Halloween 'Zines: Razors In The Night

It's time for another Halloween 'zine review! Growing up as a punk rock kid, I collected many a fanzine through the years. Small, DIY handmade photocopied, low-budget mini magazines that covered all aspects of the music genre, created and produced by the very participants within that scene. There's just something about holding a small magazine that was created and assembled by hand that always felt so tactile and genuine to me. And when I later became a home haunter, I discovered the same medium and immediately began collecting them.

Next up in my collection is Razors In The Night. This one isn't a straight Halloween 'zine, but with a subtitle of "For The Discerning Gore Hounds," this first issue is still on point!

If, like me, you were a discerning gore hound in the 80s, then this 'zine is right up your alley! It harkens back to the glory days of Fangoria Magazine, but goes way deeper and way darker in its hand drawn, cut-and-paste, black-and-white photocopied rawness.

It has reviews of deep underground, low-budget horror films (the best kind!), but keeps a foot in the Halloween realm with great stories on haunted houses and ends with the sad story of the tragic Six Flags Great Adventure Haunted Castle fire in 1984. Definitely worth the read.

Give Razors In The Night a follow on their Instagram page, and then go shopping on their Big Cartel page. Issue #1 is now unfortunately sold out, but issue #2 will be coming out on Halloween! And if it's limited like the first issue, it will sell out quick, too. So get on it, gore hounds!

  

Halloween 'Zines: Ghostlore

It's time for another Halloween 'zine review! Growing up as a punk rock kid, I collected many a fanzine through the years. Small, DIY handmade photocopied, low-budget mini magazines that covered all aspects of the music genre, created and produced by the very participants within that scene. There's just something about holding a small magazine that was created and assembled by hand that always felt so tactile and genuine to me. And when I later became a home haunter, I discovered the same medium and immediately began collecting them.

Up next is Ghostlore Zine created by Wychwood Arts. I originally followed the Wychwood Arts Instagram page for all of the cool Halloween art, but when I saw that they also made 'zines, I was in!

I ended up grabbing three issues of Ghostlore from the Wychwood Arts Big Cartel page. Unfortunately, the first issue is sold out, so I'm left hoping for a reprint to complete my set.

The zines themself are a ton of fun. Each perfect-bound (no staples) issue is packed full of great original art and stories, awesome "Terror On Tape" dark music reviews (my favorite!), cool interviews, and pages of fun word searches and puzzles. And perhaps the best part of all is the extra inserts and personalized, hand-drawn thank you note that were included. You can really tell that lots of care went into each issue. Each is a great black-and-white presentation on Halloween creepiness and fun and I HIGHLY recommend every one!

Issues 2, 3, and 4 are still available over at the Wychwood Arts Big Cartel page (along with great, original art and other merch), and it was recently announced that issue 5 will be dropping this week, so get on it!!

Ghostlore is definitely a great addition to my Halloween zine October reading list.

  

Halloween 'Zines: Disembodied

It's time for another Halloween 'zine review! Growing up as a punk rock kid, I collected many a fanzine through the years. Small, DIY handmade photocopied, low-budget mini magazines that covered all aspects of the music genre, created and produced by the very participants within that scene. There's just something about holding a small magazine that was created and assembled by hand that always felt so tactile and genuine to me. And when I later became a home haunter, I discovered the same medium and immediately began collecting them.

Up this time is Disembodied Zine created by none other than Slasher Dave! Not only is he a wizard at creating incredible Halloween-themed music, but he holds his own as a fine and graphic artist, as well.

I ended up grabbing the debut issue of Disembodied late last year from Dave's Big Cartel page. I went with the "Box Set" version, as I'm always a sucker for added goodies! In the box, I received the autographed zine itself along with a cool bookmark, pencil, pencil sharpener, pin AND super cool slider puzzle.

And the zine itself is a ton of fun. With a nice, thick two-color cover and black-and-white pages, it takes the incredible essence of Halloween in the 80s and pieces it all out into a handful of great stories (Halloween companies, Halloween haunted houses, Halloween toys, Halloween ads, Halloween costumes, and Halloween TV specials). Add in some fun Halloween-themed word puzzles and games, a page to draw your own haunted house floor plan, and a blank page to draw your own Halloween art, and you have one incredibly awesome Halloween zine.

The debut issue of Disembodied is still available here and is HIGHLY recommended for anyone wanting a shot of that great 80s Halloween magic. Dave really nailed that authentic, old school nostalgia.

The only problem now is having to wait for the next issue to drop! Fingers crossed that we see a new issue yet this October!!

  

Halloween 'Zines: Haunt

I'm adding a new feature to my October blogging this year: Halloween 'zine reviews!! Growing up as a punk rock kid, I collected many a fanzine through the years. Small, DIY handmade photocopied, low-budget mini magazines that covered all aspects of the music genre, created and produced by the very participants within that scene. There's just something about holding a small magazine that was created and assembled by hand that always felt so tactile and genuine to me. And when I later became a home haunter, I discovered the same medium and immediately began collecting them.

First up is GroovyDoom's Haunt 'zine series. I ended up picking up the entire 10-issue series from the Etsy store and I'm so glad I did. Haunt absolutely nails the Halloween nostalgia in each issue, with pages crammed full of black-and-white Halloween ads, photos and article clippings from the 70's and 80's (my wheelhouse!).

As I flipped through each issue, I was transported back to those magical October days of my youth when I would race home from school and grab the Friday magazine insert from the newspaper, quickly scanning newsprint page after newsprint page of local haunted house ads (which in Northeast Ohio there were tons!) until my fingers were black from the ink. And then at dinner, I would BEG my parents to take me and my friends to each of them.

And while each issue of Haunt is a quick read, there is still enough old Halloween fun to keep me greedily grabbing for the next issue.

The entire Haunt 'zine series is a must-have, with super-cool illustrated covers and loads of old Halloween and haunted house ads. Each issue is a total blast to flip through and is a welcome slice of Halloweens past. And the photocopied black-and-white pages take me back to being a punk rock kid again.

Issue 11 is dropping now and all issues are available at the GroovyDoom Etsy store. Get it now!