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Paracinema Magazine and Beyond!

Born from a conversation about film magazines in a small Queens, New York apartment in the summer of 2007, Paracinema Magazine has been steadily garnering a reputation as a distinctive, intelligent, and thought-provoking publication since its first issue almost four years ago. Taking its title from a phrase coined by film scholar Jeffrey Sconce, the independently produced, quarterly magazine focuses primarily on all facets of cult and genre cinema.

Each issue contains accessible in-depth analytical pieces, critiques, interviews and academic articles on all manner of genre cinema – from Hitchcock, Herzog and Bergman to the likes of HG Lewis, Wiseau and Ed Wood, to name but a few. All is presented in a strikingly designed and attention-commanding publication. Paracinema is essentially for those who want to delve deeper into the lurid depths of ‘periphery’ cinema; each issue contains pieces on a staggering array of movies and genres including, horror, sci-fi, blaxploitation, exploitation, cult, Asian, giallo, pornography and B-movies… If you aren’t currently reading Paracinema, it is my duty to inform you that you’re seriously missing out.

Think of the amount of times you’ve been flicking through movie magazines in your local newsagents or book shop and thought how frustrating it was that your favourite types of movies and filmmakers were often neglected or relegated to the sidelines in terms of the amount of articles about them or attention given to them. Think how fantastic it would be to be able to pick up a magazine that was SOLELY about these types of films and filmmakers; and a well written, affordable and lovingly produced one at that.

Recently Paracinema has been given the opportunity to expand; of course it’s not as simple as it sounds. Being a labour of love (read: usually in the red) their budget is quite tight. As such, Team Paracinema has proposed a bit of a fundraiser. Think of it as a donation, but instead of a tote bag you get a sweet Warriors t-shirt out of the deal. Times are tough so if you can’t afford the shirt, please, please, please just help spread the word by sharing this link everywhere you can and help Paracinema to acquire wider distribution. It is a great magazine that deserves to have a much bigger readership.

For more information about the magazine, why not head over to their site and have a look around. You can also befriend them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. For a little more insight you can check out my interview with editor and co-founder Christine Makepeace, and listen to her on The Toxic Graveyard podcast.

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