FANGORIA BONUS PAGES: The Return Of The King

As a kid who came up in the '80s, it's nice to see the whole Stephen King Cinematic Renaissance we're currently enjoying. We had no shortage of films based on King's material back then, but one thing they didn't get at the time was respect. Even the best of them (The Dead Zone, Creepshow) were treated almost like programmers back then, with more than a little side-eye thrown their way. We think of many of them as classics now, but that sadly wasn't always the case. 

Nor was it always the case that King-derived material deserved respect. The '90s saw a wave of opportunistic sequelizing that diminished King's on-screen value so much that I'm almost amazed the brand has bounced back the way it has. In today's Bonus Pages, as we prep for It: Chapter 2 and Doctor Sleep, Chris Evangelista examines the history of the Kingquel phenomenon.

As ever, you can get a year’s worth (that’s 400 pages) of FANGORIA by subscribing, and BMD readers get 20% off with the code FANGORIABMD.

Tomorrow: A double-header looking at a '90s horror classic - and its new remake. - Phil Nobile, Jr.