Table of contents for Issue 199 Mar/Apr 2021 in RUE MORGUE

I met Gary Sherman and Bill Lustig at Fantasia Film Fest in the summer of 2019. Rue Morgue President Rodrigo Gudiño was living in Montreal at the time, so the four of us dined on a patio on a warm August evening. Gary and I became fast friends out of our mutually held attitudes toward the genre, and we’ve kept in touch ever since. As such, interviewing him for the cover story felt almost therapeutic, reconnecting me with the genre in a way I’ve been struggling with lately. In our interview, Gary told me a heartbreaking anecdote about how he learned of the death of Dead & Buried star Jack Albertson on the news, the morning after they had worked together on the film’s ADR. I don’t keep quite such…

DESPITE ITS RECENT PUBLICATION, NAROK HAS INSPIRED AN ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIVE BOOK FROM PAKITO BALINO through French publisher Le Dernier Cri. Just as ero-guro artists inspire and build upon each other’s work, these images of Hell have given birth to a subgenre that could rival Sandro Botticelli’s pieces for The Divine Comedy. Entitled DC Narok – Collective From Hell, the book is a series of 31 vivid silkscreen passages splashed across 52 pages. The gruesome imagery on display here represents a multitude of styles, and is presented with the raw ferocity one might expect from a brutal Thai death metal album’s cover art. A few collage pieces in particular resemble the real gore used for Carcass’ Reek of Putrefaction and the cut-up nightmares seen on Skinny Puppy albums by Fredox, done…

WHAT KIND OF MOVIE CAN YOU MAKE IN A MONTH? Just ask executive producers J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules, who accepted a dare to bring a feature film from conception to world premiere at the closing night of Chicago’s Cinepocalypse Film Festival, in a 30-day period. They not only made the deadline, but they backed a good picture, too. Dementia Part II, which went on to screen at Sitges, Screamfest, and London’s FrightFest, among others, is the black-and-white, blackly comic story of what happens when handyman/ex-con Wendell (Matt Mercer) takes a job at the home of elderly Suzanne Goldblum (Suzanne Voss), who has a toolbox worth of screws loose. It’s a tongue-in-cheek variation on Mike Testin’s 2015 Dementia, with Testin and Mercer teaming up to write, direct, produce and edit…

DRACULA’S DEATH László Tamásfi Strangers From Nowhere Publishing Lest you think that novelizations of popular films are a relatively recent phenomenon, Dracula’s Death is a “fantastical film-novel” published in 1924. It captures the first instance of Dracula (in name only) on film, translating the plot into prose, and is now a lasting relic of the lost silent film. This version of Dracula’s Death is comprised of both the translated novelization and an essay on the history of the film as well as some context regarding the state of lost silent films. Both halves of the book are written and translated by László Tamásfi with illustrations by József Sváb and include many excerpts from news articles from the film’s original release. While the movie had many markers of the famous count…

While true crime is horrifying, it’s not intrinsically part of the horror genre. Of course, many horror novels, films, and even songs have been inspired by the very real evils done by humans. This includes two new books that tap into massive news stories to serve up their thrills and chills. Out March 17 from Simon & Schuster, Stephanie Wrobel’s Darling Rose Gold’s torn-from-the-headlines inspiration is the Gypsy Rose Blanchard case, in which Blanchard spent years undergoing unnecessary medical procedures at the behest of a mother suffering from Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another (better known by its former name, Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy). However, unlike in the real-life case, which saw Blanchard and her boyfriend murder her mother, DRG’s victim Rose Gold testifies against her abuser, playing a vital part…

SOUNDTRACK SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT Perry Botkin BURNING WITCHES RECORDS No one wants to listen to a Christmas record after December, right? Well, if John Carpenter’s Halloween can be enjoyed year-round, so can Perry Botkin’s dissonant themes for Yuletide slasher Silent Night, Deadly Night. Yes, Death Waltz released this soundtrack years ago but now, Burning Witches presents the classic score isolated from the movie’s numerous original songs along with two bonus tracks never before pressed on vinyl, to be enjoyed on its own merits. It all works because, divorced from the film, there is little in the way of holiday themes to be heard in Botkin’s score, which instead favours synth and piano to create chaotic, noisy soundscapes designed to reflect poor Billy’s fractured brain after a series of unfortunate…

