FANGORIA FOR DUMMIES #13: THE ROMERO INTERVIEW

Welcome to Fangoria for Dummies Issue #13, the two year anniversay issue to be exact. If you're looking for horror movies on the cover of issue #13 you'll have American Werewolf in London and The Beast Within, but I'm not sure that Dragonslayer qualifies no matter which trio of super giants produced the film (LucasFilm, Paramount and motherfucking Disney). Hey, I guess it's a monster movie magazine too. I think I can get behind dragons as horror creatures. After all, Q, the Winged Serpent was a fantastic AIP picture (even if Q was really a deity from middle America). I can't believe the slight fantasy laden VHS cover of my youth could have kept me from it for so long. I'm sure there will be plenty of goodies inside to supplement the taste of our gore gore reader (remember last issue?). I'll say that in the note from Bob Martin this time around the old boy says that the magazine is evolving just as he had planned. Seems that just because a horror magazine hadn't gotten "juicy" before doesn't mean it couldn't. It will. This issue has a Romero interview which just makes me wet. Yes, like that... No, I'm not ashamed to get the bucket out.



I love the Postal Zone. I love that we get to rehash some old arguments and realize that the same issues have been going on since the beginning of horror history. For this issue, as always, we'll take a little insight from the editor and the fans. First off, the above captioned comment by reader and editor sums it up for me. All you need is the right horror flick at the right age with the right combo of trauma inducing moments and you've got a therapy session a week for the rest of your life. It's that simple (although more is better to cement the crazies). Second, Mr. John Squires over at one of my super faves, Freddy In Space recently posted a delightful piece about movies that Roger Ebert aka Fuck-Pig Numero Uno actually liked. While I realize that Mr. Ebert and all critics are entitled to their opinion, I love slamming him. I'm sorry. Since I was a kid I watched he and Siskel on television (when their show was on actual TV) and always found them a bit off-putting. Still, Siskel and Ebert ocassionaly have done a good deed or two for the horror community. One reader took time to give an informal score card of the horror opines of the dasterdly duo.



It's respectable to be certain, but there are too many films that these guys have used for punching bags too. I guess that we give them that power by reading or listening to their reviews and commenting on them. At least they look equally strange and make funny with the banter. Here's the FiS piece which is thoroughly enjoyable as always:

10 HORROR MOVIES THAT ROGER EBERT ACTUALLY LIKED

Beyond that Alex Gordon is back discussing some very Karloff-ian history. He touches one some of his lesser known films, The Haunted Strangler and Corridors of Blood. The most fascinating part of this article is Gordon quoting Karloff talking about horror films and calling them "fairy tales" and that the term horror is really a disservice to younger audiences who can easily decide for themselves what is right and what is immoral. I wholeheartedly agree. We lost Grimm somewhere around age eight to Pokemon (if not younger). We lost Aesop at age 10 if we even had him at all. The Bible... what Garden of Eden, Where!? What do we have left? Well you can either have a high pitch voiced talking mouse do it or you can have a guy with a drill turn up to your friggin' slumber party. Don't drink that beer, Jason Voorhees put you on the naughty list. Alex Gordon juxtaposes Karloff's quote with that of Herbert Kretzmer of the Daily Sketch who think that British censors didn't go far enough with the X rating bestowed on much of our beloved fare. He believed that horror, while it banked much dinero, was the lowest form of entertainment. I guess something can be said for that. After all,I'd be the first one at the public execution during feudal times. Badder ratings mean better ways to exploit those ratings for profit. Ban it in a few more countries and the kids will have to see the picture!



Now I can't say much about this next film, Mind Warp except that it's good to see a couple familiar names makin' movies. One is Roger Corman at the director position (who's second half of an interview have been postponed till next issue) and Sid Haig. You saw him in Coffy and Foxy Brown, now get a load of him in space gear! Roger Corman is unhappy as the rest of us STILL ARE with the MPAA. Here's an image they think the MPAA will cut and, also, above is Side Haig in some fancy Italian Space Suit shit.



