Confessions of a Puppetmaster: A Hollywood Memoir of Ghouls, Guts, and Gonzo Filmmaking

Confessions of a Puppetmaster is a fast, funny, wild ride through some wild times. Plus, Charlie compares me to Harrison Ford, so Im all in! Bill Maher

Renowned producer, director, and B movie showman Charles Band takes readers on a wild romp through Hollywoods decidedly un-Oscar-worthy underbelly, where mayhem and zombies reign supreme, and cheap thrills and entertainment are king

This book is a blast. It made me want to stay up all night and watch terrible movies. Peter Sagal

One of the most entertaining film bios ever. Larry Karaszewski

Reads like a Tarantino film written by Hunter S. Thompson. Booklist

Zombies, aliens, a little skin, lots of goreand even more laughsthe cinematic universe of Charles Band is legendary. From the toilet-invading creatures of Ghoulies to the time-travelling bounty hunter in Trancers to the pandemic-crashed Corona Zombies, Band has spent four decades giving B-movie lovers exactly what they love. In Confessions of a Puppetmaster, this congenial master of Grindhouse cinema tells his own story, uncut.

Born into a family of artists, Band spent much of his childhood in Rome where his father worked in the film industry. Early visits to movie sets sealed young Charlies fate. By his twenties he had plunged into moviemaking himself and found his calling in exploitation moviesquick, low-budget efforts that exploit the zeitgeist and feed peoples desire for clever, low-brow entertainment. His films crossed genres, from vampire flicks to sci fi to erotic musical adaptations of fairy tales. As he came into his own as a director, he was the first to give starring roles to household names like Demi Moore, Helen Hunt, and Bill Maher.

Off set, Bands life has been equally epic. Returning to his beloved Italy, he bought both Dino De Laurentiiss movie studio and a medieval castle. After Romanias oppressive communist regime fell, he circumvented the U.S. State Department to shoot films in Draculas homeland. He madeand then losta moviemaking fortune. A visionary, Band was also at the vanguard of the transition to home video and streaming, making and distributing direct-to-video movies long before the major studios caught on.

In this revealing tell-all, Band details the dizzying heights and catastrophic depths of his four decades in showbiz. A candid and engaging glimpse at Hollywoods wild side, Confessions of a Puppetmaster is as entertaining as the movies that made this consummate schlockmeister famous.