This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations .(January 2011) |
Editor | Tim Lucas |
---|---|
Categories | Film |
Frequency | Bimonthly |
Founded | 1990 |
Final issue Number | 2017 184 |
Country | United States |
Based in | Cincinnati, Ohio |
Language | English |
Website | http://videowatchdog.com/ |
ISSN | 1070-9991 |
Video Watchdog was a bimonthly, digest size film magazine published from 1990 to 2017 by publisher/editor Tim Lucas and his wife, art director and co-publisher Donna Lucas. [1]
Although devoted chiefly to the horror, science fiction, and fantasy genres, the magazine frequently delved beyond these strictures into art film, Hong Kong action cinema, Spaghetti Western, exploitation films, anime, and general mainstream cinema. In addition to Lucas himself, Video Watchdog's list of regular contributors included such writers as Kim Newman, Stephen R. Bissette, associate editor John Charles, Bill Cooke and Heather Drain. Regular columns included "Ramsey's Rambles" by Ramsey Campbell and "Fleapit Flashbacks" by Joe Dante. Douglas E. Winter contributed a CD/music column, "Audio Watchdog," while books were reviewed in "Biblio Watchdog" by Lucas, Anthony Ambrogio and Brett Taylor.
Originally a black-and-white publication, Video Watchdog was founded in 1990. [2] The magazine added full-color covers with its 13th issue, and celebrated its 100th issue in 2003 by adopting a permanent, full-color format. Los Angeles-based artist Charlie Largent was responsible for most of the cover art from 2002 to the penultimate issue in 2016, beginning with #84. Two Video Watchdog Special Editions were also published, as well as two Video Watchdog Signature Editions, the latter featuring unique covers individually signed by child stars Donnie Dunagan and Ann Carter.
The magazine's website included "Round Table" film discussions, free article samples, and a link to Lucas' "Video WatchBlog", launched in October 2005.
On October 24, 2016, it was announced that the magazine would cease print publication. [1] Days later, those who had paid for subscriptions and other creditors received notice that the magazine had filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. [3] A surprise final issue, #184, was mailed to subscribers in June, 2017 as a farewell gesture and was later made available to the general public in limited quantities via the Video Watchdog website. [4] [5]
As a company, Video Watchdog also published two books written by editor Lucas. The Video Watchdog Book, released September 1992, is a collection of articles, essays, and lists that originated in other magazines, including Film Comment and Fangoria . Mario Bava All the Colors of the Dark, published September 2007, is a copiously illustrated, 1128-page critical biography of Italian director and cinematographer Mario Bava. It received a Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award as the Best Book of 2007, as well as an Independent Publishers Award bronze medal and a Saturn Award for Special Achievement.
Kim James Newman is an English journalist, film critic and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's Dracula at the age of eleven—and alternative fictional versions of history. He has won the Bram Stoker Award, the International Horror Guild Award, and the BSFA award.
Fangoria is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr.
Mario Bava was an Italian filmmaker who worked variously as a director, cinematographer, special effects artist and screenwriter, frequently referred to as the "Master of Italian Horror" and the "Master of the Macabre". His low-budget genre films, known for their distinctive visual flair and stylish technical ingenuity, feature recurring themes and imagery concerning the conflict between illusion and reality, as well as the destructive capacity of human nature. He was a pioneer of Italian genre cinema, and is regarded as one of the most influential auteurs of the horror film genre.
Famous Monsters of Filmland is an American genre-specific film magazine, started in 1958 by publisher James Warren and editor Forrest J Ackerman.
Tim Lucas is a film critic, biographer, novelist, screenwriter, blogger, and publisher and editor of the video review magazine Video Watchdog.
Rue Morgue is a multinational magazine devoted to coverage of horror fiction. Its content comprises news, reviews, commentary, interviews, and event coverage. Its journalistic span encompasses films, books, comic books, video games, and other media in the horror genre. Rue Morgue was founded in 1997 by Rodrigo Gudiño, and is headquartered in Toronto, with regional offices in various countries throughout North America, the United Kingdom, and Europe. The magazine has expanded over time to encompass a radio station, book publishing company, and horror convention. The magazine's namesake is Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841).
