Mad Movies is a French magazine created in 1972 by Jean-Pierre Putters, dedicated to fantastic and science-fiction cinema.[1]

Mad Movies
EditorFausto Fasulo
CategoriesFilm
Frequency11 issues a year
Founded1972
CompanyCustom Publishing
CountryFrance
Based inParis, France
LanguageFrench
Websitemad-movies.com
ISSN0338-6791

History

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Mad Movies started as a fanzine and put out 21 issues between 1972 and 1981.[1]

In 1979, Putters opened Movies 2000, a film bookstore that became a hotspot for Paris' horror fandom and fanzine trading community.[2]

From number 22 (February 1982), Mad Movies became a quarterly newsstand publication.[1] That first widely distributed issue featured a cover story about Italian director Lucio Fulci, which coined the term "Poet of the Macabre" (French: Poête du macabre), an Edgar Allan Poe-inspired nickname that has become one of the director's signatures.[3][4]

The magazine became bimonthly in 1984.[5] Between 1986 and 2001, it was published alternately with a spinoff called Impact.[5] In 2001, following the sale of both magazines by Putters, new ownership merged Impact into Mad Movies, the latter thus becoming a monthly title.[5]

Spinoffs

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Impact

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Impact was a bimonthly spinoff of Mad Movies, with a focus on action films and the more action-oriented fantastic films. Its first run lasted from January 1986 to January 2001.[6]

The title was reintroduced in January 2009,[6] first as a booklet bundled monthly with Mad Movies,[7] then as a standalone bimonthly akin to its original incarnation.[8] It was discontinued again after the October 2011 issue.[8] Following Impact's demise, some Mad Movies special issues devoted to the action genre have been branded as Collection Impact.[9]

Mad Asia

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The magazine published another bimonthly spinoff dedicated to Asian cinema, called Mad Asia, which ran between 2005 and 2007.[10]

Metaluna

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Following his departure from Mad Movies, Jean-Pierre Putters co-founded Metaluna. The Metaluna brand, which took its name from a fictional planet in This Island Earth, encompassed a short-lived magazine dedicated to b-movies,[11] a film production house active between 2007 and 2017,[12] as well as a store (which replaced Movies 2000).[2]
Among Metaluna's productions was Among The Living[13] from directors Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, the latter a former Mad Movies writer.[14] As of 2021, the store still exists under different ownership.[15]

Involvement with film festivals

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In the 1980s, Mad Movies organized an 8mm film festival, held at various Parisian theaters.[16]
Between 2003 and 2013, the magazine sponsored a special Mad Movies prize at the Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival. At its inception, it was part of the festival's Asian cinema competition. Later worldwide films became eligible.[17]
Mad Movies has been a founding partner of the Paris International Fantastic Film Festival (PIFFF), established in 2011.[18]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Mad Movies". coleka.com. Coleka. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  2. ^ a b M., Gabriel (February 13, 2018). "Metaluna Store : réouverture imminente de l'antre du cinéma fantastique !". lemagducine.fr. Christophe Ariaudo. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  3. ^ Pattin, Pierre (February 1982). "Lucio Fulci, poète du macabre". Mad Movies. No. 22. Paris: Jean-Pierre Putters. pp. 13–23.
  4. ^ "Fulci Talks". noirfest.com. Studio Cooperativa. December 10, 2019. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  5. ^ a b c Gaignepain, Jean-Luc. "Mad Movies". revues-de-cinema.net. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  6. ^ a b Gaignepain, Jean-Luc. "Impact". revues-de-cinema.net. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  7. ^ "Impact (2ème série)". coleka.com. Coleka. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  8. ^ a b "Impact (3ème série)". coleka.com. Coleka. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  9. ^ "Die Hard : une saga en enfer". Mad Movies. No. 42H. Paris: Custom Publishing. June 2018. p. 1. Collection Impact
  10. ^ "Notice catalographique : Mad Asia". cineressources.net. La Cinémathèque française. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  11. ^ "Dossier Les survivants de l'infini". Metaluna. No. 1. Condat-sur Vienne: Cinefil du temps. First Quarter 2007.
  12. ^ "Metaluna Productions". societe.com. Médiapost. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  13. ^ "Aux yeux des vivants: Company Credits". imdb.com. Amazon. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  14. ^ "Biographie d'Alexandre Bustillo". evene.lefigaro.fr. Société du Figaro. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  15. ^ "Metaluna Store". societe.com. Médiapost. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  16. ^ Blin, Fabrice (director) (2014). Super 8 Madness! (Documentary). France: Metaluna Productions.
  17. ^ "Palmares & guests". niff.ch. Festival International du Film Fantastique. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  18. ^ "Mad Movies". unipresse.com. Association UNI-Presse. Retrieved September 6, 2021.