The Dark Side Magazine Link

For more information on subscription rates and rare back issues, visit the official Dark Side online store. Keep watching the dark.

Like all print media, The Dark Side has faced the existential threat of the digital age. The magazine has changed ownership and publication frequency several times over the past decade. As of 2025, it operates on a quarterly schedule, moving away from the monthly grind of the 90s. This has led to a debate among fans: Is the magazine still relevant?

In an era where horror journalism has been reduced to clickbait listicles and hyperbolic Twitter threads, one publication has remained a tactile, ink-stained bastion for the truly degenerate. For over three decades, The Dark Side Magazine has not just covered horror—it has lived inside its rotting walls. To the uninitiated, the name might suggest a generic gothic blog. But to the dedicated gorehound, the cult film enthusiast, and the scholar of cinematic sleaze, The Dark Side is nothing short of a bible. the dark side magazine

Then there was the legendary . While Balun was an American writer (famous for his Deep Red magazine), his presence in The Dark Side bridged the gap between the US and UK scenes. His "Piece o' Mind" column was a chaotic, enthusiastic love letter to practical effects and DIY filmmaking. Balun hated CGI with a passion, and his rants against "computer cartoon bullshit" became legendary. He introduced a generation of British readers to the concept of the "guerrilla filmmaker."

In this climate, the mainstream film magazines— Empire , Total Film , and even the venerable Fangoria —often had to tread carefully. They focused on the Hollywood mainstream, the Freddy Kruegers and Jason Voorhees who had become pop culture icons. But there was a hunger for the darker stuff—the Italian gialli, the cannibal films, the underground SOV (Shot on Video) nasties, and the Japanese extreme cinema that was seeping into the country via import stores. For more information on subscription rates and rare

, the founding editor, set the tone. His editorials were often rants against the hypocrisy of the censors and the blandness of modern Hollywood. He was the curmudgeonly uncle of the horror community, guiding readers through the muck.

Other regular contributors, such as and Sharon Siddoway , brought diverse perspectives, covering everything from the Gothic romances of Hammer to the splatterpunk of Troma. The magazine also fostered a community feel; the letters page was a bustling forum where readers debated the merits of subtitles versus dubbing, shared tape-trading lists, and organized fan clubs. The magazine has changed ownership and publication frequency

The Dark Side has never been a publication for the faint of heart, and that has gotten it into trouble. Throughout the 1990s, newsagents in the UK and Australia frequently pulled the magazine from shelves. Retailers cited obscenity laws, specifically regarding issues that covered the so-called "Nasties 2" list—films like The Burning and The Driller Killer .

Here’s a concise write-up for The Dark Side magazine:

He won. This legal victory was a watershed moment for genre journalism, establishing that critical discussion of violent media was protected speech. The Dark Side didn’t just report on transgression; it legitimized it in the eyes of the law.

In the pre-internet era, when the whispers of forbidden cinema were passed around school playgrounds like contraband, there was one publication that served as the bible for the curious, the rebellious, and the macabre. Before streaming services offered every obscure title with a single click, horror fans had to hunt for their fixes. They relied on grainy VHS tapes, cut by the censor’s scissors, and the monthly arrival of a glossy, blood-splattered periodical that promised to show them what the mainstream refused to acknowledge.