1987. I was obsessed with horror. My love of the genre in all its forms eclipsed everything else in my life. Everything. Family, relationships, work, friends, my own future. I thought of horror all the time. I don't recommend this kind of dedication. It isn't exactly good for a healthy, well-balanced life. It sure was fun, though.
One day I went into a little comics shop, Benders, and as always headed straight for their horror media section. It sat there before my eyes. Deep Red Magazine #1. I immediately grabbed it up and knew it would be mine. Three ninety-eight was no small investment for me in those lean years, and there was sales tax!
I knew of Chas Balun. He had written some memorable articles for Fangoria. His books, like Horror Holocaust and The Gore Score, were advertised in the magazine. I couldn't afford to send away for them.
With barely a glance I knew Deep Red was meant for me. I loved Fangoria at the time. It was still vital and didn't seem like so much of a shill for the studios. I really can't stand the current incarnation of Fangoria, but that's for another time. This new magazine was something different.
Deep Red was everything I hoped it would be. It was informative, humorous, wildly enthusiastic, outrageous, and absolutely delightful. I had been learning about people like Mario Bava, Dario Argento, and Lucio Fulci in Fangoria, but Deep Red went deeper. I read about Bruno Mattei, Ruggero Deodato, Armando de Ossorio in its bloodstained pages.
It wasn't like today. There were very few resources to find information about these movies. There were other fanzines, but Deep Red was the best of them. At least of the ones I read. For one thing, Chas Balun knew how to write, and he did it well. His spirit was infectious. His genre journalism was groundbreaking. New worlds were opened to me.
I was a full-blown Gorehound. It became my life mission to track down every gory movie ever made. The fun in those days was the hunt. It was frustrating, sure, but there was also anticipation. Goals to be fulfilled. I may not have seen everything, but I managed to see most of them. From glorious highs of Argento and Bava to dregs like New York Ripper and The Gore Gore Girls.
Some people saw it as a bad thing, like watching excessive violence was wrong, or possibly even evil. I never saw it that way. It was a good time, like rock and roll. It was rebellious, and like many young people I enjoyed thumbing my nose at established conventions. The best of the movies, Dawn of the Dead and Susperia for instance, are artistic triumphs. The worst of them were usually at least a good time for a beery Saturday night.
The magazine lasted for several issues, and I bought every one of them at that same store. Then they stopped coming in. Without the internet there was no way to know that the publisher, Fantaco, had gone under. It was a new era, anyway. The nineties were not the best time for horror. Things were changing.
Balun managed to get some stuff out here and there, and it was always a welcome treat. However, it wasn't all gory good times. There was a minor war between Chas and Film Threat.
Film Threat was a pair of magazines and line of video releases. Apparently Balun was selling at least one movie that was owned and distributed by FT. Now, I was a huge Film Threat fan in those days. I was changing, too, and looking for something different. I had been through most of the horror titles I wanted to see, and the genre was in a slump. I liked the anarchic punk ethos of Film Threat and I was an avid reader and customer.
The Threat guys could be a bit brash. Rather like Chas Balun himself. They called out Balun more rudely than was probably necessary. Chas responded in turn. Their letters were printed and Balun came off pretty badly. I hated to see it. Many horror people banded with Chas. I'm all for loyalty, but right is right and wrong is wrong. Selling officially licensed movies is wrong. It's unfair to the proper distributor and to the filmmakers.
I didn't think too badly of Balun. Few hands were completely clean in the days of VHS trading and selling. I never charged for duped movies, but I made enough copies and gave them out. As for Film Threat, they almost certainly hurt more people when their two magazines ceased publication with no explanation or apologies. Subscribers were just out of luck. Would a dime postcard have been too much to ask? I wasn't angry, just sad.
For various reasons Chas Balun seemed to become embittered by the late nineties. He may have been disappointed that Deep Red hadn't become bigger and more successful.
I was going through some of my stuff recently and I happened upon a 1999 publication from Chas Balun called Red Ink: Terror in 2000 A.D. It's a short chapbook and I though I read it back when I first bought the book, I remembered very little. I thought I'd work it in between the novels I generally read.
Red Ink is well-written. Balun always delivered the goods with his prose. It was also pretty angry and bitter. He was predictably disgruntled with the state of the genre. He hated Scream in particular. Chas also railed at Halloween H2O, and the rash of slick, big-budget slasher movies that came in their wake.
