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Post by dem bones on Jul 8, 2011 12:21:32 GMT
In as much as I'm capable of reviewing a publication devoted to exploitation and sleaze films (or anything else, come to that), here goes ... Bomba Movies was a proper fanzine, and by that I mean it's absolute bloody murder on the eyes. Three columns give it that all-essential claustrophobic feel, reviews come fast and furious (until you get into the swing of things, it can sometimes be difficult to tell where one ends and the next begins), the type offset with illustrations and grainy photo's surgically removed from violent/ sex mad adult comics and contact magazines(?). As such, it's been the devil's own job selecting a double page spread that won't result in one of them pesky 'no sex please we're ph*tob**ket' alerts, but persistence eventually paid and this will give you an inkling of the design. The reviews are great fun, likely a deal more so than the flicks themselves. Sample titles under discussion include Blackenstein ("Dude returns from 'Nam resembling an extra from a Todd Brown directed Metallica video"), Asian 'when creepy crawlies attack!' contender The Centipede ("connoisseurs of outrageous puking scenes will put this in their top ten"), Behind Convent Walls ("Walerian Borowczyk puts forward a strong celluloid case for his instatement as next head of the Catholic church. I mean, name me one good horny nuns with the bodies of strippers flick that has been made by the Vatican ..."), Redneck Zombies ("riotous, mouthwatering entertainment for non-snobs" and Gestapo's Last Orgy ("No matter what I say, the film is on the DPP sh*t-list hereby granting it an irresistible appeal to pond-life who hang around at film fairs asking questions like 'what's the nastiest nasty you've ever seen?"). In keeping with the gleefully irreverent, often confrontational stance, the profanity level is turned up to a point way beyond Tourettes. it suits but people who've read too many 'zines than is good for them fast accept a high swear quota as almost mandatory so it loses impact. As to the target audience, i shudder to even contemplate that there might be someone out there, somewhere, who would consider Pure Filth too streamlined for their liking, but if so, he or she was on Mr. Bomba's radar. And then .... a change. Bomba Movies went all Vogue on us! That is perhaps overstating the transformation but the germ of Paperback Fanatic can be detected in the cleaner production values of the one with the sleazy nun on the cover (or the 'Chics In Chains/ Trailer Trash' special to call it by it's proper title). Two columns, altogether friendlier presentation, and the reviews are given room to breathe. it even has staples. finally, Weird Zines the only one to bear a date (August, 2000), as the title suggests, was contrived to celebrate Justin's favourite independent publications of the day. it's still exploitation sinema & grown ups comics orientated, but the pulp paperback bug is biting hard now as demonstrated in the appreciative appraisals of Hip Pocket Sleaze and Book Happy.
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Post by pulphack on Sept 17, 2011 8:17:45 GMT
all very quiet on this. justin keeps his head down, dem shows his big zine collection, and we all stay schtum.
go on, justin, do a POD reprint best of via lulu...
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Post by dem bones on Sept 18, 2011 8:21:59 GMT
"Hip Pocket Sleaze transports us to a world where women with bosoms larger than space hoppers lounge in diaphanous babydoll nighties and unshaven men in sweaty vests chain-smoke Marlborough's and swig from bottles of bourbon .... " Of Justin's pre- Fanatic 'zines, it's Weird Zines that most captures my imagination, not because it's the 'best' but for the entirely selfish reason that the subject matter has most appeal: I always did love fanzines about other fanzines. In his review of Hip Pocket Sleaze #2 Justin goes on to say that the magazine was originally intended as a one-off. A decade and a bit on and it's now available in book format! HPS is, of course, an exception to the rule, but no matter how long dead and rotting a zine is, I still find them absolutely fascinating to read about, and that brings us to another unsung hero, Janis Kalifatidis, guitarist and singer with Greek-German goth rockers Into The Abyss, who was responsible for one of the finest. Fight Amnesia! #1(1993/4): "As we contacted a lot of people during the last ten months, we think this is a good possibility to spread their news and help our friends. So get in touch as soon as you can!" Early in the band's career Janis launched Fight Amnesia!. Whereas many of the days home produced goth music 'zines began and ended with news of purveyors of doom in question's forthcoming gigs and releases, a generic article on Countess Bathory, and several plugs for the lead singer's witchy girlfriend's healing crystals, Mr. Kalifatidis took it a whole lot further. Fight Amnesia! began as a celebration of Goth music across the globe but quickly branched out to embrace the vampire, fetish and black metal subcultures - in short, it was Mick Mercer's exhaustive The Hex Files: The Gothic Bible in microcosm a few years early. Janis wasn't the least precious about it. The 'no copyright'/ no staples approach was to encourage readers to photocopy and circulate. Kylie's Catalogue #2, July 1995. "Sorry this looks dull but I want to keep the cost as low as possible so have tried not to waste space." Joe from Bath's Kylie's Catalogue was it's stripped to the bone UK equivalent. It did little beyond listing what was available out there in Goth land, providing contact addresses for bands, zines, fashion & jewellery outlets. And that was enough.
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Post by dem bones on Aug 22, 2021 15:41:14 GMT
Tomorrow when I'm free I'm going to look for zines that were created in non-Engish speaking countries. I wonder if any, such as the South American countries, had their own horror underground fandom? And what about Communist Bloc? Did they have say an SF fandom (it seems more likely than horror) that circulated home produced items? I read about their home computing efforts. They were able to produce wonders given what they had to work with. Sometimes it was the unseen things that kept these countries going. Fight Amnesia was (is?) a low-fi German-based contact mag for Goth-interest bands and 'zines, vampire mags, and general dark and moody stuff, edited and published by Janis Kalifatidis, guitarist with Darmstadt-based psychedelic-gothic-doom band, Into the Abyss. The idea was, you'd send in a copy of your demo/zine/ whatever, and they'd publicise it within their hand out. The 'No Copywright' policy actively encouraged readers to zerox copies to send on to friends/ fellow troublemakers and other interested parties. If I recall, Janis wasn't too keen on all the fetish stuff that somehow got tied into the Goth scene, but he was up for just about everything else including occult interest stuff, Reggae, Black Metal; issue 3 included a Lithuanian Underground report covering bands, zines and a Goth radio show.
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