Fangoria Magazine is slowly crawling back to life, not unlike the zombies many of its issues featured on their front covers. The popular horror brand has been acquired by Cinestate, who intend to bring the publication back as a quarterly as well as a way to produce new movies and podcasts.
According to THR, the magazine was signed over to Cinestate CEO Dallas Sonnier from old publisher Thomas DeFeo. Cinestate now has complete control over Fangoria and all of its past issues, spanning over 39 years of horror content.
Phil Nobile Jr., best known for the website birth.movies.death, has been hired on as editor-in-chief. He’ll also act as creative director for the entire Fangoria brand.
“There needs to be a Fangoria,” Nobile Jr., said. “The magazine was a constant presence in the genre since 1979 — and then one day it was gone. That felt, to us, tragically incorrect. Fango was, for multiple generations, a privileged window into the world of horror. 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. I’m proud and excited to be part of the team that’s bringing this institution back.”
It’s very exciting to see that Cinestate is the one bringing back Fangoria. The brand not only needed a new life and direction, but Cinestate seems to have an understanding of the horror genre and its fans. Their work on the upcoming Puppet Master reboot has been nothing short of fantastic, going so far as getting Italian horror composer Fabio Frizzi for the soundtrack. They obviously know what genre fans want and I have complete faith that they’ll deliver.
The magazine will see a return from Fangoria veterans Tony Timpone and Michael Gingold as columnists and consultants. They’ve also brought on S. Craig Zahler, Ashlee Blackwell, Samuel Zimmerman, Grady Hendrix, Meredith Borders, Rebekah McKendry, and
Preston Fassel on as contributors. Zack Parker will act as director of brand management, with Jessica Safavimehr as associate publisher and Ashley Detmering as art director.
The world just isn’t right without Fangoria, and to have them back will put many horror fans at ease. Their work has spanned decades and generations, raising audiences with beautifully scary imagery and endlessly informative columns.
Cinestate’s plan is for the magazine to launch sometime this fall.