Table of contents for Issue 126 September 2012 in RUE MORGUE

In 2003, the term “celebrity worship syndrome” entered the lexicon thanks to an article in UK newspaper The Daily Mail that was based on a scientific study measuring the levels of identification people have with famous individuals. John Maltby from the University of Leicester headed up the study, which identified three levels of engagement with celebrities, the most intense one he labelled Borderline-Pathological, which results in unrealistic fantasies about the famous person, leading to extreme, sometimes dangerous, behaviour. This is when things can go past Beatlemania into Mark David Chapman territory. As Brandon Cronenberg points out in our cover story, celebrity worship has been around at least since the time of the saints. It has certainly intensified over the years (everything from Britney Spears’ chewed gum to a vial of…

From The Woman in Black to the Paranormal Activity juggernaut, the ghost story is back with a vengeance. Yet Greystone Park, a new entry in the genre this fall, boasts neither a big star nor the muscle of a large studio behind it. What it does have is a reenactment of a real-life haunting written by and starring those who actually experienced it, and directed by the son of one of America’s most controversial directors. During the 2009 shoot for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Oliver Stone introduced his son, Sean, to actor Alexander Wraith – both of whom had parts in the film. Over dinner one night, Wraith, a long-time urban explorer, told father and son about a series of paranormal events he’d encountered while infiltrating Greystone Park Psychiatric…

1 SKULL VIOLIN $2999 Macabre maestros will appreciate this natural wood electric violin, carved into the shape of a death’s head to add something extra to the eerie tones of a lone string instrument playing in a near-deserted castle under a full moon. No word on whether they use the traditional gut strings, though. Orchestrate terror at electricviolinshop.com. 2 ALIEN CHOPSTICKS $9.99 Imbue your next takeout experience with the spirit of the Nostromo, using these detailed, nine-inch chopsticks featuring your choice of face-huggers, chest-bursters or the Xenomorph in all its glory. Just try not to stuff your face until your torso explodes. Dine deadly at kotous.com. 3 BIGFOOT AIR FRESHENER $3 Let’s face it, lengthy cryptozoology field trips in the wilderness can leave your car a little ripe – so…

JUDGING SOLELY FROM CALEB LANDRY JONES’ TIGHTLY CONTROLLED PERFORMANCE IN ANTIVIRAL, YOU’D EXPECT HIM TO BE NOTHING SHORT OF INTENSE. In Brandon Cronenberg’s astonishingly accomplished debut feature, Jones (The Last Exorcism, X-Men: First Class) plays Syd March, a gaunt virus peddler who, unbeknownst to his co-workers at the ultra-sterile Lucas Clinic – which offers designer celebrity diseases to a public whose idol worship has become its own sickness – smuggles the company’s wares onto the black market. Secretly enchanted by a famous starlet himself, he shoots up with a virus that has her laid up, only to discover days later that she’s succumbed to the bug. Syd must then sleuth out a cure to beat certain death as he visibly deteriorates against a backdrop of biological skullduggery and corporate intrigue.…

THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU (1996) Blu-ray Starring Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer and David Thewlis Directed by John Frankenheimer Written by Richard Stanley and Ron Hutchinson Warner Bros. The Island of Dr. Moreau should have been awesome: it had an intriguing director in Richard Stanley (Hardware, Dust Devil), big star power with Marlon Brando as the titular Doctor, and Stan Winston Studio handling makeup effects. Instead, the 1996 big-budget adaptation of H.G. Wells’ science fiction novel is one of the most infamous cases of behind-the-scenes chaos. For starters, star Val Kilmer, playing Moreau’s assistant Montgomery, was allegedly so unmanageable on the Australian set that the studio chose to fire Stanley after just three days due to his inability to control the actor. Veteran John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate, Black Sunday)…

FIX THE TRACKING V/H/S Starring Calvin Reeder, Lane Hughes and Adam Wingard Written and directed by Glenn McQuaid, Ti West, Adam Wingard, et. al. Bloody Disgusting/The Collective This five-tale anthology of faux-snuff found footage from some of horror’s biggest up-and-comers not surprisingly has its moments – it’s just too bad they’re hindered by a gimmicky approach and some questionable attitudes towards the subject matter. Adam Wingard (Pop Skull, A Horrible Way to Die) appropriately sets the lo-fi tone in his wraparound set-up: a collection of thoroughly unlikable video pranksters break into a house and discover a stack of unmarked VHS tapes, each holding the supposed final moments of their respective amateur videographers. On the first tape, bar-hopping frat boys take some girls back to their hotel, but their planned gang…

