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www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, October 26, 2012 · 28 NYC-based Fangoria editor produces horror flick By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Oakville's Chris Alexander tells his children when they grow up they won't have to give up their toys. He certainly hasn't. He's made a career out of them. The 38-year-old has loved all things horror since he was three-years-old. He's watched the films, read the magazines and cut out the pictures and put them up on his wall even at an early age. It was a strange hobby for a young boy and a passion he never grew out of. It is a passion he maintains to this day and one that has led him to become the editor-in-chief of the oldest horror film magazine in the world, the same magazine he grew up reading. Even though Fangoria is based in New York City, Alexander manages to produce its 10 issues per year right from his home office in Oakville. "It's a New York magazine that's been there for 32 years, that's where its heart and soul is, on 42nd Street," Alexander said. However, the magazine's art designers are in New Jersey, ad sales department in Los Angeles and he lives in Oakville. The last time he went to New York was in February. "I go when I need to go but it just runs through the miracle of technology. With Skype and everything else, you could be on Mars and run this really," he said. The man behind the horror magazine is also a film critic for Toronto's Metro newspaper, a radio and television personality, author, musician, teacher and a former film publicist. And now, for the first time in his movieobsessed career, he's combined all his skills to make his own horror film, which he filmed right here in Oakville and neighbouring Burlington. Using the weight of Fangoria, he's managed to raise the interest levels of fellow Artscene eric riehl / oakville beaver / @halton_photog The horror film aficionado has just produced one of his own, titled Blood for Irina. horror film aficionados for the movie, titled Blood for Irina, and thus was able to secure funding for it from a company called Autonomy, which produces micro-budget horror films. Though it was low budget, Alexander said he's had interests from Hollywood actors, whom he had to turn down. "I used unknowns, I used friends and various skeleton crew and in five days we shot this thing in this great location," he said. The great location was Burlington's NOVEMBER 3, 2012 | 7:30PM Central Baptist Church 340 Rebecca St., Oakville, ON November 4, 2012 | 3:00pm St. Simon's Anglican Church 1450 Litchfield Rd., Oakville, ON beethoven: triple concerto Mozart: Symphony #41 "Jupiter" yummy!: Fangoria editor Chris Alexander is pictured in his Oakville homebase with a toy prop and copies of the magazine hanging on the wall. Riviera Motel, located on Lakeshore Road edited the film. near Brant Street. "I try to do my philosophy ­ it's not what "It was a month before they were closing you got, it's what you do ­ and I keep everyit up to destroy it so we literally could do thing very simple. I don't like overhead," he anything we wanted and we just coated it in said. blood from top to bottom," he said. "It was just insane. For five days, we raced Blood for Irina is about a dying woman through this while I was running Fango, who may be a vampire in the last days of her while I was prepping the KISS mag and life. The woman is played by a Toronto while I was raising my three kids." dancer named Shauna That KISS magazine Henry, a newcomer to act- "Horror films are very he referred to was KISS: ing. The second lead in the therapeutic. You can deal Monster ­ The Official film is Alexander's wife with a lot of follies of the Album and Tour Magazine, Carrie, who plays a down- human condition through the which came out recently trodden prostitute whose in time for a new KISS fantasy of horror movies." life parallels that of the album. He co-produced vampire woman. the magazine with Gene The film has minimal Chris Alexander, writer, filmmaker Simmons and the rest of dialogue, focusing more on the band. emotions and imagery. Working on the KISS magazine is a fitBlood for Irina premiered at the Buffalo ting tribute for Alexander as the band may Screams Horror Film Festival last week and have started his obsession with horror. When then played at the PollyGrind Film Festival he was a small child, he saw the KISS album in Los Angeles. On Nov. 2, the film will get Love Gun in the library. He didn't even know its European premiere at the Razor Reel what or who KISS or Gene Simmons were, Fantastic Film Festival in Bruges, Belgium. but he was fascinated and frightened by the Alexander said he's had positive feedback album artwork. It led him to discover Dracula from distributors and the film will come out and horror movies. on Blu-Ray and DVD in 2013. "Those two things (KISS and horror He's kept production of the film very films) were the nucleus so I've never given minimal, doing much of the work himself. up my love for either one of them," he said. See KISS page 29 He wrote, directed, composed the music and www. ww w.oa w. oakville www.oakvillechamber.org | (905) 483-6787