Table of contents for Issue 98 March 2010 in RUE MORGUE

Who knew a buggered-up title card could have such a lasting impact on one of horror’s favourite subgenres? When the company that originally distributed Night of the Living Dead failed to place a then-necessary copyright notice on the prints, George A. Romero’s seminal 1968 shocker was relegated to the creative red-light district known as the public domain. For the last 40 years, the film has been cannibalized by filmmakers and distributors looking to make an easy buck with knock-offs and an endless stream of video and DVD re-releases. Occasionally though, the movie’s status affords someone the opportunity to expand upon Romero’s apocalyptic vision, rather than simply exploit it. Night of the Living Dead: Origins, an upcoming 3-D animated film helmed by visual effects artist and first-time director Zebediah de Soto,…

• In order to deal with the increasing number of unclaimed corpses in Detroit, Michigan, due to economic hardship in the area, the city has acquired 67 large freezers, which are situated on trailers outside the morgue, to hold the overflow. • A copy of Poe’s first book of poetry, Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827), sold at auction in December for $662,500, setting a new record for American literature. • More than two million Mexicans are said to worship Santa Muerte (“Holy Death”), who is depicted by a statue in Mexico City as a skeleton wearing a hood and tunic, holding a scythe and globe. Santa Muerte accepts offerings of alcohol and is believed to protect criminals and the innocent alike. • In order to create the giant rat FX…

FRANKENSTEIN’S BLOODY TERROR (1968) SHRIEK SHOW Naschy’s first outing as Waldemar Daninsky (and as a screenwriter) was an extravagant 70mm, 3-D film that fused the Universal monster mashes of the ’40s with the gothic sensibilities of Hammer. Waldemar (pictured above) is cursed after being bitten by a werewolf that was resurrected by a couple of drunken, Gypsy grave robbers. He unwittingly contacts a pair of satanic vampires in search of a cure and all monster hell is unleashed. Only Frankenstein’s monster is nowhere to be found in Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror, which is legendary drive-in distributor Sam Sherman’s retitling of Hell Creatures, an international edit of director Enrique López Eguiluz’ original production La marca del Hombre lobo (see p.70 for more on the film). But forget all that – just enjoy…

ON THE NIGHT OF JUNE 6, 1992, WHEN THE HUNGRY FLAMES OF ARSON ENGULFED THE Fantoft stave church in the Norwegian city of Bergen, black metal was still in its misanthropic infancy. A year earlier, one of its progenitors, Mayhem vocalist Dead, was found with his wrists cut and his brains blown out. But the shotgun suicide and ashen remains of the centuries-old church were merely harbingers of things to come, including more murders, 50 separate accounts of church burnings, and the ensuing media frenzy. Since then, black metal’s made plenty of inroads; bands such as Satyricon have won Norwegian Grammy Awards, Immortal has an iPhone app, academic symposiums debate the music’s cultural significance and Mayhem T-shirts can be found at Hot Topic. So when Audrey Ewell and Aaron Aites,…

LEE DEMARBRE HAS EARNED HIS PLACE IN THE HEARTS OF TRASH CINEPHILES. The 38-year-old Ottawa-based director specializes in creating low-budget homages to the video store sleaze of his youth – the kind of trash celluloid that embodied everything lowbrow and fun. His previous features Jesus Christ:Vampire Hunter (2001), Harry Knuckles and the Pearl Necklace (2004) and The Dead Sleep Easy (2007) have included such schlock staples as hapless spies, lascivious lesbians, robots, kung-fu masters, mob assassins, Mexican wrestlers, the undead and even a sasquatch. His latest, Smash Cut, is a tribute to “The Godfather of Gore,” Herschell Gordon Lewis, with a plot about the blood, sweat and tears (but mostly blood) of Z-grade moviemaking. It all began with Demarbre’s teenage fascination with exploitation cinema, which led to many sleepless nights…

ROUGH ’N’ MAGIC DRAGONS DRAGON WARS Sony The Korean film industry has been kicking ass lately in the horror department (e.g. Arang, Hansel & Gretel, The Host), so it was with little apprehension that I scooped up Dragon Wars (a.k.a. D-War), a creature feature by Hyung-rae Shim (Reptilian). Based on an ancient Korean legend about dragons and reincarnation, the American-set film sees a reporter tasked with protecting a girl who’s fated to turn into a giant monster in order to save humanity from other giant monsters. What ensues is a bevy of gigantic mythical creatures laying waste to the landscape. Don’t expect too much in the acting and storyline departments, and you won’t see much blood either (it’s a kaiju flick, after all). Just sit back and watch some truly…