I get it. I know how it is when something is yours. The field felt more intimate and small when Balun brought out Deep Red. It was ours. Now everyone was getting in on the act and the life seemed to be drained from horror cinema. Sometimes when things become very popular they seem smaller rather than bigger. For old guys like me and Balun, it was lonely.
But I did like Scream. A hell of a lot. I liked some of the flood that followed, like Urban Legend and The Faculty. I was just glad to see horror on the big screen.
Big changes were in store for the horror genre. I doubt Chas Balun was a Blair Witch fan (I was), but I'm curious to see how he felt about controversial pictures like Hostel, The House of 1,000 Corpses, and High Tension. The early '00 years were dark indeed, as people everywhere came to grips with the implications of 9/11 and another war.
Chas Balun died on December 18, 2009. Cancer claimed his life way too early. He was 61. Horror fans everywhere grieved. Well, at least the ones who remembered him.
Nearly a decade later a group of mad individuals revived Deep Red. Some of whom were involved with the magazine back in the old days. I contributed to the Kickstarter drive and I was glad to see it succeed.
No one can replace Chas Balun, but the new gang have done a wonderful job. I've been onboard for most of their releases and the results have been excellent. I see the kind of joy that was in the pages of early Balun works. The same spirit, the balls-to-the-wall approach to horror journalism Balun conceived has been in good hands. I hope they continue to carry on the chunkblowing legacy of Chas Balun.
I am a part time bookseller and I sell at various horror cons. I have some doubles of Deep Red that I try to sell. Sadly, few younger fans know Chas Balun's name. He is being forgotten at a time when his groundbreaking work should be celebrated. Horror is bigger than I've ever seen it.
Alas, I am no longer a Gorehound. Oh, I still enjoy a good bloody effect. I watch old genre films with my old drive-in buddy when we have the time. But I am not the rabid aficionado I once was. I no longer crave a nightly fix. I read a lot more these days. Still, deep in my red heart the old Gorehound still lives. I still get a pang when I think of Maniac or Re-Animator. I still get chills remembering a great Savini or De Rossi gore scene. And I will always have warm feelings for Chas Balun and what he did for horror fans.
Chas, I never got to meet you. Our opinions differed here and there, but I bet we'd have gotten along. We could have talked gore movies all night, or better yet, had a big ice chest full of brews and an all-night horror marathon at a run down drive-in. Though our paths never crossed, we were blood brothers.
Written by Mark Sieber
One day I went into a little comics shop, Benders, and as always headed straight for their horror media section. It sat there before my eyes. Deep Red Magazine #1. I immediately grabbed it up and knew it would be mine. Three ninety-eight was no small investment for me in those lean years, and there was sales tax!
I knew of Chas Balun. He had written some memorable articles for Fangoria. His books, like Horror Holocaust and The Gore Score, were advertised in the magazine. I couldn't afford to send away for them.
With barely a glance I knew Deep Red was meant for me. I loved Fangoria at the time. It was still vital and didn't seem like so much of a shill for the studios. I really can't stand the current incarnation of Fangoria, but that's for another time. This new magazine was something different.
Deep Red was everything I hoped it would be. It was informative, humorous, wildly enthusiastic, outrageous, and absolutely delightful. I had been learning about people like Mario Bava, Dario Argento, and Lucio Fulci in Fangoria, but Deep Red went deeper. I read about Bruno Mattei, Ruggero Deodato, Armando de Ossorio in its bloodstained pages.
It wasn't like today. There were very few resources to find information about these movies. There were other fanzines, but Deep Red was the best of them. At least of the ones I read. For one thing, Chas Balun knew how to write, and he did it well. His spirit was infectious. His genre journalism was groundbreaking. New worlds were opened to me.
I was a full-blown Gorehound. It became my life mission to track down every gory movie ever made. The fun in those days was the hunt. It was frustrating, sure, but there was also anticipation. Goals to be fulfilled. I may not have seen everything, but I managed to see most of them. From glorious highs of Argento and Bava to dregs like New York Ripper and The Gore Gore Girls.Some people saw it as a bad thing, like watching excessive violence was wrong, or possibly even evil. I never saw it that way. It was a good time, like rock and roll. It was rebellious, and like many young people I enjoyed thumbing my nose at established conventions. The best of the movies, Dawn of the Dead and Susperia for instance, are artistic triumphs. The worst of them were usually at least a good time for a beery Saturday night.
