This sick little piece of trash was put out by a misanthropic bastard named Keith Brewer who I got to know when I went to college in Waco (we were the only 2 weirdos in the city). It seemed like perfect material for a joyous Christmas day post. It kind of speaks for itself…
Wet Paint was another film (mostly horror/ thriller/ action, but not limited to those genres) ‘zine from the late ’80s early ’90s. It was very consistent, and put out a lot of issues on a regular basis.
Their ‘zine was mostly reviews/ long discussions of film, but they had interviews on occasion (this issue had one with Cheryl “Rainbeau” Smith), but they were mostly all about the discussion of obscure (and not so obscure) film (something we take for granted now, since you can go online and find discussion and reviews on most any film ever made in seconds).
Here’s some pages:
Hot on the heels of our last review of a new ‘zine (Organ), we’ve gotten another one- Evilspeak! Organ was put out by the folks at the metal label Hell’s Headbangers, and Evilspeak is put out by the folks at metal label Razorback.
Evilspeak is a horror/ gore film ‘zine that may call back to the days of the ’80s and early ’90s ‘zine scene, but it mostly reminds me of a far older influence- Famous Monsters of Filmland. All it’s missing are the bad puns and film stills. Most ‘zines are usually critical of the movies that they include- they write reviews and criticisms and cover current films coming out, actors in up-and-coming films, and news about the newest stuff they want you to discover. Sometimes they might have a retro article or write about an undiscovered gem or re-issue, but it’s mostly about the here and now. Famous Monsters, on the other hand, always wanted to share their love of old, classic, and under-appreciated films and actors. They were rarely ever critical, but generally just talked fondly of monsters and films long gone (at least until some of the later issues). The current version of Famous Monsters of Filmland on the stands is not really like this, but more like a modern movie magazine, however there are some throwback ‘zines in the same style such as Scary Monsters that are trying to carry on the tradition started by the classic Famous Monsters. Evilspeak takes the Famous Monsters template and loads it with horror and gore films from the ’70s and ’80s (which Famous Monsters shied away from) such as Tourist Trap, Humanoids From the Deep, and the magazines namesake, plus adds in articles on drive-ins, Gore Shriek comics, Filipino horror films, a nice longer one on creature features of the late ’70s and early ’80s such as The Boogens and Without Warning (which has just been re-released by Scream Factory) written by Stevo of IMPETIGO (who somehow forgot the mutant bear flick Prophecy, which terrified the hell out of me when I was a little kid), and the late horror hero Chas Balun (who of course did the one of the best horror/ gore ‘zines of all time Deep Red, among many other things). It also has interviews with Heather Langencamp and Amber Wyss of A Nightmare On Elm Street and director (and actor) Ulli Lommel, who’s been stuck doing terrible quickie serial killer films recently but who has done some better films in the past such as The Boogey Man, The Devomsville Terror, and The Blank Generation.
This magazine shows the love well, and the articles are not dry or boringly written like in some books (who try to sound scholarly, but are just tedious). There is room for improvement, but this is a very good first issue. Check it out.
Organ is a new ‘zine put out by some of the guys at Hell’s Headbangers. I don’t see many new ‘zines these days (tho they seem to be gaining in popularity- there are more coming out every day), so getting one this thick and detailed is very nice. And what detail it has- the art and layouts are phenomenal! It’s all black and white, but I love that look- like an old Creepy or Eerie comic book (but 10 times as thick). You can tell they took a long time putting this together- the art is painstakingly intricate, and everything is very neatly hand written (which I still don’t like that much, but it fits in this ‘zine).
The interviews are very well done and informative, with bands such as IMPETIGO, ASPHYX, CIANIDE, NOCTURNAL, DENIAL, and UNDERGANG to name a few. They also have interviews with Mike Howlett about his awesome book The Weird World of Eerie Publications, and Mike Minett (who played Frank in the splatterpunk classic Bad Taste). There are articles on Coffin Joe, ’80s sword and sandal movies (such as Deathstalker and The Sword and the Sorcerer), VHS trading in the late ’80s and early ’90s, and a rather pedestrian one on Japanese hardcore (the only article in the whole ‘zine that seems a little threadbare). There are also some old school comics along the lines of the above mentioned Creepy and Eerie mags, and scads of movie reviews (mostly gore/ horror/ exploitation).
The pages are very think and the print is dark (you can’t tell on these scans because the ‘zine is so thick that my scanner couldn’t scan it that well so the print look a little light- it’s not like that in the actual ‘zine).
