Table of contents for Issue 106 November 2010 in RUE MORGUE

You know the dungeon master character in Hostel – that hulking brute in a butcher’s apron with the hunched back who disposes of bodies in the filthy bowels of the torture dungeon? Yeah, him. Ever wonder what his life is like? Did he apply for that job? Does he get benefits? Does he go home to a wife and complain about how his shoulders ache from slinging limbs into a furnace all day? Is he in a bowling league on weekends? Of course you haven’t wondered these things. That nameless ogre lurking in the abattoir is a cartoon representation, like the film’s gun-toting thugs in black leather jackets; the ruthless, lying prostitutes in fur-trimmed coats; and the grubby gang of preteen street urchins robbing tourists. These aren’t people so much…

The Dark Tower, that sweeping Stephen King dark fantasy epic, the first volume of which was released nearly 30 years ago, is headed to the big screen. And the small screen. And possibly back to the printed page. In September, Universal Pictures and NBC announced that they’ve plucked up the rights to produce three films and a television series based on the tale of the gunslinger Roland and his quest to protect the very underpinnings of reality. The first movie and first season of the TV series are to be directed by Ron Howard and written by Akiva Goldsman, the team that brought us the film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code. (Each season of the TV series will act as a “bridge” between the films.) “By telling this story…

The verdict is still out on whether A Serbian Film is a vile piece of gruesome exploitation or a valid artistic expression of a decidedly extreme experience – or, whether it can be both. Various comparisons have been made to films ranging from rough snuff re-enactments in the vein of the August Underground series, to more polished but still graphic genre outings such as Martyrs, all the way to respected art house classics such as Pasolini’s Salo: 120 Days of Sodom or Gaspar Noé’s Irreversible. Whatever the case, critics who have seen the still-unreleased film during its festival run agree that no other recent work has shocked, provoked, disgusted and angered as many audiences, resulting in it being censored and banned, and even leading to death threats against its director.…

THIS MONTH, ONE OF THE UK’S MOST NOTORIOUS METAL BANDS, CRADLE OF FILTH, RELEASES ITS NINTH STUDIO EFFORT, DARKLY, DARKLY, VENUS AVERSA (NOVEMBER 9 ON NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS/SONIC UNYON) – AN EROTIC, NIGHTMARISH CONCEPT ALBUM CENTRED ON ADAM’S FIRST WIFE, THE DEMONESS LILITH. “She’s been a character that’s hid, a bit serpent-like, behind the band in the shadows for as long as I can remember,” says singer Dani Filth. “At [the new album’s] heart is essentially a Gothic horror novel along the lines of the books I love from the turn of the 20th century, late 19th century. Very English!” This isn’t the first time Cradle of Filth has expressed a fondness for the fairer sex. Take Cruelty and the Beast, the band’s 1998 album based on the femme fatalism…

STORIES FROM THE PLAGUE YEARS With this many unreliable narrators, you may never trust a protagonist again. Award-winning dark fantasy author and frequent Cemetery Dance contributor Michael Marano compiles seven shorts and two novellas for this collection of abstract stories exploring disjointed minds. Explore the delusional brain of a serial killer in “Displacement” or examine how illness erodes sanity (“Winter Requiem”). An inconsistent but intriguing series of mindfucks. JESSA SOBCZUK AUTUMN David Moody Thomas Dunne David Moody’s Autumn tells the story of (sigh) another zombie pandemic and the people who must survive it. As is typically the case with Moody’s work, it’s well written and features strongly rendered characters, but this tale ultimately lacks the spark of his high-octane Hater, and will feel too familiar to anyone who has read…

Despite the cold weather, Whitby is busy. The narrow cobblestone streets are filled with tourists browsing the town’s many gift shops. Most are eating the staple lunch of the British seaside: fish and chips. So much so, the air is thick with the smell of vinegar and salt. While many holidaymakers come to this small harbour community (pop: 13,600) to complete the daylong tour of historic sites – including the Captain Cook monument, the whale bone arch and the towering remains of Whitby Abbey – there are a number of tourists who make the journey for a more sinister reason. The gift shop windows provide the first clue: placed alongside more typical trinkets, such as snow globes of the Abbey, are a tall, caped figure and small coffins whose lids…

