Table of contents for RM#187 in RUE MORGUE

Having spent the bulk of my adult life answering loaded questions as to why I love horror movies, I make an effort to show respect for those with tastes and interests that differ from my own. Even within our beloved genre, I have my pets and my pet peeves. I love my J-horror, and anything satirical and critical. New French Extremity? Fuck, oui! And while I don’t care much for slapstick horror comedies or formulaic slashers, I still consider them for coverage in Rue Morgue anyway. I make the call, but I always aim to present our readers with as wide a variety of features as possible because this diversity in taste is part of what makes our genre (and its fandom) so rich. With that said, I feel compelled…

1 HALLOWEEN VHS THROW BLANKET $34.99 USD The night he came home… in comfort! That’s right, you too can cuddle up to this luxe Halloween throw blanket, featuring Media’s classic VHS box art. Blanket measures 60 x 50 inches and is double-panelled for maximum plush; guaranteed to let sleep come to your little town. creepycompany.com 2 OUIJA BOARD JEWELLERY BOX $75 USD Arizona-based artisan CarvedWithLight might be a distant relative of Philip LeMarchand – this 10 x 7-inch Ouija-engraved wood jewellery box can only be unlocked by moving the planchette across the lid to spell out a secret code! How does it work? Only the spirits know for sure… carvedwithlight.etsy.com 3 WILL GRAHAM WALL CLOCK $40 USD Even the most diehard Fannibals know better than to ask Will Graham what…

THE INK WAS BARELY DRY ON MANY A HORROR FAN’S BEST OF 2018 LIST WHEN NETFLIX PREMIERED BIRD BOX ON DECEMBER 21. The film, based on Josh Malerman’s 2014 novel in which the world is besieged by mysterious creatures that can’t be looked at without the seer succumbing to instant suicidal impulse, was an overnight streaming sensation. With over 45 million views in its first week, the movie spawned buzz immeasurable, memes innumerable and even a fun-turned-fucked-up “Bird Box Challenge,” where participants filmed themselves walking down stairs, riding bicycles and even operating vehicles… while blindfolded. The runaway success of Bird Box put a sudden spotlight on Malerman’s literary debut, even though he’s no longer a debutant to the horror lit game; the Michigan-based author/musician boasts a deep well of novels,…

AS THE OLD SAYING IN MAINE GOES, YOU DON’T MESS WITH THE KING, STEPHEN KING THAT IS. Back in ’83, King published Pet Sematary, a chilling novel about the Creeds, a young family who moves to the small town of Ludlow, Maine, only to encounter tragedy, grief and horror when they make the misguided decision to test the uncanny soil of a Native Indian burial site. By 1989, the book had been turned into a big-budget Hollywood movie with director Mary Lambert at the helm and King contributing the screenplay (and a small cameo, naturally). Over the ensuing years, Pet Sematary became something of a cultural touchstone, finding its way into pop music, a movie sequel, at least one radio adaptation, and inspiring endless parodies of the Creeds’ charming next-door…

HORROR FANS CAN BE DIVIDED INTO TWO CATEGORIES: those who’ve never heard of 1972’s Invasion of the Blood Farmers, and those who know it was shot for $27,000 over three weekends and that the actors were paid in beer. Severin Films aims to swell the ranks of the latter with their refurbished, extras-festooned reissue, unleashed on an unsuspecting world just as this issue of Rue Morgue hits stands. Although previously available on DVD from Retromedia (hosted by Fred Olen Ray) and Code Red, Severin’s Blu-ray boasts the first digital release to be struck from the original negative and, while the results are still gloriously lo-fi, the transfer is significantly cleaner and more vivid than anything previously available. For the uninitiated (we know you’re out there), the plot goes something like…