This was a pretty damn fun read, and I’m looking forward to more…
The late ’80s and early ’90s brought on a slew on ‘zines of all types, including a ton of horror/ gore/ exploitation flick ones. SubTerrenea was one of them. I can’t say a lot about it because this was the only issue I ever had, but I liked that they did really in-depth reviews instead of just throwing something together and putting a bunch of stills up to make it look longer. The big thing about this issue was of course the Dario Argento interview. I wish I had gotten more issues of SubTerrenea, because I like this one a lot. Here are some pages for you to check out:
Bits & Pieces was a well written ‘zine that always left you asking for more (which was pretty typical back then, esp with ‘zines that had little to no advertisements- one thing you could say about most fanzines is they were pretty short). What it lacked in length it made up for in quality- most every article they printed was a winner. This issue features an old article on what horror movies first scared various writers (including editors of other fanzines such as Midnight Marquee , ecco , and the fairly new Weng’s Chop (which has a similar article in their newest issue, on the stands now)).
Here’s a good chunk of this issue from 1993 for you to enjoy:
“Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human numer. It’s number is Weng’s Chop 5”. -heavy metal song intro
“That’s no moon… that’s Weng’s Chop 5!” -space opera wizard characture
Wing’s Chop #5 is here, and it’s a monster! This is not a ‘zine, it’s a book. 265 pages (an inch thick and magazine sized) full of horror/ gore/ exploitation/ sleaze/ trash/ sci-fi/ grindhouse/ drive-in/ underground and low budget film from all over the world and all eras.
Full of writing from people who know their shit, which includes a lot of editors of the very ‘zines that we have been spotlighting here on P.M.T. as well as tons of writers who have been published in other ‘zines and specialty film blogs (and have even written and published books) for decades.
There’s an article on jungle movies (specifically the ‘jungle woman’ type of jungle movies- future issues are to focus on Tarzan rip-offs and men in ape suit jungle movies) by Steve Fenton (who published one of my fav old horror/ sleaze ‘zines Killbaby), several articles on film festivals (including one on the Exhumed Films 24 Hour Horrorthon by Dan Taylor of Exploitation Retropspect), one on Jiangshi (hopping vampires) by Brian Harris (who has written for tons of ‘zines and several books, and who is co-editor of Weng’s Chop), and quite a few more (some other subjects of articles, which are all in depth and more than a page or two long, are Manos: The Hands of Fate, Filipino vigilante action films, porn director Bob Chinn’s Johnny Wad films, several different thoughts and reviews of I Spit On Your Grave and it’s remake and the remake’s sequel, reminiscences about 3 old sci-fi films by Stephen Bissette, articles on Asian, Mexican ,and Indian horror and exploitation films, several interviews (including one with John Alan Schwartz (director and co-creator of the Faces of Death movies, telling what parts are real and which are ‘re-enactments’, among other things), and reviews. Oh man the reviews- I haven’t counted them but it would take you years to watch all the movies reviewed in this (including tons of obscurities, all very well written). Reviewers include the above mentioned Steve Fenton and Brian Harris as well as Tim Paxton, Jeff Goodhartz, Tim Merrill, and many more. Also reviewed are books and printed matter (including an out-of-print section).
It all ends with all the writers of the magazine plus a bunch of filmmakers and other people of interest giving lists of their favorite movies from last year, and an exploitation movie crossword puzzle.
This is like 4 magazines crammed into one, and costs just slightly more than a single issue of Fangoria.
You can get your copy (and see a few more sample pages) here, or you can order them at some retail outlets and book stores (I know Hastings can get them).
They come in 3 different covers to chose from (I got the jungle goddess cover, pictured above, but you can also get the machete nuns cover or the Jiangshi cover)…
Sheer Filth was a great digest sized sleaze/ trash/ exploitation/ grindhouse ‘zine (with an emphasis on sleaze)by David Flint (who went on to put out some books on these subjects). This issue features an interview with David Friedman and tons of reviews (of books, music, films and performances). Here are some pages from issue #8:
UPDATE: Evidently every issue of Sheer Filth has been collected in a book! It’s pressed in the U.K. (by FAb Press) but you can get it from Amazon here
ecco was one of the most well-written and well respected film ‘zines in the underground trash culture ‘zine scene. They were a little dry and academic for my taste, but I still liked the ‘zine quite a bit.
It has just celebrated it’s triumphant rebirth as a webzine here:
http://www.eccofilmandvideo.com/
Here are some sample pages from issue #19:
Subhuman was an awesome little ‘zine put out by an old Louisiana punker (he was in that band Toxin III) named Cecil Doyle. It started out as a more horror-centric title, but quickly became filled with sleaze and exploitation and whatever other offbeat things captivated him and his contributors (tho it usually involved sleaze and exploitation).
Perfectly written in a humorous but informative manner, the only complaint I’d have is that each issue was just too damn short (and there weren’t many of them- about 19 I believe). You could probably fit every page of every issue into one regular sized magazine, so every issue left you wanting more.
In his interview in the amazing new book Xerox Ferox, Cecil reveals that such people as Quentin Tarantino and Rob Zombie were on his subscription list (before either of them really did anything), and that Lux Interior called him up and asked him for all of his back issues (which he sent to him, including some he only had one copy of).
Read on for a good sized taste of issue #15…