OUR SHATNER SENSES ARE TINGLING KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS (1977) Starring William Shatner, Tiffany Bolling and Woody Strode Directed by John “Bud” Cardos Written by Alan Caillou, Stephen Lodge, Richard Robinson, et al. Shout! Factory Almost a decade after swearing off green-skinned girls and hanging up his tricorder, William Shatner put his career on a warp-speed collision course with drive-in infamy by starring in one of the most outlandish – and therefore greatest – nature-run-amok films of the 1970s. Although occasionally overshadowed by the thousands of real live tarantulas that crawl all over this independent production, Shatner dons natural confidence and several elaborate western outfits in this crowd-pleasing update of 1950s creature features. The Shat plays hero Dr. Rack Hansen, a smalltown veterinarian who releases the charm floodgates when college…

The name Boris Karloff garners a tremendous amount of respect and admiration within the horror field, and rightfully so. Although primarily remembered for his film work, over the course of four decades Karloff also carved a name for himself in radio, stage, television, spoken word recordings, animation and, last but not least, comic books. In 1960, he became the host of a new television suspense series named Thriller, a cross between Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone. Dell Comics – well known at the time for its movie and TV tie-ins – decided to capitalize on the show and, more importantly, Karloff’s popularity. They developed an anthology title, Boris Karloff Thriller, for their Gold Key imprint. The actor’s likeness appeared on the covers, as well as the interior, where…

NORTHWEST PASSAGES Barbara Roden Prime Books Featuring a cover blurb from Peter Straub, this much hyped debut collection from Canadian writer Barbara Roden was worth the wait. Comprised of ten tales of the supernatural that often invoke the founders of modern horror (from Coleridge and Shelley to Poe and Dickens), with settings ranging from a downtown Vancouver hotel to the frozen Antarctic wastes, Northwest Passages is a haunting, versatile read for confirmed ghost story addicts. BRIAN J. SHOWERS THE BABY BOOMER HORROR AND SCI-FI TRIVIA BOOK John Catapano 48HR Books The usual small press foibles of sloppy editing and sub-par production values mar this to me, but function is of greater importance than form in a book of trivia questions, and there’s no disputing that John Catapano knows his stuff.…

THIS IS THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THIS COLUMN, BUT IT’S A BITTERSWEET OCCASION. Recently, we lost two genre figures that were influential to me - Paul Naschy and Chas. Balun. I first encountered Balun’s inimitable brand of brash genre criticism through a chance pick-up of issue #11 of Fangoria magazine’s long-defunct offshoot, Gorezone. His Piece o’ Mind column expanded my brain and made me think that writing about gory horror movies was the coolest gig one could have. Like Balun, I’ve supported independent filmmakers, but we disagree on one. In a 2007 interview posted to fearzone.com, Balun, after admitting to not having seen any of them, made withering comments about Fred Vogel’s August Underground films, which he characterized as misogynistic geek shows for “guys that are 28 years old, still…

SPAIN - 1968 Shortly after an eight-year-old Jacinto Molina snuck into a Madrid movie house to watch Lon Chaney Jr. in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) his mother asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. “A werewolf,” declared the youngster. So it comes as no surprise that Molina would turn to his favoured classic monster as inspiration for his first screenplay more than two decades later. Molina penned the script, for the film that would become La marca del Hombre lobo, in a mere week’s time. Hoping only to sell it to a producer, he couldn’t have anticipated the lasting effect the movie would have on his life, the Spanish film industry and the world of horror. La marca del Hombre lobo (later ridiculously retitled…

DAYBREAKERS WAS THE FIRST vampire movie in ages I was looking forward to. The trailer and premise were great. So what the fuck happened? Ignoring major plot holes and inconsistencies, which is fine when we’re dealing with essentially a “monster/zombie movie,” but what about a little story? It would have been nice to look back at the origin of the vampire epidemic. Were vampires coming out of the coffin? Was it truly a disease? Were there no efforts in the beginning to fight this outbreak? This may have actually kept the viewer engrossed in the plot. I am not alone in my opinion of the film, the general conversations of the folks leaving the movie were the same: “slow, boring, too long.” Great cast, great effects and a lazy, lazy,…

fearnet.com Mick Garris, the mastermind behind Masters of Horror, recently launched his own online horror talk show on FEARnet. In early episodes, Garris picks the brains of some of the genre’s heaviest hitters, including Rick Baker, John Carpenter, Robert Englund and Tobe Hooper. So step off, Leno… chetzar.com This past February, artist Chet Zar redesigned his online portfolio. Drop by to view dozens of eerie and disturbing oil-on-canvas paintings of freaky mutants, weird monsters and dark temptresses. While there, snag info on Zar’s upcoming exhibits and order prints of his fantastical works. thedraculasociety.org.uk Formed in 1973 by Bernard Davies and Bruce Wightman, The Dracula Society caters to fans of vampires and other monsters popularized by the gothic fiction of yesteryear. The group gives out annual awards for outstanding literary achievement…

