Fangoria is losing many of its big names due to a recent sexual misconduct scandal at Cinestate and it has led to their successful reboot that began two years ago looking for a new buyer.
Contributing horror icons Joe Bob Briggs, Barbara Crampton and a plethora of other podcasts and supporters have parted ways with Fangoria due to an expose from "The Daily Beast" about Cinestate producer Adam Donaghey. In a story that has spread through the film community like wildfire, Donaghey was arrested in 2017 for the rape of a 16-year-old girl and it appears that the stories of his sexual misconduct have been told behind-the-scenes for years now.
What has given these events a new life is the revelation that Cinestate founder Dallas Sonnier and producing partner Amanda Presmyk allegedly turned a blind eye to the allegations against Donaghey from multiple women, even with audio evidence that can be heard in "The Daily Beast" expose. They both denied ever knowing about the events and allegedly were not informed of the existence of audio recordings. Reportedly over a dozen people came to Sonnier and Presmyk with allegations but nothing was ever done about their claims. Horror icon Joe Bob Briggs became the latest big name to separate himself from the matter and had this to say about his decision to depart:
"Based on the revelations at Cinestate and their failure to come clean about everything and make it right, I guess I have to resign from both Fangoria and Rebeller. Sad on several levels, including the end of Fango's miracle comeback and the decline of a TX-based film company."
Many podcasts that recently moved to the Fangoria podcast network parted ways with them as of yesterday. Post Mortem with Mick Garris, Nightmare On Film Street, The Movie Crypt, Casualty Friday, Nightmare University, and Blumhouse's Shock Waves are no longer under the Fangoria banner in a show of solidarity with the victims of the alleged sexual misconduct. If these allegations weren't enough, Cinestate is also accused of unsafe working conditions. Brittany Ingram was a production designer on Cinestate's PUPPET MASTER in 2017 and stated "My experience working with Cinestate was far from ideal, in fact, it was rather dangerous." She goes on to say that the days on set averaged around 15-16 hours and production was "under-crewed." Ingram also says she was instructed to construct a set that could have potentially injured people.
If you're a fan of horror, Fangoria is a true institution of the genre that was in publication since 1979. At the height of is popularity in the 1980s and early 90s, it was the most prominent horror publication in the world. The magazine began to struggle in the early 2010s due to various issues, including generating enough ad revenue and the continued rise of the internet. In 2017 the magazine ceased production after running through a succession of editors between 2015-2016. Back in 2018, much to the excitement of horror fans all over the world, Cinestate revived Fangoria and the reboot proved to be quite successful. Initially, Fangoria decided to still work with Cinestate when the expose went public because they seemed committed to making changes behind-the-scenes but a lot has changed in a matter of days and now they're looking for new ownership so they may continue on. As of now, it's unclear where Fangoria will end up next.
Cinestate began its life in 2016 when it was founded by Dallas Sonnier with the intention of releasing "populist entertainment." Cinestate has released BONE TOMAHAWK, BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99, THE STANDOFF AT SPARROW CREEK and DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE.
I actually saw this brewing on my Facebook page because many of the pages I follow have podcasts associated with the Fangoria channel and many of them began posting statements on their pages about parting ways due to the Cinestate scandal. I really hope Fangoria does find another home because it has been great having it back.
Where do YOU think Fangoria will end up?