and/or humor. STOP RIGHT HERE IF YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE! WE DO NOT LIKE YOU ANYWAY!!! YOUR HATE MAIL WILL BE DELETED! GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!!!
First up, THE BOOK:
STEPHEN ROMANO’S LATE NIGHT THRILL-O-RAMA SHOCK FESTIVAL (its longer, far less pretentious title) is SPINAL TAP meets GRINDHOUSE: a series of articles covering two great ages of exploitation cinema, the 1970's and the 1980's! In an unprecidented work of fully-illustrated historical fiction, Romano follows the careers of wicked producers, drunken scream queens and all sorts of other shady characters slithering behind the scenes of ONE HUNDRED AND ONE amazing movies YOU'VE NEVER SEEN. But the remarkable story behind these legendary lost films is only about a third the fun, kids: as you can see from all the pretty pictures, there are lobby cards, rare still photos, magazine articles, memorabilia items, newspaper clippings . . . and, of course, OVER ONE HUNDRED TOTALLY FUCKING AWESOME MOVIE POSTERS!!! Each item comes from Stephen Romano's demented imagination, guranteed to baffle, bemuse and befuddle even the most die-hard fan of this stuff! The book is 350 PAGES OF FULL COLOR EXPLOITATION MOVIE MADNESS, with more outrageous gossip, dirt and imagery than you can shake a dead scream queen-on-a-stick at! And this is no easy ride, either, kids. We’re going for something that is reverent, yet outrageous, topical, yet socially irresponsible. We don't pull any punches. We don't "whitewash" films with the word "nigger" in the title. You will laugh out loud, peel your lips back in outrage, and maybe even cry real tears. It’s Stephen Romano’s most ambitious and challenging effort to date . . . and we invite you all along for the ride!
AND JUST WHO THE HELL IS THIS STEPHEN ROMANO PERSON ANYWAY!???
Why, he's the acclaimed writer of graphic novels such as ZOMBIE, THE GATES OF HELL, and THE BEYOND! His book THE RIOT ACT was praised by major authors such as Brian Keene and Joe R. Lansdale! And he wrote the original, pulse-pounding debut episode of Showtime's provacative anthology series MASTERS OF HORROR!!! (The show is now known as FEAR ITSELF on network television.) This guy ain't fucking around when it comes to trash cinema and in-yer-face terror!! All of which brings us to:
THE SHOCK FESTIVAL STUDIO!
In order to create such an innovative work independantly, Stephen himself spent years reseraching and studying vintage movie posters and promotional materials from the 1970’s and 1980’s. As Romano’s SHOCK FESTIVAL design team grew, the word got out and so was born the most unique specialty art studio the world has ever seen. Beginning with actual blaxploitation films such as BLACK DEVIL DOLL and BLACK SANTA’S REVENGE (yes, those are real movies, made by real black people!), Romano has begun to create his OWN MOVIE POSTERS and has gained acclaim as an illustrator in the very “old school†. . . while he continues to write movies and books that pull no punches! If you need a poster, a book cover, or even a private commission that looks like the “real thing,†we’re the only guys on earth who can make it happen, with just the right combination of style, humor and skill. And we can do it priced to fit most any budget. Check out our gallery. Visit the website. Buy the book. SHOCK FESTIVAL is not just all of those things . . . it is a WORLD we grew up in, folks! A world of hardcore sleaze, potty-mouthed death puppets, politically incorrect superheroes, bloody monsters and fake spaceships on wires. We know this world inside and out. AND BETTER YET . . . we know YOU DO, TOO! So join us! Hire us! FULCI LIVES!!!!! VIVA SHOCK FESTIVAL!!!!!!
