Vincent Albarano

Thrilled to finally announce my biggest and most exciting project yet. After two years of work, my first book will be out August 3, 2023 from @headpress . AESTHETIC DEVIATIONS: A CRITICAL VIEW OF AMERICAN SOV HORROR, 1984-1994. Taking a serious, scholarly look at a number of classic and obscure shot-on-video features (with detours through the super 8 underground), the book delves into their unique aesthetic hallmarks and investigates their significance as cinematic texts. Examining works like Alien Beasts, Splatter Farm, Red Spirit Lake, the films of Joe Christ, and more using theories by Siegfried Kracauer, André Bazin, P. Adams Sitney, and other established scholars/filmmakers, this is the first publication to consider SOV horror as a serious category of independent cinema with its own uncompromising language and means of expression. Featuring dozens of promotional images from my own fanzine collection. I’m beyond excited to share this and see this work go out into the world, and thanks to everyone along the way that’s listened to me ramble on about SOV horror or had to sit through these movies with me. It’s been a dream for years to have my own Headpress title and I can’t believe I’m fortunate enough to share this with everyone. I’ve made a page devoted to the book (@aesthetic_deviations ) where I’ll be posting other updates and information, and will regularly be sharing more here.

I have a new piece up today at @splittoothmedia continuing my Stacy Keach series. Join me in taking a look at the greatest comedy of the 1970s, The Dion Bros (aka The Gravy Train). Rarely screened and largely unavailable since its initial release, Jack Starrett’s film is one of the more quietly influential works of the New Hollywood era, charting the course for the modern action comedy. It also features one of Keach’s greatest performances and some incredible onscreen chemistry with Frederic Forrest. Calvin and Russell Dion aren’t just comic antiheroes, but represent an entire generation of people devoured and disregarded by America itself. Funny as the film may be, it also fits perfectly with the decades cinema of desperation. Check it out and be sure to read the other pieces in my Stacy Keach series!

If you’ve been following along the last few years, you know that I’ve become obsessed with Massachusetts’ unique public access horror culture. Zones of Evil began as a zine from teenage friends Bryan Fortin (now known for his regular appearances in Motern Media projects), Steve Mallas, and James Demers. Their FDM Productions served as the backbone for an entire horror culture in their area, generating a dedicated cult following. By the late 1980s, Zones of Evil had evolved into a horror program on the local Cablevision station that saw Bryan and friends introducing, screening, and discussing horror movies all while pushing the limits of public access television. Most fascinating of all were the handful of original feature productions produced by the FDM crew into the 1990s. These moves aired on Cablevision and received very minimal distribution by Bryan himself at events and conventions. For the most part, these works have remained inaccessible and stand as quiet secrets of the region’s underground video horror scene. Coming later this year, Xposure Video is proud to bring you the first officially-licensed and widely available releases of select FDM titles. These video features define the nature of fan filmmaking, tracing the early fixations of the Zones of Evil gang, while also serving as visual records of their transition to adulthood. In presenting their entire lives and evolving public faces onscreen, Bryan Fortin and his collaborators created an insular, incredibly personal world of horror fandom and creative expression. More than just fan films, these are investigations into the nature of horror fandom and the personal toll of being immersed in the creative lifestyle. Bryan has dug into the Zones of Evil vaults to find unseen extra material to make these the definitive presentation of these projects. This series of releases is a dream come true. Stay tuned for more updates soon. And check out my Subterranean Cinema zine for the backstory of this unlikely fan empire and an extensive interview with Brian Fortin.

