Post by N***@gmail.comPost by KishinPost by N***@gmail.comPost by KishinThe new issue of Fangoria has a "Dark Shadows" article, the first of
many, the editorial promises, in the lead up to Tim Burton's film. The
article is about the series, not the movie. I haven't read it yet, but
it's a couple of pages long and looks interesting. It's the June 2011
issue, #304, with zombie Tom Savini on the cover.
IMHO this is not good. If Fangoria is doing stories on Dark Shadows
that means the movie will be very bloody, very gory, very violent.
The Halloween, Friday the 13th (the movie, not the series), Saw,
How do you figure? Fangoria is covering it because it's a horror movie.
They cover ALL horror movies, not just slashers and torture porn. If
they knew anything that we already didn't, I'm sure they would publish
it. While it almost certainly is going to be more violent/bloody than
the series, so was HoDS. It's going to reflect our modern times, and the
fact that it's a feature film and not a daytime TV show. But it's not
going to be a slasher movie or torture porn. That really is quite a stretch.
But then iMHO the best horror movie ever made was Pycho but that movie
would naver get made today because it has no blood, no violence,
and an intelligent script.
Have you ever picked up Fangoria? It screams out for the bloodiest,
goriest, most violent movies made. If Hitchcock made Psycho today
(if he were alive) Fangoria would never even achknowledge the movie
existed.
Fangoria celebrates violence, blood, and gore. The more blood
violence and gore the better.
I've been reading Fangoria for the last year or two, and am a
subscriber. It's true that starting in the early to mid-80s it was as
you describe, and I only read a few issues then because of that. Today,
it covers ALL horror films, and that would include "Psycho," were it
released today. In fact, it frequently acknowledges that movie's
existence, as it did in this issue's article about Michael Reeves, who
directed "Witchfinder General." In the 300th issue from a couple of
months ago, which listed it's 300 most important horror films, "Psycho"
got more than half a page in a tribute by Tom Holland. That issue also
featured films like "Island of the Lost Souls," "Black Sunday," "The
Blob," "The Bad Seed," Hitchcock's "The Birds" and "Frenzy," 1931's
"Dracula," the 1932 "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," Robert Wise's "The
Haunting" and many other classic horror films that I won't list here.
Your contention that the magazine celebrates only "violence, blood, and
gore" is disproved by the inclusion of the very "Dark Shadows" article
I mentioned in my original post. It's a 3-page interview with Kathryn
Leigh Scott about DS and her life in general, and shows nothing but
respect for the original show, highlighting the excellent writing and
acting during the 1795 flashback. The author of the article is clearly a
fan of the series. This article hardly fits your view of the magazine.
As a monthly reader, I suspect I am much better fit to judge it than
you, though you are certainly entitled to your opinion. Of course,
"violence, blood, and gore" are a part of modern horror films, and
those are covered, but it would be impossible to cover the genre without
them. Classic monster/horror magazines that I grew up with in the 70s
were no different, and always featured photos of monsters, blood and
gore, to the extent that they existed in films of the period. This
history of horror films shows a progression in their depiction of
horrific violence, and it's only natural that there would be more of
that today than in times past. "I Was a Teenage Frankenstein," which
seems silly today, received an X rating when it was first released.
Every generation's horror films were considered shocking in their time,
including "Psycho." If you don't like horror movies--including
contemporary ones--then Fangoria is certainly not for you, but for fans
of the genre, it's a great magazine.
--
Kishin