The last couple of years have been a great time to be a Full Moon fan. There have been many new films, and a lot of them have been great bursts of genre fun. There was also the debut of Full Moon Streaming, a Netflix-like venture that I was initially skeptical of, but after subscribing I can attest to its excellence and wealth of great content that extends throughout the entire Full Moon universe and beyond. And now Full Moon brings its fans yet another great new addition to its arsenal: Delirium magazine, edited by current Fangoria editor Chris Alexander.

Simply put, if you’re a Full Moon fan that likes a good horror mag (and who doesn’t), Delirium is a great magazine. But if you’re still on the fence about purchasing an issue or subscribing, you probably want more concrete details as to why it’s so great. First off, the printing itself is superb. This is a high-quality, full-color magazine printed on excellent quality paper with a thick card stock cover. If you were so inclined, these luscious pictures would be worthy of cutting out and placing on your bedroom wall or other such place of honor.

This reminds me of a time back when I was a young, budding horror fan. My friend used to bring his Fangorias to school and we’d cut out the best photos from them and tape them to our desks. Who knows why our 6th grade teacher allowed us to do this with gruesome images from various ’80s & ’90s horror films, but whatever, she let it slide and it will always be a treasured memory. Looking through Delirium brought back that surge of flipping through a horror mag, reminding me of the power that a simple printed picture used to contain. The availability of information and photos through the Internet has largely killed this periodical medium, but in my opinion it’s still worth saving and Delirium does a great job at that.

Delirium even betters the old Fangorias by having better quality paper, as well as devoting a couple of whole pages to poster reproductions (Issue #1 contains these for The Velvet Vampire and Tourist Trap), as well as a two-page repro of a Japanese Re-Animator poster at the center of the magazine (to make for easy removal!). Maybe everyone won’t think this is as cool as I do, but I LOVE posters, so this small touch goes a long way in cementing the Delirium reading experience into my heart.

It’s not all about the pictures, though! There’s also a whole mess of interesting articles that seek to flesh out the Full Moon world for those interested. The main focus of issue #1 is Re-Animator so we get a great interview with director Stuart Gordon, as well as shorter pieces with actress Barbara Crampton & composer Richard Band. Other articles shed light on some of the recent developments at Full Moon Streaming, namely the acquisition of 50 titles from Blue Underground and the recent unveiling of the new Wizard Studios for independent filmmakers to submit their films. The first three of these independent Wizard films are showcased in interviews with their directors about the challenges of working within a limited budget and other relevant topics. I wish all the magazine’s interviews went into more depth — or at least the same depth that the Stuart Gordon interview does — but I also realize there are only so many pages!

All this high praise probably sounds like I’m shilling for Full Moon after they sent me a review copy of the magazine, but I can assure you that this isn’t the case. I’m a big time Full Moon fan, going all the way back to my youth. As with pretty much every movie fan my age (32) and older, trips to the video store were mesmerizing, memorable excursions into an oasis that offered portals into a myriad of worlds both explored and unknown. My parents had an aversion to horror and low-budget films, so the VHS tapes put out by Charles Band and Full Moon were always just outside of my reach. But thanks to that friend with the Fangorias that I mentioned earlier, I was able to sneak in a few Full Moon titles such as some of the Puppet Master films and Dollman. I was always interested in seeing “the ones that got away,” and so my review series here (which is my attempt to review every film in the Full Moon catalog) was born in 2010. I love their films and Delirium is a great addition to their lineup, offering nostalgia both in its format and in the films it covers. If you’re a fan, definitely give it a shot.

Delirium is available for purchase at the Full Moon Streaming site, both as single issues ($10 each) or as a 1 year/6 issue subscription ($55). Issue #1 has been on sale for a while, and Issue #2, featuring Tombs of the Blind Dead on the cover, was just put up for purchase earlier this week! Get ’em while they’re hot!

Disclosure: Full Moon provided me with a review copy of Delirium #1.