With the Bloody Disgusting Awards contest (insert shameless plug here: Vote for the jaded viewer!!!) and the Total Film disaster, what I recently noticed that some people haven't been talking about is that Fangoria.com has been down for the last few weeks. If you click on the site, it goes to a blank white page.
Just a week or so ago, they had the logo up but it wasn't clickable. Hmmm, this all leads me to believe one of the following:
A.) The site's been having server problems
B.) It's undergoing a redesign of some sort
C.) They are possibly changing domain names
D.) The staff all left, the magazine is probably bankrupt and this is the end of Fangoria as we know it
Yup I'm gonna have to with D. That's the persistent rumor that's been floating around the interwebs of late. If it is true that most of the staff of Fangoria has been laid off, this is a sad day indeed.
Fangoria has been part of my horror childhood, tweens, teens and adult size life. I remember opening up a copy of Fangoria and looking at all the gory pictures and saying: "OMG! We gott a see Hellraiser Part...whatever". Look at Pinhead! He's fuckin badass!". The articles were a gateway into the minds of the horror filmmakers, the writers and the special effects geniuses we all know and love.
Aside from the magazine, the Weekend of Horrors was a must go event back in the day. I say back in the day because its recently become a shell of its former self. Horrible guests, boring panels, lack of dealers and just outrageous prices for autographs of C level celebrities.
But back in the day, it was filled with hard to find movies, a place to get awesome Evil Dead t-shirts and toys and collectibles that were nostalgia gone wild. The world premiere movies, the panels and the auctions made this one of the best conventions to go to.
Well that's all gone now.
The web is short on information on what's going on behind the scenes with Fangoria as we speak. Here are the rumors and heresay I've collected:
- One of the moderators at Fangoria.com (@fubarinpa) was booted as a moderator
- According to some message boards, the entire staff have been fighting and the web staff walked out and started their own blog (which you can go to here: Fangoria News)
- No new Fangoria Weekend of Horrors conventions have been announced
- The magazine is being handled by a different distribution agency
- The magazine has slight pulse (people have gotten the most recent issue)
- Editor Anthony Timpone has said it will be back up soon (via Facebook)
Fangoria is not the same as it use to be. In this internet age, how can a magazine/website compete with the Horror Hounds and Rue Morgues that seem to be now better in the space they once used to dominate.
Is this the end of Fangoria? What do you think?
- As of right now, the site is down again (showing an odd logo of sorts)
- Here is my own update the day after I posted this (2/2)
- John Z's Weimar World Service chimes in as well (2/2)
- HorrorBid's take on the whole thing (2/2)
- Shock til you Drop also posted their own take as well (2/3)
- Jeff @ Dinner with Max Jenke adds his two cents (2/4)
- J. Zahn (former employee for the webite) tells you what it was like working there a few months ago (HorrorMovies.ca posted his rant if you can't access Facebook)
Here's hoping Fangoria survives. Some of us want to see it continue, others don't. But without any doubt, Fangoria has left a impact in the horror universe.
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