Beyond Hammer Review

I recently came across a review of my first book, Beyond Hammer: British Horror Cinema Since 1970 in Morpheus Tales: reviewer Adrian Brady said:

"This is the sort of book that all film students should read... For me it was an enjoyable and insightful experience, as a horror film fanatic there are those rare treats of film books, and this is definitely one of those."

My thanks to Adrian for such a fantastic review.

Studying The Devil's Backbone Review

This morning I received another review for my second book, Studying The Devil's Backbone: published by the MEA (Media Education Association), the review is, as with the previous review by Mary Birch, a thorougher and concise review of the text:

"This book has a real academic feel to it and it has clearly been extremely well researched... a detailed look at the eight page filmography and bibliography makes it clear that James Rose has really done his research."

"James Rose has also clearly done some very in-depth research into the Gothic and its influence on del Toro's work as a whole... James Rose has done an excellent job at communicating the key information of this film and his work on analysing it makes it an invaluable resource."

My thanks to Andrea Joyce for taking the time to read the book and to provide such a positive review.

Studying The Devil's Backbone Review

Issue 48 of the Media Education Journal (Winter 2010/2011) has published a lengthy review of my second book, Studying The Devil's Backbone, by Mary Birch. The review examines the book in some detail and so provides an extensive means by which to critique the text:

"The film is essentially a Spanish horror film and the writer, James Rose, has an impressive background in analysing this type of genre, having written for a number of international journals as well as being the author of Beyond Hammer: British Horror Cinema Since 1970."

"As well as renewing my desire to see and study this film again, I personally found that Rose’s book afforded new facts both about del Toro and the Spanish Civil War."

"I believe this book to be an accessible text both for student and teacher. Explanations of terminology are woven into the analysis in a light-handed manner and the writer demonstrates a scholarly grasp of his material."

Overall a fantastic review and my thanks to Mary Birch for taking the time to thoroughly read the book and to provide such an impressive critique of the text.

Current Commissions

Now that the First Drafts of the Doctor Who chapters have been completed and sent to their respective editors, I have been working on the Second Draft of the Studying The Devil's Backbone book alongside viewing films for my next essay in MediaMagazine, a text chronicling the history of the Horror Mockumentary.

Beyond Hammer

A review of my first book, Beyond Hammer, has been published in the August 2009 edition of the magazine Filmstar: rated three and a half stars out of five, the reviewer states that the book is

"all well-written and enlightening, managing to tread that difficult line between academic depth and easy readability."

They also state that it is "good to see Shaun of the Dead being taken seriously... it does, after all, provide the essence of Blighty; a strange, funny, but, in the end, a messed-up patriarchy where everyone goes and hides down the pub and tries to pretend it's not happening."

Filmstar, August 2009. p.148