It was a warm summer day in June of 1992. A 13 year old me walked into the Walden Books at the Mall and stumbled across something that would change my life forever. I'm talking about none other than Fangoria Magazine. I can still remember that day so vividly. My first ever issue was #113. Alien 3 was on the cover that month. I had just finished reading the novelization of the film by Alan Dean Foster and was quite excited for the film. I just happened to be browsing the magazine rack (more than likely looking for video game magazines) and my eyes just happened to fall on that glorious Fango cover. The fact that the cover also promised a look at horror in video games helped to cement my decision to purchase the mag immediately!
Of course that wasn't the only mag that I purchased that day, oh no. Sitting right next to Fango was a brand new copy of Gorezone #19! That'd be the one with the She Wolf cover. I was instantly addicted. I couldn't wait for each new issue to arrive. Imagine my heartbreak when Gorezone ceased only seven issues later. Thankfully Fango never went away and has been my constant monthly companion ever since.
Wait.....that sounded really weird. Fuck it, you know what I mean.
Here we are, TWENTY TWO years later. I have never missed an issue of Fango since that warm summer day at the mall. Today is one of the proudest days of my life thus far. Today I can officially call myself a contributor to the sacred bloody pages of Fangoria. Two hundred and nineteen issues later, comes my very first article, a retrospective look at Starlog's Fright Show (aka Cinemagic) Why yes, I DID rave about it here on Midnight Cinephile before! I will continue to rave about it until every last one of you has tracked down a VHS tape and watched it!
To be honest, it still feels completely surreal to me. I used to dream about writing for Fangoria. I cherished each and every issue and even when Fango hit it's "rough period" in the mid to late 00's, I stood by and supported my old friend, Fangoria. When Chris Alexander took over, he infused the magazine with a fresh life and brought back that magic "Fango Feeling" as I like to call it.
I got to know Chris a bit after interviewing him for his film Blood for Irina. I am proud to call him a friend and I am forever grateful to him for giving me a chance to be part of something that is so vitally important to me. If this is the one and only time that my name would appear in print under the Fangoria banner, I would still be able to die a happy man, but I am happy to report that I do have more stuff coming!
I am truly humbled and honored to be a part of this amazing publication. It has inspired me to push myself further and see what the future may hold for me. I can tell you that I've got some pretty amazing projects in mind that I think everyone is going to dig. For now though, I am just going to bask in the glow of being a part of something incredible.
Oh yeah, and I'm psyched out of my mind that my first article appears in an issue that features Scarlett Johanssen on the cover! What can I say? Life is good!
The rumors started quite some time ago that Ridley Scott was planning a prequel to his gothic sci-fi opus, Alien. Since then there have been many rumors and such stating that the prequel had become something different all together.
Well, the teaser dropped just before Christmas and it looks absolutely amazing. It has the same distinct look inspired by H.R. Giger that Scott used in the original 1979 film. There are some definite direct connections that I spotted as well, such as the seat/telescope thing-a-majig doo-dad that the Space Jockey was seated in the horse shoe shaped space ship that the crew of the Nostromo explored in the original film.
Speaking of the Horse Shoe Ship (We'll call it the HSS from now on), that mammoth seems to figure rather promenantly into the new film. In one spectacular shot, we see the HSS crashing onto a planets surface and various people scrambling to get the hell out of dodge.
During the span of the one minute teaser, the films title slowly appears on the screen a few pieces at a time, the same as the alien films, which got me pretty damn excited.
From what I understand, the film is about a group of explorers searching for Mankind's origin's in the cold reaches of space.....perhaps we are connected with the Space Jockey's? This might make sense because in the teaser if you look carfully, when you see the seat/telescope thing-a-majig doo-dad, it looks like there is a humanoid (looks pretty close to human to me) standing bye, waiting to sit down. If you remember the size and scope of the thing from the first film, then looks like the Space Jockey's may be 13 foot tall people. Guess we'll have to wait and see!
So hopefully you're pretty psyched up to watch the trailer (either for the first time or for the 50th). Enjoy!