When we last left Van Jensen and Dustin Higgins’ bloodsucker-staking version of Pinocchio (RM#106), he had escaped the Great Puppet Theatre with his newfound puppet friends and had finally been turned into a real boy. But his joy was short-lived, as the love of his life, real girl Carlotta, was kidnapped by vampire pirates and Pinocchio was left adrift at sea. Almost two years later comes Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer Volume 3: Of Wood and Blood (out now from SLG Publishing), the final chapter in the puppet’s odyssey. The concept of fusing horror and fairy tales was quite novel back in 2009, when the first volume appeared. Since then, however, it has become decidedly mainstream, with movies such as Snow White and the Huntsman gracing the big screen and popular…

“I Was always a big fan of watching Bob Ross paint,” says Justin Osbourn with a laugh. The late host of TV’s The Joy of Painting, who was known for his huge curly hair and upbeat demeanour, seems like the last person to influence an artist making a name for himself with retro VHS cover-style art. But then again, Osbourn’s style is distinctly painterly, even if he prefers gaping head wounds to “happy little clouds.” A diehard fan of the Halloween series, Nail Gun Massacre and the Friday the 13th franchise – he even christened his company Slasher Design – it was the ghastly illustration on the cover of 1987’s The Video Dead that initially electrified the artist in him. “I think, for a lot of horror fans, including myself,…

After listening to Scum of the Earth’s third album, The Devil Made Me Do It, the overwhelming urge to call out ex-Rob Zombie guitarist Riggs for his shameless cribbing consumes me. The familiarity of the danceable horror rock aside, the cover art – an amateurish illustration of the SotE frontman (see inset) – is cause for RM’s Dave Alexander to note that it looks like a Russian bootleg of one of Zombie’s albums. Hell, even the band name is taken from a song on the 2001 RZ disc The Sinister Urge. After ringing Riggs at his lakeside home in Branson, Missouri, he instantly disarms me with his utter lack of pretense. He’s cool, laid back – a guy with whom you could knock back a beer or seven. Sticking to…

SUPER EXCITED about the new issue of Rue Morgue! The Ray Bradbury issue! May just be the best one yet. ABEL BERRY, VIA FACEBOOK I JUST DOWNLOADED the newest Rue Morgue, and I have to say it’s my first download ever. I normally don’t believe in digital reading – I always buy a copy of your mag on the rack. Since I got it on my phone, it was a bit small but I still read it front to back several times. Just wanted to say great job – loved the spread on Ray Bradbury [RM#125], who will be missed. Was pleased to read the review for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer. I agree that it was a pointless, stupid entry in the genre. I think crap like this must be…

Stop-motion puppet animation is almost as old as filmmaking itself. The technique stretches back more than 100 years, predating the work of special effects pioneer Willis O’Brien (King Kong) and his protégé, Ray Harryhausen. Now, a new Ontario-based production company is breaking into the labour-intensive art form, which has brought so many movie monsters to life. Mad Lab Productions’ real calling card, though, is the company’s signature style: an emphasis on horror and science fiction, with liberal doses of humour added to the mix. “When we formed Mad Lab, we knew we needed to distinguish ourselves from other studios,” says filmmaker and Mad Lab co-founder Christopher Walsh. “Rather than choosing stop-motion, we thought it made more sense to define ourselves by our content – namely horror, science fiction and comedy.…

The Universal Monsters have been used to sell everything from tissues to fast food. One of the more unusual products was a set of four plastic bubble bath containers called “Soakys.” Released in 1963 by Colgate-Palmolive, the set consisted of the Frankenstein Monster, Wolf Man (available in both blue and rarer red pants versions), Mummy and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Standing ten inches tall, the containers – which sported heads that could be unscrewed to pour out the liquid soap – could be used as toys afterward. Frequently found on eBay, loose, undamaged containers routinely sell for $75 to $100, while those in mint condition with original neck tags and cardboard packaging can fetch hundreds of dollars apiece. MORE CRYPTIC COLLECTIBLES AT RUE-MORGUE.COM…

BEAST-Denmark Christoffer Boe Bruno loves his increasingly disinterested wife Maxine so much, he wants to fully possess her in the most intimate way, even cutting her and drinking her blood during sex. But when he discovers she’s got a lover on the side, he’s consumed by jealous rage, with intense side effects. Is he just heartbroken, or is this emotional breakdown the result of the blood drinking that has formed a Cronenbergian growth (fetus?) in his gut? Frustratingly, Christoffer Boe doesn’t offer many answers in this gorgeously shot tale of dark obsession. PC THE CAT - South Korea Byeon Seung-Wook Horrific and adorable, The Cat is an unusually good entry in the tired ghost girl subgenre. Claustrophobic pet groomer So-yeun takes in a deceased client’s cat and is…

