'80s Horror Magazine Fangoria Is Making a Comeback with Movie Expansion

By Ela Teodosio, Christian Post Contributor Saturday, February 17, 2018

The hit 1980s horror magazine Fangoria is making a comeback after it was bought by Cinestate from the Brooklyn Company for an undisclosed price.

On Thursday, Cinestate CEO Dallas Sonnier announced that publisher Thomas DeFeo has officially turned over all Fangoria rights to Sonnier and Cinestate in a signed agreement. The deal includes the over 300 issues Fangoria published in the 39 years it was in business starting 1979.

Phil Nobile Jr., from the website birth.death.movies and creator of a feature length documentary on John Carpenter's "Halloween," will act as editor-in-chief and creative director.

In an official statement, Nobile said the world needs a Fangoria, a constant presence for decades that disappeared without a warning. "That felt, to us, tragically incorrect," he said.

For Nobile, the magazine was a "window" into the world of horror for many generations. "It gave us access to filmmakers' processes and secrets, opened our eyes to movies we might have otherwise missed, and nurtured a wave of talent that's out there driving the genre today," he added. "I'm proud and excited to be part of the team that's bringing this institution back."

For the magazine's rebirth, Cinestate plans to release a quarterly issue and expand the brand to movies and podcasts.

Already lined up for a film remake is S. Craig Zahler's "Dragged Across Concrete," starring Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn. It will be distributed by Lionsgate. Cinestate is also in the development stage for the re-imagining of orphan story "Hug Chickenpenny: The Panegyric of an Anomalous Child." An adaptation of the "Puppet Monster" franchise is also in the works.

Fangoria was an iconic magazine in the 1980s and 90s, before blogs and podcasts were invented. The 1980s was the decade of horror, and Fangoria capitalized on the genre by producing movies, comic books, and award shows. The magazine, along with many other, disappeared with the advent of the internet.