IF YOU THOUGHT THE LOST BOYS ONLY INFLUENCED THE MULLET MOVEMENT, THINK AGAIN. Chris Cerulli, frontman for Pennsylvanian screamo band Motionless In White, has the words “Lost Boys” tattooed across his knuckles and wrote the song “We Only Come Out at Night,” from his band’s recently released debut album Creatures, in tribute to director Joel Schumacher’s 1987 vampire classic. “[The film] pointed out, ‘This is where you belong. This is what you’re going to be like for the rest of your life,’” Cerulli says. “It was a movie about being different and finding a home with other people you can relate to, and I identified with all of the characters in that movie. … It kind of changed my life in some small way. I felt like I belonged.” Named…

I JUST HAD THE DISPLEASURE of viewing A Serbian Film. I have never seen a horror film I couldn’t finish before, but this movie is something else. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of disturbing horror – love zombie movies and exploitation/gore flicks, such as Hostel and Antichrist. However, I just can’t consider graphic infant rape to be good horror. Since when did horrible and horrifying cease to be different concepts? Is this the future of horror – each film simply a quest for the most disgusting material? Whatever happened to anticipation, mood and suspense? SEPTEMBER SLATER – EVERETT, WASHINGTON I AM WRITING IN REGARDS to the letter in RM#105 about the I Spit on Your Grave remake. I was a little confused as to the writer’s point;…

A Serbian Film isn’t the only recent film out of that country to shock by taking us into a world where life is cheap, disposable and profitable. The Life and Death of a Porno Gang, the debut film by Mladen Djordjevic, deals with an ensemble of outsiders (junkies, gays, trannies, porn actors) travelling rural Serbia with their sex show cabaret. Sex sells badly, however, so they’re lured into making snuff films, but with a twist: unlike American horrors, in which unwilling “actors” fight to escape the clutches of insane directors, here the victims arrive voluntarily. In an environment where all hope is abandoned, a new set of outsiders appears – those willing to sacrifice themselves to sustain their destitute families. It is not nearly as bleak as A Serbian Film,…

ANOTHER AXE TO GRIND HATCHET II Starring Danielle Harris, Tony Todd and Kane Hodder Written and directed by Adam Green Dark Sky In 2006, writer/director Adam Green promised a return to “old-school American horror” with Hatchet, the tale of a swamp-dwelling, deformed killer named Victor Crowley and the boat full of unlucky tourists who trespass in his waters. Hailed by some and reviled by others, the film was successful enough to warrant a sequel, one whose tagline could simply be “More.” More humour, more horror vet cameos and, most notably, more gore – so much, in fact, that Dark Sky Films is bypassing the ratings board completely to release Hatchet II unrated; a move that resulted in the film being yanked by the AMC theatre chain after two days! (No…

Serling At his Sharpest THE TWILIGHT ZONE: SEASON 1 (1959) Blu-ray Starring Burgess Meredith, Jack Klugman, et al. Directed by John Brahm, Alvin Ganzer, et al. Written by Rod Serling, Richard Matheson, et al. Image It turns out that Image Entertainment’s “Definitive Edition” of The Twilight Zone: Season 1 wasn’t definitive after all. Released on DVD back in 2004, the premiere 1959-1960 season of Rod Serling’s seminal TV show was a TZ fan’s wet dream: six discs containing all 36 episodes, as well as goodies such as multiple audio commentaries, the original version of the pilot (“Where Is Everybody?”) and vintage audio interviews with series stars including Burgess Meredith and Martin Landau. And the best extra of all: a copy of author Marc Scott Zicree’s The Twilight Zone Companion (second…

WICKED FEMININE WILES THE SOUL OF A MONSTER (1944) Starring Rose Hobart, George Macread y and Jim Bannon Directed by Will Jason Written by Edward Dein Columbia If your distress call is answered by a woman whose shoulder pads are broader than Lon Chaney’s, don’t answer the door. Such a lesson is learned by Anne Winson (Jeanne Bates) in The Soul of a Monster, now available through Son y’s Columbia Screen Classics by Request on the company’s website. While her husband George (George Macready) lies on his deathbed suffering from a mysterious ailment, Anne’s call to God for salvation goes unanswered. Naturally, she turns to the Devil, who sends Lilyan Gregg (Rose Hobart), an owly, pale stranger in black. After being revived by the stranger, George goes back to work,…

