HorrorHound18

HorrorHound #18

For those of us that grew up on horror in the 1970's and 1980's there is no better magazine than HorrorHound. They cover it ALL and in a very fun and respectful way. They give each article TLC and it really comes through. If they ever rushed a topic or just did it without much heart it has never shown and that says a lot! They have many different sections and each time they seem to hit a homerun. This is a true fans magazine. These are true fans of horror and us the readers benefit from their creation.

This is Tales from the Crypt heavy, which is not a bad thing. With many articles devoted to anthologies in general which is very eye opening since I’m not much into this sort of thing. I learned a lot between the covers of this issue. I will get into this in a minute.

Covered in this issue aside from the mentioned above are articles on Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2 aka H2 with an interview with Sheri Moon Zombie which is her typical babbling on about how she knew nothing about anything and low and behold she is always front and center in all of Zombie’s films. Nothing new is covered here. Then you have info on The Final Destination in 3D flick and an interview with the producer Craig Perry. This is a solid interview and has a few nice little morsels. Lastly, a very nice written article on how Trick 'r Treat has gotten the shaft after so many years to finally being released.‭ ‬Thanks a lot Warner Bros. Gosh!!!!!!

The Video Invasion spotlight in this issue is of Lighting Video. If you are a collector of VHS this series is for you. Matt Moore does an excellent job talking about the history, distribution, collectability & promotions of this label. With a breakdown of every one of Lighting Videos releases with great cover art it's a section that you will want to read If you are a kid from the 80's.

Now we dive into the anthologies first up we have Amicus a British based company that is NOT Hammer. This 4-page juggernaut is a real dozy with great information on the rise and fall of this company. Most of these films I have never seen so it was a good article that held my interest. This is followed by The 20 Most Essential Anthology Horror Films with any list you know people are going to complain about what film was first on the list and which films did not make it on. So if you think the guys and gals did a crap job make your own list!!! Again, like with the Amicus films I had not seen the majority of these either and will want to check them out now that I have a list to work off of at my fingertips.

Now for the tomb that is Tales from the Crypt in this magazine. You have 11 pages of info on every aspect of this horror icon. In this you get everything from the beginning of the EC Comics all the way up to The Cryptkeeper. No need to go into detail other than say make sure you have a drink on hand because it is some serious reading! Then you have Sean Clark's excellent series Horror’s Hollowed Grounds this time looking at the real Halloween II. After that you get DVD reviews, Blu-Ray reviews, toy updates, comic book news, 1980's toys that were totally GROSS, must-see episodes of the original Twilight Zone by Sean Clark, TV anthologies, etc.

If I mentioned every single article in here this would take forever. Just do yourself a favor and track down this issue and every issue of HorrorHound it is a top shelf magazine that cares about its readership. I hope to bring you more reviews of this quality magazine in the future.

reviewed by Jason Payne