You just can't beat the sight of Angus Scrimm as The Tall Man pitching FANGORIA subscriptions (I have to assume that Robert Englund proved to be out of Fango's modest price range!). Looking at this late '80s commercial, I find it funny how relatively young Scrimm looks here. I thought he looked ancient then (no offense to Mr. Scrimm!) but now - well, you'd have to describe him as being downright spry! As Monty Burns might say "who is that young go-getter?" And speaking of the passage of time, when Scrimm opens that coffin, it's like looking at Fango's Golden Age. At the time, I'll admit I got pretty sick of seeing Freddy Krueger on the cover but in hindsight, those were really Fango's salad days.
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9 comments:
This is great. He was a Shakespearean actor, no? So great in Phantasm and seeming like he had a good time!
I don't know if Scrimm was a Shakespearean actor - but if he wasn't, he sure could've been! Seeing him in this commercial is definitely a kick. It's a shame that The Tall Man and the Phantasm series never broke as big as other, sometimes less deserving, horror franchises.
Have you seen the 70s movie Scream Bloody Murder? Scrimm has an early role in it, circa 1971 or 1972 (you can see The Omega Man on a cinema marquee at one point) under his real name of Rory Guy.
Haven't seen it - never heard of it, in fact! Great title, though!
If only they had done an animated Count Fangor for the commercial.
Ha, that would've been great. But aside from the fact that I think Count Fangor had already been abandoned as the mag's mascot, I think we're already seeing a puny budget stretched to its limit. I don't think any kind of animation was in the cards, sadly!
"FAN-goria"? Is that some alternate pronunciation I'm unaware of, or have I been saying it wrong all these years?
I saw this for the first time like 6 or 7 years back on an older Phantasm special edition and I loved it! I still can't even believe there were ever Fango commercials to begin with and I wonder how often this one aired.? Still, it is very cool and you are so right about this era being Fango's best.
Will, I'm not quite what the right way to say Fangoria is. It's one of those words you always read but seldom hear spoken! I guess that's why it's just easier to call it Fango!
Matt, I saw this air a few times back in the day. Like around '88 or so. And even though I still love the magazine, Fango was in perfect synch with the times and with the fans back in the '80s.
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