Ad Nauseam Vol. 2


Michael Gingold jets us back to the past once again with Ad Naseam II, a deep dive into Gingold's personal and extremely extensive collection of horror movie newsprint notices from the 1990's and 2000's. If you loved his 80's collection, then you are in for a frightful treat with this nostalgic follow up.

In Ad Nauseam II, Michael Gingold shows off his impressive collection of more than 500 ads for the big-budget films we all know and love, to the ones that we still haven't heard of. From the early 90's gothic horror, to the rise of the slasher franchise once again in the mid 90's, to the found footage films that are still going strong today, to the Americanization of a ton of Asian horror hits. Gingold doesn't miss a thing! All of this plus, the unforgettable critic quotes of the time and fantastically fun facts about films releases, this book rivals it's predecessor in all avenues.

To me, the horror genre was fairly slow in the early 90's. We were given big-budget classics such as Interview with A Vampire and Dracula, but to my recollection, most releases were in the B category for me. Until, December 26th, that fateful day, when the epic movie 'Scream' was released, and we were finally back on the horror track. Originally meant to be a bit of a parody by Wes Craven on horror films, he put in a enough scares and gore to make this a legit horror film and horror franchise, spawning 3 sequels, a TV show on MTV, and a possible 5th film in the works. Needless to say, the slasher films were back in business with 'I Know What You Did Last Summer” and countless versions of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, all well chronicled in Gingold's vault of cinematic preview horror. He also chronicles the rise of Asian remakes such as 'The Ring' and 'The Grudge', both turning into lucrative franchises in their own right. Last but certainly not least, is the 'found footage' films that all started with that legendary school project-'The Blair Witch Project'. Leaving audiences to wonder if the horrific acts that they had just witnessed were real or fake. This died down until 'Paranormal Activity' hit theaters in September 2009, and we have been barraged by cheesy but creepy found footage films ever since. I also need to give a shout out to putting in Rob Zombie's attempts at writing and directing horror, starting with 'House of 1000 Corpses', the sequel- 'Devil's Rejects', 'Lords of Salem', '31', '3 from Hell', and of course his two Halloween remakes- the only two movies he directed that didn't- in my opinion-suck. Sorry Rob, stick to music.

We see remakes like Halloween and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. We see new franchises such as 'Scream' and the 'Saw' franchise, as well as hundreds of other fantastic horror films I have yet to see, but are now on my “to be watched” list. However, this might just be the end of Michael Gingold's Ad Naseam work due to technology. When was the last time you looked in the paper for a movie listing or even caught a trailer on TV. Just ask Alexa or Suri for dates and showtimes as well as for watching a trailer of just about any movie you can think of. But, I have to say, you had an amazing run, Michael Gingold. I look forward to your next diary or work. I'm sure it will kick ass!

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