It’s a sad day for horror movie fans the world over, as Chas Balun as passed. Although Balun was a bit before my time, I am very familiar with the man and recognize his immense contributions. He was a contributing writer for Gorezone/Fangoria and had a series of books detailing the very best of the splatter genre during the heyday of tape trading. I had read about battle with cancer recently, but his passing is still felt with equally as strong reactions. Without Chas, we would be without so many other great writers and his legacy will be standing for a very long time. I have a copy of The Gore Score around here some place that I might take a look at this evening just in remembrance. He’s the man who gave notoriety to such works as the Guinea Pig series (he was there during the Charlie Sheen fiasco) and Aftermath (after apparently walking out of a screening!). Even when he didn’t like a film he helped propagate it’s popularity!Fangoria has an awesome piece up on the man right now and I highly recommend you check it out.
NOTE FROM JOSH – Also guys, this Sunday at 8PM Central, we at VCinema will be having a special showing of The Beyond in honor of Mr. Balun. Coffin Jon will be doing announcing and we hope any and all can make it. If you have anything you would like to say, you can e-mail us at vcinema@variedcelluloid.net and Jon can read it on air or anything you would like. The schedule is looking like this:
Memories and words
Mega “Gore Score” trailer loop (trailers for every film that Chas rated a 10 on his special ‘gore score’ review rating)
Selected readings from Chas’ library of work
Followed by a showing of one of Balun’s most highly touted picks and a classic of the genre, Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond. Please be there guys as we want to celebrate this genre pioneer’s life the best way possible: with the true horror fans.
