Mimì - Il principe delle tenebre – review

Director: Brando De Sica

Release date: 2023

Contains spoilers

In English the title is Mimì, the Prince of Darkness and this is a strangely effective Italian movie and one in which you question whether there is a vampire but the megatext is front and centre of the story. It has some strong themes and, whilst admittedly dragging in the middle act just a tad, it has a wonderfully explosive ending.

The film opens with footsteps over the credits and laboured breathing. We get a cityscape and then see a pizza delivery van drive along a winding road. It stops outside a large house and we see that the driver, Mimì (Domenico Cuomo), walks with an awkward gait but scales the gate into the property with ease. We see him drop into a swimming pool in just his tidy whities and notice that his feel are unusually large. A resident gets up and lights come on, Mimì has skedaddled leaving behind large, wet footprints.

Domenico Cuomo as Mimì

Mimì works in the pizzeria owned by Nando (Mimmo Borrelli), later we hear that Mimì was brought up by nuns in an orphanage until Nando took him in as an adolescent, raised him and gave him the job. Nando has gone to deliver a pizza to regular customer Giusi (Abril Zamora), who is a tad resentful that Mimì hasn’t brought it – she talls Nando she had a dream of the young man, scared in a corner and hissing like a cat. Meanwhile Mimì is having a cigarette when he sees some young men approaching.

bullied

He ducks in the pizzeria and pulls the shutter down but they are rattling on it and, despite him saying that they are closed and the oven is off, they open the shutter and demand feeding. The leader of this gang is Bastianello (Giuseppe Brunetti), and though it isn’t said outright, it would appear he is the son of a local crime boss. Bastianello is acting out towards a young Goth girl (Sara Ciocca) and it appears Mimì has had his active bystander training as he tries to distract him. This just makes them turn on him, they pull his shoes off to reveal his deformed feet calling him a freak and a monster.

Mimmo Borrelli as Nando

Later Mimì hears a phone ringing. He climbs the stairs from his basement room and finds a dropped phone. The caller is the girl and it is her phone and he drives to the docks to return it. She actually takes Mimì’s number, gives hers and says that he can call her Carmilla. The following day Nando sees the bruised eye Mimì has been left with, and goes to see Bastianello’s father who seems to be in a medical pod and is clearly extremely unwell. In the night Bastianello sees Mimì in his van, chases him down and pursues him into the cemetery. He beats the crap out of Mimì for talking to his father.

Sara Ciocca as Carmilla

After Bastianello has left, a gang of Goths emerge from the shadows, including Carmilla. They take Mimì to the house they are squatting in. From here Mimì and Carmilla draw closer and become a couple even. The problem is they are not reliable narrators. Carmilla is a fantasist, she suggests that she is the daughter of a Romanian princess, and her surname is Vlad (after Vlad Ţepeş), she also tells Mimì that Dracula is buried there in Naples. Her fantasy life hides the fact that she is an underaged runaway. For his part, Mimì is naïve to the point of credulity. He hires Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens and seems to believe the yarn the video shop guy spins about Schreck actually being a vampire. Getting jealous of her dancing with a guy with fangs, he gets fangs but they actually rip teeth out and replace them with cemented in fangs. We see them kiss and fly, but it is likely the drugs she has provided.

the vampire and Mimì

The film follows their romance, which comes to an abrupt halt when Bastinello and his pal Rocco (Daniele Vicorito) attack him again, whilst Carmilla is performing a rite of devotion over “Dracula’s grave”. Unconscious, Mimì sees the vampire and believes he has been bitten by him. Mimì also goes into a coma for a month and a half. I won’t spoil further forward. The film is well acted with the two leads giving good performances and the film clearly loves the vampire genre. It did, as mentioned, feel to drag a little in the middle section but it didn’t spoil the film and the ending sequences are absolutely worth sticking around for. Despite the pacing moments, 7 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Scooby-Doo: Return to Zombie Island – review

Directors: Cecilia Aranovich & Ethan Spaulding

Release date: 2019

Contains spoilers

Scooby-Doo On Zombie Island was a bit of a gem for being a well animated, acted and scripted piece and also for being one of the Scooby-Doo properties where the monsters are real. The vampires were cat people who drained lifeforce from their victims to maintain the longevity of life and the zombies (and ghosts) were the victims of the cat people (and were trying to warn the gang).

