[Editorial] Editor’s Note: Experimental horror, being kind & some news

Monstrous Musings

There’s been some drama happening in the horror world, right? Not too long ago some shit went down in the horror community – a reviewer gave a negative review of an independent film and the creator of the film created a smear campaign against that individual. I won’t go into the full details but it got me thinking about independent filmmakers and the support we give them. 

Whilst I didn’t agree with how the filmmaker handled the situation, I understood their upset at having their hard work and labour of love slashed to pieces. It must be tough to take when you’ve put your heart into a piece of work. However, criticism exists to give personal opinion and sometimes that opinion won’t always be positive. I always had a difficult time telling a filmmaker their film wasn’t for me, but then any good artist should be able to take criticism, and the ones I’ve been honest with have welcomed the feedback. 

That got me thinking about Kyle Edward Ball’s Skinamarink which came out last month. After seeing the hype about it being one of the scariest films of all time, I was pretty stoked to sit down in a pitch black room and frighten myself. But it didn’t happen. For me, there was no scares, no fright, just boredom. I felt bad because I wanted to support an independent filmmaker but I just didn’t vibe with the film. I saw a lot of discourse online, some in agreement and others finding it the scariest shit ever. Whilst it wasn’t my kind of film, I could appreciate the experimental element of the film and its ambition to create something different. 

And that’s the thing, with experimental indie films, it’s never going to be everyone’s bag. But that’s okay. Another experimental film that I recently checked out was Robbie Banfitch’s The Outwaters, and that totally vibed with me. This found footage film is a bit batshit and goes quite extreme in its nature, which really worked for me but again, didn’t for a lot of people. Films that have a niche won’t always resonate with everyone but I’ve only seen both Ball and Banfitch take it in their stride and appreciate the feedback both good and bad. 

There’s something really admirable about creators that can take on feedback. I’m no filmmaker and doubt I’ll ever be, but even when it comes to writing I have to be open to taking on feedback and often that’s negative feedback. So seeing a filmmaker actively go against a negative review and to make it personal felt out of place for how we support each other as creators.

From my experience in the horror world, most people are generally very supportive of one another and also any kind of criticism. So let’s keep it that way shall we? Let’s remember to support one another and be honest in our feedback, and most importantly just be kind.

What happening at Ghouls 

So what’s happening at Ghouls Magazine at the moment? Good question. In short, a lot! 

We’ve recently published our latest podcast episode, and I was lucky enough to get to chat to the one and only Janine Pipe all about Damien Leone’s Terrifier (2016) and Terrifier 2 (2022). The latest Ghouls member podcast episode is live and it’s the wrap-up episode in Ariel Powers-Schaub and Iona Smith’s mini-series on the Final Destination franchise. 

Part one of some announcements… The first is we are excited to announce that Ygraine Hackett-Cantabrana, Iona Smith and Liz Bishop are now Senior Contributors with us! They have been constantly providing us with lots of horror content and we’re very lucky to have them. 

The next announcement is that we have partnered with True Romance pizza bar in Camden, London. Every month we’ll be hosting a film club night showing a horror film, complete with pizza, cocktails & other horror fans! This has been a dream of mine and I’m so excited it’s becoming a reality with the help of Pete who runs True Romance and Lost Souls Pizzeria. 

I’ve had the amazing help of the wonderful Iona, who has been my wingwoman on this and will be joining me to introduce the films & host Q&A discussions after some of the films! So if you fancy coming along, the first event is happening on Wednesday 15th February for a little anti-valentines fun with horror film The Loved Ones. The event is free at doors open at 7pm with the film starting at 8pm. Plus, cocktails are £7 and 2x slices of pizza are just £7 so you can stuff your face, get drunk and indulge. 

Finally (for now, anyway!) we are opening up to new writers and pitches for editorial articles, so if you or someone you know might want to be a part of Ghouls Magazine, then just fill in this form. 

See ya sooooonnnnnnnnn,

BYEEEEEEE

Zoë xx

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