Looks pretty bad ass, don't it? Yep. Yep it does!
Prometheus is slated for a June 8th, 2012 release.
While we're in a festive Giger mood, why don't we take a look at the trailers for the first four films!
Alien (1979) The movie that started it all! I wanted to see this movie in the worst way when I was a kid. I had an Alien video game for the Commodore 64 and I wanted to be able to see how the movie compared. It would be quite a few years before I was able to see it, but when I finally did.....I understood why my parents refused to let me watch it when I was 8.
Aliens (1986) I actually saw this film before the original. I was about 13 and I rented this bad monkey one Friday with my best friend. He had already seen an edited for TV version of it and kept telling me how awesome it was. I will never forget the feeling that night. I can remember it like it was yesterday. It was spring, and it was raining like a mofo out, with intermittent thunder and lightening. My mother and sisters went out shopping that night. My bud and I stayed home and popped in Aliens. I was completely blown away. Never before had I seen such insane violence. Never had I seen such a horrible creature in all my short life. I watched that tape (yes tape....this was in the days of VHS) about 3 more times before I had to bring it back to the video shop.
Alien 3 (1992) Not long after veiwing Aliens, I stumbled across my first issue of Fangoria (#113), which featured Alien 3 on it's cover. While in the same bookshop, I also came across the novelization of Alien 3. That was a pretty fantastic find to me that day. I wanted to see Alien 3 in the theater badly. Unfortunately, neither of my parents were very interested in seeing the movie and I was only 13.....so that didn't happen. I finally rented it when it released on video and was extremely disappointed with it. It was long and plodding and you saw the alien even less than in the first movie. A total snooze-fest. About 13 years later, I found out about the directors cut special edition. I was hesitant, but heard that the directors cut was a totally different film. It is. Do yourself a favor and watch the masterpiece of gothic horror that is Alien 3.
Alien: Ressurection (1997) Fresh out of high school, I caught wind of a 4th Alien film. At least my dreams of watching an Alien film in a theater would be realized. It was with great antici...................pation, that I wated for the film to be released. I read all the coverage in Fangoria and anything I could find on the internet. Finally I went to go see it opening weekend in November. What I got was the weakest entry in the original Alien franchise. I warmed up to the film more after it's release on video, but I am really hoping that Prometheus will be the epic big screen Alien film that I've been yearning for!
Being the completist that I am, we'll sling in the two Alien vs Predator films as well:
Alien vs Predator aka AvP (2004) The long awaited mash-up with two of the most fearsome creatures in the science fiction filmi universe. This movie could have been SO much more than it was, but despite what a lot of people say about it, I still like the film quite a bit. It's quirky and it's got a certain B-Movie charm to it. Where else are you gonna see a Predator and a Human fight a giant Alien Queen in the Arctic????
AVPR: Aliens vs Predator - Reqium (2007) I can't really comment too much on this film because I've only seen it once. It did have two things that really stood out to me though: First off, we got a glimpse of the Predator's home planet, which is almost worth the price of admission alone. Second, we get the Preylien. As you most likely know if you are reading this, when the Xenomorphs are incubating inside their host they take on some of thier characteristics. Well if you remember at the end of AVP, a Xenomorph bursts from the last fallen Predator aboard thier ship. Said Xenomorph grows into a hybrid Alien/Predator.....hence the Preylien. It is pretty badass. Other than that, I don't remember too much about the film.....perhaps I should go back and watch it again.
Well, that's it kids! Let's hope that Prometheus delivers on the goods. If it is even half as good as the teaser is, then I think we're in for a pretty fantastic ride.
Remember...........In Space No One Can Hear You Scream!
Of course that wasn't the only mag that I purchased that day, oh no. Sitting right next to Fango was a brand new copy of Gorezone #19! That'd be the one with the She Wolf cover. I was instantly addicted. I couldn't wait for each new issue to arrive. Imagine my heartbreak when Gorezone ceased only seven issues later. Thankfully Fango never went away and has been my constant monthly companion ever since. 
