2022 is shaping up to be a hell of a busy year for Corey Taylor. Not content with dropping Slipknot’s seventh album The End, So Far and touring on the back of it, he’s now expanding his personal empire by setting himself up as a horror mogul.
Corey has announced that he recently bought the rights to iconic horror mag Famous Monsters and plans to relaunch it this year. He also intends to use the name to produce films, set up conventions and even make toys.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, the singer said: “Our job is to build a foundation to bring Famous Monsters into the modern age, while also honouring the legacy that came before. It’s the whole reason that we were fans to begin with.”
Founded in 1958, Famous Monsters was one of the first magazines dedicated purely to horror. The singer says that he intends to digitise every back issue of the magazine, original copies of which currently sell for stupid money at auctions.
He added that he also wants to set up a Famous Monsters convention that visits different cities every year (“Almost like the Super Bowl or Wrestlemania”), and ultimately relaunch the magazine “as an annual or biannual publication, using editorial concepts from past issues in new ways.”
The singer also said that he planned to make his own horror movies under the Famous Monsters name.
“I’ve been writing my own scripts now for the last five, six years.” he told Rolling Stone. “And I’m trying to get some of my stuff into production right now. There’s a handful that are very, very close. So anything that I put out is instantly going to get the Famous Monsters logo on it, just to build that brand recognition.”
Corey recently addressed the divisive reception Slipknot’s The End, So Far received among some of the band’s fans, who thought it was too experimental or not heavy enough.
"When people hear it, they go, 'Well, that’s a departure,’” he told the NME. “It’s like, What are you, fucking new?’ We’ve spent 20-plus years throwing people for a loop.”
He added: “You also have to remember a large part of the population are also people who have created petitions against every Batman that has ever been fucking cast in a movie, and they’ve always been wrong. Who’s really right here? You fucking idiots, sometimes you just need to shut the fuck up and listen to what we give you.”