1 PAUL NASCHY DANINSKY FIGURINE $150 This beautiful limited-edition Waldemar Daninsky figurine pays tribute to Spanish horror icon Paul Naschy’s most enduring character. Crafted in resin, each 30-cm-tall sculpture is signed by Naschy and artist Javier Aliaga, making this a truly essential collectible for fans. Viva el Hombre Lobo at scifiworld.es. 2 LIVING DEAD BEETLEJUICE $32 The ’juice is loose! Suffering from an inconvenient infestation of the living? Out of ideas as to how to get rid of ’em? Well, look to the latest addition to the Living Dead Dolls Presents line for inspiration: Tim Burton’s one and only bio-exorcist – just don’t say his name. Summon him at mezcotoyz.com. 3 BLOOD SPILL BOOKMARK $10 There’s a time-honoured tradition among booklovers of using whatever’s nearest – bat wings, severed fingers,…

“BRITISH GENRE FICTION HAS BEEN SWAMPED BY AN AMERICAN STYLE OF HORROR,” claims English animator Ashley Thorpe. “The days of Kensington gore [British slang for theatrical stage blood] have long gone. Nothing feels very indigenous anymore. We seem to have lost our monsters, our ghosts and our demons, which is bloody criminal, as Britain is a country saturated with a rich heritage of horrors – fact and fiction. What I’m hoping to do, however modestly, is to at least ‘reconnect’ with that dark vein that runs through our culture and hopefully share a few old tales that I believe are worth telling.” It’s a bold and noble mission. Then again, Thorpe is a bold and noble man. If anyone’s up to the challenge, it’s him. So, along with partner and…

THIRTY YEARS AGO, THE RELEASE OF KEEP WATCHING THE SKIES! AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION FILMS OF THE FIFTIES CHANGED THE WAY PEOPLE APPROACHED SCI-FI MOVIES, BY PROVIDING A COMPREHENSIVE ROADMAP THROUGH THE GENRE’S GOLDEN AGE. Now that it’s even easier to access those classics, author Bill Warren has revised and updated his pioneering book for a new generation of monster kids. Keep Watching the Skies! The 21st Century Edition is a monumental achievement. Covering more than 250 films in its 1000 pages, it’s a definitive overview spanning from 1950 to 1962. But more than just a reference book, it’s also full of biographical details that trace Warren’s journey with these movies – a self-effacing personal history of his lifelong romance with the UFOs, bug-eyed aliens and giant insects that invaded post-war…

SOUNDTRACK THE FOURTH KIND Atli Örvarsson VARESE SARABANDE Atli Örvarsson’s approach to scoring an alien encounter is to first create an immersive, harmonically soothing world, then gradually introduce small elements that’ll become intrusive once the film’s weirdness factor kicks in. High-pitched screeching and low-level vibrato foreshadows looming danger, albeit under the film’s semi-tragic main theme, carried by a lovely female voice. Örvarsson’s forte is textures; he’s adept at building moods by layering sounds over circular rhythms, pulling back to ominous pulses, then re-integrating patterns as a scene’s tension starts to thicken. There’s also the complete absence of any demarcation point between human, orchestral and digital sounds, making the score appropriately otherworldly. Instead of telling a clear story, though, the cues generally thunder in, cut out and alternate between harmony and…

THE YEAR IS 1994. The initial incarnation of Vancouver’s The Deadcats is born, fuelled by a love of the British wave of psychobilly that crested in the early ’80s. Highly influenced by whacked-out garage and rockabilly groups, such as Demented Are Go, The Cramps, Guana Batz and The Meteors, the band members knew they were trail-blazing right from the first gig (which was on a Friday the 13th, no less). “There was nobody around here doing anything even remotely similar,” says frontman Mick Tupelo (bass and growls). “We had a stand-up drummer/singer that looked a lot like a cross between the Frankenstein [monster] and Billy Idol, and a guy playing a flaming one-string washtub bass. The rockabilly, voodoo, surfy sound we were doing attracted a lot of Betty Page-type girls…

