Fandom Fractured: 72 Hours That Split the Horror Landscape
It started Sunday with an expose in The Daily Beast. Three days later, the future of one of the best-loved, iconic brands in horror is uncertain. Here’s a timeline of what’s happened over the past few days for those of you who don’t live on “Film Twitter”.
Cinestate acquired Fangoria in 2016, rescuing the storied magazine from inactivity and financial disrepair. Since then, Fangoria (founded in 1979) has re-emerged hoping to reclaim its place in horror entertainment, promoting many of the films on Cinestate’s roster. Along with the relaunch, they worked hard to establish a podcast network that included the immensely popular Shock Waves and Post Mortem with Mick Garris.
On May 8th, The Dallas Morning News reported that up-and-coming genre producer Adam Christopher Donaghey had been charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl on the set of A Ghost Story in 2017. Donaghey was a producer at Cinestate and worked on many titles we promoted here.
Related Article: Horror Producer Adam Donaghey Charged with Sexual Assault of Minor
Following up on disturbing claims made in a Reddit thread, The Daily Beast released a blistering indictment asserting Donaghey’s behavior had been documented and reported (over the course of years) with Cinestate leadership turning a blind eye.
Upon hearing the details of The Daily Beast posting the editorial teams of both Fangoria and Birth.Movies.Death collectively released a statement holding their parent company accountable for making a serious change before they would return to their work.
Related Article: FANGORIA & BMD Release Statement + Conditions for Continued Relationship with Cinestate Following Daily Beast Expose
Shortly thereafter many of the podcasts and contributors that were featured on the site announced that they would no longer be affiliated with Fangoria citing their disappointment in the failings of how the reports of Donaghey’s behavior was handled.
During the subsequent fallout producer and Shock Waves co-host Rob Galluzzo, who formerly acquired films for DREAD Presents, resigned from his job at Fangoria. Following his announcement (via Twitter), accusations of harassment were leveled at him as well as the claim that he had already been dismissed from his role at Fangoria prior to the story breaking.
In light of those accusations Shock Waves shortly announced that Galluzzo would no longer be a co-host leaving many fans to wonder about the future of the show, some expressing shock, anger, and in some cases disbelief while others stated their continued support of the podcast in hopes of its return.
Rob later reactivated his social media accounts to post the statement below regarding the accusations.
The situation culminated today with the announcement that Fangoria and Birth.Movies.Death officially split with Cinestate; both sites are hoping for a new buyer.
Related Article: FANGORIA Splits from Cinestate, Future Uncertain
As this remains an evolving situation, and we’ll bring you pertinent details as news emerges. Stay tuned and check back often.
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