CONFESSIONS OF A BRIAN DE PALMA PROTÉGÉ!: How I Shadowed the Director on THE FURY, DRESSED TO KILL & More!

“Revelatory, hilarious, jaw-dropping… even for De Palma junkies like myself who think they know it all!”
- Don Mancini, Creator of Chucky

This massive coffin-table book, loaded with nearly a thousand photos, is the most comprehensive chronicle ever published on the making of Brian De Palma’s DRESSED TO KILL, THE FURY, and HOME MOVIES!
It is my personal memoir of everything I learned while assisting my mentor, Brian De Palma, which prepared me for my own successful career as a director on over 50 movies, including ELVIRA’S HAUNTED HILLS and the De Palma-esque thriller ACTING ON IMPULSE starring Nancy Allen (CARRIE, HOME MOVIES, DRESSED TO KILL, BLOW OUT).
It is also a coming out story of my transition from a 19-year-old closeted teenager raised in the conservative South, to marrying a woman, and then finally becoming an openly-gay adult in New York City.
Not to name-drop or anything, BUT…. you will read all about my encounters with (in alphabetical order) Karen Allen, Nancy Allen, Richard Benjamin, Coral Browne, Michael Caine, John Cassavetes, Jill Clayburgh, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro, Brian De Palma, Laura Dern, Angie Dickinson, Matt Dillon, Divine, Kirk Douglas, William Finley, Carrie Fisher, Dennis Franz, Vincent Gardenia, Mel Gibson, Keith Gordon, Gerrit Graham, Daryl Hannah, Paul Hirsch, Amy Irving, Michael Jackson, Margot Kidder, Wayne Knight, Burt Lancaster, Louise Lasser, Fiona Lewis, John Lithgow, Edith Massey, Freddie Mercury, Paul Newman, Vincent Price, Robert Quarry, Diana Ross, Jennifer Salt, Martin Scorsese, Wallace Shawn, Carrie Snodgress, Wendie Jo Sperber, Steven Spielberg, Andrew Stevens, John Travolta, Liv Ullmann, Vanity, Treat Williams, Joanne Woodward, and many more!
Sexy, dishy, and ultimately quite moving, the triumphant arc of my education, both personal and professional, is a continuation of my larger-than-life story that began with my coming-of-age memoir I WAS A TEENAGE MONSTER HUNTER! HOW I MET VINCENT PRICE, CHRISTOPHER LEE, PETER CUSHING & MORE! — which won the 2022 Rondo Award for Writer of the Year!

Now I pull the rope to spill a bucket of bloody good tales out of school that will rival a certain prom night!

About the Author:

After his teenage years editing and publishing the horror film fanzine BIZARRE, Sam Irvin began his filmmaking career as Brian De Palma’s assistant on THE FURY and DRESSED TO KILL. Since then, he has directed over 50 films, including ELVIRA'S HAUNTED HILLS, GUILTY AS CHARGED, OUT THERE, ACTING ON IMPULSE, OBLIVION, BACKLASH: OBLIVION 2, MAGIC ISLAND, CHRISTMAS LAND, FATAL ACQUITTAL and KISS OF A STRANGER (from his own original screenplay).

For television, he directed episodes of Julie Brown’s STRIP MALL on Comedy Central, and all three seasons of the gay supernatural series DANTE'S COVE.

Irvin’s 20-plus producing credits include Brian De Palma’s HOME MOVIES, Bill Condon’s GODS AND MONSTERS (which won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay), and Greg Berlanti’s THE BROKEN HEARTS CLUB.

Irvin authored the acclaimed biography KAY THOMPSON: FROM FUNNY FACE TO ELOISE (Simon & Schuster) which led to him serving as the historical consultant on Broadway’s LIZA'S AT THE PALACE starring Liza Minnelli as her godmother Kay Thompson (which won the Tony Award for Best Theatrical Event).

For his own imprint, Knuckle Samwitch Books, Irvin authored SAM'S TOILET PAPER CAPER! (2020), ORBGASM: An Erotic Pulp Sci-Fi Satyricon (2021), I WAS A TEENAGE MONSTER HUNTER! HOW I MET VINCENT PRICE, CHRISTOPHER LEE, PETER CUSHING & MORE! (2022), THE EPIC SAGA BEHIND "FRANKENSTEIN: THE TRUE STORY" (2023), CAPTAIN SAMOUFLAGE AND THE FRANKENSAM SCAM! The Queerdo Superhero Parody for Grownup Monster Kids! (2024).

Irvin resides in Horrorwood, Karloffornia, with his husband Gary Bowers.