But Gunns first movie, the horror-comedySlither, nearly killed his directing career before it had really begun.
There was a silver lining for Gunn, however, and it was provided by the monthly horror magazineFangoria.
I dont really collect articles or covers, says the director.
Credit: Fangoria Entertainment
But I do have myFangoriacover up in my office.Fangoriawas ahugemagazine to me growing up.
There is every chance you have never picked up a copy ofFangoria.
You may have never heard of the title before now.
Fangoria Entertainment
But it is hard to overestimate the New York-based magazines importance to the horror genre.
The title boasts on its cover thatFangoriahas been First in Fright since 1979.
Its a great crowd, theFangoriafans, he explains.
Fangoria Entertainment
Im so sad theyre not around any more, says the Swede.
1 hit newsstands in 1979 with Godzilla on the cover.
Before long, early cover stars like Leonard Nimoys Spock (issue No.
Fangoria Entertainment
and theStar Warsrobots C-3PO and R2D2 (issue No.
were being superseded by Jack Nicholson inThe Shining(issue No.
7), a maggot-covered ghoul from director Lucio FulcisZombie(issue No.
Fangoria Entertainment
- and a chainsaw-wielding, pig mask-wearing maniac fromMotel Hellwho graced the magazines 9th issue.
The holy grail wasFangoNo.
9, which had theMotel Hellchainsaw-pig on the cover.
Fangoria Entertainment
I dont know why but that was the most expensive one.
The slasher stalwarts were our bread and butter in the 1980s, says Timpone.
The magazine had a real heyday.
Fangoriamattered, says Campbell.
It was like, s, we got an article inFangoria!
They were very important.
The conventions were just amazing, says Timpone.
I got to meet all my horror heroes.
Vincent Price, Christopher Lee.
Jack Nicholson was at a convention in Los Angeles and I got to introduce him.
That was a real thrill.
Hmm, that sounds familiar.
Of course, we weretheproto-horror convention.
Now, theres a convention practically every weekend somewhere in the U.S.
The Chainsaw Awards began in 1992.
Early ceremonies were notable for the lack of attending winners.
Second year,Bram Stokers Draculawon everything didnt get too many of them either.
It was a post-apocalypticJeremiah Johnsonmovie, says Campbell.
I did some script-reading for what would have been the second round [ofFangoriaproductions], says Gingold.
One of those scripts wasFromDusk Til Dawn.
It was interesting to see that take off later.
That was super-interesting to me, who wanted to make my own horror movies.
Essentially, it was a manual, if you wanted to be a special effects magician, says Roth.
I would read the recipes for fake blood.
I learned about latex.
When I madeCabin Fever, I ripped my character in half to try and replicate that photograph.
Roths devotion was rewarded when Timpone putCabin Feveron the cover of Fangoria No.
224 in the summer of 2003.
All my 12-year-old-self ever wanted, was to be on the cover ofFangoria, he says.
To me, that was better than winning an Oscar.
But Timpone recalls that it was sex and bad language rather than gore which caused problems for the title.
I ran a photo from a movie calledBreeders, he says.
Our writer put that in the article, so we got thrown off some newsstands for dropping the f-bomb.
Another problem for the title was studios reluctance to give the magazine images of their monsters and slasher villains.
Sometimes studios did not want to show the monster on the cover or anywhere, says Gingold.
They wouldnt get us the photos.
Dimension Films used to be awful about that.
Being featured inFangoriastill meant the world to many readers-turned-filmmakers and could make a big difference to their careers.
I owe a lot of my career toFangoria, he says.
They really championedAbsentiaand Im not sure that I would have gotten the traction necessary to makeOculusif they hadnt.
I only edited two [issues] and they were only digital, he says.
By that point the company was in pretty bad financial shape.
Gingold was replaced by writer Ken Hanley but his tenure proved equally short-lived.
(DeFeo declined to be interviewed for this article.)
So, is the print version ofFangoriadead?
Then again, in horror, things do have a habit of returning from the grave.
It could be reborn.
It really needs a new management, a new editorial team, a budget.
I really think that theres still life in the old corpse!