Black Sunday is a 1960 Italian gothic horror film directed by Mario Bava in his official directorial debut, and starring Barbara Steele, John Richardson, Andrea Checchi, Ivo Garrani, Arturo Dominici and Enrico Oliveri. Loosely based on Nikolai Gogol's short story "Viy", the film takes place in Moldavia and tells the story of a witch who is put to death by her brother, only to return two centuries later to seek revenge upon his descendants.
Monsters HD was a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week, linear horror film and monster movie network. It was launched on October 1, 2003, in the United States and premiered exclusively on the Voom DTH satellite platform, owned by Cablevision. The home theatre webzine, Widescreen Review, alluded to Voom's Monsters HD as having "the largest collection of HD Horror films" when Echostar's Dish Network picked up Rainbow Media's Voom Suite of High Definition Channels. Rainbow Media's AMC Network and its annual October "Monsterfest" programming of horror films served as the springboard and promotional platform for the launch of Monsters HD. Monsters HD commissioned the digital restoration of its film library, bringing them to high definition, and presented world television premieres of films like the Director's Cut of the Stuart Gordon film version of H.P. Lovecraft's From Beyond.
Planet of the Vampires is a 1965 Italian-Spanish science fiction horror film, produced by Fulvio Lucisano, directed by Mario Bava, that stars Barry Sullivan and Norma Bengell. The screenplay, by Bava, Alberto Bevilacqua, Callisto Cosulich, Antonio Roman and Rafael J. Salvia, was based on an Italian-language science fiction short story, Renato Pestriniero's "One Night of 21 Hours". American International Pictures released the film as the supporting film on a double feature with Daniel Haller's Die, Monster, Die! (1965).
A Bay of Blood is a 1971 Italian giallo slasher film directed by Mario Bava. Bava co-wrote the screenplay with Giuseppe Zaccariello, Filippo Ottoni, and Sergio Canevari, with story credit given to Dardano Sacchetti and Franco Barberi. The film stars Claudine Auger, Luigi Pistilli, Brigitte Skay, Nicoletta Elmi and Laura Betti. Carlo Rambaldi created the gruesome special make-up effects. The story details a string of mysterious murders that occur around the titular bay.
Basil Gogos was an American illustrator best known for his portraits of movie monsters which appeared on the covers of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Phantom of the Movies' Videoscope is an American movie magazine devoted to cult cinema and genre movies and exploitation films that was released four times a year through end its end with issue #115, after the death of its primary founder and editor, Joe Kane. Sometimes, though not on the cover, the last word in the magazine's title is spelled VideoScope.
Robert Tinnell is an American writer, film director and producer.
Stephen Jones is an English editor of horror anthologies, and the author of several book-length studies of horror and fantasy films as well as an account of H. P. Lovecraft's early British publications.
Dr. Gangrene is a television horror host based in the Middle Tennessee area, played by actor/writer/producer Larry Underwood.
Jason Vincent Brock is an American author, artist, editor and filmmaker.
Dread Central is an American website founded in 2006 that is dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews. It covers horror films, comics, novels, and toys. Dread Central has won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website four times and was selected as AMC's Site of the Week in 2008.
Monsters of Legend is the sixteenth studio album by the gothic horror instrumental band, Midnight Syndicate. Advertised as a tribute to the Golden Age of Horror, the packaging featured images from Universal Classic Monster films Bride of Frankenstein, Werewolf of London, and Dracula. The album featured the blend of dark orchestral music, sound effects, and audio storytelling that the band had become known for.
The Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award, often called the Rondo Award, is an annual award founded in 2002 that honors journalism, scholarship and film preservation in the horror genre, particularly of classic horror film and their modern-day counterparts.
Preston Fassel is an author and journalist primarily known for his work in the horror, science fiction, and crime genres. His work has appeared in Fangoria, Rue Morgue, Screem magazine, and on Cinedump.com. He is the author of Remembering Vanessa, the first biography of actress Vanessa Howard, published in the Spring 2014 issue of Screem. From 2017 to 2020, he was a staff writer for Fangoria; in 2018, the magazine published his debut novel, Our Lady of the Inferno, as the first entry in their "FANGORIA Presents" imprint. The book received an overwhelmingly positive critical response, and was named one of the ten best horror books of 2018 by Bloody Disgusting.