Table of contents for RM#184 Halloween Special Issue in RUE MORGUE

Even for those of us who celebrate Halloween all year long, we have to admit that there’s something magical about seeing the extra candy aisles and pumpkin bins at the grocery store. It feels like the one time of year where the rest of the world realizes what we horror fans have been saying all along – that there’s something liberating, cathartic and just plain fun in indulging your dark side and confronting the things that go bump in the night. As with the merits of the festive season, the rest of the world also appears to be catching on to the idea that horror is smart and critical (duh) but more importantly, that smart, critical horror movies can bring megabucks to box offices and warrant investment and attention. Obviously,…

MONSTRO BIZARRO BIGFOOT GOES ON A PRIMAL RAGE It’s been awhile since I’ve covered a Bigfoot film. Not because there haven’t been any, but because they’ve mostly failed to inspire keystrokes and fanfare in my eyes. As a long-time fan of movies featuring the iconic beast, perhaps I’ve been rendered numb by the constant, tepid stream of Bigfoot horrors that tread the same ol’ tropes: goofy rednecks, bickering teens getting picked off one by one, and acting so subpar that the often clumsy creatures look good by comparison. Granted, the’squatchploitation subgenre lurks primarily among low-budget indie horrors, and is naturally confined to a ubiquitous forest setting, so a bit of imagination is in order to imprint the niche with an unexpected footprint. To their credit, a few recent entries have…

DAN POLYDORIS’ DEATH BY TOYS Dan Polydoris of Death By Toys is a one-man, handmade action figure-making machine. His Limited Edition collectibles run the gamut of film genres, with a particular affinity for slasher flicks of the’70s and’80s. Death By Toys offers collectors a chance to own one-of-a-kind pieces of fan art, as well as limited runs of officially licensed figures, in retro-styled packaging that echoes the era of browsing the aisles of the local video rental store and being drawn to a movie based solely on the amazing VHS box art. “I love the ridiculous box art from the old horror movies,” he explains. “It’s amazing how many people remember them without ever even having seen some of the movies – they solely remember just seeing the box at…

AT FIRST PATRICIA TALLMAN DIDN'T WANT TO BE BARBARA The actor and stuntperson had been summoned to Los Angeles to audition for the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead by long-time friend Tom Savini, with whom she attended college at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. Written by the original film’s director, the legendary George A. Romero, directing duties had been passed onto the makeup artist, and when it came to casting the film’s female lead, Savini thought of Tallman right away – but she initially balked at the idea. “I said, ‘I’m not portraying women in this feeble, brain-dead manner,’” she recalls. “It’s been done to death, I’m just not doing it.” The portrayal she’s referring to is that of Barbra from the original Night of the Living Dead,…

How did the task of completing Romero’s unfinished novel come to you? Well, it’s funny. I came in contact with [Romero’s] manager who I knew from way back. I didn’t know him overly well, but I knew him. And he knew that I was a huge fan of George’s, and he said, ‘Next time we’re in town, we can all have drinks together or something.’ A few months later they were in town for some horror convention. And I met them, and that was the only time I’d met George, maybe for an hour. So it was brief. And although it meant a lot to me, to George I was just another guy he met, I’m sure. But that meeting was actually key, in a way, because ten or twelve…

Assassination Nation isn’t going to be a unanimous win for audiences, and that’s something writer/director Sam Levinson anticipates. The trailer promises sensitive subject matter for today’s sensitive audiences, presenting a litany of trigger warnings (bullying, abuse, sexual content, attempted rape, transphobia) with accompanying teaser snippets from the film, making it fair to wonder, in 2018, if the carnage to come is intended to extoll the virtues of PC-culture or to poke fun at it. As it turns out, the film accomplishes both through its bloodsoaked satire of modern youth culture and the dangers of mob mentality. On its surface, Assassination Nation (out September 21) could be accurately described as Heathers’ raunchy post-Millennial successor, the crass cousin of last year’s Tragedy Girls perhaps; a story of a group of high school…

