Giallo Meltdown: The Book - Another Update

Hey guys, let's rap.

In case you're just tuning in, let me tell you about Giallo Meltdown. Way back in late 2007 or early 2008, I had the first Giallo Meltdown for my website: Doomed Moviethon. It was a life-changing moviethon. In the course of three days, I watched 21 giallo films. Not only did I have a blast, I also discovered a quivering madness known as "The Vibe" that I have been pursuing ever since. Over the years, whenever I needed inspiration for a moviethon, I would look to my giallo collection and find more fun things there to explore. After the fifth of these Giallo Meltdowns was so well received, someone suggested I turn them into a book.

Since there are so few books on the giallo genre, I felt like I could bring something interesting to the table. I am not making the definitive guide to the giallo here. I am making a fan book with a twist. These films are being reviewed under moviethon conditions. The shortest moviethon in this book is 13 movies. And the longest is 22 movies. These reviews get pretty loopy and I have never stopped myself from writing down even the most ridiculous stream-of-consciousness rants. I also include details like what I was eating, smoking, and drinking during these sensory overload festivals.

Read the first five here:

Giallo Meltdown - Part 1
Giallo Meltdown - Part 2
Giallo Meltdown - Part 3

Giallo Meltdown 2

Giallo Meltdown 3

Giallo Meltdown 4

Giallo Meltdown 5

So where am I at now? As scary as it is to say this, I almost done. The weekend before last, I watched 19 movies for Giallo Meltdown 12. The last movie for that moviethon was the 199th film I've watched for the book. My wife LeEtta recently asked me when this project was going to be over. I told her that I kind of wanted to end on Giallo Meltdown 13 but I was terrified to stop there. I was having too much fun and stopping the moviethons for the book meant stopping something really important to me. She suggested that if I didn't put a cap on it now, the book would never happen. So I decided that Giallo Meltdown #13 would be the last.

I am now selecting the last 16 titles for the book. The final moviethon is tentatively scheduled for the last weekend in September of this year. Needless to say, I am excited and very, very frightened. Finishing these moviethons means that I have to start editing the book and finding a publisher. Spoiler alert: these are things that really scare me.

Please allow me to get personal for a moment. I want to talk about this now because this particular person was a big part of this project and I've wanted to say something about this for a while but I've been a little too depressed to go into it. Over two years ago, my wife's mother Margie was diagnosed with cancer. She fought the good fight but did not win. Last January, Margie left us all behind on planet Earth wondering what to do next.

Margie had been living with LeEtta and I for a year while she was getting herself back into a good place financially. The same week that she landed an awesome new job, she was told about the cancer. The next two years were the most insane, intensely sad, and soul-crushing time of our lives. This was obviously worse for my wife but both of our lives just went on hold during all of this madness. Margie continued to work from home and keep a brave face on things until a stroke she suffered during an operation took her from us.

Margie was always super supportive -some might say "enabling"- of me and my insane need to collect and watch movies that are sometimes unearthed gems and some that are cinematic crap that should have been flushed and forgotten forever. I will never forget staying up late and watching a title as wonderful and sleazy as So Sweet, So Dead with my mother-in-law. I had never seen the movie before and kept kicking myself for springing an unseen title on a family member. And yet, Margie didn't bat an eyelid at the relentlessly trashy subject matter or the violence. She just thought it was a cool movie. It was a truly bizarre evening.

So anyway, I just wanted you to know where this Giallo Meltdown book dealie was at and also where my head has been at for the last little while. Some of you have been with me from the very beginning and some of you might just stopping by for the first time. To both of you and those in between, I say thanks. Thank you so fucking much. I am going to give you guys the best damned (but hopefully not the last) Doomed Moviethon book possible. Giallo Meltdown will contain everything I have to say (at this time, at least) about the giallo genre and a few things I probably shouldn't say- at least not in print where everyone could read it.