- Paperback: 672 pages
- Publisher: No Exit Press; paperback / softback edition (9 Oct 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1842431382
- ISBN-13: 978-1842431382
- Product Dimensions: 19.9 x 12.9 x 4.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 240,457 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
"...Tantalising and scary as a Stephen King novel, Flicker has the power to fill even the most casual filmgoer with an awful, creeping dread. An epic meditation on the potential evil lurking within movies..." - Brett Easton Ellis
Product Description
Jonathan Gates loves going to the Classic, a legendary little art house cinema in west L.A. There he succumbs to what will be a lifelong obsession with the mysterious Max Castle, a nearly forgotten genius of the silent screen and film noir director who vanished in the 1940s, at the height of his powers. 20 years later, Gates seeks the truth behind Castle's disappearance - and finds himself on a journey deep into Hollywood's own heart of darkness, where nothing on the silver screen is quite what it appears.
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First Sentence
I saw my first Max Castle movie in a grubby basement in west Los Angeles. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
I saw my first Max Castle movie in a grubby basement in west Los Angeles. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This is a long book that takes a bit of commitment, but it's well worth it - especially if, as I do, you like a story concerning hidden strangeness.
The narrator of the novel is a film buff who gets involved in an LA fleapit cinema that specialises in off-centre works by cult directors. He fixates on one film-maker in particular, a kind of ultimate cult auteur figure by the name of Max Castle. At first, he can't fully work out why Castle's films fascinate him so much, but then it dawns on him that there is a very bizarre and disturbing quality that the films all possess - and it's when he starts to investigate this that the story begins to take an unexpected turn or two.
It's a kind of Butterfly Effect novel, beginning inauspiciously but finishing with a real "Oh my god!" ending. The only danger is that some may find the story rather far-fetched as it develops; but if you can overcome this and go with it, it's an entertaining, intriguing and quite chilling read.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Flicker is extraordinarily persistent in the memory. I read it once on holiday 3 years ago and it still comes to mind as one the most original novels I have read. Deserving of far more laudation, it is as if Umberto Eco had collaborated with Kenneth Anger to write an alternate Hollywood history. If you cannot find it new, buy it used. Lend it only to your trustworthy friends as you'll want to revisit it again and again.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Ever read a book that you have to reach the end, but equally don't want it to finish, because there are so many areas and avenues that you want to know more about? Then FLICKER is the book for you. The story of the discovery of Max Castle one of the forgotten directors of 30's Hollywood and the early days of European cinema. A kitch cult director, except his movies held hidden secrets, movies within movies, dark, disturbing moments. Moments that could mean the end of the world. This is a book for every lover of the movies of anyone who sees the flicker on the screen!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
good for insomnia
Was really disappointed in this, I persevered for as long as I could but in the end it just bored me!
Published 7 months ago by The Doctor
Secret History of Cinema
Flicker is a journey through the secret history of cinema that begins in a fleapit theatre in 60's Los Angeles and ends in the fires of the inquisition. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Pistachio T Wildebeest
You'll never look at a movie the same way again
This book is patently one you love or hate, get or don't get. I think it is brilliant beyond belief. Read more
Published on 2 Oct 2009 by E. S. Williams
Comic Satire/Turgid Writing?
At 688 pages this is a massive tome and it also massively overblown. Advertised on the front cover as "A secret history of film - Sunset Boulevard Meets The Da Vinci Code, these... Read more
Published on 9 Sep 2009 by Eileen Shaw
Needs editing
This is an unusual book. Sometimes very engaging, quirky and intelligent; sometimes boring and tangential. Read more
Published on 19 Jun 2009 by Thomas J. Curtis
Consistently Surprising
Every time I thought I had drawn a bead on where Flicker was going, Theodore Roszak surprised me. It was recommended as a cross between Sunset Boulevard and The Da Vinci Code, but... Read more
Published on 9 Nov 2008 by Graceann Macleod
Misunderstood masterpiece
Most of reviewers simply did not understand the idea behind the book. It is not so much about a conspiracy or subliminal propaganda, as an attempt to deconstruct (though I hate the... Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2006 by H. Guelovani
Descent into hell
A book that comes in at the best part of 700 pages needs to have a lot to offer to keep the attention of the reader ... Flicker doesn't have it.
The writing is mostly turgid. Read more
Published on 20 Aug 2005 by "dohahaha"
missing the point
Many of these reviews, including Amazon's own, miss one of the main points of this book; it's a comic satire. Read more
Published on 29 April 2005 by Paul Bridgewater
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