Dying Terror ‘zine #1

Posted on November 21, 2013 by deadthyme

Dying Terror was a really cool music ‘zine that featured interviews with hardcore and metal bands, funny, well done reviews, news, and a couple of opinion columns. I’m not sure if there was more than one issue, but this one was very thick and featured interviews with BATHYM, FILTHY CHRISTIANS, PRONG, MORTICIOAN, NUCLEAR DEATH, THE ACCUSED, MORBID ANGEL, EVICTION, IMPETIGO, NOKTUNEL, BEYOND DESCRIPTION, HIDEOUS MANGLEUS, SUFFOCATION, ATOMICAUST, and Richard C. who ran Wild Rags Records (the label that put out a lot of cool albums by bands like IMPETIGO, BLASPHEMY, BLOODCUM, ORDER FROM CHAOS, HELLWITCH, BLOOD, and a bunch more).

It was structured a little different than most ‘zines in that all the reviews were up front, then it had all it’s interviews, then all it’s pictures, then the last several pages were all ads.

Here’s some pages for you to check out:

October Horror Reviewzine-A-Thon 1 (feat Psycho Video, City Morgue, & Lifestyles of the Bodily Dismembered)

Posted on October 14, 2013 by deadthyme

What do people want to do in October? Most people I know get ready for Halloween, in many different ways. Personally, I like to watch more horror movies than usual, and listen to spooky music and look at Halloween areas in stores, post creepy art, stuff like that. I believe most people agree on the watching horror movies bit, at least (more horror movies are released and consumed this time of year than any other). But the question is, what movies do you want to watch? For every good horror movie, there are tons of bad and mediocre ones. Why go into it uninformed when so many people passionate about their horror (as well as gore/ sleaze/ trash/ exploitation films) love to tell about them?

The next question is where do you want to read about them? Who’s opinion do you trust? There are hundreds of blogs and websites dedicated to reviewing and discussing these kinds of movies, but for real passion, you need to go back to the days of underground ‘zine publishing, when you had to really make an effort to find a good off-the-beaten-path movie. Making a blog is easy- the people putting out these ‘zines had to take a lot of time and money to get their love of horror and exploitation movies out to a viewing public. So to help you find some good movies to rent this Halloween, I’m going to present 3 old relics of the underground reviewzine publishing era.

At PMT, we usually focus on ‘zines that have more in them than just reviews (interviews and thoughtful articles, filmographys and things like that). But there were also movie reviewzines around back then, that were 99% nothing but movie reviews without all the articles and claptrap to get in the way of telling you how much a movie ruled or sucked. Movie reviewzines were incredibly prevalent in the late ’80s/ early ’90s, and I have a ton of them. Most of them were pretty mediocre, without much style or knowledge put into them. Most of them also reviewed all the same movies. The best you could hope for was one that had at least a couple of reviews of movies you hadn’t seen or heard of and could seek out.
Some, however, worked hard to write interesting reviews and had writers and editors with colorful personalities who you enjoyed reading. Usually these were also put out fairly often, and were smaller and cheaper (around a dollar each or even free). Many of these went on to become well known in the underground film ‘zine scene, and transformed into more than mere reviewzines. Titles such as Gore Gazette, Stink, and Psychotronic Video (all of which started out local in NYC, being given away free or cheap in the Times Square area, where they showed a lot of these movies) got their start as thin (sometimes one page) reviewzines. You got to know the writers and it was more like a (possibly drunk) friend telling you their take on whatever movies were being reviewed that month.

This month, to help you guys choose your movies to watch for October, I’m going to pick a bunch of reviewzines of varying degrees of temperment and literary competency from my big box of them at random, and put them up on PMT so you, the reader, will have plenty of reviews from the bygone trashy era to peruse at your leisure. I don’t know where these writers are now, but their reviews live on from beyond the trash heap to inform and inspire.

The first one we’re going to focus on is one of the better ones- Psycho Video vol. 1, #5. Most of the reviews were long and involved, but still written from a non-academic (and non-pretentious sounding) angle. The staff all had a great sense of humor (notice their reaction to getting slagged pretty hard in the great (and sorely missed) Film Threat magazine in this issue), and this ‘zine had a lot more reviews of movies I had not seen or heard of than most of the reviewzines out at the time (I still haven’t seen a lot of the movies reviewed in this issue).
Above average. Here’s some pages:

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This next one is far more typical of your average reviewzine- Lifestyles of the Bodily Dismembered (nice name, tho). The reviews are amateurishly written, and very little attempt at literacy or trivia dropping or even spelling and punctuation has been made. The main difference between this one and other reviewzines are the band interviews. The movies reviewed are fairly typical but there are a few lesser known ones in there. I believe it was mostly distributed in the St Paul, Minn area. It features several longer, more in depth reviews of movies they liked, and a whole bunch of short, blurb type reviews that don’t waste your time for movies they weren’t as impressed with.