1980's Gore Pre-CGI Brain Scalp Shot. The only set pictures that strike me this well from my childhood were from Fango's coverage of the Unholy and Demons 2.



So we've had Joe Dante under the gun in a recent Fango piece and now it's John Landis' turn. He seems less than thrilled that the Howling guys beat him to the effect "he" came up with 1969. I'm not entirely sure that I like him taking the credit for the transformation seen in the Howling especially with a talented fellow like Bottin doing the work. Then again, Bottin and Rick Baker did work closely. I love both transformations quite a bit. I like the Howling more as a film in its entirety. I like the werewolf in the Howling more (I guess I like Wile E. Coyote Mr. Landis). I think there's something about Dee Wallace I can get behind. You know John Landis is one guy I'm just not sure I understand. One minute we've got him talking about going to every monster picture he can catch even alone if he can't find anyone "stupid enough" to go with him and then he takes a movie like Friday the 13th and throws it under the bus. At least he and I can agree on one thing, Curse of the Werewolf starring Oliver Reed was crap. He's a smart guy and I love his films. Imagine getting Bottin and Baker to team up with Landis and Dante on a co-production? London werewolves vs. the wolves of California! This will not happen. I'm okay with that.



The Femme Fatale of the month is PJ Soles. This is an excellent choice that I would have made for the first Femme Fatale. I adore her. I wish her the best in all thingss. I hope to meet her someday at a convention or high school prom. Stripes was incredible and, shock and awe, I have never seen Rock N' Roll High School which still confuses me given my love of her, the Ramones and Rob Bottin (find the mouse!).

And there's Albert Finney in Wolfen. So it's a Howling, American Werewolf in London, Wolfen kinda year. All of 'em made it fairly big. I get minimally excited about Wolfen. There's no big reveal. The transformation isn't there. I'm actually glad that I saw this film older rather than when I was about eight years old like it's lupine brethren as it carries a particular resounding sociological message that wouldn't have been as apparent when I was wee. I'm also a sucker for Finney although not so much Gregory Hines. Nice wolves. Not much else to say. Moving on.



So when I read that there was going to be a set visit for the Beast Within I assumed something of interest would happen. Not much here guys. There's a fun story about a Bible being opened to a suggestive chapter, a failed stunt and yet another discussion of gore's place in cinema. It's really very boring and yet somehow there will be a second installment. To tell you the truth, other than a brief image in this book An Album of Horror Films I cannot remember much of the movie other than the film didn't hold up to the image in the book. I'll have to rewatch it. The poster art tells me so.


Check out those pants...

After a brief stop over with Ramsey Campbell and Charles L. Grant with a discussion of horror writing and how to make writing horrific rather than shocking, we get to the the GEORGE ROMERO INTERVIEW. Romero loves his 16mm film. He loves the idea of shooting Creepshow in 3-D but it won't come to pass and he knows it. He loves working on movies with a budget of $200,000 and under and would love to make another of that ilk. He also thinks that Cronenberg is finally getting the respect he deserves and that Don Coscarelli is definitely up and coming (IF funding comes through for Phantasm II that is). He also loves Tobe Hooper's Salem's Lot (and so do I) but lose the Kinski make up job. Overall you've got a man who's been in the horror biz for some years now and urges young filmmakers to dive in head first and learn the business, not just film making. He's all about the video cassette market. Wait till he sees what the 80's will bring. I'm got excited for him just reading his interview with full hindsight. It's not a terribly long interview and Fango themselves say they'd been trying to get it for some time. It comes out on the tail of Knightriders but not soon enough to catch up with Creepshow on a more intimate basis.

The second part of the horror comic article is about magicians in comics. While there are some obscure references to Tor and Dr. Fate there's nothing that gets you in the gonads. Kinda boring. Not even an image I would say was striking. It makes you long for the Dragonslayer feature... ooo and that's coming up next.

