Magazine Analysis - Fangoria

Fangoria

Fangoria is a horror genre based film magazine made in the US but distributed internationally. This magazine specializes in the genres of horror, slasher, splatter and exploitation films in regular publication since 1979. It had began with the name Fantastica and was companions with the science fiction film magazine Starlog.

As this magazine is from the 70's, we can see that the layout is quite old fashioned due to the simplicity and choice of font. Because this is mainly a horror genre magazine, we expect the masthead to connote more of a slashing or horrific theme with its font, what we do understand from the font of the masthead is that from the jagged and sharp edges, the films they review keep you on edge and are shard and straight to the point. Also, the colours of the magazine do not suit the theme of horror as the main colours are purple and yellow. The purple works well with the female's dress on the colour done through mise-en-scene. The black box at the top of the page with the yellow text captures the viewers attention as it stands out as the yellow is bright on top of the black. This part is to reel in the readers and film critiques to real the magazine as it reads 'Friday The 13th: Jason's censored slaughter scenes' making a growth of interest amongst the readers.

The image of the two characters from the magazines main feature is presented as both comedic and horrific and they're both looking towards the camera signifying that we are a part of the scenario. We know that the character on the left, Freddy, is the antagonist as his face appears to be burned and he has claws on his fingers while he is smirking against the females scared expression. Freddy's eerie smile shows his eagerness and smugness as he kills in the dreams he enters, making him one of the most terrifying killers and he knows that. The expression on the females face shows that she is terrified and the tag-line to go alongside the iimage, 'Freddy & Nancy's dream reunion' is both ironic and comedic; because Freddy kills in peoples dreams and they are both wearing formal clothing which could suggest that they may be attending a formal event like a prom or dance, making it the 'perfect reunion'.

The negative space on the cover is covered up by the use of the images, the plant on the left side of the magazine from the film 'Little Shop of Horrors' (1986) has been edited to overlap the border and frame, as well as Freddy's head is too giving them both a sense of realism and adding to the theme that we are part of the scene.