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Lastly, we have City Morgue #5, a mean spirited and nasty little reviewzine from Michigan. Most ‘zines I have more than one issue of, but I only have this one single issue of City Morgue, so I can’t comment on how it evolved. I can say that the editor comes off as a bit of a sexist/ racist cretin (which is probably why I only got one issue), trying to sound gruff and anti-P.C. (aping people like Rick Sullivan and especially Nick the Yak (he even says Nick’s line he used to use all the time “It’s your money!”)) but coming off as pretty pathetic. Most of the movies reviewed (with a couple of exceptions) are the same ones most everyone reviewed around that time. Here’s a few pages for your perusal:

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Hopefully you read some reviews and found some new movies to watch (or avoid) for the Halloween season. Or at the least, got to see some more exhibits in the history of post modern trashaeology preserved in all their harsh, misspelled, imperfect and borderline racist (at times) glory…

Ultimatum ‘zine #1

Posted on June 16, 2013 by deadthyme

Ultimatum was an old metal ‘zine put out by Kim August (who had a very short stint In DERKETA) starting in the mid to late ’80s. This first issue is pretty slim, and the layouts are boring, but it’s the content that ultimately matters. This one features 3 pretty good interviews with MORBID ANGEL, ATHEIST, and one of the only ones I’ve ever seen with the Texas cult band NECROVORE. There aren’t many reviews but they’re all pretty long and in depth as well. Tho there were plenty of glam and hard rock magazines around at the time, there weren’t very many underground ‘zines that featured stuff like this in the mid-80s (tho there would be a ton just a couple of years later) so this is a pretty good attempt.

Here’s some pages from it:

European Trash Cinema Vol. 2 #1

Posted on April 11, 2013 by deadthyme

European Trash Cinema was a pretty long running ‘zine put out by my neighbor Craig Ledbetter which focused on sleazy trashy action, horror, and erotica films (as well as other independent, low budget type films- westerns and even dramas and romances) from Europe (NO American films allowed).
It started off as a few photocopied pages, but by the time this issue came out, it was digest sized and professionally printed (it would later come out as comic book sized and in color).
It differed from other underground ‘zines in that it featured a lot of different reviewers and writers (instead of one or two people doing it all- this issue even included a review by Steve Bissette), and was mostly just reviews at this point (plus they’d feature an underground European director’s discography each issue- remember that at this time, there was no internet or internet movie database- we counted on resources like this to inform us on hard to find foreign directors and movies (lots of which were released under different names and pseudonyms) ), but they started doing bigger features and interviews later.

This issue was very Joe D’Amato (who editor Ledbetter calls a “hack”) centric (including several Emanuelle reviews and a filmography).

I planned on putting this up last week for a remembrance of Jess Franco’s death (yes I know Jess wasn’t featured in this issue, but he was covered in several issues of ETC, and is the exact example of the type of filmmaker they focused on), but for varuous reasons didn’t, so here it is now:

Phoenix Militia #8

Posted on April 4, 2013 by deadthyme

This was Bill Steer’s (from CARCASS/ NAPALM DEATH at the time) old ‘zine (and the cover was done by Jeff Walker, also from CARCASS (and who did NAPALM DEATH’s Scum album cover).

Bill and his fellow editor Pek did a fine little ‘zine which featured a lot of crust/ stenchcore bands, as well as death metal, thrash metal, black metal, hardcore, punk, and grindcore. They would do several lengthy interviews each issue, plus several shorter interviews and few mini interviews. They’d also do a bunch of shorter demo/ record/ and ‘zine reviews, plus a few slightly longer features on bands they liked. They asked a lot of political and social questions (particularly a lot about veganisn) and a lot of more intelligent questions (rather than the usual questions most ‘zines asked). They also didn’t have many ads in their ‘zine, unlike most ‘zines of the time.

I think this was the last issue they ever did…

Exploitation Retrospect #37

Posted on March 28, 2013 by deadthyme

Exploitation Retrospect was a long running digest-sized ‘zine that was pretty small (page wise) but came out fairly frequently. The writing was very well done and witty; an enjoyable read. The name makes it sound like another underground extreme horror/ exploitation/ grindhouse type ‘zine, but that’s a little misleading because it mostly covered action and horror movies (mainstream and more offbeat ones) and alternative/ punk/ “college rock” music. Sometimes it included other commentary such as book reviews or political commentary (usually with a somewhat (but not overly) conservative bend to it).

This issue has an interview with Zoe (Ms. 45) Lund, the editor’s ‘Best (and worst) of 1992’ lists, a DANZIG show review, a Sin City comic review, movie, music, and ‘zine reviews, letters (including one from early horror ‘zine publisher Dave Szurek sharing his disgust (shared by the ER editor) for Henry Rollins and a dislike for Alan Funt and Candid Camera (which ER had an article about in a previous issue) as being an intrusive bully (one wonders how horrified he must be by the current state of reality television and privacy invasion)), and a political article (“American Me”) that makes some good points but still comes across as sounding a bit like your kind of rednecky annoying old uncle bitching about the state of the world, and seems a little out of place in an exploitation movie ‘zine that favors punk rock.

