Fangoria (magazine)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Fangoria | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Editor | Anthony Timpone |
| Categories | Horror |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| First Issue | 1979 |
| Final Issue — Date — Number |
- - |
| Company | Starlog Group |
| Country | United States |
| Language | |
| Website | Official site |
| ISSN | unknown |
Fangoria is an internationally-distributed US film fan magazine specializing in the genres of horror, slasher, splatter and exploitation films, in regular publication since 1979.
Fangoria was first planned in 1978 under the name Fantastica as a companion to the sf media magazine Starlog; just as Starlog covered science fiction films for a primarily teenaged audience, Fantastica was intended to cover fantasy films for a similar audience. The publishers were anticipating a groundswell of interest in fantasy owing to the plans at that time for bringing Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian to the screen, plans first announced in 1978.
The Conan film did not arrive until several years later and, when it did, no groundswell in the demand for fantasy films occurred. But before the magazine was even launched, other factors intervened to change the magazine's focus and direction.
The first issue was assembled under the editorship of "Joe Bonham," a pseudonym taken from the quadriplegic hero of Dalton Trumbo's pacifist novel Johnny Got His Gun. This was a cover for Rolling Stone contributor and screenwriter Ed Naha and writer Ric Meyers, best known for his encyclopedic Great Martial Arts Movies: From Bruce Lee to Jackie Chan.
Shortly after the publishing trade press announced the coming launch of Fantastica, the publishers of a Starlog competitor, Fantastic Films magazine, brought suit on the basis of "unfair trade," contending that its young audience would be confused by the magazine's similar title.
The launch of the magazine was delayed by several months as the court deliberated the issue. When, in early 1979, the decision was made in favor of the plaintiff, the publishers of Fantastica were without a usable name, and a pressing need to get the long-delayed issue to the printers. Some quick brainstorming sessions resulted in the name Fangoria, over the objections of Robert "Bob" Martin, who was hired as editor during the delay.
The first issue of Fangoria was entirely designed around the original "fantasy film" concept for the magazine, and proved to be an abysmal failure, as were several issues that followed, all continuing with the same conceptual approach.
By the time that issue #4 was on the stand and #6 was in preparation, the publisher confided to Martin that the magazine was losing approximately $20,000 per issue, not an amount that the small publisher could continue to sustain for long.
Two phenomena allowed Martin to reshape the magazine and bring it back from the abyss of debt. First, was the immensely positive audience response to one of the articles that appeared in Fangoria #1, an article that celebrated the craft of special makeup effects artist Tom Savini, and his very wet-looking special effects for the 1978 film Dawn of the Dead.
Second was the palpable stench of defeat that was surrounding Fangoria. With its demise all but certain, senior employees and the two owners of the publishing firm stood back from the fray and allowed the untried young editor to take the lead, reshaping the entire book according to what he believed would work.
Issue #7, with a cover story on Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining, was the first issue of any national magazine to wholly concern itself with horror film as produced in the closing quarter of the 20th Century, with no trace of daintiness about its subject matter. It also was the first issue of Fangoria to achieve a profit.
Subsequent issues would sharpen the focus, but by issue 12, the formula was well-set, and remains largely unchanged to this date. Martin continued as editor to 1986, with co-editor David Everitt added in the early 1980s, and after leaving Fangoria worked with film director Frank Henenlotter on the screenplays for Frankenhooker and Basket Case 3: The Progeny. Everitt left the magazine shortly after Martin's departure, and was replaced by current editor Tony Timpone.
[edit] Gore Zone Video and The Fangoria Blood Drive
In the late 1990's Fangoria began to distribute low-budget horror film through their "Gore Zone" label. Titles included in this series are "Dead Meat", "I, Zombie: A Chronicle of Pain", "The Last Horror Movie" and "Lady of the Lake".
In 2004, Fangoria released the first of two complilations of short horror films called Fangoria's Blood Drive. The first volume is hosted by rock star turned horror filmmaker Rob Zombie and the second is hosted by MuchMusic's Mistress Juliya.