The magazine lasted for several issues, and I bought every one of them at that same store. Then they stopped coming in. Without the internet there was no way to know that the publisher, Fantaco, had gone under. It was a new era, anyway. The nineties were not the best time for horror. Things were changing.
Balun managed to get some stuff out here and there, and it was always a welcome treat. However, it wasn't all gory good times. There was a minor war between Chas and Film Threat.
Film Threat was a pair of magazines and line of video releases. Apparently Balun was selling at least one movie that was owned and distributed by FT. Now, I was a huge Film Threat fan in those days. I was changing, too, and looking for something different. I had been through most of the horror titles I wanted to see, and the genre was in a slump. I liked the anarchic punk ethos of Film Threat and I was an avid reader and customer.
The Threat guys could be a bit brash. Rather like Chas Balun himself. They called out Balun more rudely than was probably necessary. Chas responded in turn. Their letters were printed and Balun came off pretty badly. I hated to see it. Many horror people banded with Chas. I'm all for loyalty, but right is right and wrong is wrong. Selling officially licensed movies is wrong. It's unfair to the proper distributor and to the filmmakers.
I didn't think too badly of Balun. Few hands were completely clean in the days of VHS trading and selling. I never charged for duped movies, but I made enough copies and gave them out. As for Film Threat, they almost certainly hurt more people when their two magazines ceased publication with no explanation or apologies. Subscribers were just out of luck. Would a dime postcard have been too much to ask? I wasn't angry, just sad.
For various reasons Chas Balun seemed to become embittered by the late nineties. He may have been disappointed that Deep Red hadn't become bigger and more successful.
I was going through some of my stuff recently and I happened upon a 1999 publication from Chas Balun called Red Ink: Terror in 2000 A.D. It's a short chapbook and I though I read it back when I first bought the book, I remembered very little. I thought I'd work it in between the novels I generally read.
Red Ink is well-written. Balun always delivered the goods with his prose. It was also pretty angry and bitter. He was predictably disgruntled with the state of the genre. He hated Scream in particular. Chas also railed at Halloween H2O, and the rash of slick, big-budget slasher movies that came in their wake.
I get it. I know how it is when something is yours. The field felt more intimate and small when Balun brought out Deep Red. It was ours. Now everyone was getting in on the act and the life seemed to be drained from horror cinema. Sometimes when things become very popular they seem smaller rather than bigger. For old guys like me and Balun, it was lonely.
But I did like Scream. A hell of a lot. I liked some of the flood that followed, like Urban Legend and The Faculty. I was just glad to see horror on the big screen.
Big changes were in store for the horror genre. I doubt Chas Balun was a Blair Witch fan (I was), but I'm curious to see how he felt about controversial pictures like Hostel, The House of 1,000 Corpses, and High Tension. The early '00 years were dark indeed, as people everywhere came to grips with the implications of 9/11 and another war.
Chas Balun died on December 18, 2009. Cancer claimed his life way too early. He was 61. Horror fans everywhere grieved. Well, at least the ones who remembered him.
Nearly a decade later a group of mad individuals revived Deep Red. Some of whom were involved with the magazine back in the old days. I contributed to the Kickstarter drive and I was glad to see it succeed.
No one can replace Chas Balun, but the new gang have done a wonderful job. I've been onboard for most of their releases and the results have been excellent. I see the kind of joy that was in the pages of early Balun works. The same spirit, the balls-to-the-wall approach to horror journalism Balun conceived has been in good hands. I hope they continue to carry on the chunkblowing legacy of Chas Balun.
I am a part time bookseller and I sell at various horror cons. I have some doubles of Deep Red that I try to sell. Sadly, few younger fans know Chas Balun's name. He is being forgotten at a time when his groundbreaking work should be celebrated. Horror is bigger than I've ever seen it. Alas, I am no longer a Gorehound. Oh, I still enjoy a good bloody effect. I watch old genre films with my old drive-in buddy when we have the time. But I am not the rabid aficionado I once was. I no longer crave a nightly fix. I read a lot more these days. Still, deep in my red heart the old Gorehound still lives. I still get a pang when I think of Maniac or Re-Animator. I still get chills remembering a great Savini or De Rossi gore scene. And I will always have warm feelings for Chas Balun and what he did for horror fans.
Chas, I never got to meet you. Our opinions differed here and there, but I bet we'd have gotten along. We could have talked gore movies all night, or better yet, had a big ice chest full of brews and an all-night horror marathon at a run down drive-in. Though our paths never crossed, we were blood brothers.
Written by Mark Sieber
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