But overall ER was a very entertaining read and another fixture in the underground movie ‘zine community.

Godvomit #2

Posted on March 24, 2013 by deadthyme

Godvomit #2 was not near as big as #1, but it was twice as sick. A lot of people were offended, and I always wondered how they could take something so silly so seriously (I cringe looking at some of it because of how goofy it is). Looking back, I guess it did have a lot of over-the-top and disturbing things in it (I’d probably get arrested for putting it out nowadays, since everybody is scared of everything), but it was the early ’90s and we were all trying to out-offend each other. I put a lot more art and comics in this issue, and started doing smaller, one page interviews with some bands (which was my answer to a lot of music ‘zines who would do one page ‘features’ or biographies on bands- usually just reprinting or rewording their press sheet which I was never a fan of).

I put the first issue up as a PDF, and some people said it took too long to load up on their computer, so I’m doing this one like all the other ‘zines I’ve done, and just putting images of the pages up (except it’s the whole thing). You can, of course, click on them to make them bigger.

Interviews in this one with CORPSEGRINDER, BATHYM, DR. SHRINKER, DISHARMONIC ORCHESTRA, NOCTURNUS, SUPURATION, EYE GOUGER, and CREMATORY (which I think is the least amount of bands I interviewed in any issue except the half size #8).

Needless to say, VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED, NO ONE UNDER 18 (or really no one at all) SHOULD READ THIS…

Killbaby #2

Posted on March 22, 2013 by deadthyme

Killbaby was a really cool ‘zine that focused on horror/ gore/ exploitation flicks, but also had some music content (mostly old school (’70s) punk). The layout was very appealing- more interesting than most ‘zines done on a computer with a desktop publishing program (they usually tended to be kind of blah), and included a bit of art and humor thrown in randomly as well.

Issue #2 came out Sept of 1989, and featured an interview with Charles Pinion (who did a skate/ splatter movie back then called Twisted Issues), and Donald Farmer (who did several low budget movies including Cannibal Hookers), an Udo Kier biography/ filmography (including reviews of most of the films on the list), an article on Salo: The 120 Days of Sodom, as well as one on a couple of blaxploitation movies, letters, ‘zine and music reviews, and a bunch of long, informative movie reviews including a lot of obscure and hard to find movies. The writing is good and informative without being pretentious or too scholarly sounding, and this is a nice little ‘zine. A fun and informative read…

Gore Gazette #100

Posted on March 18, 2013 by deadthyme

Gore Gazette was a very long running (made it to 110 issues) horror/ gore/ exploitation/ grindhouse ‘zine. Each issue was fairly short, but most o them were free. Editor Rick Sullivan went to all the grindhouse movies in New Jersey and New York throughout the ’80s and early ’90s, and wrote about the movies he saw there in this ‘zine. This was back before most every underground/ cult/ offbeat/ short run gore and exploitation film was easily available on dvd or written about online, and people would read through Gore Gazette then seek out the hard-to-find movies he wrote about. He also wrote about more mainstream movies (really most any movie he went and saw), and the writing style was very down-to-earth and sleazy (and VERY anti-P.C.. You didn’t read Gore Gazette if you were easily offended).

The 100th issue featured the usual assortment of news, reviews, commentary, and insults plus a list of every horror movie that had been released in New York City from 1980 to 1990. It was newspaper sized (4 pages) and printed on newsprint.

Poison Planet ‘zine #2

Posted on March 17, 2013 by deadthyme

Poison Planet was put out by Ty Smith (who I recently found out passed away a couple of years ago- R.I.P.) of the old hardcore band RESIST (as well as the short-lived but awesome NAMLAND with members of IMPULSE MANSLAUGHTER), and featured a good mix of hardcore, punk, grindcore, straight edge, and death metal. Most every band he featured was pretty bad ass, and he also did show and ‘zine reviews, had some funny art and comics (mostly stolen from other sources), and did longer reviews (and even reviewed a few more mainstream things like RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS and FAITH NO MORE- he has a very broad musical taste and his own unique opinions, even giving good reviews to things that a lot of underground ‘zines panned like VOIVOD’s Nothingface and later DIE KREUZEN (yuck!) ) that seemed pretty thought out. The interviews were fairly short (tho he did some with bands you didn’t see interviewed much, such as BROTHERHOOD, who featured a young Greg Anderson who went on to found Southern Lord records and play guitar in the bands GOATSNAKE, SUNN 0))), THORRS HAMMER, and a bunch more) and he also did a few articles on bands where he wrote a longer bio for them.