Now I know for a fact that I watched the Dragonslayer as a kid, but I couldn't tell you much about it. I seemed remember more of the Ewok films than this future classic. The effects budget were off the chain and had hundreds of people working on it. It had three major production companies in its corner. I just don't see the hype. I'm glad that Hollywood decided to give dragons a good serious try and that they wouldn't abandon them along the way. We all know the dragons in Harry Potter are beyond phenomenal bordering on more terrifying than some horror movies released in recent years. It's probably at least part personal flavor for my monster picture that Dragonslayer doesn't stand out to me. I'll give it another go around with my daughter. I still thin Ewok's Battle for Endor is scary so why wouldn't this get a little cred.



Carl Fullerton is the man you hire when Tom Savini is busy or at least that's what the director of Friday the 13th Part II did. Steve Miner gave Fullerton a shot on this one and it came out swimmingly (save the fucking MPAA putting their razor to some of the best sequences). What I got on this piece about the man that would be Tom Savini's replacement was that effects work is more like apprenticeship/guild work in the medieval weapon making. I'd say it's one of the few professions left that really hangs on to the legacy and maybe more trades would be better to do so as well. Fullerton will go on to work in many significant films including Warlock, Friday the 13th Part III and some big name movies that you may never have heard of (Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia...). This guy did the original make up for the Coneheads on Saturday Night Live based on Akyroyds sketches. Nuff said.



Fullerton's finest non-horror work

In the works are everything from Cat People to stills of the Howling. Madman, Blade Runner, Videodrome, Deadly Blessing and a friggin great contest for Romero fans. See below:



Remeber that little piece I did during the month of October about the great novelization of horror films? Well this is the creme de la creme. My quest continues. Also, Dead & Buried by genre favorite Dan O'Bannon had all but disappeared at this point with no sign of release until Avco/Embassy stepped in to do the distro. What a creepy little film.



I'll leave you with the promise that the next issue should include the a recap of the second half of the Corman interview. We should also be seeing more of Dead & Buried and American Werewolf in London as well as STUDENT BODIES!!! I know you can't wait for that one. Hilarious. Here's some portfolio work from the great Bernie Wrighston form his Frankenstein portfolio. I adore this man's work. I really need to collect it. I really need to become indepedently wealthy. Ce la vie!

-Dr. Terror


BUY BACK ISSUES. READ BACK ISSUES.

FANGO FOR DUMMIES ISSUE #12: GORE!!!

I'm talkin' bout gore here. The argument stays the same. "To gore or not to gore" as one fan put it in their Postal Zone letter to Fango in the early days of the horror publication. Well, as we all know, to gore won the battle. Graphic still of blood and guts were, at least in part, key to the magazine's success. This type of content separated it from StarLog. This kind of content was revolutionary for the early 80's. I'm not going to say that we've gotten used to gore in cinema, but we certainly do expect it from certain types of films. Since the days of Herschell Gordon Lewis there have been critics of raw carnage in cinema, and to this day it takes a special someone to appreciate the gore in film. The gore does not inspire box office success. The gore does not make it to the TV edit (much). Even though we all know it to be latex and karo (or whatever the kids are using these days) the gross out is same as it ever was. You know my stance on it. I'm a fan, loyal to the gore as any good creeper would be. Think about that when you go buy this back issue and frame the absolutely menacing cover of issue #12. This is Fango for Dummies... let's get gory.



Bob Martin, editor of Fangoria in 1981 (when it was only published six times a year) love the gore too. It is his focal point for the editor's note in this issue. After receiving many a criticism of Fango's decision to include gore on its cover and in its pages Martin strikes back and defends the decision. In addition to the regular user response, The Postal Zone, Martin includes a "Readers on Gore" section which details user response on our favorite four letter word beginning with the letter "G". The arguments are worth your precious pennies on the back issue market. See excerpt above which clearly shows what your up against gore fans of the past. This argument doesn't go away... and while we're at it, Gene Siskel is not a fan of horror movies. Gene Siskel is a fan of Roger Ebert (secretly) and himself (quite openly).