Since its launch in 2016, Eibon Press has been hitting horror fans with raw and unflinching adaptations of – and in some cases, sequels to – goremeister Lucio Fulci’s films [RM#183]. These comic book takes on Maniac, The New York Ripper and Zombie have met and exceeded even the most ardent Fulci fan’s expectations, proving faithful to what was originally presented on screen while managing to up the blood and gore quotient in a way only the direct-to-consumer comic page can achieve. The label’s most ambitious project is The Saga of the 7 Gates, comprised of adaptations of Fulci’s Gates of Hell, House by the Cemetery and The Beyond. These are not simply straight retellings of the movies, however. Each three-issue series will include additional material that will ultimately link…

THE BOOK OF FLOWERING Mark Beech, ed. Egaeus Press The eighteen authors whose strange and decadent fiction is within the covers of this dark, beautifully designed herbarium found true inspiration in the theme of flowers and flowering. Their tales tend towards more literary (but rarely purple) prose, with a welcome emphasis on atmosphere, suggestion and dreamlike/nightmarish mood. Reggie Oliver, the modern master of spooks in the art world, this time portrays a “Lady With a Rose” who holds a dark secret in an old Titian’s painting, but the moody tale is also about the toxic machoism of the Italian “worship” of pretty ladies, and so much more. Mark Valentine’s “The Pale Sentinels of Asphodel” teases with a bit of old Egyptian magic involving specific flowers at the shrine of the…

I’VE LOVED you guys for over five years now and my enjoyment grows stronger every issue. While I was flipping through and reading, I got this heavy feminist vibe. Finally noticed the tiny “Women in Horror” seal on the cover… make that shit bigger! A DUDE ZACK – LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY REALLY ENJOYING my newest issue of Rue Morgue. It’s great to see a focus on women in horror since there are so many women who have made such significant contributions to the genre and deserve more recognition. @SICKFLIXHORROR, VIA TWITTER “A DYED-IN-THE-WOOL PRICK” is going straight into my lexicon. Thank you, Benoit Black and @ RueMorgue. @WOUNDON1S, VIA TWITTER MY GIRLFRIEND got me a subscription to your magazine for the holidays and I was immediately annoyed by the article “Fear…

CRYPTOZOIC ENTERTAINMENT’S CRYPTKINS FIGURES Do Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and the Chupacabra really exist? Founded in the 1950s by zoologists Bernard Heuvelmans and Ivan T. Sanderson, the study of cryptozoology tries to prove the creatures from folklore have once or do now walk the Earth. Cryptids have long been spotlighted in pop culture, including films, novels and television shows, but the mythical creatures have an especially solid shelf life as collectible figures. The latest among them is Cryptozoic Entertainment’s Cryptkin figures, which bring the legendary creatures to life via 2.25-inch-tall vinyl figures. Series One, packaged safely in “blind-reveal” miniature crates (complete with breathing holes), includes thirteen figures in all (Nessie, Mothman, Cthulhu, Bigfoot, Chupacabra, Ogopogo, Thunderbird, and others) as well as two “rare” and one “ultra-rare” colour variants. Sculptor…

DANCE, DRUGS & DEATH CLIMAX Starring Sofia Boutella, Claude Gajan Maull and Romain Guillermic Written and directed by Gaspar Noé A24 You know that strange feeling between the moment you take psychedelic drugs and the instant they kick in? Whatever the term may be, that moment of combined trepidation, excitement and abandon is not unlike the feeling of sitting down to a Gaspar Noé film. With some of the most disconcerting and uncomfortable genre films of the last two decades (2002’s Irreversible and 2009’s Enter the Void among them), the Argentinian filmmaker has been known to provoke audiences, but Climax will have you squirming in your seat for all the right reasons. Beginning with a series of audition tapes, Climax launches into a breathtaking modern dance sequence where the young…

