Table of contents for Issue 173 December 2016 in RUE MORGUE

We’re the architects of our own Hell, and social media is the proof. Or so says the guy who gets singled out by his friends for having never joined Facebook or Twitter. (I figure that my life is full enough with work and actual social activities that I don’t have surplus time to manage virtual ones – or maybe I just don’t care what your dog ate for lunch). I am, however, the face of Rue Morgue’s Instagram account, so while I can’t escape mundane food/pet photos entirely, it’s worth it to be exposed to a world of great art, to have a window into horror culture around the world, and to be able to interact with thousands of wonderful like-minded genre lovers. For me, that’s the best of social…

Italian filmmaker Ivan Zuccon has long drawn inspiration from the works of H.P. Lovecraft, beginning with his 2000 debut feature The Darkness Beyond and continuing through 2008’s Colour from the Dark, one of several adaptations of the author’s story “The Colour Out of Space.” Now, Zuccon is treading on sacred cinematic-Lovecraftian ground, preparing his new feature Herbert West: Reanimator. Stuart Gordon, of course, put an indelible stamp on Miskatonic University’s maddest student with his 1985 classic, which sparked a trend toward bringing Lovecraft to the screen that continues to this day. His Re-Animator was followed by two official sequels, a Gordon-directed stage musical, underground burlesques such as Re-Penetrator and Dylan Greenberg’s Dr. West: A Reanimated Parody, and the 2008 announcement of a youth-oriented Herbert West: Re-Animator TV series that never…

1. WITCHERY HUNG UPSIDE DOWN AND BROWNED 2. FRIDAY THE 13TH PART III PUNCTURED WITH A HOT POKER 3. DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK (2010) GOBLINS MAKE OFF WITH MOM 4. HOUSE CHILD SNATCHED BY CHIMNEY CREEPS 5. KRAMPUS ANTI-CLAUS GIVES GRANNY THE SACK 6. GRABBERS FRANTIC FEMALE FLIES UP THE FLUE TORTURED TAGLINE THE DEATH DEALER (1974) “HE RAPED, TORTURED, KILLED… AND LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!” FINAL WORDS “THAT’S THE SOUND OF THE MEN WORKING ON THE CHAIN… GAAAAAANG.” THIS MONTH’S CAPTION CONTEST WINNER IS MARCANDRE LANGLOIS Drop by our Facebook page every month for a chance to have your Final Words!…

“JSIT HERE AND I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT IT HAPPENED. AND YET I HAVE TO BELIEVE IT. DREAMS OR NIGHTMARES, MADNESS OR SANITY, I DON’T KNOW WHICH IS WHICH.” These words – narrated by a woman sitting alone in a rowboat on a still, secluded lake – begins John Hancock’s luridly titled, but mournfully understated, 1971 chiller Let’s Scare Jessica to Death. Filmed in Connecticut over 26 days on a budget of just $250,000, and extolled as “an unjustly neglected masterpiece” and “one of the cinema’s greatest ghost stories” by some admiring critics, this elegiac jewel has spent decades drifting in cult respectability, treasured only by a few. How such an ignominious fate befell a picture so rich in atmosphere, ambiguity and ambition is baffling – particularly when one considers the…

ON SEPTEMBER 26, 2016, HORROR FANS LOST A LEGEND WHEN HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS, KNOWN TO GENERATIONS OF FANS AS “THE GODFATHER OF GORE,” DIED AT AGE 90. (Though most sources report that he was 87, the New York Times quoted his son as saying he was 90.) Lewis was a pioneer, one of those rare individuals who could rightfully claim to have invented his own subgenre: the gore film. In an era when cinematic bloodshed was virtually verboten, he made Blood Feast (1963), the gleefully graphic tale of a cannibalistic caterer harvesting the body parts of young women for the titular soiree. It introduced the splatter film – a type of movie that didn’t imply bodily destruction, but rather showcased it, from tongues being torn out of mouths to nude…