SOME GUY WHO KILLS PEOPLE Starring Kevin Corrigan, Barry Bostwick and Karen Black Directed by Jack Perez Written by Ryan Levin Anchor Bay Just as one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, nor should one judge a movie by its title…well, not always. The latest example is Some Guy Who Kills People, which may sound like a half-baked afterthought of a name, but director Jack Perez has pulled together a great cast and a sharp script to produce one damn charming film. Ken Boyd (Kevin Corrigan) is haunted by memories of being bullied and tortured by old classmates and, after spending time in a mental institution, tries to get back to normality while working a demeaning job at a diner. He lives with his insufferable mother (Karen Black) and…

WHILE ORGANIZED RELIGION HAS PROVIDED FODDER FOR SOME OF THE MOST HEAVY-HITTING HORROR STORIES EVER COMMITTED TO PAGE AND SCREEN, IT HAS NEVER BEEN COMFORTABLE WITH THE GENRE. Fundamentalists still regularly decree that horror movies (and heavy metal, of course) are the tools of Satan, while so-called Christian horror remains largely unpalatable to diehard genre audiences, due to its preachy and proselytizing nature. This is what makes the Dark Faith anthology and its new sequel, Dark Faith: Invocations, so exciting. “I host an annual convention called Mo*Con,” says Maurice Broaddus, creator and co-editor of the Dark Faith collections. “Each year I invite a few horror, science fiction and fantasy writers; we hold it in a church, and we discuss topics related to genre and faith. You tell people you’re having…

Since death metal is splatter for your ears, it has frequently (and fittingly) been dressed in album art that suitably reflects its over-the-top lyrics. Interestingly, some of the goriest examples were released as the pioneers of the subgenre were defining both the sound and the look of one of music’s most extreme forms. So much for the natural escalation of evil! No other band has courted controversy quite like Cannibal Corpse. Virtually its entire catalogue features cover illustrations by artist Vincent Locke, best known for his Deadworld comic book series. Like the comics, almost all of the albums present outrageous zombie grue, which has led to censored covers and the band’s records being banned from sale in Germany and Australia for a number of years. Arguably, CC’s most obscene album…

THREE YEARS AFTER THE 69 EYES LAST GRACED ITS FANG BASE WITH A NEW ALBUM OF CRIMSON-STAINED HEARTBREAK, THE Helsinki vampires’ Joey Ramone-worshipping frontman, Jyrki 69, seems as chuffed about their succinctly titled tenth album, X (out October 9 from Nuclear Blast Records), as he is about the band’s 25-year run. “Aren’t The 69 Eyes actually even older than the Ramones ever were?” he wonders. “That’s a bit scary!… I’ve lived [the rock and roll life], partied and toured around the world for two decades now. It’s sometimes hard to analyze really what the hell we’ve been doing. But I’m sure we’ve created something new and unique. And that’s also typical for many bands, if they play long enough. Think about the Rolling Stones, for instance. They started as a…

CASE NO.126 A recent University of Notre Dame study found that there was a 133% increase in the risk of a mother dying in the two years immediately following the death of her child. Filmmaker David Cronenberg was offered the directorial reins on Flashdance, Top Gun, Witness, The Juror and The Truman Show, but turned them all down. According to forensic psychiatrist Paul Mullen, the first mass shooting in modern society took place in the towns of Degerloch and Mühlhausen an der Enz, Germany, on September 4, 1913, when Ernst August Wagner went on a rampage, killing his family as well as nine more strangers. Before Canadian director Mary Harron adapted Bret Easton Ellis’ controversial 1991 novel American Psycho, Johnny Depp suggested to producer Edward Pressman that Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator)…

THE TERM “CRONENBERGIAN” HAS COME TO EMBODY A CINEMATIC OBSESSION WITH DEVIANT SEXUALITY, MAD SCIENCE AND TRANSFORMATION OF THE FLESH – OFTEN THROUGH TECHNOLOGY, DISEASE OR A COMBINATION OF BOTH. Diseases mutate, of course, so it’s wholly appropriate that the meaning of the term itself should change as it’s passed along. Brandon Cronenberg, the 32-year-old offspring of the “King of Venereal Horror,” David Cronenberg, has proven that to be true with his debut feature Antiviral, which takes many of his father’s themes and develops them to suit a modern landscape. Taking only a few small leaps ahead from the current climate of celebrity obsession that has led to aggressive tabloid reporting, online sex tapes and plastic surgery overhauls designed to make the recipient resemble his or her favourite icon, the…