GERIATRIC CANNIBAL KILL, GRANNY, KILL Bloody Earth Films Sorry to let you all down, but I had the best grandmother in the world. Not only did she spoil me rotten, she had an abundance of unreserved love for me that I still cherish to this day. Mildred, the main character in this film, reminds me a lot of her – especially in the way she cooks and cleans, dotes on her grandson, is baffled by new technology and chops people up to make sausage and pork rinds! Er, maybe not that last thing. This is a fun film with smart, witty dialogue and good actors, particularly Donna Swensen as the sweet but deadly granny. Packed with cool kills, sex scenes, and severed penises, it has everything you’d expect from…

No matter what your movie’s about or how good it is (or isn’t), you gotta have some Crenshaw-melon-sized yarbles to just straight-up call it The Evil. The title’s not only generic as all fuck, but it’s also a bold declaration that said flick is pretty much the first and last word in, well, evil, right? So does The Evil (1978) rise to the occasion? Truthfully, it falls a bit short by those standards, but is still a fun little haunted house bump-and-creaker. As Bad Place flicks of this vintage go, it’s not going to make anyone forget Burnt Offerings, The Changeling or my personal fave, The Legend of Hell House, but one could do much worse (and among said much worse, I include The Amityville Horror). Speaking of which, many…

Fun fact: many of the flesh-eating scenes in George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead used leftover hamburgers and meatballs from lunch, covered in Bosco chocolate syrup! In homage to the “human flesh” the ghouls feasted upon throughout the film (as well as the scene where Tom and Judy become a human BBQ feast), I’ve concocted a rich and tangy BBQ sauce using Bosco syrup. Use it over your favourite grilled meats, or with the following recipe to make your own vegan-friendly Charred Remains! If you give this recipe a try, let us know! Don’t forget to tag your photo with #ruemorgue and #homicidalhomemaker on Instagram and Twitter. GET MORE RECIPES FROM WWW.THEHOMICIDALHOMEMAKER.COM CHARRED REMAINS WITH BOSCO “BLOOD” BBQ SAUCE BOSCO “BLOOD” BBQ SAUCE • 2 T. olive oil•…

VAMPYR Dontnod Entertainment PC, Xbox One, PS4 Anticipation for Vampyr has been immense, given that it’s been more than a decade since gamers had an exceptional bloodsucker title to sink their fangs into. Alas, the first signs of trouble came late last year when the game was delayed so developers could give it a bit more polish. So does Vampyr have any bite? Yes, but it’s not quite the game we’ve been dreaming of. Players step into the shoes of Dr. Jonathan Reid, freshly back in London after serving in WWI when he is turned during the game’s opening. From there, Reid makes his way through London’s districts as a fledgling bloodsucker, conducting citizen investigations, trying to discover the identity of his maker and healing the ill, while fighting…

COMMENTS QUESTIONS CRITICISM I AM JUST writing to give credit and praise to Michael Gingold for an excellent spread on the new Halloween film in RM#183. His interview with Jamie Lee Curtis on the forthcoming film was well written and all the questions asked were spot-on and the answers were exactly what I wanted to know going into it. Thanks again for the stellar work. NATHANIEL KOLODZIEJ, VIA EMAIL FINALLY HAD some time to sit down and read RM#183 and it’s great. Very refreshing to read some quality, badass content about horror instead of nerd virgins arguing on a blog post. Support physical media (magazines, records, books, Blu-rays, tapes, whatever)! @REDNECKSTOMP, VIA TWITTER I REALLY AGREE with what Andrea said in the “Note From Underground” in RM#183. To the non-horror…

IN THE COURT OF POPULAR OPINION, RUMOURS AND HEARSAY ARE OFTEN TAKEN AS INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE. Case in point: much has been made of John A. Russo’s supposed rivalry with George A. Romero, who famously distanced himself from Russo’s maligned 30th Anniversary Edition of the film, in which the co-writer dared to add newly shot scenes to the 1968 classic. On the occasion of the original film’s 50th anniversary, we put a few questions to Russo, and hereby present his testimony. You be the judge. On writing the screenplay with George “I think [Night of the Living Dead] had more of [my input] in the sense that I came up with the main ideas. [I led] the discussion through the whole escape and how that would come about and how the…