LIFE GOT YOU DOWN? FEELING LOW? IS YOUR MORTALITY A SOURCE OF ANXIETY DURING THESE TROUBLED TIMES? Nottingham, UK’s Church of the Cosmic Skull might just have the Kool-Aid to ease your pain… “We are a rock group and spiritual organization,” Church founder and leader Bill Fisher tells Rue Morgue. “I have been interested in the effects of worship music and gospel for a long time, the way a created sense of fear is replaced by joy through music.” Indeed, on its surface, Church of the Cosmic Skull sounds mostly like an odd twist on the essential music of the ’60s and ’70s: Queen, The Beach Boys, Thin Lizzy, and Kansas. But the lyrics point to a preoccupation with much bleaker themes – the nature of evil, the inevitability of…

I FIRST DISCOVERED RM in a record store in Atlanta. It was the Jan/Feb issue (RM#25), with Blood Feast 2 highlighted on the cover. I noticed it mainly because I had recently had the pleasure of working on the film (from start to finish) with Herschell Gordon Lewis and David Friedman, mostly in Abita Springs, Louisiana. It is still one of my fondest memories. I lived in Mississippi at the time, and am now in New Orleans. Anyway, I have purchased every issue since. I really don’t know why I have never subscribed. I know I would save a few bucks (and help y’all out as well), but I still love discovering it on the shelf. When COVID-19 slowed everything to a crawl for a while, I had to order…

VOZIAKOVA ALEKSANDRA LOCATION: Saint Petersburg, Russia INSTAGRAM: @aleksdarkink From nature’s creepy crawlies to creatures out of the cosmos, Voziakova Aleksandra’s black and grey nightmares are worthy of a spot on your skin. “I’m inspired by Russian and foreign folklore, old Russian and European fairy tales,” she tells Rue Morgue. “Sometimes I go to the forest in search of new textures, dark atmosphere, and new forms.” The result is a portfolio stacked with myriad monsters with a diffuse, layered style that conjures the stuff of night terrors. “I consider my tattoos a reflection of my inner world; I draw and tattoo as I perceive it,” she says. “I’m very glad that my clients share this with me. I help bring the devils out.” HAVE A GREAT HORROR TAT? SHARE IT WITH…

IN THE 16TH AND 17TH CENTURIES, SO THE LEGEND GOES, A SCOTSMAN NAMED ALEXANDER “SAWNEY” BEAN SIRED AN INCESTUOUS FAMILY that preyed upon unfortunate travellers, killing and cannibalizing them. They dwelled in a deep seaside cave that allowed them to go undiscovered for decades, until someone managed to survive their attack, leading to the clan’s discovery, arrest, and execution. Historians have debated over the years whether Bean’s story is true (see sidebar), but questions of veracity certainly haven’t impeded the influence of his tale on horror creatives. Works inspired by Bean and his exploits have ranged from the sublime (Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes, Jack Ketchum’s debut novel Off Season) to the… well, beneath contempt (Evil Breed: The Legend of Samhain). Beyond an unrealized period project by Thomas Doran…

SHE WOLF OF THE XX JAKOB’S WIFE Starring Barbara Crampton, Larry Fessenden and Nyisha Bell Directed by Travis Stevens Written by Mark Steensland, Kathy Charles and Travis Stevens AMP International Indie horror producer-turned-director Travis Stevens (Girl on the Third Floor) re-teams with Barbara Crampton and Larry Fessenden of We Are Still Here (2015) for Jakob’s Wife, an uneven but fun bloodsoaked vampire romp. After 30 years of marriage, Anne Fedder (Crampton) is bored. Her pastor husband Jakob (Fessenden) is all Bible-d up and stuffy at best – prone to ignoring or disrespecting his wife at worst. When one of Anne’s old flames returns to town, she’s torn between her commitment to her husband and returning to the life of adventure she left behind decades earlier. But before she can solve…