Today is Split Tooth's 8th anniversary! To celebrate, issue No. 2 of the Split Tooth zine is available now in the ST online store - including 10 copies signed by Charles Pinion! First released during a sold-out screening of @charlespinion 's TWISTED ISSUES at the historic Hollywood Theatre in Portland, Oregon, our “Charles Pinion Spectacular” is now shipping! Featuring new essays on Pinion’s classic SOV features TWISTED ISSUES and RED SPIRIT LAKE, and an interview with Pinion about his unfinished film KILLBILLIES, this issue includes 48 pages of fascinating explorations of independent and underground films including LAS VEGAS BLOODBATH, AFTER LAST SEASON, and Shane Pfender's handwritten ode to DEATH BED: THE BED THAT EATS. Featuring writing and contributions from @bloodsickproductions @rottenrevivalpdx @bwrightsplittooth @valbarano @pennsyilvania @bartuskaaaron @craigwaswright @oliverosullivan @meanwhile_im_dying and Snow Lietta! Designed by Vincent Albarano Edited by Craig and Brett Wright

Thank you to everyone who came out for TWISTED ISSUES at @hollywoodtheatr with Charles Pinion and Vincent Albarano! @rottenrevivalpdx put on another fantastic screening. Let’s do this again!

Charles Pinion and Vincent Albarano are in Portland! Come on out to @moviemadness_pdx today from 1 to 3p.m. for a signing and meet-and-greet where @charlespinion and @valbarano will have an exclusive “Portland Edition” of the “Killbilles” screenplay, a new Split Tooth zine, and a whole lot more!

Legendary underground SOV horror filmmaker Charles Pinion (Red Spirit Lake, We Await) will be joined by author and film scholar Vincent Albarano (Aesthetic Deviations: A Critical View of American Shot-on-Video Horror, 1984-1994) and media journalists Split Tooth Media on Saturday March 14th in the Movie Madness Miniplex for a far out meet and greet! Come meet Charles, Vincent and Split Tooth Media from 1-3pm and then head over to the Hollywood Theatre that evening at 9:30pm for a rare screening of Charles' TWISTED ISSUES followed by a post-film Q&A with Charles and Vincent. @charlespinion @valbarano @aesthetic_deviations @splittoothmedia @moviemadness_pdx @hollywoodtheatr

Split Tooth and No Threes Records are excited to announce '1, 2, 4, Go!': The Oral History of The Cheaters,' a new 66-page zine with 2 CDs! This is the definitive history of a criminally overlooked Pacific Northwest band and the ultimate rock ’n’ roll saga for anyone who has ever wanted their rock stars to play guitar with a saw and slip on their own banana peels. The Cheaters weren’t the first punk band in Seattle and they didn’t last long enough to truly leave a mark on the burgeoning local music scene, but no one in their day was making or performing music quite like them. Founded by brothers Kurt Bloch (@brdcrp ) and Al Bloch (before Kurt became the virtuosic guitarist/songwriter for The Fastbacks and joined @yffmusicnstuff ) with their neighbor Scott Dittman while still in high school, The Cheaters quickly became a basement-bred experiment in mixing all of their favorite types of rock music, from early British punk to overly complicated prog, with a healthy dose of mischievous teenage humor tossed in for good measure. In just over a year, they released their own 45 single, wrote and performed their own material from nearly the start, founded a semi-real record label, established the groundwork for a Blue Öyster Cult-inspired self-mythology, appeared in a short film by a future Oscar winner, and then imploded in a heat of passion and punk-rock angst during a show. 1, 2, 4, Go!: The Oral History of The Cheaters by @craigwaswright and @bwrightsplittooth is presented in a zine designed by @valbarano and features interviews with members of the band and those closest to them — including friends and future Fastbacks Kim Warnick and Lulu Gargiulo, Conrad Uno of PopLlama, and more — alongside rare and never-before-seen photos and documents from the Cheaters’ fleeting heyday. Included with the zine are two CDs of Cheaters music from No Threes Records, including a complete and never-before-heard live show from 1979. Order your copy today at the link in our bio!