SPEAKING OF THE VIDEO REVOLUTION IN THE 1991 DOCUMENTARY HEARTS OF DARKNESS: A FILMMAKER’S APOCALYPSE, FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA PREDICTED, “One day some little fat girl in Ohio is going to… make a beautiful film with her father’s little camera-corder, and for once this whole professionalism about movies will be destroyed, and it will become an art form.” While that specific case might not yet have occurred, the easy availability of digital technology over the past decade has given young talents the opportunity to put feature films together before they reach voting age. And 2016 has seen the emergence of several genre features by teenage auteurs whose projects are as distinct as their backgrounds. One of them, France’s Nathan Ambrosioni, is actually on his second feature, having followed up 2014’s Hostile…

PHRANCHISE PHAREWELL PHANTASM: RAVAGER Starring Reggie Bannister, A. Michael Baldwin and Angus Scrimm Directed by David Hartman Written by David Hartman and Don Coscarelli Well Go USA The phrase “strictly for the Phans” pops up in most reviews I’ve read for this film, and it’s an assessment I’ll echo unreservedly, in the best possible sense. Certainly, the beloved 37-year-old series’ micro-budgeted fifth and final chapter (read the lengthy production history in RM#166) will make little sense to anyone unfamiliar with the previous Phantasm films, and the entire time-space-continuum-molesting saga’s not exactly conventional. But we Phans are dug in pretty deep… The film opens on a desolate desert highway, with a dishevelled and exhausted Reggie (Reggie Bannister) reclaiming his beloved ’71 Hemi ’Cuda from a dorky thief, but after a couple…

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF JAPANESE HORROR FILMS Salvador Murguia, ed. Rowman & Littlefield After this year’s An Encyclopedia of Japanese Horror Films by Nobuhiro Ogata Jr.comes the similarly titled but slightly more scholarly The Encyclopedia of Japanese Horror Films, whose contributors are mostly grad students, PhD candidates and assistant professors. Its contents are devoted to individual film titles, with occasional entries for specific themes (ghost cats), subgenres (Ero guro), creatures (Godzilla), manga authors, writers and directors (Hideshi Hino, Lafcadio Hearn, Nobuo Nakagawa), and series such as Grudge, Guinea Pig, Wizard of Darkness, etc. It’s a decent, factually reliable compendium overall, helpful especially for relative beginners yet certain to reveal lesser-known titles even to those who think they’ve seen it all. For the more demanding readers, however, it leaves something to be…

SOUNDTRACK BATES MOTEL Chris Bacon LAKESHORE RECORDS Since 2013, Chris Bacon’s been dramatizing the formative years of Norman Bates, and in the latest batch of Bates Motel music, the lengthy cues retain the show’s staid emphasis on subtle character nuances and strong thematic material. Bacon’s instrumental palette is unusually light – keyboards, piano and gentle strings – and for much of this meticulously curated album, Bates’ mind is represented as a state of struggle. The occasional use of deep strings signal ongoing, internal moral feuding, and the rare evocation of Bernard Herrmann’s style acts as a portent of a future, deadlier adult Bates, but Bacon’s approach remains fixed to the stance of a young adult, observing and internalizing rather than reacting. “Breakfast and a Polygraph” is a standout example of…

THANKS FOR COMPILING a list of horror podcasts in your Halloween issue! Though it’s not the most common way of getting creeped out, listening to them has its own way – as opposed to watching a movie – of getting under your skin. Just switch off the lights, put in some earphones and enjoy. KAREN WAN, VIA FACEBOOK GREAT ISSUE, as always [RM #171]. Loved the primer on podcasts. For my money, there is some fantastic work being done in this medium right now, so I was a bit disappointed at how few fiction ones there were. Knifepoint Horror in particular deservedly tops many Best Horror Podcast lists but doesn’t even get a mention in yours. As Larry Fessenden said about Tales from Beyond the Pale, podcasts/audio drama are a…

