Michael Gingold compiles 1980s horror newspaper ads in book Ad Nauseam

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

As a young kid in the '80s and early '90s, I loved to look at the movie listings page of the newspaper and see the ads in there for the latest horror releases. I would stare in awe at those images while imagining how cool the movies they were promoting must be. I even cut some of those ads out to save, but over time I stopped saving those aging pieces of paper. Thankfully, genre journalist Michael Gingold did not throw out the ads he snipped from the newspaper, and now his saved ads have been compiled in an upcoming book that sounds to be truly awesome, Ad Nauseam: Newsprint Nightmares from the 1980s.

A 1984 Publishing title that's presented by Rue Morgue and edited by former Rue Morgue editor-in-chief Dave Alexander, the book will highlight a golden age of horror movie ads.

The 248-page, full-color, hardbound book features more than 450 rare, vintage ads culled from Gingold's personal archive. Growing up in the '80s, the future Fangoria writer and editor would carefully cut out ads he saw in local newspapers, leaving him with a collection tracing horror movie history via both blockbusters and obscurities.

Ad Nauseam: Newsprint Nightmares from the 1980s goes year-by-year through Gingold's archive, and includes rare alternate art for GREMLINS, CHILD'S PLAY, THE BLOB remake, and the FRIDAY THE 13TH and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET franchises. Oddities covered include PSYCHO FROM TEXAS, DRACULA BLOWS HIS COOL, BLOOD HOOK, ZOMBIE ISLAND MASSACRE, and many more.

Gingold provides personal recollections and commentary, and includes snippets of contemporary reviews, to reveal what critics really thought of these movies at the time. To get a better sense of horror's business side, Gingold also interviews the men behind legendary exploitation distributor Aquarius Releasing to learn how they built buzz for shockers like MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY and DOCTOR BUTCHER M.D.

A contributor to Rue Morgue, Birth.Movies.Death, Time Out New York, and Scream, Gingold previously authored the books The FrightFest Guide to Monster Movies and Shark Movie Mania. He had this to say about Ad Nauseam:

I've wanted to assemble this collection of movie-advertising madness in book form for many years, so 1984 and Rue Morgue's publication of Ad Nauseum is a long-time dream come true. There are the horror films I grew up with, and this volume is a celebration of that classic era of the genre."

Ad Nauseam is scheduled to come out on October 9th; copies will be available online via Amazon and local bookstores worldwide for the price of $34.95. (You can pre-order a copy at THIS LINK.) Fright-Rags will also be offering a combo pack, pairing a signed copy of the book with a specially designed T-shirt.

Gingold will be previewing Ad Nauseam with a presentation and book-launch event at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal on Sunday, July 22nd.