David Kalat

Author of Homicide: Life on the Streets--the Unofficial Companion

6+ Works 171 Members 3 Reviews 2 Favorited

About the Author

David Kalat is a film historian and a forensic technologist. His writings on film have been published by Turner Classic Movies, Video Watchdog, and other publications. He has contributed audio commentaries to the home video editions of numerous classic movies. He lives in La Grange Park, Illinois.

Includes the name: David Kalat

Image credit: Provided by the author

Works by David Kalat

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Homicide: Life on the Streets--the Unofficial Companion (1998) 65 copies, 1 review

A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series (1997) 52 copies, 1 review

J-Horror: The Definitive Guide to The Ring, The Grudge and Beyond (2007) 31 copies, 1 review

Strange Case of Dr. Mabuse: A Study of the Twelve Films and Five Novels (2001) 16 copies

Too Funny for Words: A Contrarian History of American Screen Comedy from Silent Slapstick to Screwball (2019) 6 copies

Becoming Charley Chase [videorecording] (2009) 1 copy

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Associated Works

The Finances of the Grand Duke [1924 film] (1924) 5 copies, 1 review

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Common Knowledge

Canonical name: Kalat, David
Birthdate: 1970-04-07
Gender: male
Agent: Janet Rosen
Nationality: USA
Places of residence: La Grange Park, Illinois, USA
Associated Place (for map): Illinois, USA

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Reviews

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3 reviews

Murphy-Jacobs 364 reviews

A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series, 2d ed. by David Kalat

A nice deep dive into the the making and the meaning of my favorite Kaiju. Kalat not only explains how economic factors affected the movies over time, but digs into the differences between how the Japanese view the movies in comparison to the US vision of them.

I wish the book would be updated with a third edition that covered the more recent movies and anime, but this is a great place to start if you want to know more and understand more about the cultural significance of Godzilla and other show more kaiju. show less

Jun 7, 2018

everettroberts 226 reviews

J-Horror: The Definitive Guide to The Ring, The Grudge and Beyond by David Kalat

This is a great book for anyone interested in where "J-horror" got it's start and those that helped to bring it to the forefront. My only complaint is that it can get a bit repetitive but it was a relatively quick read.

Oct 20, 2023

featherbear 92 reviews

Homicide: Life on the Streets—The Unofficial Companion [KINDLE EDITION] by David Kalat

Purchased from Amazon Kindle -- data was misleading; gave publication date as 2024; actually a reissue of a 1998 book published before the series ended; what I wanted was from the perspective of 2024. OK for reference up to S6, but insights into the art/presentation not particularly profound. Will use for reference for casting/production.

Oct 2, 2025