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We Are the Mutants: The Battle for Hollywood from Rosemary’s Baby to Lethal Weapon by Kelly Roberts, Michael Grasso, and Richard McKenna

Paperback – Repeater – Oct 2022 – 268 pages

After the release of Star Wars in 1977, Hollywood would never be the same again. But did George  Lucas’ sci-fi “fairy-tale” and the blockbuster syndrome it spawned change cinema for the better or for the worse?

Covering the years between the arrival of US combat troops in Vietnam and President Ronald Reagan’s “Tear Down This Wall!” speech at the Brandenburg Gate, We Are the Mutants is a timely and rousing reapprasial of a well-worn narrative: that the “New Hollywood” of the ’60s and ’70s was radical and revolutionary, while the post Star Wars cultural landscape of the ’80s was reactionary and facile. In fact, the reverse was just as true.

The book is a unique look at an era that forever transformed the country and saw the release of what are arguably the most discusses and beloved films ever made. By exploring an eclectic mix of cult classics–The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Escape from New York, Silent Running–alongside studio blockbusters like The Exorcist and Fatal Attraction, We Are the Mutants rewrites the history of modern American cinema and, in doing so, the history of America itself.