a bat

The first thing to note with this sequel is that the filmmakers tried to retrofit this and betrayed the integrity of the first film. The main ways they did this was firstly by having the gang be high school kids who have been warned off mysteries by the sheriff (David Herman). In the previous film they were portrayed as young adults with Daphne (Grey Griffin) having her own syndicated TV show. This is devolved down to it being a high school project.

cat people

The other retcon aspects include Velma (Kate Micucci) having a blog where she lists the mystery in the unsolved section as she is not happy that the answer was supernatural. Yes, they actually try to take away the supernatural element from the previous film and, despite the gang having their energy drained and seeing cat people disintegrate, the disappointing resolution is that Velma thinks it was swamp gas that made them think it all real… The film does leave a breadcrumb of, perhaps, a real monster.

vampire

Anyway, the opening sees them capturing a werewolf who turns out to be Young Man Withers (the son of the villain character Old Man Withers, from a Cartoon Network version of Scooby Doo and connected in with Wayne’s World and the Powerpuff Girls). They go out and capture a host of classic monsters, including a vampire/Dracula who does turn into a bat. They are all the Withers family members, but it all turns out to be a dream that turns nightmare for Fred (Frank Welker) and connected to him selling the Mystery Machine as they have quit mystery solving.

Cassandra Peterson voices Elvira

Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) and Scooby (also Frank Welker) make the gang swear a solemn oath to resist mysteries and then watch their favourite horror host Elvira (Cassandra Peterson) and she announces a competition win for Shaggy, 3 friends and a pet to go on a tropical vacation. Despite the boat taking them down the Bayou and the palm trees on Moonstar (rather than Moonscar) island – which are soon revealed to be plastic trees – the gang steadfastly ignore what might be a mystery – that is until zombies appear.

Shaggy and Scooby

Unfortunately Fred catches them and reveals them to be hotel staff, who are really actors directed by Alan Smithee (John Michael Higgins, Blade Trinity). He is making a zombie feature, based loosely on Velma’s blog and tricked them there to star in it (found footage style) without telling them. Unfortunately, cat people start appearing, unconnected to Alan’s film and apparently with the ability to control ordinary cats. They aren’t, of course, real and are trying to scare people off whilst they search for the pirate Moonscar’s treasure. There is an unconnected cat person who may or may not be a real monster and is dangled to the viewer at the end with the gang ignoring it.

the gang and stunt double

And it is a no from me. The contrivances to wring out a sequel are awful, the retrofitting worse. Despite the animation being fine and the voice acting as good as one would expect, I just can’t let the film lie. I think 3 out of 10 is maybe harsh, but don’t actively spoil one of the best loved Scooby films. Of course the vampires in this are people acting as such.

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray (with the better film) @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK

Short Film: Caesar & Otto in the House of Dracula

Directed by Dave Campfield and under 10 minutes long, this 2009 comedy offering was a short film sequel to Caesar and Otto's Summer Camp Massacre featuring Caesar (Dave Campfield) and his brother Otto (Paul Chomicki).

Caesar and Otto

It begins where the feature ends, with Caesar getting a phone call from someone inviting him to stay at his house. He has spotted the wannabe thespian and invites him to talk about a project. If he wants, he can bring a companion and, obviously, he brings Otto.

The House

We see them approaching the house on bikes (with an obviously green screen backdrop). In the dialogue Caesar says his next film will be entirely green screen and Otto questions how good that could look. The humour is like this through the piece with a very self-aware script. Similarly, when they get to the house Otto comments that it looks like a bad photograph.

Ed Dennehy as Steve Dracula

When they get there, their patron introduces himself as Dracula (Ed Dennehy). When Otto asks if he is THE Dracula, he is told no, that’s his brother. He is Steve Dracula. He flatters Caesar and suggests he is perfect for a role, as he is trying to bring… ahem… new blood to the theatre, He even offers Otto a dance choreography position… which makes Caesar suspicious… Surely Steve Dracula will be on the level?

time for a bite

The short is amusing, shot in black and white the obvious green screen plays into the humour and Steve Dracula is very lovey and over the top. We discover he has only one weakness (not sunlight) and I won’t spoil it. It spawned a second short film and I’ll look at that in the future.