Alex Gordon recants a tale of how Boris Karloff almost made his way into an Edward D. Wood Jr picture alongside Bela Lugosi in a film called Atomic Monster who's title was later stolen by the damn studio execs. After a Hollywood shuffle on Lugosi makes it into Bride of the Monster and Karloff goes on to continue his march of fame in other studio picture. There's even mention of our beloved Samuel Z. Arkoff of American International Pictures fame. One is left wondering what might happen what might have happened if Lugosi and Karloff had starred in that battle of the Hollywood monster has beens in such a late stage of their career under the direction of Ed Wood. Gordon's nostalgia is always worth your time and gives you that perspective on Hollywood in transition during the 50's and 60's.



Proof that horror does not live in a bubble is a look at the new horror picture (read Psychological thriller) is Oliver Stone's the hand. This article details Stone's burning, unrealized desire to tell a story about Vietnam but that his script writing efforts thus far had not yielded much fruit. He mentions his script for Platoon and his love of the story of Ron Kovic (remember Born on the 4th of July). He also talks about how Martin Scorsese was his film teacher at NYU and got him hot for film. Inspired by movies like Repulsion and La Dolce Vida, The Hand is combination of Oliver Stone's talent as a director and Carlo Rimbaldi's exquisite hand design. This is a classic effort by a man who would become famous for something wholly other than horror which is the grand tradition of horror cinema. Bob Martin catches him before he does any of his "real work". Having just watched Dressed to Kill, Michael Cain ain't to shabby himself.



Now for the feature article... Friday the 13th Part II. Steve Miner is brought in to direct this due to scheduling conflict with Sean Cunningham and history is made. Yet another Last House on the Left-er get a break. I don't even think that Craven truly gets recognized as a genius until Nightmare on Elm Street, but nobody even knows that's coming. The article details your typical sequel issues: Can we get the same effects guy? No, Savini's busy doing The Burning ironically. Can the sequel live up to the hype and box office prowess of the original film? We'll have to wait and see. How will the MPAA chop up the film prior to its release an effort to get an R rating? Fact: the only gore you should ever fear in a horror movie comes at the hands of the MPAA. When this movie blossoms, when the machete is firmly in forehead, when the spear has skewered two post-coital lovers... let's see what the readers of Fango have to say. Let's see what Siskel has to say. A legend is being built at Camp Crystal Lake, folks.



Beyond the feature comes a new picture from George A. Romero about a communal group of Ren-Fair geeks on Motorcycle. With Knightriders Romero gets a chance to step away from the Zed words pictures and takes aim at society from a socially critical point of view in a wholly new way. What fun! Savini and Ed Harris as opposing forces and who will soon work together on Creepshow alongside Romero and Stephen King. This kind of imagery makes me think of the Death Wheelers with an American spin all be it with a less supernatural twinge. The most important thing you'll read in the Knightriders article will be that Romero, King and Savini are working on Creepshow. They're trying to shoot it in 3D or widescreen or Black and White...something unique to bring audiences back to the big screen. Sounds like the predicament of the late 2010's to me. As always, get the asses in the seats.

There's a whole feature on Robert McKimson, director of Warner Bros. cartoons including Bugs Bunny, Foghorn Leghorn and Speedy Gonzalez. This is Fangoria still trying to figure out what it wants to be. I include this note because I consider it ironic that the forward to the entire magazine as well as 65% of the photo content of this magazine revolve around fantastic gore. Maybe we don't need to covering Looney Tunes anymore? So out of place (and I love Looney Tunes!).



House of Hammer... the syndicated television show scripted to save Hammer Studio after the crash of Lady Vanishes. This article recaps the episode list and plots along with a brief narrative on the near demise of hammer. Also important is the mention of just how Hammer plans on getting this thing distro'd in the US with such violent content in the first few episodes. While the show has its fans it really didn't save the studio for very long. A must watch for fans of Hammer if nothing else than to see what had become of their beloved studio. I myself a huge fan of Hammer do not care of the series much even though the story lines are excellent. Hopefully the new incarnation of Hammer will revisit some of these stories. Maybe flesh them out and give them the feature treatment. They're making up for lost time with their recent releases that are cutting edge. Hammer is Dead! Long Live Hammer!



