True Films

Demonic possession. Exorcism. Haunted Houses. Satanic Rituals. For most people this is the stuff of nightmares, horror movies, folklore, and superstition. For New York City police Sergeant Ralph Sarchie, it's as real—and dangerous—as midnight patrol . . . A sixteen-year NYPD veteran, Ralph...

Toby Dorr's memoir exemplifies a story of redemption through her recounting the events that led to aiding a convicted murderer's escape from prison. Her story is a testament to the power of transformation and personal growth in a most unexpected way.

Discover the inspiring, unknown, against-all-odds story of how the classic animated holiday special A Charlie Brown Christmas almost never made it on to television. Professor and cultural historian Michael Keane reveals much in this nostalgia-inducing book packed with original research and...

"Narrator Adam Lazarre-White conveys Cooper's youth and aspirations in a rich, steady voice that suggests emotional authenticity and humor." -- AudioFile Magazine Now a documentary narrated by Common, produced by Grant Hill, Dwyane Wade, and 9th Wonder, from filmmaker Mary Mazzio The moving true...

When the head of Columbia Pictures, David Begelman, got caught forging Cliff Robertson's name on a $10,000 check, it seemed, at first, like a simple case of embezzlement. It wasn't. The incident was the tip of the iceberg, the first hint of a scandal that shook Hollywood and rattled Wall Street.

From the authors who brought you TAKING SHAPE comes REIGN OF CHUCKY, an exhaustive new look at the cinematic history of everyone’s favorite Good Guy. Covering all seven films in the franchise, this is the book that Chucky fans have been waiting for. Go behind the scenes of the first film to learn how Don Mancini’s original Blood Buddy script evolved into Child’s Play as we know it, then listen about how the franchise was continually reinvented across a slew of clever sequels

Mad Men meets The Gilded Age in this witty and enchanting novel about a young woman in 1950s Manhattan who resists the conventional future planned for her, spurred on by a group of ghostly relatives who are the unexpected guests at a star-studded party thrown by Alfred Hitchcock in the family...

Now a major motion picture—The Upside—starring Bryan Cranston, Kevin Hart, and Nicole Kidman. Discover the moving and heartfelt #1 international bestseller and inspiration for the film The Upside about an aristocratic Frenchman who is paralyzed in an accident and has to adjust to his new...

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE A revelatory biography of the world-famous playwright and actor Sam Shepard, whose work was matched by his equally dramatic life, including collaborations with the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan as well as tumultuous relationships with Patti Smith, Joni...

The behind-the-scenes story of the quintessential film noir and cult classic, Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity—its true crime origins and crucial impact on film history—is told for the first time in this riveting narrative published for the film's 80th anniversary. From real crime to serial...

A war hero, a mass murderer and a Gothic legend the world has never forgotten! Vlad the Impaler is one of history's most compelling and brutal characters, with a bizarre afterlife as a cult horror sensation. A hero to his countrymen, Vlad Dracula is a byword for dread. Not just for generations...

By 1920, the movies had suddenly become America's new favorite pastime and one of the nation's largest industries. Never before had a medium possessed such power to influence; yet Hollywood's glittering ascendancy was threatened by a string of headline-grabbing tragedies - including the murder of William Desmond Taylor, the popular president of the Motion Picture Directors Association, a legendary crime that has remained unsolved until now.

In Tolkien’s Overture, John Carswell conducts a close reading of the text of “Ainulindalë”, and then goes on to explore the role of music in Middle-earth’s history, from the creation of Elves, Dwarves, and Men in the First Age to the great events of the late Third Age as recounted in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Furthermore, it delves into the mystery of evil, as embodied in the mighty Melkor, the great villain of the First Age and the mentor of Sauron, the Dark Lord of Mordor.

John Ford and John Wayne, two titans of classic film, made some of the most enduring movies of all time. The genre they defined—the Western—and the heroic archetype they built still matter today. For more than twenty years John Ford and John Wayne were a blockbuster Hollywood team...

The remarkable true story of an unrivalled journey to recreate the greatest run in film history: 15,621 miles, five-times across the United States. ‘Rob Pope has made his name revelling in challenges that range from the unconventional to the extraordinary.’ BBC News Becoming Forrest is the...

Brainstorm is an amazing five-year probe into the mysterious death of beloved movie star Natalie Wood by a real-life criminal law authority who determinedly pursued the truth in the face of Los Angeles County officials hell-bent on keeping it buried forever. Brainstorm: An Investigation of the Mysterious Death of Film Star Natalie Wood is the first-person account of Sam Perroni’s probing investigation of the actress’s death.

The Real Manhunter Casebook is the captivating accompaniment to hit Sky Crime TV series The Real Manhunter, chronicling 12 of the most complex cases that former Metropolitan Police detective Colin Sutton worked on throughout his career. Colin Sutton is widely acknowledged as the most eminent Metropolitan Police detective of the last thirty years.

Many have seen and studied the classic films of Alfred Hitchcock, but how many know a lot of these movies were inspired by real life murders? These cases range from his native England in the 1800’s to 1950’s America. Influencing his work from The Lodger, his third directorial effort and first true suspense thriller, all the way down to Frenzy, his next to final film. Such minor details appear in his films as a woman’s necklace or being buried in a garden. Or can be so detailed that one film, about a wrongly accused musician, is based on a true story outright.

Boris Morros was a major figure in the 1930s and 1940s. The head of music at Paramount, nominated for Academy Awards, he then went on to produce his own films with Laurel and Hardy, Fred Astaire, Henry Fonda, and others. But as J. Edgar Hoover would discover, these successes were a cover for one of the most incredible espionage tales in the history of the Cold War-Boris Morros also worked for Russian intelligence. Morros's assignments took him to the White House, the Vatican, and deep behind the Iron Curtain.

Teeming with complex, mythical characters in the shape of vampires, telepaths, shapeshifters, and the like, True Blood, the popular HBO series adapted from Charlaine Harris' best-selling The Southern Vampire Mysteries, has a rich collection of themes to explore, from sex and romance to bigotry and violence to death and immortality. The goings-on in the mythical town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, where vampires satiate their blood lust and openly commingle with ordinary humans, present no shortages of juicy metaphysical morsels to sink your teeth into.