The Fangoria Cinestate Scandal

Many in the horror community may have noticed that something is going on at Fangoria and Cinestate. If you read the reporting from the various news outlets, it can be challenging to understand exactly what is going on. Who is Cinestate, Adam Donaghey, and why is everyone distancing themselves from Cinestate?

The horror world is extremely familiar with Fangoria. Kerry O’Quinn and Norman Jacobs founded the magazine. The first issue of Fangoria was printed on July 31, 1979. Before the internet, Fangoria was the most popular magazine for getting exclusive news, interviews, and stories in the horror community. After the internet, Fangoria struggled, as many magazine companies did. In October 2015, the magazine stopped releasing print editions. In February 2018, Fangoria was purchased by Dallas Sonnier through his Cinestate company.

Cinestate

Cinestate is a Dallas-based movie studio. The studio was founded in 2016 by Dallas Sonnier. Cinestate has produced several indie films, including Bone Tomahawk, Brawl in Cell Block 99, The Standoff at Sparrow Creek, and Dragged Across Concrete. In addition to producing movies, Cinestate owns Rebeller, Birth.Movies.Death, and Fangoria. Cinestate wanted to grow Fangoria into movie production, online content, and podcasts.

Who is Adam Donaghey?

Adam Donaghey is a producer, production manager, and actor with over 55 film credits. He served as an Executive Producer for Cinestate films VFW and Satanic Panic. Adam also worked as a Producer on Cinestate’s The Standoff at Sparrow Creek.

On April 27, 2020, Adam Donaghey was arrested and charged with one count of sexual assault of a child.

He was released on April 27, 2020, under the conditions that he is not allowed to see the woman or her family or be near any place they frequent and must stay away from minors, stay sober, submit to random drug testing, and not possess a deadly weapon. He will be tried in the 265^th Criminal District Court in Dallas on a date that has not been set yet.

After Donaghey’s arrest and release, new allegations have surfaced. According to the Daily Beast, Adam Donaghey has a reputation for being the “Harvey Weinstein of Indie Film.” It is alleged that it is an open secret within the entertainment industry. Companies like Cinestate and Fangoria has ignored these allegations and continued to employ him.

To prove their point, the website offered up audio of Adam Donaghey sexually harassing a crewmember in 2014. The audio has been circulated around the entertainment industry.

The Aftermath

Days after the audio was released, those who hosted podcasts on the Fangoria Podcast Network, including Shock Waves, Casualty Friday (Felissa Rose, Tiffany Shepis, and Kane Hodder), Mick Garris, and others all took their shows off the podcast network. Joe Bob Briggs has announced that he is leaving Fangoria and Cinestate’s Rebeller.

The editors of Cinestate’s Birth.Movies.Death and Fangoria issued a joint statement that has been widely covered.

The statement reads, “We at Birth.Movies.Death and Fangoria are troubled and angered by the recent Daily Beast report citing Cinestate’s unsafe, toxic film sets. After the article’s publication, Cinestate CEO Dallas Sonnier encouraged us to publicly speak our minds on the subject.”

Birth.Movies.Death and Fangoria editors continue with a list of demands from Cinestate, which includes formulating an action plan, mandatory sexual-harassment training, a donation to anti-sexual misconduct organization, and editorial freedom for Fangoria.

They go on to say, “Cinestate can decide to continue our compensation and employment or not, but the undersigned will not be performing any of our salaried duties for the company until the above questions are answered, and the above actions are performed, to our satisfaction.”

Dallas Sonnier responded to their statement by saying, “My Fango & BMD editors have my full support in speaking their minds. I have never silenced anyone in my entire career, and I’ve already had a respectful discussion with them for the future health of our company and brands. I own up to past mistakes and invite people to hold me accountable, as I lay out a course of action we pledge to follow.”

Reports have now surfaced that Fangoria is looking for someone to buy the brand. While Fangoria and BMD editors can refuse to work, the companies cannot force Cinestate to sell either brand to a buyer.

Cinestate owns and controls all material from over 300 issues of Fangoria magazine over the last 39 years. Cinestate has editorial control over Fangoria, which means Cinestate can dictate to Fangoria what they can and cannot publish. Cinestate does not have editorial control over Birth.Movies.Death.

It is unclear what Cinestate will now do. They could sell Fangoria. They could bring in new staff and continue to publish the magazine. Or they could reform and put into place safeguards that would prevent predatory behavior. I know that horror fans wish the best for Fangoria. Hopefully, Cinestate will make the right decision.