The imdb page is here and you can watch the short on YouTube.

Short film: Helsing

At 29-minutes this is a Ryan Henry Johnston short film from 2014 and follows the continuing adventures of Van Helsing (Patrick Morrison) in the modern day (one assumes).

in church

It starts with a priest, Luke (Anthony Napodano), approaching a church and, as a minor moan, the outside shots were too dark. He enters and sees a girl (Liana O'Boyle) leaving and asks whether she has seen a tall man who comes into the church.

holding the cross

Walking past the man drinking straight from a bottle he sits next to a man who is confessing an inappropriate liaison. Luke, thinking he is Van Helsing, tells him the church has sent him to assist him and that he has an address where the creature is thought to be. The man, called Dave (John Viliott), is nonplussed and leaves. The drinker is Van Helsing… Outside, as they head to the location, the camera pans and shows Dave being fed upon.

Desiree Srinivas as Moira

They enter the house. A voice over has told us that Van Helsing is somehow immortal, cursed to hunt his enemy (Dracula, obviously) but not how he became so cursed. In a trap door they find the body of Dave and they are attacked by Jade (credited as Jing Song but listed on IMDB as Aria Song). It becomes apparent, however, that the tip was a lure and Moria (Desiree Srinivas), an ancient vampire and lieutenant of Dracula is also there…

vamp

This was fun, minor gripe about the outdoor night photography aside. There is some world building that certainly could have been expanded on in a longer vehicle. There was perhaps a feel more of Vampire$ with the derelict house, the surly (drunk) vampire hunter and the naïve priest, than a more traditional Dracula vehicle, but that was not necessarily a bad thing.

The imdb page is here.

The Hungry Snake Woman – review

Director: Sisworo Gautama Putra

Release date: 1986

Contains spoilers

An Indonesian moment of madness from the mid-eighties, my thanks to Leila who sent me the disc of this. It stars Suzzanna (Sundelbolong) as the titular Snake Woman (referred to as a Snake Goddess) as well as a second role in the film. The Snake Woman was a reprised role from two previous films. The print on the disc was a VHS rip with English dub, I understand a Blu-Ray is available.

The film starts with women running through the jungle and a man, Joe (George Rudy), chasing them, telling them to come to him and firing a gun. He meets a uniformed woman and tells her to help Donny (Dorman Borisman) as he goes after them. They run through a river into a rocky area and into a cave, He follows and the women, once he is inside, vanish into thin air. An earth tremor opens a passageway and light shines in it. The Snake Goddess floats on a throne to him, asks why he follows her escort, whilst he asks why she looks like Suzy (also Suzzanna). She melts, becoming a snake as the credit roles.

domestic violence

So these three would seem to be characters from later (Suzy, Joe and Donny) but the context is all wrong – but hey, that’s madcap Indonesian cinema for you. So, anyway, after the credits we meet Brian (Advent Bangun) and his (very soon to be ex-)girlfriend Carlita (Nina Anwar). He is misogynistic and violent, physically abusing her, stabbing her through the hand with a screwdriver when she fights back and attempting to rape her (by the dialogue, their relationship had not been physical). She gets away and cries for help, drawing the police who chase Brian off.

Brian and the Snake Goddess

Brian walks into the jungle and comes across a half snake/half woman and her cave dwelling husband, who tell him that he can find riches and status through the Snake Goddess and she belts him with her tail, through the air and into a river. The escorts find him, taking him to the Goddess’ cave. He tries taking pieces of gold trees but, when separated, the bits become scorpions and spiders. The Snake Goddess appears and says she can give him the riches he desires for a price – over a week he must find three women, drink their blood and eat their breasts as a sacrifice to her.

dracula on the loose

We see him attack the first – a woman whose lover has nipped off for a pee. Brian has fangs (and a cape) and drinks her blood and eats her breasts as required. The next day the newspapers have an article about a dracula murdering women (an example of using dracula as a common noun). Brian’s second attack is on Suzy, and she luckily escapes. We then see a businessman who has failed to sacrifice his daughter as required by the Snake Goddess – who states that she needs the sacrifices to provide her souls as sustenance, keeping her young and immortal. So, she is also a type of vampire.