OUTTA SIGHT THE INVISIBLE MAN APPEARS/THE INVISIBLE MAN VS. THE HUMAN FLY (1949/1957) Blu-ray Starring Chizuru Kitagawa, Takiko Mizunoe, Ryuji Shinagawa and Yoshirô Kitahara Directed by Shinsei Adachi, Shigehiro Fukushima and Mitsuo Murayama Written by Nobuo Adachi and Hajime Takaiwa Arrow Video Though less famous abroad than Toho, Daiei Film Co. Ltd. was one of Japan’s major studios during the country’s golden age of cinema – producing both bona fide artistic masterpieces and populist entertainments to please hungry postwar audiences. Like the other studios, Daiei was more than happy to borrow liberally from Western cinema, and in 1949 it brought the most cerebral of the classic monsters to Japanese screens with The Invisible Man Appears. A loose sequel, The Invisible Man Vs. The Human Fly, hit cinemas in 1957, and…

Robin Hood probably isn’t the first name that comes to mind when one thinks of the horror noir genre, but that didn’t deter writer David Hazan from tackling the legend in the new five-part series Nottingham. “When Mad Cave Studios asked me to pitch them a noir, I knew immediately that I didn’t want it to have a conventional setting,” Hazan tells Rue Morgue. “I decided to go back in time to do something of a medieval police procedural… and something stood out to me about the Robin Hood story. It’s an entrancing myth but it’s also about people coming home from war (the Third Crusade in this case). This is very much a reflection of the birth of the noir genre from the darkness soldiers brought home with them…

THE WRITING LIFE: REFLECTIONS, RECOLLECTIONS, AND A LOT OF CURSING (Self-published) Jeff Strand The Writing Life packs a bevy of wisdom from the writer next door – the guy who always says hello or talks about the weather from over the fence while also plotting murder under the most hilarious of circumstances. To be clear, this is not a how-to-write book. Instead, it’s a raw reflection on what it took for one writer, best known for his horror comedy, to succeed – a twenty-year journey of compiled rejections, lost opportunities, and embracing the truth fish like the warm fuzzy care bear it most certainly is not. Strand’s 50th book (released on his 50th birthday!) is the golden key for readers seeking to unlock the secrets of how the average wordsmith…

VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE COMPANION Paradox Interactive Tabletop Though the fifth edition of White Wolf’s seminal bloodsucking tabletop roleplaying game has been in the hands of players for just over two years now, it’s mostly been sustained by sourcebooks focusing on fleshing out sects and locations within the World of Darkness. Now, the game’s official companion book is finally here, released digitally for free and bringing three more clans, new traits, and an emphasis on suggestions for roleplaying as mortal characters. Coming in at under 100 pages, the Vampire the Masquerade Companion may be rather short in length, but returning developer Justin Achilli and team pack a meaty amount of content for players to sink their fangs into. Best played in a small group with one storyteller to steer the mayhem,…

1 MR. HORROR BUTTON-UP SHIRT $39.99 USD You could say this lightweight cotton button-up sucks, and we’d know exactly what you meant by that. Festooned with collages of Bela Legosi’s iconic portrayal of Dracula, this eye-catching shirt comes in sizes XS to 4XL with a collar to protect your neck! Creepycompany.com 2 GRAVEYARD SHIFT LEGGINGS $48.95 USD Salem-based fitness studio Black Widow Yoga might be known for its online metal yoga classes but it’s also a purveyor of horror-themed activewear for those of us training for the zombie apocalypse. Choose from a variety of sports bras and leggings, sizes XS to 4XL, in several spooky patterns, including this one by contributing artist Dylan Garrett Smith! Blackwidowyoga.com 3 TWIN PEAKS ILLUSTRATED MAP BLANKET $74 USD What better way to enjoy a…