“HE DREAMED OF BEInG THE nEXT LOn CHAnEY.”MATT WINSTON YOU MAY NOT KNOW STAN WINSTON BY NAME, BUT YOU UNDOUBTEDLY KNOW HIS FAMOUS CREATIONS. Among them: the Terminator, Predator, Pumpkinhead, the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park, the Universal-inspired ghouls of The Monster Squad and the Alien Queen. Needless to say, when the special effects legend passed away in June 2008 from a form of cancer called multiple myeloma, at the age of 62, cinema lost one of its most creative imaginations. This year marks the 40th anniversary of Stan Winston Studio – now entrusted to four of Winston’s colleagues and rebranded Legacy Effects – while his family continues to honour his life and body of work with the recently founded Stan Winston School of Character Arts (RM#112), a subscription-based online educational…

THIS ISSUE: LANCE SMELLS A RAT Vermin Expressionism RATLINE Wicked Pixel Cinema From his ultra-violent serial killer romp Scrapbook to his child-murdering epic Deadwood Park, writer/director Eric Stanze is one talented motherfucker. His latest venture, Ratline, is a compelling and complex indie film that seamlessly blends divergent storylines (i.e., a group of satanists, two girls on the run after killing a drug dealer, a former SS officer who’s trying to track a powerful Nazi artifact) with extreme violence, historical flashbacks, intense gore and graphic sexuality. With its intricate, multi-layered narrative and rich attention to detail in both dialogue and set design, Ratline has all the trappings of a big-budget Hollywood film. The only difference is that it doesn’t suck! BODY COUNT: 25 RAT COUNT: 0 Pest Face Forward BLACK RAT…

THE VAMPIRE FILM: UNDEAD CINEMA Jeffrey Weinstock Wallflower In the recent glut of books trying to cash in on the vampire craze, The Vampire Film: Undead Cinema stands out as a refreshing attempt to treat bloodsuckers in film seriously, with barely a mention of that Twilight nonsense. This book is number 48 in Wallflower’s “Short Cuts” series, which is designed to provide concise overviews of significant cinematic topics, taking an approach that is both academic and popular. After successfully dealing with The Rocky Horror Picture Show (in Wallflower’s series “Cultographies”), author Jeffrey Weinstock sinks his teeth into vampire cinema with commendable success. His study is based on the following principles: 1) The cinematic vampire is always about sex; 2) The vampire is always more interesting than those who pursue it;…

SOUNDTRACK ROSEMARY’S BABY Christopher Komeda LA-LA LAND Central to the success of Roman Polanski’s demon child fable is the brilliantly simple main theme – a delicate and utterly hummable lullaby – which immediately makes audiences empathize with the mother’s tortuous pregnancy and her unborn monster child. Christopher Komeda, perhaps Poland’s greatest jazz pianist and composer, rarely indulges in a shock cue, instead creating tension from chord progressions and repeated motifs, spinning off each little effort into further disturbing variations where trumpet, voice and woodwinds sound completely otherworldly. When Satan, Jr. is finally revealed to the world, the horror is implied through a now oftimitated brass cackle and Mia Farrow’s emotive recoiling, yet we’re utterly convinced we too saw the monster child. That’s a rare skill for a composer, and hopefully…

THE SECRET WORLD PC Electronic Arts/Funcom Ever wish MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft had more horror content, as well as more puzzles and challenging quests, and less of the same old hack-and-slash button-mashing? Then allow me to invite you to The Secret World. This massively multi-player online game sees three disparate playable groups (the Illuminati, the Templars and the Dragon) waging war against a monstrous threat, as well as with one another. The Secret World is set on a version of Earth much like our own but ravaged by roaming packs of zombies, evil cultists, oversized mutant beasts that have emerged from the sea and myriad other baddies. To defend yourself, you can specialize in two weapons from any of three different categories (range, melee and magic). But it’ll…

STANLEY KRAMER USA - 1959 Horror films of the 1950s are known for dealing with the Cold War threat of invasion and nuclear annihilation through matinee creature features centred around giant irradiated monsters or warmongering otherworldly invaders, but at the end of the decade Stanley Kramer made a film for adults that tackles those apocalyptic anxieties head-on. Based on Nevil Shute’s 1957 novel of the same name, On the Beach (1959) begins as the world is ending. Set in the then-near-future of 1964, after World War III results in massive nuclear destruction, the story follows a group of characters based in Melbourne, Australia, where, even though the city avoided getting bombed directly, it’s only a matter of time before the winds blow clouds of deadly nuclear fallout its way. Gregory…