A READERS OF RUE MORGUE’S TRAVELOGUE OF TERROR KNOW, THE WORLD IS FULL OF CREEPY ATTRACTIONS AND HORRIFIC HISTORICAL SITES JUST WAITING TO BE VISITED. And, as J.W. Ocker will tell you, a large concentration of these are located in New England. Birthplace of Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft, the Northeastern part of America has enough ghastly tourist destinations to fill a whole book: like The New England Grimpendium (out now from Countryman Press), Ocker’s new guide to the macabre and ghastly sites of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. A lifetime horror fan, Ocker runs the blog www.oddthingsiveseen.com, where he documents his travels in search of the strange and unusual. Currently a resident of Nashua, New Hampshire, his take on why this part…

BACK IN OCTOBER OF 2007, I PROFILED SPECIAL EFFECTS ARTIST RÉMY COUTURE. Couture had a website, Inner Depravity, which contained two short films and a number of photo sets. The Montreal, Quebec-based artist described his site as “the private photographic diary of a killer.” The photos were highly stylized and gruesome depictions of a serial killer at work, which were clearly intended to be seen as art. Couture, age 33, is largely self-taught, and has since gone on to work as a makeup and effects artist with Adrien Morot’s Maestro Studio on films such as The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Death Race and Punisher: Warzone. Couture’s makeup effects are so realistic, in fact, that he’s facing two years in prison for them. On October 28, 2009, Couture received…

Almost 30 years after the release of The Thing, Universal Pictures has announced that a prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 film will hit theatres on April 29, 2011. The new film, also tentatively titled The Thing, centres on a team of researchers at a remote Norwegian outpost who accidentally unearth a parasitic alien presence while investigating a spaceship frozen into the Antarctic tundra. This may sound like the latest in a rash of Hollywood remakes, but according to executive producer David Foster, a revisit to The Thing universe has been in the works since the late ’80s. “This is a completely different story,” asserts Foster, who also produced the original film. “It’s what led up to the destruction of the Norwegian camp, how it happened and why. It’s not…

1 NECRONOMICOX $150 – $245 Whether you prefer to enjoy your Lovecraft alone or with a friend, Necronomicox wants to help you take your horror lust to the next level. These hand-sculpted, horror-inspired adult toys, which can also be custom ordered, are made from body-safe silicone; what you do with them is between you and the Old Ones. Shog’ yourself silly at necronomicox.com. 2 PROTON PACK BACKPACK $40 If there’s something strange in your neighbourhood, take it on with a classic Ghostbusters proton-pack backpack, which includes a detachable pouch in the shape of the blaster – just don’t cross the streams. The courteous and efficient staff is on call 24 hours a day to serve all of your supernatural elimination needs at 80stees.com. 3 MONSTER KOOKIES JEWELLERY $18 – $55…

Serbian folklore has always been ripe with scary creatures and tales of spooky encounters with vampires and other supernatural beings. In fact, the word “vampire” entered the English language through translations of reports made by Austro-Hungarian officers who purportedly witnessed a vampire craze in the Serbian village of Medveggia in 1732. Those accounts, well-known to vampirologists, transcribed the Serbian word “vampir” as “vampyr” and very soon its variations spread. However, despite the country’s macabre folklore, very few horror tales entered Serbian literature or, later, film. Various cultural factors made dealings with dread virtually unthinkable. At first it was the rampant rationalism and didacticism of the 19th century and then, after World War II, the communist rule, which did not favour supernaturalism in any shape, including art. This is why few…

BLACK SWAN USA Darren Aronofsky Darren Aronofsky shows off his giallo side with this story of ballet, lesbian sex, mental breakdown and a whole lot of brilliance. Black Swan starts off quietly, slowly building atmosphere and tension until it gets to the third act, at which point all restraint is thrown to the wayside and Aronofsky lets loose. The end result is one hell of a psychological thriller built on a trio of fantastic performances that left audiences wondering whether it will be Aronofsky or star Natalie Portman who will get Oscar noms or if both will be taking home the hardware. TB COLD FISH Japan Sion Sono Loosely based on the true story of a Japanese serial killer, Cold Fish depicts a troubled family whose fortunes are forever changed…