As it is referred to in the magazine, THE ROGER CORMAN INTERVIEW! You want to understand the early days of the reincarnation of horror entertainment? Well you should read this interview and get familiar with Roger Corman. From Vincent Price to Karloff to SZA (that's Samuel Z Arkoff to you and Sammy Z to those who want to lose a part of their body) this is a crash course in what movie making was like post Universal Monster era. When the budgets are down but the ticket sales are up, come to Corman for a treat. I nearly forgot I was reading an interview from 1981. The first half of the interview discusses the Poe films, how they decided to start making them and how Vincent Price got involved. The real eye opener, the thing I took away from this, was that Corman stopped making the Poe movies because he wanted to stop repeating himself. He weened himself off them by transitioning some of the later adaptations into comedies and even mentioned consideration for a Gold Bug script that he would give thought to doing now that some time had passed. This is part 1. Part 2 should be legendary.



William Schloss... creator of the horror movie gimmick. You know him as the beloved, P.T. Barnum of horror, William Castle. I am a fan of his work. I do not think its schlocky and the gimmick's are what horror is all about. You get the chance to see the strange and unusual; A think you might not otherwise see. Well this plays fine in my brain. This article talks a bit about the nature of the gimmicks used to make Castle's film great, and with a documentary out about his life in recent years, much of what you'll read will seem like old info. One note I'd like to make is that Castle's concept of introducing a high pitched, anxiety inducing frequency has been used in many a horror picture though it usually comes in the form of a score. Those high pitched notes definitely put an audience on edge, perceptible or not. Maybe its time to re-explore the gimmicks of Castle since 3-D has come full circle. Horror theater needs Percepto and Emergo. Horror cinema needs a life insurance policy.



I'm not going to lie when I tell you that this issue of Fango was jampacked with some of the greatest horror had to offer circa 1981. Enter Tobe Hooper (the interview!). Tobe talks Texas Chainsaw, Eggshells (his previous theatrical release) and of course Funhouse, which had only just been released. There's a hodge podge of good info in here from the technical issues surrounding the Funhouse (wiring a set can be double hard work) to picking the right 57 piece orchestrated soundtrack for a movie about a carnival. This interview leaves you wanting a part 2. You have soooo many questions you want to ask Hooper about Salem's Lot and TCM that you forget that he's about to make Night Time with Stephen Spielberg... or as its name has been changed to... POLTER-FUCKING-GEIST (you can just leave the fucking out of that if it makes you uncomfortable).



So with this issue having that gory focus, a few interviews later we come to Inseminoid. Now I'll be perfectly honest that I have not as of yet seen this movie. It's on the list I assure you and after reading this piece about the finer points of making a sci-fi horror picture post-Star Wars I need to see it. The thing that stands out for me is the effort taken to separate itself from Star Wars. Hey, you can't beat Lucas, right? It's not worth trying to touch space films until after the holy trilogy has been completed (unless you're Star Trek... different nerds to appease). Inseminoid takes a darker vision of space and takes a gory look at its effects. I'll try to write this one up when I get around to it. Until then, it's got a name like Inseminoid. You can definitely get behind that.

There's a meet and greet with Elisabeth Brooks who plays Marsha Quist in the Howling. She discusses the finer points of the freezing cold nude scene, werewolf transformation. She also mentions that Joe Dante is a heck of a nice guy to work with, but that she wished her character's overall contribution to the film had been kept in tact rather than ending up on the cutting room floor with only limited visions of her physical sexuality left on screen. Looks like Fangoria started a scream queen/femme fatale slot here. Let's hope they continue.



