CINEFANTASTIQUE ONLINE is the current incarnation of Cinefantastique magazine – the review of horror, fantasy and science fiction films. From 1970 through 2000, the print version of Cinefantastique – otherwise known as the “magazine with a sense of wonder” – was published and edited by founder Frederick S. Clarke, who offered readers the most insightful reviews, the best in-depth interviews, and the most detailed retropsectives. After Clarke’s death, editorial supervision fell to Dan Persons; later, the magazine was sold to Mark Altman, who changed the name to CFQ and published it until 2006. The current online version was born in 2007. In 2009, Cinefantastique was purchased by Spherewerx. To learn more about the history of Cinefantastique, click here.
STEVE BIODROWSKI is the administrator-editor of Cinefantastique Online. Steve has been coveraging science-fiction, fantasy and horror films for over 20 years. He started with Cinefantastique back in 1985, quickly becoming the magazine’s Los Angeles correspondent. In 1993 he became the editor of Cinefantastique’s co-publication Imagi-Movies, which was folded into Cinefantastique after two years, with Steve becoming the West Coast Editor. In 1999, Steve left the magazine to become the Vice President of Editorial Content at Fandom.Com. His reviews, interviews, retrospectives and other articles have appeared in Movieline, Premiere, Le Cinephage, The Dark Side, and Fear; he also served as the Executive Editor at Cinescape Online. His other websites include The Script Analyst (which provides assistance to screenwriters) and Hollywood Gothique (which covers fantasy film, mystery movie, Halloween horror, and sci-fi cinema events in the Los Angeles area). You can now read his regular ramlbings in Cinefantastique on all things horror, sci-fi, and fantasy, by clicking here.
DENNIS FISCHER is a long-time contributor to Cinefantastique magazine. In addition, he is the author of Horror Film Directors and Science Fiction Film Directors (both from McFarland).
DREW FITZPATRICK: By day, this writer toils at publishing in the black heart of Manhattan. But by night, he dons a pair of fetishistic black leather gloves and grinds out the “Internet’s only horror-themed blog”: The Blood-Spattered Scribe! [EDITORIAL INSERT: Only?]
DAN CZIRAKY’s interest in science-fiction and horror began at an early age. He remembers seeing 1931’s Dracula on TV when he was only three years old! He fondly remembers watching original, first-run episodes of STAR TREK, DARK SHADOWS, and KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER. Cziraky has amassed a vast collection of science-fiction, horror, fantasy, and mystery books and videos. He has turned this knowledge into a career as a horror/sci-fi movie expert, writing reviews and articles for Cinefantastique, Imagi-Movies, Toxic Horror, The Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope, HORROR: The Newsmagazine of the Horror & Dark Fantasy Fields, Anime-Fantastique, Castle Rock: The Official Stephen King Newsletter, Visions, Draculina, Dark Muse, SPFX, Horror Biz, and Scream Queens Illustrated. He was associate editor for the first four issues of Femme Fatales magazine, and a creative consultant on A.J. Ryan’s The Electric Witch: Thoughts & Prayers. He was a member of the Joe Bob Briggs Board of Drive-In Experts: Horror Committee, from 1995-97. He was a columnist and critic for both Fandom.com and Cinescape Online. Recently, his short stories “None of Your Business” and “Tim Burton’s Red Reign” were posted at Vampress.net. Today, Cziraky makes his home in the southern Piedmont region of North Carolina, about fifteen miles from Charlotte. He is currently collaborating on a horror/parody novel, Of Skeletons in the Closet, with noted fantasy artist Jon Zuchowski. He also writes action figure reviews and the “Darth Zirock’s Interrogation Droid” column on collecting Star Wars memorabilia and toys for swCollector.com.
LAWRENCE FRENCH celebrated his 20th anniversary as a contributor to Cinefantastique Magazine with his cover story on the making of THE RETURN OF THE KING. As Cinefantastique’s longtime San Francisco correspondent, he has written numerous stories about Pixar and Lucasfilm, and interviewed such genre stalwarts as Vincent Price, Tim Burton, Ray Harryhausen, John Lasseter, Phil Tippett and Ray Bradbury. He is also the editor of the highly regarded website on Orson Welles, Wellesnet.com. His book as editor of Richard Matheson’s Edgar Allan Poe scripts for THE HOUSE OF USHER and THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM was published by Gauntlet Press in 2007, with a second volume on TALES OF TERROR and THE RAVEN due out in 2008. For Cinefantastique Online, he curently writes the regular column Supernal Dreams.
TODD FRENCH is resident of Fountain Valley CA and a longtime enthusiast of Fantastic Cinema, especially giallo maestro Dario Argento. He wrote two (produced) scripts for the 3rd season of MTV’s AEON FLUX, co-wrote a proposed sequel for Kevin Lindenmuth’s ADDICTED TO MURDER series, and is currently working on a screenplay. He has had reviews published in Orange Coast Weekend, The Daily Pilot, and has had poems and short fiction published in various genre semi-pro ‘zines, including The Magazine of Space and Time.
TIM JANSON is a native Michigander with a life long love of horror and fantasy. He has written hundreds of reviews, feature articles, and interviews for numerous online and print publications.
ALAN JONES, a specialist in horror, fantasy, and science fiction film, became Cinefantastique’s London correspondent in 1977. Alan has several books and DVD audio commentaries to his credit, many focusing on the work of Italian horror auteur Dario Argento. In between his other gigs, Jones drops in to Cinefantastique from time to time to contribute a column examining the British horror scene, London After Midnight.
RANDALL LARSON, the long-time soundtrack columnist for Cinefantastique magazine, returns in the same capacity for Cinefantastique Online. He also works as a columnist for buysoundtrax.com and as a contributing writer-reviewer for Music from the Movies, Film Music Magazine, Cemetery Dance magazine. HIs prevous credits include editing gigs at Soundtrack Magazine and CinemaScore, The Film Music Journal. His current semi-regular column for Cinefantastique is The Score.
DAN PERSONS is a New York-based writer who first got bit by the Cinefantastique bug when he encountered the 1979 double issue devoted to the sci-fi classic FORBIDDEN PLANET. He contributed for many years to the magazine, first as a correspondent, then as an editor.
TOM POWERS was Editor of Starlog.com from 2005-2008. He’s been involved in independent filmmaking, voice acting, and also writes fiction and fact-based articles elsewhere as Thomas V. Powers.
DR. CRAIG D. REID wrote a cover story for Imagi-Movies on fantasy films from Asia before going on to write a regular column for Cinefantastique magazine called “Fant-Asia.” He continues to cover the genre for the online incarnation of CFQ.
SCOTT SHOYER grew up on a foundation of Universal monster and Hammer horror films and HAS never looked back. If it’s in the realm of horror he’ll watch it – blockbuster Hollywood releases to independent horror flicks. Scott also run the website Anything Horror.
JOHN T. STANHOPE: Born in the small northern California town of Oroville, John grew up loving film and film music – fantasy & science fiction have always been favorites, with the original STAR TREK series and original STAR WARS films being huge influences. He wound up going to film school at San Francisco State University, then transferred to and graduated from California State University, Northridge with a degree in film production. After graduation he worked in various aspects of the film industry for several years (his last stint was as Assistant Visual Effects Editor on the 1999 film version of MY FAVORITE MARTIAN) before moving to Colorado Springs, CO. He and his wife currently own a Coffee & Tea house called Pikes Perk (named after Colorado’s famous Pikes Peak mountain), and John contributes film-related articles to the Colorado chapter of YourHub.com, the Colorado Springs newspaper insert for YourHub.com, and Cinefantastiqueonline.com.
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