What do you think?
Rate this book
Video Trash & Treasures
"Never trust a mutant, that's your motto, isn't it?"
Your video store is out of every new release you had any interest in renting? Fear not. Video Trash & Treasures is about to take you on a reconnaissance mission into the Video Unknown.
"She's back from the grave, Eddie, and she knows things we don't know."
Listing more than 500 movies that fill your local video store's shelves, arranged into 26 outrageous "Film Festivals" devote to your favorite
Aliens, Zombies, Mutants and Monsters
Apocalyptic Adventures and Epics of Pecs and Flex
Cheesy Trash and Classic Sleaze
as well as buried treasures of small movies that deserve bigger audiences, cult favorites, and genuine curiosities like
Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death
Morons From Outer Space
Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-a-Rama
* * *
"If you could see inside my head--you'd run."
As the author of The Flesh Eaters, The Old Dick, The Big Enchilada and Sleaze, L.A. Morse has some passing familiarity with trash, and he knows that it's not all created equal. He risked boredom, eyestrain, and almost certain brain damage to sort out good trash from bad, and to make sure you'll never again have to leave the video store empty-handed.
Your video store is out of every new release you had any interest in renting? Fear not. Video Trash & Treasures is about to take you on a reconnaissance mission into the Video Unknown.
"She's back from the grave, Eddie, and she knows things we don't know."
Listing more than 500 movies that fill your local video store's shelves, arranged into 26 outrageous "Film Festivals" devote to your favorite
Aliens, Zombies, Mutants and Monsters
Apocalyptic Adventures and Epics of Pecs and Flex
Cheesy Trash and Classic Sleaze
as well as buried treasures of small movies that deserve bigger audiences, cult favorites, and genuine curiosities like
Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death
Morons From Outer Space
Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-a-Rama
* * *
"If you could see inside my head--you'd run."
As the author of The Flesh Eaters, The Old Dick, The Big Enchilada and Sleaze, L.A. Morse has some passing familiarity with trash, and he knows that it's not all created equal. He risked boredom, eyestrain, and almost certain brain damage to sort out good trash from bad, and to make sure you'll never again have to leave the video store empty-handed.
- GenresFilm
368 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 31, 1989
About the author
L.A. Morse
11 books11 followersaka Runa Fairleigh.
Larry Alan Morse grew up in Los Angeles. He attended the University of California at Berkeley and San Francisco State College, and somehow managed to get two degrees in English Lit. He moved to Toronto in the late ‘60s, and has had the usual variety of jobs, including a brief stint in educational television and five years as an administrator at the University of Toronto. Upon returning from extended travels through Southeast Asia, he decided to try and write a novel – something delicate and sensitive and artistic. He discovered just what he was looking for in the true story of Sawney Beane and his family, The Flesh Eaters, the 15th century cannibal clan who ate their way through a good part of Scotland.
L. A. Morse has written four other crime novels. The Old Dick won an Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America; The Big Enchilada and Sleaze, featuring Sam Hunter, the L. A. private eye who, according to one reviewer, “makes Dirty Harry look like Mother Teresa”; and he was instrumental in arranging the publication of An Old-Fashioned Mystery, the lost masterpiece by the enigmatic and reclusive author, Runa Fairleigh. He shifted to another medium with the publication of Video Trash and Treasures, a two-volume guide to the obscure and bizarre movies of the 1980s.
For the last 15 years, L. A. Morse has worked as a visual artist, primarily sculpture. He is an avid birder with over 1,500 species on his world list. When not off looking for birds in the tropics, he currently divides his time between stone carving and making a living in the stock market.
Larry Alan Morse grew up in Los Angeles. He attended the University of California at Berkeley and San Francisco State College, and somehow managed to get two degrees in English Lit. He moved to Toronto in the late ‘60s, and has had the usual variety of jobs, including a brief stint in educational television and five years as an administrator at the University of Toronto. Upon returning from extended travels through Southeast Asia, he decided to try and write a novel – something delicate and sensitive and artistic. He discovered just what he was looking for in the true story of Sawney Beane and his family, The Flesh Eaters, the 15th century cannibal clan who ate their way through a good part of Scotland.
L. A. Morse has written four other crime novels. The Old Dick won an Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America; The Big Enchilada and Sleaze, featuring Sam Hunter, the L. A. private eye who, according to one reviewer, “makes Dirty Harry look like Mother Teresa”; and he was instrumental in arranging the publication of An Old-Fashioned Mystery, the lost masterpiece by the enigmatic and reclusive author, Runa Fairleigh. He shifted to another medium with the publication of Video Trash and Treasures, a two-volume guide to the obscure and bizarre movies of the 1980s.