Brian with fangs

Anyway, Brian betrays her, becomes rich and the film sees him obsessing over Carlita (whose family denies him despite his new riches), she happens to know Suzy, Joe and Donny and they are drawn in – especially as Joe accidentally rescues the betrayed Goddess, who wants Brian to pay. It is all a big mismatch of ideas with the clip-clop (literally) of flying horses drawing her chariot, magically induced erotic dance, as well as other black magic moments, and an attempted burning of Carlita just because.

a victim

Now, it isn’t brilliant but it is so mad it will keep your attention. The dub is as you’d expect but the natural charm and madcap nature may well be enhanced with a better print and original language. Don’t get me wrong, it is unlikely to ever be viewed as a masterpiece but the sheer weight of ideas makes it worth your time. 3.5 out of 10 is fair but the madness is greater than the sum of its parts.

The imdb page is here.

Nosferatu – The Real Story – review

Director: Robin Bextor

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

Created, clearly, to cash in on Egger’s soon to be released version of Nosferatu, I have to say that I’d rather have a documentary than a production company like Asylum butchering the character in a low budget film (though that could well happen too). There are a couple of quibbles with this documentary but not too much, if I’m honest. So long as you bear in mind that this was not written and produced for the well-read student of Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens and is more an entry level experience.

opening shot

The first irk happened straight away. We get ariel shots of Orava Castle, where the original film was captured. Black and White they are titled as being July 1921. The B&W is too crisp (despite postproduction age lines) and the shots clearly captured by drone. It felt like they were trying to make out that the footage was authentically dated. There is nothing wrong with capturing the castle, such a fabulous location, but wording that made it clear this simulates the time would have worked better (and it's only a small quibble).

Albin Grau 

The film then explores Prana Films, Albin Grau and F W Murnau, the influence of Aleister Crowley, the copywrite issues, and so on. The documentary also looked at Nosferatu the Vampyre the Werner Herzog vehicle. This was quibble number two as the documentary narration (by Ashley Innsdale) suggested it was a sequel – however the talking heads were clear on its provenance as a remake. The talking heads were really good, not too many and knowledgeable on the subject. It did seem strange that the documentary didn’t at least touch on Herzog’s film getting a sequel of sorts in the form of Vampire in Venice.

Stacey Abbott

Other remakes were not touched on, understandably, other than Egger’s and the documentary had little to go on regarding that, other than the trailer. Therefore do not expect any revelations about the new Egger’s vehicle from this particular documentary. Overall this was, as suggested, good entry level Nosferatu studies material. There can, and have, been whole volumes written about the aspects it touched on but such detail would become a barrier for the more casual viewer. 6 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Short Film: Dracula’s Ex-girlfriend

This is a short Nebula exclusive, directed by Valentina Vee and released in 2024, which comes in at around the 30-minute mark. It was written by and stars Abigail Thorn, whose Philosophy Tube YouTube show I really enjoy.

The film concentrates on Dracula’s (possibly) current girlfriend, Belladonna (Abigail Thorn) and his ex-girlfriend Fay (Morgana Ignis, Satanic Hispanics & Stan Against Evil) meeting in a restaurant.

The film starts, however, with Fay sat on her own. She is approached by the waiter Alex (Brandon Rogers) and says that she was sure she’ll be here soon. Belladonna then makes her entrance and starts saying about life in LA – the women whose surgery choices she describes as Frankenstinean and the men… this leads to a memory of meeting a guy (VonDexter Montegut II) and feeding from him.

Morgana Ignis as Fay

It becomes clear that Belladonna reached out to Fay, who was worried about her due to her troubling texts. Belladonna is in denial – even though it is clear that Dracula, or DiDi (which she has tattooed to her neck, presumably covering the scar from being fed on when mortal, which Fay still has), is abusive and was the same with Fay – indeed there is an aspect to this of him reaching out to hurt her again. Dracula is in Rome with a model and has left Belladonna in LA.

blood covered Belladonna

The short is character driven with the actresses given room to explore a range of emotions, false fronts and raw hurt. Belladonna has her eye on Alex the waiter as a snack (she only orders margheritas) and Fay has been rebuilding her life, has started offering monster therapy and is in a new relationship (as well as house sharing with a couple of werewolves). She orders burger and fries (or a pretentious version as served by the restaurant) and later confides that she is off blood and becoming human again. This was great fun. You can find the short on subscription channel Nebula.