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Like Dracula and the hordes of other silver scream creatures it once celebrated, Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine soon will rise from the grave… again. Trapped in litigation hell since publisher Ray Ferry’s 1993 revival of the 52-year-old magazine ended in lawsuits and bankruptcy after just 50 issues, the new Famous Monsters will begin quarterly publication this coming July. Aimed at horror fans ages fifteen to 45, the new FM is expected to run approx. 100 pages. It will be assembled and distributed by comic publisher IDW Publishing (30 Days of Night), with writers and artists chosen by, and working under, FM Editor-in-Chief Michael Heisler and publisher Philip Kim. Though Ferry resurrected the magazine and kept it going for more than a decade, it will be the original FM, which…

“NONE.” Ask King Diamond how many regrets he has after decades of writing and performing, and that’s the answer you’ll get: not a single one. Perhaps that’s not entirely a revelation to those who know his work; over the course of more than 30 years and some twenty albums, King Diamond has been many things to many people: an icon of heavy metal, a forefather of black metal (alongside Celtic Frost, Bathory and Venom), a controversial proponent of Satanism and occultism, an outspoken enemy of theism and religious dogma and, most importantly, an enduring performer. The one thing he’s never been, though, is compromising. “I’m not that type of guy [to say], ‘Oh, I wish we had taken that turn there, or we should have used that producer there. Not…

THE COLD INDIFFERENCE OF NATURE FROZEN Starring Shawn Ashmore, Emma Bell and Kevin Zegers Written and directed by Adam Green Anchor Bay No one likes to see friends get hurt. That’s why writer/director Adam Green’s Frozen makes for such uncomfortable viewing. Over the course of the film’s 94 minutes, we get to know his three leads intimately, making every subsequent injury and indignity that much more painful. Green’s set-up is simple: ski buddies Parker (Emma Bell), Dan (Kevin Zegers) and Joe (Shawn Ashmore) get stranded on a chairlift on a Sunday night. The resort isn’t scheduled to re-open until the following Friday. How will they survive? It’s a simple premise, but the solutions they come up with evoke the kind of fear and dread everyone can understand because, really, anyone…

HORROR FANS KNOW BETTER THAN MOST THAT FEW CINEMATIC CRIMES ARE MORE HEINOUS THAN THE DREADED UNNECESSARY REMAKE. Bankable business sense, sure, but artistically, why not revisit something with a strong concept that has a lot of room for improvement? George A. Romero’s The Crazies represents the best of both worlds; it’s a decent little film by a celebrated director, with more ambition than budget, but also a potent social commentary that’s more relevant today than when it was originally made. “For me, the message that Romero was talking about in ’73 still rings true today – the use of the military machine as a means of bringing about the desires of the government,” explains Breck Eisner, director of the remake (out February 26 from Alliance Vivafilm/Overture Pictures), from his…

THE PHILOSOPHY OF HORROR Thomas Fahy, ed. University Press of Kentucky Covering everything from King and Kant to Hitchcock and Hobbes, Thomas Fahy’s The Philosophy of Horror is a brilliant collection of essays that consider the complex realities of human existence as they are expressed through the horror genre. This book is heavy on philosophical and cultural theory, as one might expect from an academic collection, however, the contributors manage to avoid many of the pitfalls of scholarly writing with their lucid analyses of a wide range of horror texts, both literary and cinematic. This isn’t a book that explains philosophical concepts using examples from the genre (such as Richard Green and K. Silem Mohammad’s The Undead and Philosophy); rather, it’s an anthology that considers the philosophical insights that horror…

COUNT DRACULA. HIS NAME CONJURES IMAGES OF BOTH AN IMMACULATELY DRESSED MAN IN A CAPE AND A FANGEDMONSTER INTENT ON DRINKING your life’s blood. The popular image of the Count comes from Bram Stoker’s classic novel and the many movies that followed its release. However, Stoker had only just stumbled upon the name in a history book when he decided to use it for his titular character. The real Dracula was born in 1431 in Wallachia (now Romania) to King Vlad Basarab. The young prince was inducted into the Order of the Dragon, along with his father, thereby earning the surname Dracula (son of the Dragon). He would later come to be known as Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler) due to his proclivity for skewering enemies on long wooden stakes.…

HIGHEST RATING IS THREE GRAPHICS PLAYABILITY SHIVERS DANTE’S INFERNO PS3, PSP, Xbox 360 EA Anyone unwilling to battle through a copy of Dante Alighieri’s 14th-century literary masterpiece The Divine Comedy might want to try this console version of the tale instead. (For those unfamiliar with the epic poem, the first third, “Inferno,” tells the story of a man who sets off to rescue the soul of his wife from hell.) Go forth as Dante – a muscle-bound knight armed with a magical crucifix and a scythe stolen from Death himself – through the nine circles of hell: limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery. Each distinct circle is populated by enemies that befit the sins they committed in life. For example, the…

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