Frank Henenlotter has shocked and disturbed audiences with cult films such as Basket Case, Brain Damage and Frankenhooker, but now the director is turning his attention to another artist with the documentary feature The Trial of Mike Diana. On March 29, 1994, underground cartoonist Mike Diana became the first person in United States history to be criminally convicted for artistic obscenity. An artist whose cartoon illustrations depicted admittedly disturbing imagery of child rape and sodomy, bestiality and human mutilation, Diana faced a $3000 fine and wasn’t allowed near anyone under the age of eighteen when, in 1991, some of his comics fell into the hands of law enforcement (which was accused of entrapment). Most shockingly, he was also prohibited from drawing images for his own use inside his home. Diana’s…

According to a recent post by cryptozoologynews.com, a motorist in Wisconsin spotted an unidentified animal that he described as a bipedal, wolf-like creature. The Ontario businessman was driving near the city of Eau Claire when he noticed the animal standing on the right side of the road. He described it as being dark in colour, six to seven feet tall, and “shaggy in appearance” with legs that were “slender and backward from that of a human.” As he passed, the creature took several steps before disappearing into the shadows. Sightings of these werewolf-like creatures – often referred to as “dogmen” – are not uncommon in the northern United States with a particular concentration in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Several months earlier, a “dogman” was reported by a teenager near the…

1.KRAMPUS CANDLES $20 Are you, ahem, burned out on Christmas? If so, show your undying devotion to the Anti-Claus with a 5” Krampus candle from Wyrdwerks. Made with soy, and available in red or green, it keeps the ho-ho-ho in horror. 2.CTHULHU ON CORK $79, $49, $18 Cthulhu comes home for the holidays (finally!) with this limited edition handmade art piece by Fn Vegas. Lovecraft with his most renowned creation is rendered in ink and hand-transferred on cork with striking results. Available in two sizes (14”x11”, 8.5”x11”) along with an affordable print version to tease your tentacles. 3.NECRONOMICARDS $25 Lovecraftian gods, mythological monsters, biblical demons – they’re what good times are made of in NecronomiCards (see review p.60). The game has you use Spell and Summon cards to mess with…

LAST JULY, ARROW VIDEO ANNOUNCED THE OCTOBER RELEASE OF SHOCK AND GORE: THE FILMS OF HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS, a deluxe seventeen-disc combo box set limited to 500 in the UK and 500 in the US. Along with seven Blu-ray and corresponding DVD double features and three bonus Blu-rays, came a 92-page art book on Lewis’ career by Stephen Thrower, a reprint of the Blood Feast novelization by Lewis, a companion 7” vinyl record with music from the score, a 28-page Lewis “annual,” a set of fourteen postcards with reproductions of the poster art for the included films, a barf bag and a handmade eyeball. They sold out in 24 hours. A second set, The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast, limited to 2500 pieces in both markets, with all of the discs…

IF THERE’S A POSTER CHILD FOR THE TEENAGE-GENRE-FILMMAKER TREND, IT’S PROBABLY EMILY HAGINS – who got started even before her teen years. In 2004, at age twelve, the Austin, TX, native began work on a zombie opus called Pathogen (Hagins pictured above in the film), which premiered a year later to a sold-out crowd at the city’s Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. By the time she was eighteen, she had completed two more features – the ghost story The Retelling and the vampire comedy My Sucky Teen Romance – and been the subject of the 2009 documentary Zombie Girl: The Movie. “The biggest advantage for me was learning about a skill I loved when I didn’t really know my own limitations,” she says of starting out at such a young age. “As…

THIS ISSUE: LANCE ENDURES THE END SHED OF THE DEAD WASTELAND Midnight Releasing There’s a lot of debate as to how the world will end. Some say nuclear war, others say zombies. (I think it’ll be Donald Trump distributing infected hairpieces while riding a chariot made of chocolate feathers.) This British entry isn’t clear on the cause of it, all we know is civilization has collapsed and zombies are on the prowl. Set mostly within the confines of a shed in the English countryside, it follows a man trying to preserve his sanity while waiting for his girlfriend to return from an attempt to locate her parents in London. Though it had every opportunity to convey brutal scenes of loneliness, fear and dread, Wasteland is utterly boring. Even the handful…