For the last 15 years, L. A. Morse has worked as a visual artist, primarily sculpture. He is an avid birder with over 1,500 species on his world list. When not off looking for birds in the tropics, he currently divides his time between stone carving and making a living in the stock market.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 13, 2009
"Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death","Beastmaster","Hell comes to Frogtown". If these kinds of movies are your cup of tea then this book is for you. No Academy Award nominees here, instead it's a down and dirty look at movies at the far end of the rental shelf long after the "quality" merchandise has been checked out.
Arranged by genre rather than alphabetically, this first volume deals with horror, science fiction, fantasy, and adventure. Sub-headings include: Slashers, Maniacs, and Madmen, Pecs and Flex Fantasy, and a Festival of "Alien" ripoffs.
What I enjoyed about this book is that the Author explains what makes a particular movie worth watching. "Good" movie doesn't really apply here. Enjoyable movie would be a more accurate term.
Here's the author's review of "Deathstalker".
"Boy! This one has it all! There's beefcake galore; vast expanses of nubile slave flesh; gladiatorial combat; female mud wrestling; a giant boar-headed warrior; a carnivorous hand puppet that eats eyeballs and fingers; a body count in the upper twenties, including three decapitations, an arm ripping, and a drawing and quartering; dwarfs; and enough magic junk - a sword, an amulet, and a chalice - for three movies. There's also a plot - something involving an evil wizard and a captive princess (Barbi Benton, amply demonstrating her qualifications for Playmate of the Year) - but you hardly notice it. Rick Hill is not bad as the beefcake hero, known to his friends as "Deathstalker", but when it comes to bare-chested warriors, Lana Clarkson steals the show. With virtually nothing in this one that's not gratuitous, it's pretty hard to resist - very definitely upper-echelon Sword and Sleazery."
Arranged by genre rather than alphabetically, this first volume deals with horror, science fiction, fantasy, and adventure. Sub-headings include: Slashers, Maniacs, and Madmen, Pecs and Flex Fantasy, and a Festival of "Alien" ripoffs.
What I enjoyed about this book is that the Author explains what makes a particular movie worth watching. "Good" movie doesn't really apply here. Enjoyable movie would be a more accurate term.
Here's the author's review of "Deathstalker".
"Boy! This one has it all! There's beefcake galore; vast expanses of nubile slave flesh; gladiatorial combat; female mud wrestling; a giant boar-headed warrior; a carnivorous hand puppet that eats eyeballs and fingers; a body count in the upper twenties, including three decapitations, an arm ripping, and a drawing and quartering; dwarfs; and enough magic junk - a sword, an amulet, and a chalice - for three movies. There's also a plot - something involving an evil wizard and a captive princess (Barbi Benton, amply demonstrating her qualifications for Playmate of the Year) - but you hardly notice it. Rick Hill is not bad as the beefcake hero, known to his friends as "Deathstalker", but when it comes to bare-chested warriors, Lana Clarkson steals the show. With virtually nothing in this one that's not gratuitous, it's pretty hard to resist - very definitely upper-echelon Sword and Sleazery."
September 25, 2022
I bought this book thirty years ago and still keep it handy. It's a great selection of low budget horror and sci-fi camp, much of which was made-for-TV or released direct-to-video in the '70s and '80s. That happens to be my favorite era for horror, so if you're like me, this is just a great book to have around. Keep in mind that as you're flipping through, if you find a movie you'd like to see, check YouTube when all else fails. I've found many of these ripped from VHS there.
One complaint I've heard often about this book is that the movies are divided into various subject matter "Festivals" ("Zombies," "Occult Occasions," "Psychos on Location," etc.) rather than laid out alphabetically like an encyclopedia. But with two indexes (one by Director, the other by Title), it's not that hard to look up a particular film. And believe it or not, there was once a time when people just sort of casually enjoyed horror and camp as they found it rather than obsessively compiling a mental library of obscure titles to become an "expert" on the subject. I remember when I first got this, I did take it to the video store to look up titles as I found them on the shelf, but the "Festival" format made it a nice book to read and suggest movies in particular categories to go seek out.
One complaint I've heard often about this book is that the movies are divided into various subject matter "Festivals" ("Zombies," "Occult Occasions," "Psychos on Location," etc.) rather than laid out alphabetically like an encyclopedia. But with two indexes (one by Director, the other by Title), it's not that hard to look up a particular film. And believe it or not, there was once a time when people just sort of casually enjoyed horror and camp as they found it rather than obsessively compiling a mental library of obscure titles to become an "expert" on the subject. I remember when I first got this, I did take it to the video store to look up titles as I found them on the shelf, but the "Festival" format made it a nice book to read and suggest movies in particular categories to go seek out.
November 4, 2025
when i was a kid
read through four copies of this
developed trash taste
read through four copies of this
developed trash taste
February 12, 2012
Released at the rat tail-end of the big 80's, it has a lot of trashy nuggets from the decade when VHS was the medium. I feel Morse was a little hyper critical of these films, but it's still entertaining reading. Maybe time has been kinder to most of these films since the publication of this book.
July 11, 2013
The best of its kind.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews