Video Watchdog Ceases Publication

Long running cult film digest Video Watchdog will cease print publication

Yesterday, writer, historian and publisher Tim Lucas announced via Facebook and his company website that his long running digest magazine Video Watchdog will be ceasing to print. Here is that post:

With regret, we must announce that—after 27 wonderful years—we are no longer able to publish new print editions of Video Watchdog.

Some of you have been with us since the early days of “desktop publishing,” when bookstores carried a wide variety of offbeat publications catering to all kinds of niche readerships. It was an exciting time, one in which Video Watchdog thrived. From the time of our first pre-publication ads in 1989, The Perfectionist’s Guide to Fantastic Video has never stopped evolving—growing from 60 to 64 to 80 pages in its black-and-white configuration, blossoming into full-color with issue 100, and introducing interactive digital versions of each issue in 2013. We can confidently state that our most recent issues were among the best we ever published.

Over the last quarter century, we have always depended on newsstand sales, subscriptions, advertising, and—because all of that was still not fully sustaining—side projects in order to continue publishing. We were able to make ends meet so long as all of these facets were working together but, in recent years, it has become a losing battle. There are many reasons for this: the diminishing number of retail outlets, the sad state of print distribution, the easy availability of free information and critical writing via the Internet, and the now-widespread availability on Blu-ray and DVD of so many of the once-obscure titles Video Watchdog was among the first to tell you about. After trying many creative ways to generate sales to compensate for newsstand losses and lack of advertising support, rising shipping and postage costs, and a depressed economy, it is simply no longer possible to keep Video Watchdog moving forward.

Looking back, we take great pride in the fact that, in our time, Video Watchdog was able to present the writing and original art of the genre’s most talented writers, artists, and thinkers; that it attracted the attention and respect of so many of the great contemporary masters of cinema (from Scorsese to Del Toro); and that its coverage inspired a number of people to enter the film and video businesses to promote film restoration and preservation from the inside. We are deeply grateful for the contributors and audience that enabled us to sustain our publication for so long.

The coming months will be difficult as we try to figure out what’s next for us, and what awaits Video Watchdog and its readership. Please bear with us during this uncertain time, and we will keep you informed of further developments as they become more definitive.

Tim & Donna Lucas

Publishers

Sad news indeed. Not just for Lucas and his wife Donna, but for an entire generation of fandom that grew up and swore by Lucas’ diligent research and dedication to quality. Sad news for print, period. With Fangoria having troubles getting their magazine to print, Rue Morgue shaking up their staff and going bi-monthly, Famous Monsters going mainstream and the general shift in people’s need for hard copy journalism spiraling towards extinction, the days of the monster mag are almost done. Or at least, for a while, sleeping. Certainly the golden age is wrapping up.

I feel old…

I feel old and melancholy. Because without Tim, I wouldn’t have had the excitement about international and downmarket genre films that I have today, the likes of which has defined my work and put bread on my table. Tim was my hero. I discovered Tim’s words – along with gonzo genre scribbler Chas. Balun – as a very young kid in the ‘80s, in the pages of Fangoria and eventually, the pages of its sister mag, Gorezone. Tim’s Video Watchdog column was a lengthy – sometimes 5 pages – and serious minded (but still witty) archeological expedition into the shadowy world of VHS rental and sell-through market. Tim took you by the hand and found fright films that were suffering deaths by a thousand cuts, riotous re-titles, questionable and misleading packaging and terrible TV print transfers and he’d sort it all out. It was an essential read that opened doors and made collecting the adventure it once was. And man, it really was an adventure.

Though the world changed as the media changed, Lucas remained a constant. He parlayed his self-educated self into the realms of books (his Mario Bava tome is the first and last word on the study of the Italian horror movie pioneer) and DVD commentaries and liner notes. He became a one man brand who treated even the lowliest fare with respect and sobriety. And all the while his magazine continued to make itself available to his loyal fanbase.

I have had the pleasure to work with Tim and payback some of the kindness he unknowlingly bestowed upon me over the years. When I was EIC of Fangoria and brought Gorezone back, my first order of business was to have Tim come back as a columnist. Though that magazine has since once more gone to sleep, I’ll treasure that memory of engaging with him and personally supplying one of his many stages in which to preach.

I have no doubt Tim will thrive, that Video Watchdog will become what it must become,  and I – along with the legion of film fans who swore by his words – will forever treasure and honor his life’s work, alive forever on those globally distributed pages.

R.I.P Video Watchdog. Long live Tim and Donna Lucas.

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