DON’T Redux Remember that time Minnie Castevet teamed up with TV’s Rhoda and McCloud to move into a haunted house together? Wasn’t that a party? Wait – you don’t? Well, don’t sweat it – I’m a late arrival myself. What makes 1982’s Don’t Go to Sleep memorable sure ain’t the plot, a standard as fuck ghost story about a middle-class family haunted by a dead daughter. Nor is it the cast; Dennis Weaver (Duel), Valerie Harper (The Mary Tyler Moore Show), Ruth Gordon (Rosemary’s Baby), Robin Ignico (Annie) and Oliver Robins (Poltergeist) are a talented bunch but there’s nothing remarkable about all of them showing up in the same movie-of-the-week. Nope, the creepy charms of Don’t Go to Sleep lie in its more abstract qualities, some of which I suspect…

Music videos have been the training ground for many a Hollywood director, but it isn’t uncommon to see established auteurs such as M. Night Shyamalan and Paul Thomas Anderson go back and reapply their skills to the medium. There are far fewer examples of horror film directors who decided to make horror-themed videos, but digging through the vaults I was able to come up with a few for this issue – some obvious, others not so much. LAST IN LINE (1984) Dio Directed by Don Coscarelli One of least talked-about horror movie/music video mashups occurred when Phantasm mastermind Don Coscarelli helmed heavy metal icon Dio’s "Last in Line" video, complete with special makeup effects by John Carl Buechler (From Beyond). Wedged right between 1979’s Phantasm and its 1988 sequel, this…

IN THE MIDST OF THEIR SCREEN WORKS, GLASS EYE PIX FOUNDER LARRY FESSENDEN AND FILMMAKER GLENN MCQUAID (I Sell the Dead) have spent the past decade creating aural fear with their Tales From Beyond the Pale series. Modelled on vintage radio dramas but possessed of up-to-date attitudes, the four seasons of scary sonic stories have previously been available as paid downloads and in CD and book-packaged flashdrive compilations, but now the duo will be bringing all these episodes to the podcast realm – along with some fresh frights to add to your feed. “We’re going to celebrate this wealth of past shows,” says Fessenden, “and hopefully reach a new audience that’s more podcast-oriented than people who buy this kind of content on [Amazon’s digital audio store] Audible. One thing we’ve…

WEIRD STATS & MORBID FACTS ISSUE # Amanda Teague, whom we reported in this column last issue had married the ghost of an 18th-century Haitian pirate, recently announced her divorce from the spectral sailor. “All I want to say is be very careful when dabbling in spirituality, it’s not something to mess with,” she said. Author Mark Z. Danielewski estimates it took him approximately ten years of writing ten hours per day to complete his landmark debut novel House of Leaves. This past January, California homeowner Sylvia Dungan discovered video footage of a stranger licking the doorbell of her home for three straight hours during the night. Police charged 33-year-old Roberto Daniel Arroyo for prowling and petty theft. Of the 21 films that Nosferatu director F.W. Murnau directed, eight are…

Mother says you’re made up of witches and woods, brutal bloodletting, slashers in hoods. But I know better, having eaten my share, saved some for later, stashed under stairs. Mixed ’em and matched ’em and made new pairs. Mother doesn’t like you. She says you are trite! I try to convince her night after night. I beseeched her, “Dear Mother, open thy mind. Horror is no longer a word you will find so neatly packaged with stuffing and twine.” “Leave me, dark child, with a full foamy stein. And take your common monsters, speckled with teeth Used so often they put me to sleep. Take your old bones lying out in the rain While I read something compelling and sane.” Oh, poor horror, misunderstood. I continued with Mother, as well…

WHEN 2017'S GET OUT WAS RECOGNIZED BY THE ACADEMY AWARDS AND ITS WRITER/DIRECTOR JORDAN PEELE MADE HISTORY AS THE FIRST BLACK PERSON TO WIN AN OSCAR FOR BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY, many in the African American community felt it was a sign that their voices could be heard among the mainstream. And this crossover, so long and arduous in coming, happened in the most unlikely of genres… horror. Certainly, Peele has a great affection and deep faith in the genre, with plans to continue exploring it as his platform to change the way audiences – both white and black – perceive African Americans in film. All of which has kickstarted a ton of much-needed discussion around the current state of black horror movies and black characterization in horror movies. But before…

