Week 23: “Horror Magazines”
Horror magazines are part of our culture (us horror fans
that is). Despite all the ready-made
websites out there, there is no better place to get the most up to date information
on everything horror past or present than a good magazine and I (luckily) still
read many of them despite also finding time to visit many horror websites.
One of the oldest and most successful is Fangoria (www.fangoria.com). This magazine holds a special place for me as
it was the first horror magazine I read growing up. I remember the cover had the creature from
Stephen King’s Sleepwalkers (1992)
and that was the whole reason I picked up the magazine. Fangoria always had fantastic covers that
drew you in. All the rest of the
articles were just icing on the cake and the magazine had some of the best
written articles I had ever read (which wasn’t saying much since that was the
first magazine of its kind that I’d ever read at the time). I became an instant collector right then and
there and never missed an issue since.
Now the magazine has had its ups and downs over the years especially in
the years when there were very few quality mainstream and indie horror films
but right now it is back in good form focusing on new retrospectives on classic
films and influential filmmakers especially in this time when there are fewer
and fewer genre specific directors emerging.
My favorite magazine right now is Horror Hound (www.horrorhound.com).
It’s not as old as some of the others that will be mentioned here but
they do some of the most thorough articles of all the magazines that I
read. This is a magazine that really
focuses on articles for the horror fan and never seems like its repetitive or
been done before. Unfortunately, whereas
a lot of other magazines have articles on the exact same subject within the
same couple months, this magazine never seems like it follows that trend. It’s long running series on films stuck in
VHS purgatory is of particular interest for horror fans as are there extended
retrospectives on entire film series (no other magazine comes close to the
quality of these articles). If you don’t
currently read any horror magazines this would be the one to start off with.
Rue Morgue (www.rue-morgue.com)
is another one of the longest running horror magazines. I love the fact that this magazine delves
into all facets of the horror genre from movies to books to music to video
games. For someone just wanting to read
a little more about everything then this is definitely for you. My only problem is the fact that the articles
are shorter, on the average, but when they do an article with extended coverage
that is when it is really worth it. They
also do articles on horror artists including tattoo artists which most
magazines never even bother with.
Famous Monsters of Filmland
(www.famousmonsters.com) is a magazine that many of you might remember as being
started by Forrest J. Ackerman. It was
cancelled at one point and resurrected and still goes strong to this day. It works as a magazine in the PG area as it
was designed for small children as they grew up into monster lovers. It covers a lot of older television horror
and does a great job in their extensive articles on specific personalities and
talent. The biggest draw for this
magazine is the fact that there articles are so thorough and the fact that they
highlight current television shows when other magazines do not. My only problem with the magazine is that
many times I don’t really care for the television show they focus on for any
given issue and unfortunately that focus can take up more than half of the
issue (recent issues that I didn’t care about focused on The Munsters and Supernatural,
which I don’t care for). This is a minor
problem (as you can see) as I still remain with the magazine because the
quality is still high.
On the more extreme spectrum is the resurrection of Gorezone (www.facebook.com/gorezonemagazine)
which is for the hardcore horror fan as it delves into extreme horror films
such as The Faces of Death franchise,
Cannibal Holocaust, and many more. It can only be purchased through the Fangoria website and it has a hefty
price tag but the quality of the articles is just like that of the parent
magazine so it is well worth the price.
There are articles here that you can’t find in the parent magazine nor
the website.
Another magazine like this (but not nearly as extreme) is
the UK’s Scream (www.screamhorrormag.com) magazine
which you can purchase a physical or digital copy of. The quality of the articles is good but there
is too much of a scattered-brained collage of articles in each issue. They just kind of through a little bit of
everything in each issue so you never know what you’re going to get and there
are few regular columns in this magazine unlike in Fangoria and Rue Morgue
and Horror Hound. What this magazine has are some of the best
collection of photos from the films it highlights.
Another one of my favorite magazines is Diabolique (www.diaboliquemagazine.com)
(which has some of the best articles written among any of the magazines
discussed. Their articles are heavily
researched and thorough and very informative and the articles can vary in
subject matter (because a lot of the articles are queried based on a particular
issue’s topic). This is probably one of
the best designed and put together of the magazines as each issue is topic
driven and each article contributes to the whole of the issue. I’ve never been disappointed by an issue but
my biggest issue is the long wait between issues and the fact that not all
bookstores and newsstands carry the magazine on a consistent basis.
The last magazine I’m going to mention is the specialized Delirium (www.deliriummagazine.com) magazine
which is put out by Full Moon Entertainment and focuses on many of their own
films and films they’ve distributed. Not
really a magazine designed for the casual horror fan especially if you don’t
like the majority of Full Moon’s films but if you do then this magazine gives
you more coverage than any other magazine ever has. Each issue does highlight a classic horror
film (previous issues highlight Texas Chainsaw
Massacre 2 and Shockwaves) but
for the most part this one stays away from modern horror films.
***
Now there are plenty more horror magazines that I don’t read
such as Screem (www.screemag.com), Scary Monsters (www.scarymonstersmagazine.com),
etc. but there is only so many magazines that I can read on a consistent basis.
I’m a hard core horror fan and even though I now read the
digital version of a couple of these magazines nothing will ever replace the
feeling of sitting down with a physical copy of Fangoria or Rue Morgue
or Horror Hound and letting myself
be immersed in a different world…just one filled with monsters and bloodshed.
