BOOK REVIEW IN SHOCK CINEMA MAGAZINE
GIANT BUG CINEMA: A Monster Kid's Guide produced by Mark Bailey (BearManor Media; bearmanormedia.com; $22.00). When I was a little kid, my earliest exposure to creature features was Saturday afternoon's "Monster Movie Matinee," hosted by Dr. E. Nick Witty and his assistant Epal. Impressionable children across the country enjoyed similar experiences, as you'll see in this compact 128-page collection of reviews, centered around sci-fi/horror films with insect monstrosities. 27 titles - all but one from the pre-1968 "Monster Kid" era - are covered within its pages, with Mark Bailey corraliing[sic] a wide assortment of enthusiastic writers, Most focus on one specific film, celebrating classics like THE FLY and THEM!, schlocky efforts such as MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL and EARTH VS. THE SPIDER, as well as a slew of Toho kaiju including GODZILLA VS. THE THING and DESTROY ALL MONSTERS - with its contributors occasionally weaving in their own nostalgic memories of how they first caught these movies on TV. It's fun, lightweight and highly relatable.