SPANISH HORROR LEGEND PAUL NASCHY’S NAME MAY BE SPLASHED ALL OVER CAMP MOTION PICTURES’ LATEST DVD RELEASE, THE A WEREWOLF IN THE AMAZON COLLECTION, BUT DON’T BE FOOLED – this three-disc set is instead a fascinating career-spanning retrospective of the works of Brazil-based filmmaker Ivan Cardoso. Although a friend and contemporary of the country’s best known horror director, José Mojica Marins, Cardoso’s films are quite different from Coffin Joe’s psychedelic perversions, instead offering up a parade of rubber monsters, naked flesh and goofy comedy bits that put him more in the realm of Ray Dennis Steckler by way of South America. While 2005’s Naschy-starring A Werewolf In the Amazon will be the set’s highlight for some, this release is more interesting for the way it provides a peek into Cardoso’s…

Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” takes place in a small, seemingly idyllic American village, population: 300. On a bright June morning, the townsfolk gather in the town square for an annual ritual known as “the lottery,” which they believe ensures a good upcoming harvest. As the story progresses and the winner is finally chosen, the reader realizes in horror that the grand prize is to be stoned to death – a sacrifice to some unnamed god. Often cited as Jackson’s masterpiece, “The Lottery” has now been adapted as a graphic novel by her grandson, Miles Hymen. “I had actually been tempted by a Shirley Jackson project for years but was undecided about how to go about it,” he explains. “My publishers seemed excited by the prospect of doing something…

YEAR’S BEST WEIRD FICTION VOLUME THREE Simon Strantzas and Michael Kelly, eds. Undertow Publications Weird fiction, as exemplified by this worthy series of anthologies, means stories that are atmospheric, allusive, psychologically nuanced, often ambiguous and occasionally frustrating in their lack of clear-cut denouements. Some will leave you mystified, some chilled, a few, perhaps, indifferent or angry, but there’s no doubt that most of these, expertly selected by the guest editor Simon Strantzas, truly belong among the cream of the contemporary crop. The majority of the stories in this volume depict encounters between strange psychologies and strange localities. In Ramsey Campbell’s “Fetched,” a married couple is lost in the misty streets of what used to be the husband’s childhood suburban home, now unrecognizable and threatening. “Seaside Town,” by Brian Evenson, depicts…

As I reflected on the passing of H.G. Lewis, I scrolled through the gruesome galleries of posters from his filmography and remembered what I love about his films and the one-sheets that accompanied them. With his background in marketing and radio communications, Lewis knew how to grab your attention. His posters for Blood Feast, The Wizard of Gore, A Taste of Blood and The Gore Gore Girls promised hyper-violent thrills, chills and sexy vixens even a showman like William Castle wouldn’t dare to deliver. It’s the combination of crude, hand-drawn fonts, lurid tag lines (“An Entire Town Bathed in Blood!”) and risqué photos of half-naked damsels in distress that instantly tells the viewer that we’re in for something terribly unsavoury. His posters, and their minimal design still pack a wallop…

How are you dealing with the scary clown in YOUR neighbourhood? With my shotgun. NICK CRAIG I love it; I’ve got four in the cellar, one in my car trunk. And I’m off to get me another. GAVIN MCVIE I try to invite them for some hang time! Much to my dismay, they decline. It’s hard making friends… ROY ROBINS I am the clown in my neighbourhood. I like watching you through your window. GUSTAFSON LYNN I am collecting their corpses in my basement. JOE BLACKSMITH Well, first, I put on my clown makeup… TRACY L. FULTZ JR. Don’t believe the hype – think of all the out-of-work clowns. MIKE RUGGIANO…