SAVED BY A TWIST FOUR BOXES EOne Entertainment Yes, I’m one of those cranky middle-aged men who is constantly angry at the internet when not yelling at the neighbours for playing their damn music too loud! So I was immediately ticked off at the three kids in this film who become addicted to a website, fourboxes.tv, which is nothing more than footage of a masked guy roaming around a house that’s been outfitted with spycams. But just as I was about to throw my dentures at the screen, the movie took an interesting, unforeseen twist and wound up with a finale that made me reach for my Metamucil to take an appreciative sip. Four Boxes is a slow burn with a cast that might have you hoping the worst…

That Sinking Feeling “FILMS CAN (SHOULD!) INSTILL COMPLEX AND CONFLICTING FEELINGS, AND GOOD CRITICISM CAN PUT THESE EMOTIONS INTO WORDS AND SHED NEW LIGHT ON EVEN THE WORST MOVIE.” Since the dawn of the internet, there are few things that have been more misunderstood than the role of the film writer. The public perception of critics continues to sag under the weight of online marketing hype, review aggregating websites and myopic fan publications. In many cases, writers are happy to play the cheerleader, dutifully following the shockingly prevailing opinion that critics should be dyed-in-the-wool fans of a film franchise before even being allowed to write about the latest installment. These days, it seems that any dissenting opinion on a hotly anticipated blockbuster, no matter how mild, is somehow construed as…

ROBIN WOOD ON THE HORROR FILM COLLECTED ESSAYS AND REVIEWS Robin Wood (and Barry Keith Grant, ed.) Wayne State University Press The horror genre has been privileged to have a first-rate critic such as Robin Wood devote so much of his time, effort and intelligence to promoting, analyzing and defending it. His essay “An Introduction to American Horror Film” is to horror cinema studies what Lovecraft’s “Supernatural Horror in Literature” is to horror lit – a seminal, indispensable, profound and still unsurpassed treasure trove of insights on the subject that no scholar or fan can afford to skip. Now, in the tenth year since Wood’s premature passing, all of his essays, columns, reviews and interviews pertaining to horror are for the first time collected in a large, 430-page volume to…

SOUNDTRACK TWO THOUSAND MANIACS! Herschell G. Lewis TERROR VISION H.G. Lewis was a true D.I.Y. filmmaking stalwart, often writing, directing, shooting and, yes, composing music for his own films. On Two Thousand Maniacs!, the Godfather of Gore came up with original bluegrass and hillbilly music including the memorable “Theme Song From 2000 Maniacs,” a boot-stomping classic, tailor-made for some backwoods hootenanny. Interspersed between the Southern rebel tunes is some fairly innocuous incidental organ and string music that lacks the chills of the kettledrums in Lewis’ Blood Feast. Terror Vision’s LP includes liner notes from the late filmmaker as well as label head Ryan Graveface, who tells of a burgeoning relationship with Lewis just weeks before his death – a relationship that at one point led to re-recording a couple of…

OVERKILL’S THE WALKING DEAD PC Starbreeze Studios Despite a bit of an oversaturation in recent years, the zombie genre is destined to rise and rise again, much like the undead themselves. Tragically, though it seems a promising collaboration on paper, Overkill’s The Walking Dead is a bloated corpse of a multiplayer title that’s far too rough around the edges to be enjoyable by anyone other than the staunchest of fans. Set in a crumbling Washington D.C., players assume the role of four new characters not tied to the Robert Kirkman comics or the AMC television series. Consisting entirely of base defense missions and raids on outposts belonging to a mysterious group known as “the family,” the game plays a lot like Starbreeze’s other popular online co-op shooter series, Payday:…