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The Film Fanzine ArchiveÌýis the result of Professor Oliver Carter’s eight years of research into fan entrepreneurship, which culminated in the bookÌýMaking European Cult Cinema: FanÌýEnterprise in an Alternative EconomyÌý(2018). Before the advent of the internet, fanzines were one of the only ways for fans to connect with one another, share information, and participate in film culture outside of the mainstream. Produced by passionate individuals using typewriters, photocopiers, and mail-order distribution, these publications offered reviews, interviews, artwork, and commentary that major film magazines often ignored. They also provided spaces for fans to network and share materials through classified sections, revealing a hidden economy of cultural production.ÌýÌý

This archive brings together over 300 individual fanzines—primarily focused on horror, cult, and exploitation cinema—produced in the UK, Europe, and the USA between the early 1980s and late 1990s. It includes rare and self-published titles such asÌýSheer Filth,ÌýCold Sweat,ÌýHidden Detail,ÌýandÌýIn the Flesh, alongside more widely circulated fan publications likeÌýSamhain, TheÌýDark SideÌýand Video Watchdog. Together, these fanzines reveal how films fans not only consumed but actively shaped film culture: writing reviews, uncovering lost films, and even organising screenings and festivals against a backdrop of censorship and prohibition.Ìý

The Film Fanzine Archive serves as a vital resource for researchers, students, and anyone interested in underground publishing, horror cinema, or media history. It captures the pre-digital DIY spirit of fandom, revealing how the fanzine format evolved from a physical cut-and-paste format to a digitally produced format,whileÌýdocumenting the networks of creativity and labour that sustained it. By preserving and cataloguing these ephemeral materials, the archive highlights the importance of fan-made media in understanding broader film cultures and economies, both past and present.