The imdb page is here.

Dracula: the Count’s Kin – review

Director: Eric Pascarelli

Release date: 2024

Contains spoilers

An indie low budget flick, it does show as it shies away from gore sequences and even attacks to a degree. The film works towards crime drama but the supernatural element overwhelms the detective story they wanted to tell, I felt.

It starts with Simon (Jamie Nolan) looking to go on a date from a dating app. He arrives at the house where Anna Marie (a false profile) lives. In fact, she is Elizabeth (Leanne Johnson) and way prettier than her profile pic, he says. He isn’t too phased at her red eyes as she mojos him and before you can say “vampire” he is a snack.

Simon as the creepy house

Monika (Daisy Paroczy Hickey) has met up with her friend Devin (Holly Anspaugh) and is explaining that the man she has been in communication with has been using false pictures and is definitely married – she essentially did a deep dive investigation of the guy. She also meets up with her adopted sister (Amanda Winston) who mentions a job going at a detective agency. Monika had been a caregiver to an Aunt for some time.

James Tackett as Walter

Private eye Walter (James Tackett) has been visited by Simon’s overprotective mother (Kim Lea Mays) who believes that something has happened to her son but the police have refused to get involved (due to the short timescales). He takes the case as Monika arrives, armed with her criminology degree but no experience. He takes her on, however, as he has had no other applications for the post. She visits Simon’s home and quickly manages to ping his phone to give the location of his rendezvous. Meanwhile Walter meets his cop contact and there are similar disappearances and at least one body drained of blood.

Monika investigates

Monika and Walter go to the house where Simon had his date, the door is open and so they enter, but the place seems deserted. Monika has a UV light and uses it to find a message in blood on the floor, which says, “Follow your blood Monika”. She wipes her name away before showing Walter. The owner (Dashawn Kelley) who rents the place out approaches with a knife, demanding to know who they are, but the situation is diffused and Monika and Walter wait outside for the cops. It is later that they discover the “owner” made himself scarce as, in reality, he is the daylight servant of Elizabeth. Elizabeth has designs on Monika, with her Romanian heritage, to resurrect her lost brother Vlad.

Leanne Johnson as Elizabeth

So, there were elements of this that were just a little off. The message in blood seemed odd as, when it would have been written (and then wiped away so that it was only visible under UV), Monika will not likely have been working for Walter. It presupposes that she will apply for the job, get it, find the location and bring a UV light (and then manage to wipe her name away where cleaning did not spoil the message). As Elizabeth clearly knew who she was it would have been far easier to just find her and mojo her. Equally, there is a hair at a crime scene and Monika persuades the cops to carbon date it. Firstly I doubt the police would agree, especially as carbon dating something from after 1950 is pointless. When they discover it is 600 years old they just decide it is from a wig anyway.

a rare blood moment

Nevertheless, the Monika character was earnest enough (though her keep leaving her home, which is under protective observation when they decide she has been targeted as a victim, seemed more than a little off). Elizabeth was played well also. However the supernatural side overwhelmed any detective aspect, the police/PI relationship was awfully chummy and kills were mostly non-gore and very often off screen. All-in-all a little lacklustre but anything less than 4 out of 10 seems unfair.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

Vampiras: The Brides – review

Director: Ivan Mulero

Release date: 2022

Contains spoilers

A, mostly, Spanish language film that was filmed in Spain but is set primarily in LA, this film looks at the brides… Now, Stoker never refers to the vampire women in Dracula as brides but that name became attached within the wider megatext and the female vampires in this are (or were) the brides of Dracula. The film itself is low budget and there are some telling cgi moments, it is also probably 20-minutes too long but, despite this, I found it rather engaging.

the trophy

A castle on an island is the starting location, we are in Transylvania in 1888 and we see a bride, later revealed to be Luna (Bruna Rubio), who is in a wedding dress and has blood on her. She reveals fangs. Another vampire, Adriana (Milett Figueroa), enters the room calling her sister. Lastly to enter is Van Helsing (Carlos Lozano) holding aloft a vampire’s head – clearly belonging to Dracula (Octavi Pujades). It becomes apparent that the two brides aided Van Helsing. He holds aloft some jewellery and it blasts white light at them…

at the photoshoot

We are then in LA in 2022. A professor (Malik Yoba) is lecturing on vampires. Katya (Yuri Vargas) gets in late, stays and chats to him and then meets up with friends. This is a perfect example of a scene we didn’t actually need and could have been trimmed, it added little to nothing to the story, not even the vampire lecture really foreshadowed anything, though it did suggest that the book Dracula did exist in this world. We then move to a photoshoot with a couple of models and a photographer. The boss, Adriana, comes in, berates the photographer for using sex as a sales point (it’s a shoot for a perfume) takes one shot herself and says the session is done.