Saturday, March 14th - tickets are already over halfway sold out, so act fast! You do not want to miss the legendary Charles Pinion's classic SOV masterpiece TWISTED ISSUES on the big screen!! Charles will be at the theater in person for a rad post-film Q&A with Vincent Albarano, author of Aesthetic Deviations: A Critical View of American SOV Horror. Split Tooth Media will also be releasing the second issue of their zine, which is chock full of articles and spotlights on some of the most rad underground cinema of today and yesterday! Who knows, maybe there will be a column about Terror Toons in this one.... Before the film, head to Movie Madness for a once in a lifetime signing event with Charles, Vincent and Split Tooth Media from 1-3pm! Tickets for TWISTED ISSUES are available in the link in my bio or at HollywoodTheatre.org! @hollywoodtheatr @moviemadness_pdx @charlespinion @valbarano @splittoothmedia

MARCH 14th at 9:30pm at the Hollywood Theatre, join legendary filmmaker CHARLES PINION, author Vincent Albarano and Split Tooth Media for a screening of Charles' groundbreaking SOV splatterpunk film TWISTED ISSUES. Charles, Vincent and Split Tooth Media will be at Movie Madness from 2-4pm to meet fans, sign autographs and sell their wares as well! Don't miss out! Tickets available at the link in my bio! After innocent, straight edge skater Paul is taunted and murdered by a carload of drunken longhairs, he is crudely resurrected by a mysterious, pot-smoking mad scientist as a masked, sword wielding psychopath with a horrifying facial skin graft and a skateboard bolted directly to his foot. Determined to enact bloodthirsty revenge on his killers and their cohorts, Paul marauds through the parking lots, warehouses, and house parties of Gainesville in a splatter fueled cacophony of homespun gore, psychedelic drugs, ‘80s skate punk culture, abrasive stock footage, and gobs of raspberry soda. Initially envisioned as a document of the thriving underground music scene in Gainesville, Florida (as well as a cinematic adaptation of his self-published, DIY fanzine Twisted Tissues), Twisted Issues marked the SOV feature debut of visionary writer / director Charles Pinion (Red Spirit Lake, We Await) and announced the arrival of a singular and electrifying new voice within the video underground. A lo-fi explosion of raw creativity and youthful exuberance, Twisted Issues remains one of the quintessential, regional SOV masterpieces of the 1980s; an experimental, cinema verité slasher film like no other that Film Threat magazine notoriously dubbed one of the top “25 underground films you must see”! Trailer edited by @bartuskaaaron ! @charlespinion @hollywoodtheatr @splittoothmedia @valbarano @moviemadness_pdx

2025 was a very mixed bag overall, which seems to be the general consensus. Still, there were plenty of good things to celebrate. -I co-authored a new book on Polish cinema and received some very nice advance praise. -Xposure Video is off and running. -Some of my favorite work I’ve done for Split Tooth Media and elsewhere. -Kind words from Steve Wynn on my Dream Syndicate essay. -Finally got to meet Charles Pinion and contribute an essay to the Twisted Issues BluRay. -Some favorite first time watches. -A few things to watch out for in the new year. -10 years with Emmalee and a trip to Iceland. As ever, thanks to everyone who takes an interest in my work and supports it, or just reaches out to chat. Happy New Year everyone.

Happy Halloween. This one is kind of cheating, since Ecco wasn’t technically a horror zine. Focused more on sexploitation and 60s weirdness, Ecco featured some of the most literate, intelligent writing of the entire movement from editor Charles Kilgore. This is where a lot of readers first encountered deep dives into Mondo movies and films that became a staple of Something Weird’s catalog. Kilgore was one of the few people tracking down and speaking with essential figures from the golden era of exploitation: Doug Hobart, C. Davis Smith, and many others whose stories would not have been told otherwise. Feature articles were events, with standouts like the Dirty Western and Swamp Trash editions making a special mark. Most important of all, Steve Bissette’s feature on Abel Gance’s J’Accuse stands as one of my all-time favorite zine pieces, and is the perfect marriage of underground press and serious criticism. Eventually growing to a full magazine format and getting wide distribution, Ecco ended up as one of the longer lasting and more visible zine titles.