Analysis. Criticism. Performing Arts. Nonfiction. HTML:"Violent Screen offers pithy reviews and articles solely from the engaging pen of Hunter. He categorizes by genre, thus creatively organizing a virtual laundry list of sex and violence. Recommended for circulating libraries with cinema collections.". "Hunter has a very clear vision of cinematic crime. And his opinionated reviews provide refreshing appraisals of a wide assortment of movies from Scorsese's to Tarantino's Pulp Fiction .". "A fascinating chronicle of today's increasingly violent and alienating culture.". HTML:"Bestselling novelist and Baltimore Sun movie critic Stephen Hunter (Dirty White Boys) writes well and vividly about movies, which is reason enough to consider picking up this anthology of his reviews and essays, dating back to 1982. A self-professed gun enthusiast, Hunter seems particularly well attuned to the 'outlaw' attitudes so prevalent in the post-Tarantino period of cinema we're currently moving through. Don't be fooled by the title and the introduction's attempts to position this book as a commentary on the 'hot button issue' of movie violence; Violent Screen is a solid collection from a working journalist, not an ideological screed like Michael Medved's Hollywood vs. America—and that's all to the good.". HTML:"Stephen Hunter is not one of the best known film critics—since 1982 he has been a reviewer for the Baltimore Sun—and has perhaps gained wider fame as a novelist. A selection of his reviews is gathered together in Violent Screen: A Critic's 13 Years on the Front Lines of Movie Mayhem. Arranged under a variety of subject headings, the films under discussion range from Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction to Schindler's List and Shoah. There is nothing here that makes hard reading, and it is always good to have in book form a review source outside of the mainstream (i.e.,Variety and the New York Times).". HTML:

Violent Screen is a confident walk on the rough side of movie-making with one of today's rarities: a gun enthusiast, bestselling novelist, and the son of a murder victim who, for the past thirteen years, has written passionately and thoughtfully about violence in contemporary films. In his popular Baltimore Sun reviews, interviews, and articles, Stephen Hunter observes how the movies, with their pervasive violence, reflect our increasingly violent and alienating culture.

He ranges widely—from ironic film noir to dark horror and teenage slashers, from cop suspense, westerns, true-crime and war movies, to gangster flicks and sci-fi pics, from the cinema of urban decay and sexual obsessions, to psychopathic killers and action thrillers.

It's also entertaining. Hunter's movie-reviewing is rife with energy, humor, sharp-edged analysis, and intensity. His tour of America's violent film archives is quickly becoming a "must have" for film and video buffs everywhere.

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