Famous Monsters Returns!

[kryptosmaster]

Not sure what the editorial focus will be, but I've been saying for years that it would be business suicide to just focus on the old stuff. They're gonna have to pay attention to contemporary monster material in order to stay relevant beyond the 50+ crowd.

I agree. I don't think it would be successful if it just ignored anything current but I also don't think it should be the main focus, either.
The old FM did a good job of covering the latest stuff but with a heaping-helping of all the old stuff to round out the mag.
Unfortunately I don't think the old stuff is as well-known as it was when we were kids and buying FM. Back then these films were the staple of Saturday and Sunday afternoon movies and Friday Fright Night fare. With so many cable channels now and all the other distractions (video games, etc) I don't think there's a lot of awareness of classic monsters to any but diehard fans.
Rich

[Gorn Captain]

I think a healthy mix of vintage and modern monsters would work.
They could have their own sections.
That way, I can skip stuff I don't like, like Saw/Hostel, and get to the good parts faster.

But admittedly, there is some good new stuf, too.
Like The Orphanage. That was pretty scary.

If they decide to really gear towards the newest releases, I might as well read Fangoria.
Then I'd prefer my old FMs.

[ctc]

>I think a healthy mix of vintage and modern monsters would work.

Yeah. I don't think it was the subject matter that made Famous Monsters so cool; but the good-naturedness of the articles, and the total immersion feel.

Don C.

[Gorn Captain]

Yeah, FM never went for very gory stuff.
The main part was actual monsters, not a pile of body parts.
You always got great pics of the creatures, and indeed, the tone of the mag was good-natured, so kids of all ages could read it.

Had FM been hard core horror, we wouldn't have read it as kids.

[ctc]

>FM never went for very gory stuff.

Not very often, anyhoo.... I can rememebr more than a few shots of one of them beach monsters wingin' around a bloody head; and the spiderhead from The Thing got a lot of press.

>the tone of the mag was good-natured, so kids of all ages could read it.

Yeah. It was very monster-friendly; as if the monsters were old buds and the mag was how you got reaccquainted with them. I can see a new version getting way too into the nuts and bolts of the effects and not the ideas behind the beasties.

>Had FM been hard core horror, we wouldn't have read it as kids.

I would....

Don C.

[samurainoir]

Hopefully they will find that balance between Classic and Contemporary coverage, which seems do-able with Re-Make fever in Hollywood.

If they cover the new Wolfman for example, a romp through the classics from Universal through to American Werewolf in London would make the magazine more of a "keeper" than disposable like most of the film magazines today.