No twee romcoms for me. Throughout my life, I have only ever been interested in movies which were dark, excessive, artificial and gorgeously depraved. As enthusiastically as I might have devoured Pasolini, John Waters, David Lynch et al, I never paused to introspect about why I was delighting in the perversity and lurid excess of their oeuvres. Thanks to David Weir's brilliant and encyclopedic breakdown of the glorious world of decadent celluloid, I now have a million rationales for my longstanding dodgy tastes.

Simon Doonan author of 'DRAG: The Complete Story' (2019) and 'The Camp 100: Glorious Flamboyance from Louis XIV to Lil Nas X' (2024)

'David Weir's elegant and erudite study reveals a submerged history of decadent influences from the earliest silent films to pre-Code Hollywood, film noir, and beyond. Like one of those traveling shots that swoops over a seemingly endless banquet table, the book is a feast of delectable details and illuminating insights. As Mae West, who emerges as one of its chief heroines, would say, “Too much of a good thing is wonderful.”

Imogen Sara Smith, author of 'In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City' (2011)