We’ve been told our whole lives that life isn’t fair, and yet many of us place our trust in the judicial system to protect the rights of both victims and accused in a court of law. Recent times, however, have called that trust into question, and Assassination Nation isn’t the only film depicting a frustrated population taking matters into its own hands. Within the fictional social landscape created and written by James DeMonaco (who also directed the first three films), The Purge franchise has tackled the subject of vigilante justice through the dystopic scenario of a government-mandated twelve-hour period wherein all violent crime goes unpunished, including murder. The gist is that a new political party, the New Founding Fathers of America, proposed this as a response to public outcry regarding…

YOU’RE BROWSING THE WEB AND COME ACROSS AN EXQUISITELY RENDERED BUST OF BORIS KARLOFF IN HIS ICONIC ROLE AS THE MUMMY. Upon closer inspection, however, you see it’s actually made of fondant icing and completely edible. Con Congratulations, you’ve just been bewitched by the spooky savoury world of the Conjurer’s Kitchen. Founded and curated by culinary artist Annabel de Vetten (who is also known to go by the nom de plume Annabel Lecter), Conjuror’s Kitchen is the closest you’ll come to an abattoir of delicacies… if such a thing could be said to exist. A cursory glance at de Vetten’s sinister sweets reveals there is seemingly no limit to her delectable depravity: a human head with flayed flesh that’s as repulsively realistic as a leftover prop from the Hellraiser films;…

BACK IN 2010, WHEN FILMMAKER PANOS COSMATOS RELEASED HIS DEBUT MOVIE, BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW, critics dismissed it as a “doomy, dreamy, druggy, draggy” cinematic equivalent of “gazing at a lava lamp for nearly two hours.” Strangely, the same could be said of Cosmatos’ sophomore film, Mandy (out this month from Elevation Pictures in Canada and RLJE in the US), but whereas the descriptors worked against his previous offering, here, they are entirely in the film’s favour. That’s because Mandy is the kind of movie that comes along once in a while only to be viewed forever due to its mesmerizing visuals, bizarre characters and heavy dose of what-the-fuck. Set in 1983 and starring the inimitable Nicolas Cage in a role that will go down as legendary in an already…

Name Your Poison Although a handful of fancy descriptors like “elevated horror,” “smart horror” and even “social thrillers” have emerged over the past few years, horror fans haven’t been fooled by these misguided attempts to dress up genre films for a wider audience. While it’s understandable that studio marketing departments might want to combat the common misconception of horror films as unpleasant and sleazy, it’s this very same reputation that has helped keep the genre away from popular scrutiny, allowing filmmakers to transgress boundaries and cultural norms in a way that isn’t permitted by eager-to-please Hollywood movies. Horror has always taken advantage of this freedom to make viewers anxious and uncomfortable by confronting them with challenging ideas, images, and even – in the case of William Castle’s 1959 horror film…

BLACK VEILS: THE VAMPIRE LEXICON Father Sebastiaan VampireWorld.com True creatures of the night might be familiar with Father Sebastiaan, impresario of the Endless Night Vampire Ball and self-proclaimed fangsmith (maker of high-quality fangs). Sebastiaan has been a key figure in bloodsucker-themed club events since the’90s, and has written several books about the culture. His latest, Black Veils: The Vampire Lexicon, continues his trend of expounding upon the lore, etiquette, philosophy and trivia that appeal to modern-day enthusiasts/lifestylers. cultural exposé is that vampirism is so prominently ingrained in the cultural zeitgeist that it has become an archetype, consisting primarily of notions of a romantic, esoteric, and taboo nature, and part and parcel of the various clans in the culture (Sebastiaan himself is the founder of the Sabretooth Clan). Black Veils has…