Luna undercover

We next meet Detective Luna Santos – and I should add that, whilst it is clear by the names that Luna and Adriana are the vampires we saw, that wasn’t necessarily clear in the film at first. But, as we’ve observed that she is a vampire, it is worth noting that it is during the day and sunny. She has entered her precinct wearing a red dress with plunging neck – she has been undercover. After experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace, she speaks to Detective Kenner (Salvador Zerboni) telling how she is getting close to a main player in a criminal gang. As she leaves, Kenner immediately rats her out.

the mysterious contact

So, the film then jumps through scenes. Katya is in a club with friends and blows a self-inflated DJ off, leaving him in no doubt that she isn’t interested. Adriana is in an art exhibition and a businessman comes on to her; she refuses him, leaves the building, and he goes after her. She refuses him again, walks away and he is grabbed by a fast moving something. Kenner meets his mysterious contact (Johanna Fadul) who is a vampire and she kills him, taking his file he was looking to sell. The DJ pursues Katya outside the club and she pushes him away with supernatural strength and then, after putting distance between them, calls Luna and says she was close to killing him due to not having fed – Luna sends her the address of Ingrid (Maria Conchita Alonso, Vampire’s Kiss) who can supply her with blood. However, Luna has been drugged and subsequently passes out.

blood moment

The next day Adriana leaves a guy in her bed whilst she goes to get some bagged blood. When she gets back up there he is bleeding out and a voice seems to tell her to drink from him – which she refuses. She goes to Ingrid’s also and it becomes apparent that Ingrid works for the Van Helsing organisation. The magic jewellery takes away memory and neither Luna or Adriana remember each other – indeed they both believe they were turned in the 1960s (indicating they’ve had their minds wiped at least twice each). They are trying to become human by abstaining from feeding on the living and certainly not killing them. Luna, 6-months before, was responsible for Katya being accidentally shot and turned her to save her life. But who is the mysterious vampire messing with their lives?

brides with guns

Though the flashbacks added story background, at times they, and some of the extraneous scenes, threatened to throw the pace off and, as I indicated earlier, it could do with twenty-minutes shaving off the running time. Nevertheless, the film holds a decent story (the not killing rule vacillates a bit and we do get baddies shot dead as well as injured). The acting is ok – it won’t set the world alight, but the principles did what they needed to do. Some of the CGI effects irked (gunfire for instance) but overall the film did what it set out to do. This was surprisingly entertaining. 5.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

Handbook of the Vampire: Black Vampires and Blaxploitation

Written for Handbook of the Vampire by Jerry Rafiki Jenkins the Chapter Page can be found here.

Opening with the thought that “Blaxploitation film history… …is, in part, “a vampire story””, Jenkins' chapter proves to be a solid look at the Black vampire film and the ideas, explored within, of Africanism Vs African American and the concepts of Black Maleness and Femininity. The texts that the author uses are, for the primary ones, Blacula, Scream, Blacula, Scream and Ganja and Hess. Within those there would seem to be more a social connection between Scream, Blacula, Scream and Ganja and Hess then there are between Scream, Blacula, Scream and Blacula, which was interesting in and of itself. I think I would like to have seen Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, Spike Lee’s remake or reimagining of Ganja and Hess, at least touched on, though the chapter is not lacking by its absence.

Perhaps a touch more unusual choices as texts were Vampire in Brooklyn and, more so, Def by Temptation - not in terms of content, they fit into argument well – but more in them being texts used less often by authors. There was, I felt, much more room for exploration of the themes that was curtailed simply by word limit and the author has opportunity, I feel, to expand on their themes in much more depth – perhaps even to the point of a monogram and it would certainly be a monogram I would read. Inciteful content and solid writing make this an excellent entry in the Handbook.