DEBBIE DOES BLOODBATH BIKINI BLOODBATH CAR WASH Brightly Entertainment Back in RM#78 I had the pleasure of reviewing a silly little slasher called Bikini Bloodbath, a film about a bunch of girls slaughtered by a chef with a penchant for slicing up sexy babes in hot tubs. It wasn’t a great movie by any stretch, but it did star my favourite Canadian scream queen, Debbie Rochon. Thankfully, Debbie returns in this half-baked sequel to play a pervy lesbian car wash owner who is forced to battle the chef’s reanimated corpse. Yes, this is a campy splatterfest replete with fart jokes and lame-ass, frat-boy humour, but it still has some half-decent gore, Playboy model Rachael Robbins (Terror Firmer, Vampire Lesbian Kickboxers) and a scene inspired by Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,”…

MIDDLE SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL I could probably fill this entire column just name-dropping creepy-kid horror films, but that would be pretty lame, so let’s zoom in on one near-forgotten little Canadian flick from that subgenre – a film that’s especially notable for combining the scary with the just plain icky. The Pit (1981) is the story of a boy, his teddy bear, his burgeoning sexuality, his beautiful babysitter, a bunch of trolls who live in a hole in the ground in the woods nearby and various individuals who bully, aggravate, insult or otherwise piss off said boy and therefore have an appointment with said trolls. Even the most open-minded individuals can become laughably uncomfortable with the notion of adolescent or – worse still – pre-adolescent sexuality, even though it’s a simple…

A CRITICAL HISTORY AND FILMOGRAPHY OF TOHO’S GODZILLA SERIES David Kalat McFarland While billed as a critical history, David Kalat’s newly revised edition of his 1997 work on Godzilla is actually more of a cultural history. A chronological look at how the king of kaiju’s city-stomping exploits evolved from a chilling reminder of nuclear destruction to a global pop culture phenomenon, this highly informative book is not only the first and last word on the character and his prolific filmography, but also a revealing examination of the cultural differences between the Eastern and Western hemispheres. Balancing accessible prose with astute observations, Kalat’s definitive assessment details about 35 films released by Toho since the mid-1950s. But out of the discussion of the differences between the Japanese version of each film and…

RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE SOUNDTRACK tomandandy MILAN RECORDS With Paul W.S. Anderson back in the director’s chair, the sound of the Resident Evil franchise returns to the guitar-heavy, industrial racket of the first film. But as skilled as lower-case duo tomandandy are in creating edgy textures from electronic sounds and samples (note their masterwork Right at Your Door), much of the score consists of powerful little sonic mobiles that feel looped and overstretched. The sense one gets is of musical ideas expanded to fill out unending zombie combat scenes, leaving any variation or dramatic peaks and valleys to the sound designers. The album has a decisive tone, but the repetitiveness of the cues makes the musical drama somewhat one-sided. “Promise” offers a rare melodic, grunge-free break, and the three-note main theme…

SAW II: FLESH & BLOOD PS3, Xbox 360 Konami While the movie franchise may have finally worn out its welcome, the Saw games keep rolling right along – just like one of Jigsaw’s well-oiled, maniacal machines of bodily destruction. Saw II: Flesh & Blood, the second outing in the tie-in video game series, picks up directly after the events of the first game, and takes place between the storylines of the first and second feature films. You play Michael, the estranged son of Detective Tapp (Danny Glover in the original film), who sets out to investigate the mystery behind his father’s death and unwittingly finds himself the next subject in Jigsaw’s bizarre and brutally psychopathic tests of self-sacrifice. After waking up alone in his sinister labyrinth, you’ll quickly discover that…

THE ROLLING STONES UK-1968 Just as Lucifer is as old as creation, the Devil has been a part of popular music almost from its inception. The root of all popular music, the blues, has its own mythology, wherein the best known lore is the Faustian concept of selling your soul in return for brilliant musicianship. Just bring your guitar to a deserted crossroads at midnight… Most often tied to the enigmatic Robert Johnson, creator of such seminal tracks as “Hellhound on My Trail” and “Me and the Devil Blues,” the legend has been recounted by countless performers from the blues canon. Researchers believe that the tale has its roots in African folklore, more precisely the spirit of a trickster deity called Legba, who eventually translated on North American soil as…