Absolutely essential tome that was the first major book on the topic. Contains chapters overviewing Italian, German, French, and Spanish genre cinema, as well as full elaborated chapters on Jess Franco, Jean Rollin, Jose Larraz, Jose Benazeraf, Walerian Borowczyk, and Alain Robbe-Grillet. This book is an absolutely great entrance point to the occasionally overwhelming world of European Genre Cinema. I can't recommend this enough.

Buy it from Amazon:
Immoral Tales: European Sex & Horror Movies, 1956-1984

Long out of print, this essential book chronicles the early, earnest days of experimental film. Vogel was a voracious film watcher, taking notes after everything he watched, and grouping, thematically, films together. This book is essentially most of his comments on films, bookended by slight criticism and movements. Another essential book, unconciously taking the nobrow route, featuring blurbs on Carl Dreyer and Gerard Damiano within the 200 pages.

Buy it from Amazon:
Film as a Subversive Art

Whereas most books in English on avant-garde film tend to focus primarily on the American efforts, Dwoskin's book tears from country to country as he discusses his experiences with films from all over the world. Dwoskin himself is an acclaimed experimental film maker, and his approach to talking about film isn't so much critical as it is contextual and aesthetic. An excellent read, introduced me to a lot of experimental filmmakers I wouldn't have encountered otherwise.

Buy it from Amazon:
Film Is

Written from the inside of the porno-chic boom of the mid 1970s, Turan and Zito take an enthusiastic look at the merits and advances of pornographic film. Features industry information, a small amount of critical thought, and interviews with both heterosexual and homosexual representatives of pornography.

Buy it from Amazon:
Sinema: American pornographic films and the people who make them

Essential introduction to American Avant-Garde film.

Buy it from Amazon:
Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde, 1943-2000

Academic text on the beloved giallo film that does it's best job contextualizing gialli into a social strata. Still manages to provide interesting production details as well, in addition to careful critical analysis of several films

Buy it from Amazon:
La Dolce Morte

Series of books (I think they might be up to #6 now? It's hard to find info on these) that grew out of a zine dedicated to an "academic" study of the titular horror and erotic cinema. I've only got the first couple of these, but they're fairly relevant and interesting (some of the articles ended up in a lot of the Creation Cinema books). Looking at the contents for some of the later volumes, well, they don't appear to be quite as worthwhile.

Buy it from Amazon:
Necronomicon: The Journal of Horror & Erotic Cinema

Forget about what you think you've learned about the "Grindhouse" experience via the utterly mediocre film of the same name from Tarantino and Rodriguez; Bill Landis and Michelle Clifford's book paints a picture of how it really is without pandering to the hipster demographic. This was one of my first main exposure to exploitation cinema, and with all the context that is provided, it's easy to lose yourself to the sort of films discussed.

Buy it from Amazon:
Sleazoid Express

Another excellent compendium derived from a British magazine of the same title, F&B is one of the few magazines that dedicates just as much time to the "flesh" of it's title as it does to the "blood." Weighing in equally on both pornographic films and horror films, this is an excellent, large book with plenty of interviews, articles, and reviews of interest.

Buy it from Amazon:
Flesh and Blood Compendium

"Though French New Wave cinema was closely scrutinized by Western critics and film scholars in the 1960s, Japanese New Wave Cinema as a whole had received little attention. Individual directors such as Nagisa Oshima, Shohei Imamura, and Masahiro Shinoda had received some attention, but a study of Japanese New Wave cinema and its relation to the culture and history of 1960s had yet to be made. With Eros Plus Massacre, author David Desser hopes to fill this gap[...]"

Buy it from Amazon:
Eros Plus Massacre

Sharing a remarkably similar mantra to that of Esotika (Eyeball publishes with the banner "Sex & Horror, Art & Exploitation"), an excellently compiled book that combines a copious amount of relevant and perceptive reviews with an assortment of articles and interviews (including interviews with Andzrej Zulawski and an overview of Pupi Avanti's genre career).

Buy it from Amazon:
Eyeball Compendium

"Whether defined by the carnivalesque excesses of Troma studios ( The Toxic Avenger), the arthouse erotica of Radley Metzger and Doris Wishman, or the narrative experimentations of Abel Ferrara, Melvin Van Peebles, Jack Smith, or Harmony Korine, underground cinema has achieved an important position within American film culture. Often defined as "cult" and "exploitation" or "alternative" and "independent," the American underground retains separate strategies of production and exhibition from the cinematic mainstream, while its sexual and cinematic representations differ from the traditionally conservative structures of the Hollywood system. Underground U.S.A. offers a fascinating overview of this area of maverick moviemaking by considering the links between the experimental and exploitative traditions of the American underground."

Buy it from Amazon:
Underground U.S.A.

"This second title in the AlterImage series that investigates previously underexplored areas of popular and cult cinema ( Underground U.S.A. being the first volume) features over twenty essays from an eclectic range of writers uncovering the cult cinema of Europe. The writers consider such unusual and diverse topics as Russian horror cinema, British exploitation, Belgian alternative cinema, and black "Emmanuelle" films. Alternative Europe also includes exclusive interviews with such "trash" film directors as Jess Fano and Brian Yuzna ( Reanimator, etc.)."

Buy it from Amazon:
Alternative Europe

"With contributions from experts and cult film personalities worldwide-including Kenneth Anger and George Kuchar-Fleshpot -covers the sex education film, the secret history of American gay cinema, radical Japanese sci-fi porn, the British hardcore underground, and many other steamy subjects."

Buy it from Amazon:
Fleshpot

"The best of the first twelve, long-out-of-print issues of the celebrated underground smash magazine Cinema Sewer. A mind-melting compilation of gonzo writing, illustration and comics about the most insane, sexy, awkward, cheesy, hilarious, upsetting and jaw-dropping movies in the history of film, Cinema Sewer joyously celebrates the sleaziest aspects of the moviegoing experience, while delving deep into bizarre cinematic history. Bougie's distinctive writing style has made him famous among a loyal following of cult film fans."

Buy it from Amazon:
Cinema Sewer