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Home | The Dark Side: Welcome Back To The Shelves

The Dark Side: Welcome Back To The Shelves

The Dark Side, The UK’s longest-running horror magazine, is back on the shelves again in what would appear to be something of a spectacular rebirth. The previous incarnation of the magazine vanished due to financial issues brought on by the recession, but it has recently been reborn by scene stalwart Allan Bryce, but this time it is without the assistance of Ken Mills, who has sadly passed away recently. The Dark Side is a magazine for genuine horror fans, not just the passing trade of the Hostel/SAW audience.

Covering new movies as well as genre classics from all over the world, The Dark Side’s new era continues the original run with a slightly updated look and format but the same old enthusiasm for the macabre. While over the years the magazine has had it’s fair share of controversy surrounding its content, it’s wonderful to see that infamous logo back on the shelves, and wonderful to be privy to more in-depth pieces on the horrors of yesteryear alongside the latest scares.

The magazine was pretty much the only long-running horror periodical in the UK for many years, while titles such as the much-missed Shivers vanished much quicker, leaving only imported titles such as Fangoria and the original Gorezone from the US to keep British horror hounds satiated. Yes, now there’s a UK magazine called Gorezone, but it has about as much resemblance to the original magazine as the moon does to the sun.

This initial new Dark Side issue (billed as 141 rather than a new first issue, which pleases me greatly) features some fantastic content, including a lengthy career restrospective interview with John Saxon, a look at the love-letter to the Giallo movies, Amer, interviews with Wes Craven, Lloyd Kaufman, John Landis and William Forsythe as well as reviews, in-depth features on various aspects of the genre and more.

It’s not perfect (the reviews are generally a little longer than is really necessary), but the zest with which the magazine takes a more cerebral look at the dark fantastic is just as compelling as it always was. Being able to find material on lost gems and obscure horror flicks from mainstream outlets once again is a thrill I thought long since dead. I’m glad it’s crawled out of the grave for another round of mayhem. Welcome back, Dark Side. It’s nice to have a real horror magazine back on the UK scene.

You can find the magazine’s website at www.thedarksidemagazine.com

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