Next, Fango takes a look back at horror in comic books starting before EC Comics got the books burning with a Look at Dr. Fate, Dr. Occult, The Spectre, Batman and Zatara. Some of this may be more obscure than the casual comic book will enjoy, but the best thing to take from it is that since the age where super heroes have been created they have been fighting spooks, spectres and at time have been super creepies themselves. I'm still reeling at the panel of Detective Comics where Batman states vampires can be killed with... ready... a silver bullet. Batman! C'mon! I guess we need to get Larry Talbot on the screen sooner rather than later. Having never heard of Dr. Occult before this opens up a new line of archiving I have to look through. It's supposed to be part of a multi-part series so hopefully each one is as informative as this.

Clash of the Titans makes a brief appearance in Fango #12 with a mail interview with Ray Harryhausen where production of the film is discussed. A brief look at the master at work, Harryhausen looks at COTT as the natural sequel to Jason and the Argonauts and there's mention of doing a Dante's Inferno film. Who dropped the ball?

At the end of the day there's a recap of news to come. Check out this list of films that are discussed briefly: Shock Treatment, Videodrome, Bladerunner, An American Werewolf in London, Ghost Story, Happy Birthday to Me, Cat People and Stab... Stab. Stab that is Fangoria's rebuttal to commentary that horror needs to look at Kramer vs. Kramer to trying and get its filmmaking up to par. Stab. ... Not the Stab from Scream. Well Stab may share a director with Kramer vs. Kramer and Meryl Streep, but I don't think its going to make the headway that Fango thinks it might especially since it gets renamed Still of the Night (tee hee). If you ever thought that film critics don't get horror movies, the way you'll know for certain is that they throw Kramer vs. Kramer up when the talk about the quality of film making in a horror movie. People like that need to be strapped into a chair and be forced to listen to Golden Lights by the Smiths.



Hey, if you know where this music is used in later pictures please leave a comment below. I've been racking my brain, but, as usual, I got nothin'.

There's a lot to look forward to two years into Fangoria. Keep 'em coming Bob Martin. Gore for all! Where does horror go from here? Only Fango knows for certain.

-Dr. Terror.

The House that Myers Built - A Brief Glimpse At the Myers' House Today

I received a post-Halloween treat today from a good friend and colleague of mine. He is not exactly a horror fan, but grew up rather close to where our dearly beloved John Carpenter classic, Halloween was lensed in the 70's. He mentioned that if he ever drove by the abode de Myers he would send me a photo. Well it's one week after Halloween and low and behold we have some fun images I thought I'd share with of you interested in your financial future.



First off, our dear Myers' house has become resident to a business known as Ameriprise Financial. This an a rather popular, commerical-ed business for whom Tom Lee Jones acts as a spokesman. I'm sure we can play some kind of sick game where we do six degree of John Carpenter that connects Tommy Lee Jones and Carpenter rather quickly, but I think we'll go for the "secret passage" i.e. Lee Jones to Ameriprise Financial to Myers House to John Carpenter (only two steps that way!). I guess we couldn't have expected one of the most infamous houses in horror history to stay creepy for very long in a prospering local like South Pasadena, CA.



My good friend (who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent) said that it was a rather eerie place to grow up. Imagine your a youth in "Haddonfield", CA and the very place where Myers stabbed his older sister was right around the corner... nightmares? Sure! Therapy? Nearly guaranteed if you don't take up drinking first.

Well the story goes that they actually picked it up off its foundation and moved it in the late 90's. Wonder why... we are horror fans are a bit obsessive I guess. It's about five doors down and across the street from its original location. My buddy didn't quite know why this was done in all seriousness, but doesn't it look quaint with its new, less homicidal, more grounded residents? Nice paint job right? It's just so cozy. Maybe a nice family will move in there, raise a family and then have a gruesome murderer for a son. One can hope. (These are the jokes people).



For all your spook hunters out there, the house now sits next to a cafe, coffee shop. The "costume store" where Myers stole the infamous Shatner modified mask... it's an Indian restaurant. Saag Paneer anyone?



By the By, HorrorHound magazine (one of my gosh darn favoritest) usually does a Then and Now retrospective to horror places. Make sure to get every issue you can. I'm sure they've attacked this piece of prime real estate more in depth then I could hope to.

-Dr. Terror.