Fanzcene!

Youtube personality Greg “Fanzcene” is both a lover and champion of great (and not so great) cinema. Weekly the influencer reviews new releases and re-releases, gives his thoughts on the current state of entertainment and interviews fellow fans and industry insiders alike. Mr. Fanzcene took some time to talk about not only his work but his views on how we ended up in such a state where more and more fans of entertainment are mining old and forgotten works of cinematic art and trash alike.

First off, can you explain the name Fanzcene?

When I started my channel, I wanted to come up with a name that would capture what I was trying to do and be a little weird. So I thought about how we used to have Fanzines about our favorite nerd stuff and how I wanted my channel to be the scene where we could geek out. So I created FanZcene Vids. I added the Z where the s would be because it seemed just weird enough and oddly 90s.

A Large part of your channel’s message is about the virtues of physical media. Explain why that is such an important issue for you and your followers.

I’ve been collecting physical media since I was a kid, always been a movie lover. As I was trying to find my footing in the early days of my channel, it just seemed natural to talk about my love of movies and show some DVDs and blu-rays of the movies I was talking about. Noticed that even with all the streaming taking over there were a lot of people watching that also loved physical media and would tell me how they collect too. It became the number one topic for my channel and something I’ve always been passionate about. Physical media is still so important, as collectors we see with digital media and streaming that they’re not the same as a physical copy. With streaming and digital the movies and shows we grew up with are being edited, deemed inappropriate for audiences, and in some cases just not found anymore. Physical media is so much more than just owning a disc, it’s something tangible that you can hold, own, and know it can’t be changed or taken from you. It’s a link to the past when entertainment was entertaining and escapism. With a lot of entertainment today it’s more about disposable content and messaging. It’s seems collectors are preserving film history more than the studios or the big streamers. Plus, with physical media it allows me to branch into so many other topics within my nerdiness, from horror, sci-fi, comics, 80s/90s stuff, and so much more. Also physical media is not only movies, but actual books, records, CDs, comics, or anything tangible not digital. We’ve been pushed so far into living our lives in the digital world that I feel physical media brings myself and my audience back to the real world. It’s like the community we once had when we went to the video store or other actual brick and mortar stores.

Have you faced any ridicule from Internet trolls about your passion for physical media? I assume that your home must be a museum of sorts.

Yes I have faced some ridicule. For the most part the ones who watch and comment agree with me and are friendly, however I’ve had a few call me childish, preachy, and proceed to tell me how physical media is dead and no one wants there houses cluttered with plastic. One person continuously calls me Fagzcene. It doesn’t really bother me, people have their own opinions and if they feel the need to be mean and mock me that’s on them. I try not to feed the trolls it’s not worth it.

What are peoples’ reaction when they end up in your home to see all that you’ve acquired?

Honestly, I don’t get a lot of people visit me that’s never seen my collection. For the most part people can’t believe I have what I have and say things like, “I’m glad people like you still exist and collect this stuff, we all will be coming to you one day when the internet goes down.” I really only collect what I know I will watch, read, listen to, or have meant something to me. It’s like a time capsule of past decades. I did a documentary on Why We Love The Video Store, and one of my interviewees, Brian Q, said we collect because we’re trying to chase the memory of the video store and the community we lost. I really felt that and I believe that is very true.

I have a collection of DVDs that I’m fairly proud of but one thing that I have to face is at this moment if I were to watch one disc every day it would take me over a year to do, which at least this point my life I don’t have the time to do. Does that reality ever affect you and make you feel frustrated or insane?

 With the amount I’ve collected it does cross my mind that I may never be able to watch everything I own for a second time. Doesn’t really frustrate me, because I’ve made a decision to only buy what I like and to watch what I buy, not just leave it unopened or sitting on my shelf. I figure when I get older I’ll be able to watch most of what I have or at least try to. Really just happy to have as much as I do, and if I never buy anything else I’ll never run out of entertainment.

I was recently finishing watching the epic documentary series “In Search of Darkness“ and there you were giving a testimony on horror films of the 80s during the credits! How did that feel when you got to see yourself in such a prominent production that I assume has been viewed at least hundreds of thousands if not millions?

 Man, when I saw my testimonial made it into the end credits of In Search Of Darkness 3 I was blown away. To be in a documentary, as small as just a fan of 80s horror doing a minute testimonial, and sharing the screen with the likes of John Carpenter, Joe Bob Briggs, Joe Dante, Linnea Quigley, Tom Atkins, and Barbara Crampton I couldn’t believe it. To think that probably millions of people have seen it, just blows my mind.

What are your goals with your YouTube channel? What would be a dream job that worked in all of your passions that you express on your channel?

Right now my goals with the channel is to grow in subscribers and views to make it bigger. The bigger audience, support, and views it will help with the ultimate goal of being able to make my own movies. I would love to make some cheesy b-movies and more special interest docs. Hopefully then I would be able to have physical media of my own work. That’s the dream. Would love to do this all independently and build an alternative to Hollywood. So many of us need and want different options in entertainment.

What doors has having the channel opened for you? I know you’ve gotten to interview some players in the industry and other prominent influencers.

The doors my channel has opened have been few but incredible for a small-town kid like myself. I’ve been able to see some Full Moon Features movies before release, got to interview Adam Marcus director of Jason Goes To Hell, interview David Weiner director of the In Search Of Darkness docs, interview Thomas Seymour director of the VHS Massacre docs, make friends with bigger YouTubers, and step foot into a world that may allow me to make my own movies one day. I’m still small in the world of YouTube, but making connections and building on my dreams has been the best door I could open.

This may be just the old guy in me talking, but it seems like every time I try to watch some of the new hot movies or TV shows I am usually very disappointed or bored. Then I find myself watching your channel, Robot Head, the Critical Drinker, John Nolte‘s reviews and others in that vein for maybe moral support or to help me feel like I’m not so alone in this assessment. It seems like even in the 80s and 70s that movies at their worst were still more compelling than a lot of the more recent so-called cream of the crop content. Do you feel the same way or do you have a mixed opinion on the state of modern Hollywood?

I feel exactly the same way and those are some pretty big guys you put me in there with, I’m honored. It seems that most entertainment today is just disposable content and messaging. Hollywood has lost the art of creativity and escapism. Even though everything is made to make money, those movies from the 70s, 80s and 90s that were so bad they’re good, felt like the creative were at least trying to entertain. Nobody sets out to make a bad movie but feels like Hollywood today is all about making bad movies and don’t care. I mean they’re not even so bad they’re good today. A lot of people like you, young and old, have turned to YouTubers and independent entertainment to be entertained and found a community where they’re not alone. That’s why I do my channel and try to inform, entertain, and have fun.

OK so give us your top 10 horror films of the 1970s and 80s. And then give us some of those films that maybe aren’t great but have enough charm or redemption that you like to champion. 

That might be a problem. Honestly I don’t like doing list of top 10s. There are so many movies I love from so many subgenres of horror it’s impossible for me to list. Of course there are movies like Halloween and Exorcist that are incredible, but then you have things like Ghoulies and ’71s Dracula Vs Frankenstein which are also incredible just in a different way. I can’t ever decide which to put on a list of 10; too many good ones.

I’m a defender of bad movies, love a lot of them. Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers is something most consider a bad movie, but I think it is great. Linnea Quigley and Michelle Bauer going topless and fighting with chainsaws set in a backdrop of an old Hollywood noir picture, you can’t help but enjoy.

Anything by Roger Corman or Charles Band are gold. They have charm and are fun to watch from good to man that was so bad it’s good.