Adam Chimeo
Mark your calendar for Sunday, April 18 at 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT for the 2021 FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards. This year’s show is groundbreaking for two reasons. The first is obvious: the pandemic has forced the scaremony to be filmed and hosted virtually. But out of that challenge, a beautiful friendship was forged—Shudder has become the home for the exclusive streaming rights to the big show.
“We’re thrilled to partner with our friends at FANGORIA, a horror institution, to present their annual Chainsaw Awards, televised for the first time in years. We hope to bring Shudder members and horror fans together for a vibrant celebration of the genre we love so much,” said Craig Engler, GM for Shudder.
The Chainsaw Awards started in 1992. Bruce Campbell was the first-ever host, and Jonathan Demme’s masterpiece, The Silence of the Lambs, stole the show by winning Best Studio/Big Budget Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay.
This year the show is hosted by actor and writer David Dastmalchian (Ant-Man and the Wasp) and features a cavalcade of stars including Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween), Keith David (The Thing), Gigi Saul Guerrero (director, Culture Shock), Issa Lopez (director, Tigers Are Not Afraid), Kevin Smith (Clerks), Tananarive Due (Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror), Blumhouse founder Jason Blum, James Jude Courtney (Halloween), Doug Jones (The Shape of Water) and drag artist and The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula Season 2 winner Biqtch Puddin’ as presenters.
“The Chainsaw Awards are an institution in horror, having existed in the magazine since 1992. Bringing them back as an actual event has been a dream, and airing them on Shudder is something we’ve been working toward since we resurrected the magazine,” said FANGORIA editor Phil Nobile Jr.
Categories include Best Wide Release Movie, Best Limited Release Movie, Best First Feature, Best Foreign Movie, Best Lead Performance, and Best Creature Feature. A list of the films and series nominated for a Chainsaw Award can be found on FANGORIA’s Letterboxd account, but a few of the films featured include The Invisible Man, Possessor, His House, Freaky, The Dark and the Wicked, and Host.
Catch the horror on the “Shudder TV” feed, which is available only on Shudder’s apps and online at Shudder.com. This will be the first time the Chainsaw Awards will be televised globally. If you can’t watch the night of, fear not: you’ll be able to see the program on FANGORIA’s socials after the event.
Also, keep an eye out for my review of The Chainsaw Awards’ Top 26 ‘Best’ Pictures on Horror Obsessive in the next couple of days. See you on the blood-red carpets!
