The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film (1983), Michael Weldon.

Having devoured the New Yorker's excellent sci-fi issue (June 4, 2012), I had to run out and buy the Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film.  In his highly enjoyable Personal History segment "A Psychotronic Childhood: Learning from B-movies," Colson Whitehead describes the book as "proof that even the most unlikely idea had a chance," inspiring him to write his own fiction.  Colson, raised on Z-grade movies aired on TV (pre-VHS, people!) by parents who refused to filter their son's viewing experiences, recalls writing a book report on the novelization of Videodrome for an eighth grade assignment.  He described "Debbie Harry's character jabbing a cigarette into her boob as foreplay" and got an A!  Awesome!  Such exuberant dedication to dreck inspired me to check out his sources.

Like Colson, I hope to check-mark my way through Psychotronic Encyclopedia.  The title comes from Weldon's attempt to fuse weird horror and sci-fi but he later learned the term had already been used as the title to a film about a psychic barber (The Psychotronic Man, 1980).  The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film might really be something best appreciated by a certain generation of film lovers.  I was too young to remember TV pre-VHS.  This was back when TV aired a grab bag of movies and if you were lucky enough, you might catch something unique but then again you might never see it again.  In a strange way, Weldon reminds me of someone entrusted to carry a torch, bringing knowledge from a place of darkness.

I also think maybe I am from the wrong generation to give a crap about some of the type of movies covered in Psychotronic, such as the Elvis and Gidget flicks.  Sure, I'll read about them but there's something that just feels so sealed off and "done" about these gimmicky vehicles.  Maybe I'm just treasure hunting after the weird.  I'd never heard of this made-for-TV movie called The People (1972), even though it stars William Shatner:  "A teacher in a small California town (Kim Darby) discovers the locals are peaceful aliens with powers of ESP and levitation."  Whoa!  Where can I find that?  Oh.  On Amazon, apparently.

This book was sent to me in record time by www.awesomebooks.com - good job, guys.  Is the UK mail system ever better than ours.  Even better, it came with the previous owner's bookmark:

Front

Back

This looks like a little high school love note, and just feels like the right thing to arrive with my new-to-me Psychotronic Encyclopedia.