It’s easy to romanticize a quaint, coastal town like Potters Bluff, but something unspeakable is afoot. It starts with Sheriff Dan Gillis (James Farentino) investigating the disappearance of a visiting photographer, who turns up immolated beyond recognition. Weeks later, residents notice he looks an awful lot like the new gas station attendant. Other visitors to the town go missing – a seafaring vagrant, a young hitchhiker, a couple with their child on a family getaway. As the mutilated bodies pile up, mortician William Dobbs (Jack Albertson) has his work cut out for him; an expert at rebuilding smashed skulls and disfigured faces, the dead of Potters Bluff are remarkably lifelike when he’s done with them. The mystery deepens as the violent murders continue, with every clue leading Gillis to more…

“IT’S NOT OVER! IT’LL NEVER BE OVER!” These are, according to some versions of the story, the famous last words of Alexander “Sawney” Bean. He was bleeding to death at the time, having had his hands and genitals chopped off, so it was pretty over at that point. But that bravado wasn’t entirely unfounded, given we are still talking about him hundreds of years later. As the tall tale goes, Bean and his brood were responsible for countless disappearances in the South Ayrshire area of Western Scotland in, depending on what you read, the 14th, 15th, 16th or 17th century. It’s almost certainly a case of the truth never getting in the way of a good story, but whatever the date, the general beats are thus: Young Mr. Bean, the…

A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES BLIND Uncork’d Entertainment Little known fact… silent slashers rule! All action and no talk speaks volumes; I learned that from Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees, duh. That’s certainly the case with the killer in this groovy flick about a Hollywood starlet who’s blinded in a botched eye operation and finds herself turning toward sightless support groups to cope. As if that weren’t enough, she also has to deal with a pervy sushi delivery guy who’s been pilfering her panties, along with a mask-wearing maniac who collects eyeballs. Beautifully filmed with a great supporting cast and fantastic soundtrack, Blind also boasts a killer performance from Jed Rowen as hulking killer Pretty Boy. Hang on to your eyeballs… and your panties! BODY COUNT: 4 BEST DRINKING GAME:…

Blow Me Okay, all y’all highbrow cognoscentoids, let’s get all those fart jokes out of our systems before I get underway with a column about Demon Wind (1990), shall we? At first, I thought I might be the only overgrown juvenile around here still prone to gassy giggles in these enlightened times, but when I mentioned the title to my editor and she immediately referenced her boyfriend eating chili, I knew there might be further rumblings. So, having cleared the air, let’s set the stage. It wasn’t the best of times, it wasn’t the worst of times; it was 1990, so it was just kind of… there. Of course, at that juncture, any reasonable person was heaving a mullet-free sigh of relief that the 1980s were over, but whatever lay…

USMAN T. MALIK IS ONE OF DARK FICTION’S BRIGHTEST RISING STARS. He was the first writer from Pakistan to win the Bram Stoker Award for his story “The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family.” He also received the British Fantasy Award and has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award, and twice for the Nebula. His stories have been published in prestigious magazines and Year’s Best anthologies, while his debut collection, Midnight Doorways: Fables From Pakistan (out now from Kitaab Publications) has garnered significant interest in the US, UK, and other countries. His native city, Lahore, is featured prominently in these tales, which are lush with colourful environments, local geography, history, folklore, religion, and politics, making the place a character in its own right. “I grew up in Lahore,”…

It’s January as I write this issue’s column. The pandemic is ramping up with record-setting numbers and news of a deadly new strain. Nobody trusts anybody now, and we’re all very tired. There’s nothing more I can do, just wait… and think about The Thing! After all, it’s a near-perfect Carpenter classic about isolation, an invading parasitic life form, and the total breakdown of humanity. So you can imagine my intrigue when I came across a new album called Shapeshifting by Heinrich Dressel, out now on Spun Out of Control. With track titles such as “MacReady Rescue Team,” “The Thing in Disguise,” and “Who Goes There?,” the inspiration for these icy synth sounds pressed on “ice pick white” vinyl wasn’t hard to guess, and the timing couldn’t have been better.…