Advertised as being developed by famed mentalist The Amazing Kreskin, this next level Ouija board was touted as being able to “explore the outer frontiers of the human mind in two scientifically proven ways.” The first was by holding the accompanying plastic pendulum over an illustrated board to reveal one’s deepest thoughts; the second was to measure and test telepathy and clairvoyance by using specially illustrated cards. The game is easily found on eBay for under $20. MORE CRYPTIC COLLECTIBLES AT RUE-MORGUE.COM…

IN NORTH AMERICA, CHRISTMAS HAS GROWN EVER MORE SANITIZED AND COMMERCIALIZED. Today, children have the scampish Elf on a Shelf to watch “if they’ve been bad or good” and white-bearded Santas can be found in every mall. But that isn’t everyone’s Christmas. Originating in Austro-Bavarian Alpine folklore centuries ago, the Krampus is an intimidating figure used to urge children to be on their best behaviour around the holiday season, lest they risk being torn from their homes and captured in his basket. In parts of Europe, the Krampus is so popular he’s celebrated with “Krampus runs,” parades and other festivities. In recent years, with films such as last year’s Krampus and A Christmas Horror Story, the Christmas Devil has gotten North America’s attention. Enter the first English-language book to take…

HANK JAMES WAN FOR ANDRÉ ØVREDAL’S PLUNGE INTO HORROR WITH THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE. The Trollhunter director’s planned English-language debut, a film version of Julie Kenner’s best-selling novel Carpe Demon, had fallen apart when he went to see Wan’s film The Conjuring in 2013. Impressed, Øvredal asked his agent to find him a horror script. The one Øvredal chose was The Autopsy of Jane Doe. Written by Ian B. Goldberg (TV’s Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) and Richard Naing (the upcoming Friday the 13th reboot), it concerns father-son forensic team Tommy and Austin Tilden being tasked with determining the cause of death of a young woman found at a bizarre crime scene. As midnight approaches and a storm rages, the Tildens soon find that the body contains terrifying secrets…

Gorehounds rejoice: this year marks the 20th anniversary of Grindhouse Releasing. Sage Stallone and Bob Murawski started the “new leader in quality exploitation” in 1996 as I watched from the Internet. At the time, I was a member of the message board for a website called Mortado’s Horror News, run by a tech-savvy horror and metal fan in Seattle. Among the cadre of posters from the US, Canada and Australia was a guy who ran a respected bootleg VHS mail order service who was connected to Stallone and Murawski. He kept us updated as they worked on their first release, Umberto Lenzi’s Cannibal Ferox (1981), which came out on laser disc. A close friend of mine who had a laser disc player ordered it and ran me off a tape…

Steve Moore and A.E. Paterra are behind Pittsburgh space-rock outfit Zombi, known for moulding the horror soundtrack stylings of Tangerine Dream and John Carpenter into epic soundscapes years before the horror synth rock thing exploded. Last year saw the release of Shape Shift, their first album since 2011. During the hiatus, Moore became directly involved in scoring horror films, the most recent being the action horror hybrid The Mind’s Eye (again on Relapse), which oozes all the warm pulses and layered electronics he’s become known for. I caught up with him to talk about his recent genre soundtrack work. HORROR BUSINESS (DEATH WALTZ RECORDING COMPANY, 2013) Because it was a documentary, a lot of the music in the film is from the actual films that the documentary is covering, so…

NOW PLAYING SYNDROME, NECRONOMICARDS SYNDROME PC, Mac Camel 101 Ever wish there was more variety in space-set horror games? Well, Syndrome isn’t answering that call, but it’s still a bloody good time. Emphasis on bloody. In a plot line that will no doubt sound familiar to any horror gamer, your character wakes up from cryosleep on a devastated, corpse-strewn spaceship, with half the crew savagely murdered and the other half turned into horrific mutated monsters. Your job? Get the ship running, find out what happened, survive – but that’s about to get very, very difficult. Syndrome waits a long time before showing you its monsters; unusual for a video game but – aided by a soundtrack of mysterious bumps, scrapes and ship noises, as well as your own occasionally pounding…