Robert "Bob" Martin (October 8, 1948 – July 20, 2020) was the original editor of ''

Fangoria ''Fangoria'' is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr. The magazine was originally released i ...

'', an American

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

fan magazine A fan magazine is a commercially written and published magazine intended for the amusement of fan (aficionado), fans of the popular culture subject matter that it covers. It is distinguished from a scholarly, literary or trade magazine on the one h ...

. Martin steered the publication from 1979 to 1986, during which

slasher film A slasher film is a subgenre of horror films involving a killer or a group of killers stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a generic ...

s were popular.

Career

A collaborative relationship with writer-director

Frank Henenlotter Frank Henenlotter (born August 29, 1950) is an American film director, screenwriter and film historian. He is known primarily for directing horror comedies, especially '' Basket Case'' (1982), ''Brain Damage'' (1988), and '' Frankenhooker'' (199 ...

resulted in a novelization Martin adapted from Henenlotter's feature film ''

Brain Damage Brain injury (BI) is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors. In general, brain damage refers to significant, undiscriminating trauma-induced damage. A common ...

'' and two produced screenplays, '' Basket Case 3: The Progeny'' and ''

Frankenhooker ''Frankenhooker'' is a 1990 American black comedy horror film co-written and directed by Frank Henenlotter. Loosely inspired by Mary Shelley's 1818 novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'', the film stars James Lorinz as medical school ...

'', with Martin writing initial drafts from Henenlotter's detailed outlines. In 1994, Martin, under the name "Ed Flixman" became editor of ''Sci-Fi Entertainment'' (later renamed to '' Sci Fi magazine''), the "official magazine" of the Sci-Fi Channel, and continued in that capacity through October 1996. His column of film news continued to run in that magazine, until a blistering argument with the new editor regarding remarks in Martin's column that the new editor feared might incur the wrath of the Sci-Fi Channel. In December 1996, Martin relocated from his native New York to Los Angeles, where he mostly worked as an Internet techie, but also wrote press materials for a few films, most notably '' The People vs. Larry Flynt'', in which his description of Flynt as "the last champion of the sexual revolution" stirred the wrath of

Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem ( ; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social movement, social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. ...

, generating considerable press for the film. (In Martin's original, the phrase had been "the last champion of a failed sexual revolution.") As of March 2006, he was working as a blackjack dealer in Las Vegas. That career was cut short by a stroke that left him incapable of handling cards or chips as professionally required. After a period spent on disability, Martin joined the horror portal

Dread Central Dread Central is an American website founded in 2006 that is dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews. It covers horror films, comics, novels, and toys. Dread Central has won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website f ...

as a regular contributor in May 2009.

Death

Robert Martin died on July 20, 2020, at age 71.

References

External links

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40th Birthday rant, 1988Why I left Fangoria by Robert MartinBob Martin
at

1948 births 2020 deaths American male novelists American science fiction writers {{US-sf-writer-stub