1922 SOUNDTRACK Mike Patton IPECAC RECORDINGS Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle) has been moving beyond his metal and alternative roots and making a name for himself in film scoring for a while now, and here he provides the sombre notes that lend this Netflix adaptation of Stephen King’s novella the gravitas it requires. In establishing the early 20th-century rural Americana setting, Patton employs acoustic instruments, most notably strings, piano, and percussion, in addition to various pieces of struck metal (“Farewell Note”). The orchestration emphasizes the pastoral quality to the film, with strings buzzing like summertime cicadas, before delving into full-on shock-and-awe stabs; take a brief track like “Elphis,” which sounds like a dissonant mashup of Aaron Copland’s “Hoedown.” The soundtrack is anchored by a slow and sombre six-note…

Through Lost Themes (2015), Lost Themes II (2016), and Anthology (2017), John Carpenter has shown that, despite the number of horror-synth artists seemingly popping up every day, he’s still king of that particular castle. The director/musician honed his sound while composing synth scores to his early movie hits Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980), and more, and in his second career as a touring musician, he’s solidified the core of his band to revolve around himself, son Cody Carpenter, and godson Daniel Davies. The family tree is already beginning to seed, with a brand-new synth album by Davies called Events Score just released through Lakeshore Records digitally, with a vinyl edition coming from Burning Witches Records. Davies, the son of Kinks guitarist Dave Davies, was already a fairly accomplished musician before…

WEIRD STATS & MORBID FACTS ISSUE # 184 Believing it important to his career that his face be shown, Doug Bradley nearly chose the role of a mattress mover instead of lead Cenobite Pinhead in Clive Barker’s Hellraiser. In 2003, it was discovered that the body of 38-year-old Joyce Carol Vincent had been sitting before a running TV in a London bedsit for three years, unnoticed. A portion of her rent was being automatically paid by benefits agencies, leading officials to believe she was still alive. Richard Matheson was inspired to write 1974’s Duel after an encounter with a tailgating truck driver on November 22, 1963, the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Coffin Birth, also known as post-mortem fetal extrusion, refers to the expulsion of a dead fetus…

1 GOLD SKELETON MUG SET £75.00 Fancy drinking your tea out of a tibia? Or perhaps coffee from a clavicle? Charlotte Clark’s stacking mugs are printed in real 24 carat gold and come entombed in a coffin gift box, perfect for your next spooky tea party. They’re limited edition, so don’t rest in peace on these! charlotteclarkltd.com 2 BUBBLASSKICK LAPEL PIN $10 USD Chew bubblegum and kick ass with this homage to They Live featuring Roddy Piper at his rowdiest! This big 2.25-inch offset printed pin comes with two metal butterfly clutches on the back for extra sticking power. Bagged with a custom-designed backer card, you’ve no choice but to consume. beastwreck.storenvy.com 3 SLEEPAWAY CAMP LIGHT SWITCH PLATE $10 USD Attention campers – our friends at the Forever Midnight podcast…

THE HORROR WORLD HAS SEEN ITS SHARE OF MAINSTREAM HITS AND CULT CLASSICS BUT THERE’S A SPECIAL PLACE IN OUR HEARTS for the independent film that exceeds all odds and expectations; the unassuming midnight gem that changes the genre forever. George A. Romero’s cinematic debut was made on a shoestring budget of $114,000 and premiered, unrated, as a Saturday afternoon matinee in Pittsburgh on October 1, 1968. The film opened with some fanfare – due mostly to the fact that the MPAA didn’t emerge until November of that year, so children were able to see it, a detail that garnered more pearl-clutching from concerned citizens than film critics – but nobody could have predicted its impact on cinema. Indeed, just ask any non-horror fan to name a horror movie: in…

SELDOM HAS A DEBUT FILM FROM A FIRST-TIME FILMMAKER BEEN AS CELEBRATED AS GEORGE A. ROMERO’S NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. A deceptively simple film, it was the product of a 27-year-old filmmaker and his friends on a seven-month shooting adventure. Stories of its production largely centre on the inventiveness of cast and crew to pull off the miraculous with a shoestring budget. And yet, despite those legendary tales, the resulting 97 minutes of celluloid manage what most films never do: enter the pantheon of classic cinema to be ceremoniously watched (and rewatched) by generation after generation of moviegoers. The reason why Romero’s movie works so well may be because – like the greatest films – it lends itself to a richness of experience and interpretation, though, as we will…

