The appearance of a new horror magazine makes perfect sense: After all, The Blair Witch Project and The Sixth Sense have been two of the year's surprise success stories, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer and The X-Files remain among the most slavishly adored shows on TV. Plus, current horror magazines either seem immersed in the past (Famous Monsters Of Filmland) or in the horror equivalent of hardcore porn (Fangoria). Looking surprisingly respectable, Wicked could fill the need for a publication dealing seriously with the genre. It could, but based on its first issue, it won't. A glossy, competent fanzine, Wicked seems content to recycle puff pieces without adding such burdensome elements as commentary or insight. A cover feature on Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow (one of two cover stories depending on which "special collector's edition" you choose) is filled with the startling revelation that everyone involved in the film is really excited about it. An alternate cover story on Scream 3, all six paragraphs of it, offers even fewer insights from departed writer Kevin Williamson, while interesting interviews with Neil Gaiman and Blair's Heather Donahue could just as easily have appeared in any magazine anywhere. It's difficult to guess Wicked's target audience: Veteran horror fans will see it as fluffy, while neophytes won't find anything new. More importantly, those attracted to horror for its ability to challenge and subvert as well as thrill will find nothing of value in what amounts to a compendium of press releases. Maybe the best indication of Wicked's lack of imagination is its first issue's centerpiece, an article on the 50 greatest horror films of all time. That's the sort of desperate filler usually reserved for publications much longer in the tooth, a predicament Wicked seems unlikely to face unless it undergoes a major change of direction.