Who was Chas Balun?
Chas was a journalist (he was the EIC of Deep Red as well as a frequent contributor to Fangoria and its spin-off Gorezone), author, artist, screenwriter commentator, critic, and all around champion of gore, exploitation, and independent horror during the conservative ‘80s. He lost a lengthy battle with cancer on December 18th, 2009.
To check out Chas' work, check out his websites (#1 & #2) or get some of his books on Amazon.
What is the 'gore score'?
The gore score was a rating system (on a 1-10 scale) that measured the amount of bloodletting in a movie that Chas included with his reviews in addition to a customary one to four skull rating that measured the overall quality of the film. Both systems can best be understood by the original baselines established by Chas (reprinted from Deep Red Alert number 1):
Who are you?
I (rupan777 or Coffin Jon, depending on how you've gotten to know me) am not a friend or acquaintance of Chas' (but we did briefly trade bootleg VHS tapes at one time), only a major fan. To me, Chas was THE mouthpiece for the generation of horror fans in the '80s and '90s who were tired of crappy, horror movies with clownish antagonists and wanted the harder stuff. This blog will NOT reprint or reproduce any of Chas' original work (though I may reference it) but look at movies under the same gore score microscope instead.
My personal/Japanese film blog is here if you want to check it out