ATMOSFEAR/NIGHTMARE (1991) J. W. Spear & Sons It’s hard to believe one can have fond childhood memories of being called a maggot, but the 1991 board game Atmosfear (Nightmare in some regions) occupies a soft spot in the psyches of many a horror fan who grew up in the’90s. Played with an accompanying 60-minute VHS cassette tape, the game casts players as one of six classic monsters (Khufu the Mummy, Baron Samedi the zombie, etc.) on a race against the Gatekeeper, who interrupts the proceedings with mini-games and arbitrary rewards and punishments in addition to the occasional insult. Three game expansions have come out since the first game and DVD versions have been released, but nothing beats the original. No VCR? No problem – find the video in its entirety…

WHEN HALLOWEEN ROLLS AROUND EVERY YEAR, YOU CAN GO TO ONE OF THE COUNTLESS HAUNTED HOUSES that attempt to shock you with recreations of modern movie villains and bloodshed. Alternately, for a more authentic, classic horror experience, you can trek to the wilds of Connecticut and enter an attraction devoted to the older traditions of terror and check out some one-of-a-kind mementos of beloved films curated by a bona fide monster kid in the bargain. For over 50 years, since he was just thirteen years old, Cortlandt Hull has operated the Witch’s Dungeon Classic Movie Museum in Bristol, Connecticut, offering visitors a chance to step back into past eras of fright films and horror heroes. Located within the Bristol Historical Society (98 Summer Street), the Dungeon showcases life-size replicas of…

FLIM + DVD + REISSUES FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES COLD SKIN Starring Ray Stevenson, David Oakes and Aura Garrido Directed by Xavier Gens Written by Jesús Olmo and Eron Sheean Samuel Goldwyn Films Although it has inevitably drawn comparisons to The Shape of Water, Xavier Gens’ Cold Skin is based on an Albert Sánchez Piñol novel originally published in 2002. And like Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar winner, it is not so much an outright horror movie as an exploration of what interactions with semi-human beings (fish-hominids in both cases) bring out in people. From the opening scenes, this is one handsome production, ravishingly shot by cinematographer Daniel Aranyó on forbidding locations in the Canary Islands and Iceland, with vivid production design by double Oscar-winner Gil Parrondo (this was his last…

EDGAR ALLAN POE’S SNIFTER OF TERROR Tom Peyer AHOY Comics JENNY FINN Mike Mignola, Troy Nixey and Farel Dalrymple Dark Horse TALES FROM THE CRYPT Various Super Genius BEASTS OF BURDEN: ANIMAL RITES Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson Dark Horse THE UNSOUND Cullen Bunn and Jack T. Cole BOOM! SACRED CREATURES VOLUME 1: A MIXTURE OF MADNESS Pablo Raimondi and Klaus Janson Image A new publisher burst onto the comics scene this fall: AHOY Comics. Boasting a magazine format, the books promise to be loaded with content from top talent including full-length and back-up comic stories, prose, cartoons and even poetry. Among the superhero, adventure and satirical titles making up AHOY’s initial wave is one that should pique every horror fan’s interest, Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror, an anthology…

Stephen King Simon and Schuster Another year, another new book from Stephen King, who shows no sign of slowing his prolific pace, even as he turns 71 this month. And if the quality of The Outsider is any indication, there’s no reason why he should. In his latest novel, a horrible child murder takes place in Flint City, and beloved Little League coach, English teacher, and family man Terry Maitland is charged with the crime. All the evidence points to him – witnesses, DNA – until it’s discovered that Maitland has an indisputable alibi, and proof to go along with it. Before long, Detective Ralph Anderson, who makes a show of arresting Maitland on the baseball field in front of the entire town, is faced with the question: how can…