Table of contents for Issue 224 May/Jun 2025 in RUE MORGUE

Rue Morgue · 001 Rue Morgue #224 - Intro   Remember when we thought that the COVID lockdowns were the most surreal years we’d see in our lifetimes? It feels quaint now to look back at 2020 Andrea sitting at her desk, cancelling her international travel plans, worrying about the health of her loved ones, and rewatching The Office for the umpteenth time – obliviously secure in the belief that this historical event was probably as inconvenient as things might get. Then, the following year, I sat at that same desk on January 6, watching news footage of a guy in a fur headdress storming the American Capitol and thinking that humanity might have finally jumped the shark. I needn’t reiterate all the gobsmacking, jaw-dropping, mind-blistering lunacy that has…

1 CRACKED GYMNAST FINAL DESTINATION 5 (2011) After somehow dodging myriad OSHA violations at her gym, Candice Hooper (Ellen Wroe) is primed for a perfect dismount from the uneven bars… that is, until her teammate knocks over the hand chalk, clouding her vision, and sending her flying, chest-first onto the mat, cracked in half like a broken Barbie doll. Ouch! 2 TAN BED BARBECUE FINAL DESTINATION 3 (2006) In this one, basic babes Ashley (Chelan Simmons) and Ashlyn (Crystal Lowe) succumb to perhaps the most iconic scene of the naughty oughties. After jumping into side-by-side tanning beds, condensation from their slushees drips into the HVAC, surging the heat of the beds. This sets off a string of events that sees them getting roasted alive in their makeshift crematories. Pass the…

Rue Morgue · 003 Rue Morgue #224 - The Staircase in the Woods   “As much as I haven’t always written horror, I’ve also always written horror,” says author Chuck Wendig, and if you’ve been following his winding professional career, from screenwriting to Marvel comics to books in the expanded Star Wars universe, you’d instantly get what he means by that. Wendig began his career as a writer of pen-and-paper roleplaying games, and he’s written prolifically for multiple age groups and in various genres. And although publishers have slapped his work with buzzier labels such as “urban fantasy” and “supernatural suspense” in recent years, there’s been no mistaking him as a horror author of considerable note – and he believes his latest, The Staircase in the Woods, to be…

STAMP OF APPROVAL DEAD MAIL Starring Sterling Macer Jr., John Fleck and Susan Priver Written and directed by Joe DeBoer and Kyle McConaghy Shudder Dead Mail begins with a grabber of an opening scene, then spends a good deal of its running time showing what led its two characters to that point. Not the least of the movie’s many achievements is that it keeps us engrossed in this narrative even though we know where it’s heading. Writer/directors Joe DeBoer and Kyle McConaghy set up an engaging sense of community among their small-town characters, including Bess (Susan Priver) and Ann (Micki Jackson), who work in the local post office’s “Mail Sortation Room.” Among their tasks is to separate “dead letters” and other items of unclear destination, and pass them on to Jasper…

Like so many of David Cronenberg’s movies, The Shrouds (currently in release from Sideshow and Janus Films in the U.S. and Sphere Films in Canada) dwells at the intersection between science and death. It deals with the latter subject perhaps more directly than anything he’s made before, focusing on Karsh (Vincent Cassel), an entrepreneur who has created GraveTech, through which people can observe and monitor their dead loved ones wrapped in black, leathery shrouds. One of this technology’s most compulsive users is Karsh himself, who was inspired to create it by the death of his beloved wife (Diane Kruger), so when hers and other GraveTech markers are desecrated, he becomes determined to uncover the culprits. Cronenberg was inspired to write and direct The Shrouds by the death of his own…

Rue Morgue · 004 Rue Morgue #224 - Death Cafes   AS HORROR FANS, WE’RE INTIMATELY ACQUAINTED WITH DEATH IN THE ABSTRACT – albeit frequently in its most gruesome incarnations. We devour tales of creative kills and supernatural ends, analyze the metaphysical implications of various forms of undeath, and debate the finer points of practical effects versus CGI gore. Yet when it comes to discussing actual mortality – our own or that of our loved ones – many of us suddenly find our encyclopedic knowledge of Final Destination deaths surprisingly unhelpful. Enter the Death Cafe, where strangers gather to discuss the ultimate spoiler: that we’re all going to die. These meetings aren’t grief counselling sessions or morbid support groups, but rather open discussions about mortality with no agenda beyond…

Late last year, shortly before the U.S. elections, my ten-year-old daughter came home from school with a question about something she’d heard on the playground that was troubling her. “Someone said,” she began, “that if Donald Trump wins the election, America is going to invade us.” At the time, I reassured her that our countries were good friends, had been for decades, and an action like that would be waaaay beyond the pale. I think about that conversation often. Here’s something you may not know about me: I’m the daughter of immigrants, and I think Canada is a pretty damned great place. Long story short: my paternal grandmother and her children arrived here a decade after WWII, determined to build a better life – and they did. I love my…

I JUST WANT TO TELL YOU how thoroughly gratifying and meaningful your writing about Clive Barker in the most recent issue of Rue Morgue was. As a lover of Barker’s twisted worlds, it was a delight to read your own take on the man’s work and his impact on you. The feature itself was a great update on Barker’s current work – an insightful look into the life of someone not getting the exposure he once did. A loving tribute. I am a writer and film critic, mostly focusing on horror, cult, and noir films, and Rue Morgue has been a consistent quality-driven print and online magazine for me in recent years. The Dark Delicacies piece in this issue was also a highlight. Just wanted to share these words with…

When released to cinemas in the winter of 1973, William Friedkin’s The Exorcist had audiences fainting, vomiting, and running for the exits. Moviegoers had never witnessed anything like the demonic possession of twelve-year-old Regan MacNeil – transforming her from an innocent girl into a levitating, head-spinning, profanity-spewing hellspawn. More than three decades after the film’s theatrical debut, Exorcist-themed merchandise began being produced by manufacturers – among them popular collectibles company NECA, which released a deluxe resin bobblehead of Regan in 2008 as part of its “Extreme Head Knockers” line. Standing nearly six inches tall, the highly detailed nodder depicts the possessed girl restrained to her bed – sitting atop a base resembling a wooden floor. Both the bed itself and the figure’s head – which perfectly resembles a scarred Linda…

Back in 2015, AMC Networks answered a prayer that horror fans hadn’t even dared utter aloud: an all-horror streaming service. This year marks the 10th anniversary of Shudder living up to its name, having become a key destination for genre fans seeking a wide range of scary entertainment, and filmmakers seeking a platform that truly understands and appreciates their dark artistic goals. Throughout the past ten years, Shudder has expanded significantly from its early days as a showcase for existing content to a creator of original movies and series, with some of the former getting wide theatrical release ahead of their online premieres – but according to the people who oversee those projects, the mission statement has been the same from the start. “At the time we first launched, we…

‘I had an argument with my parents when they came to my apartment,” breathes Marina de Van, exhaling a plume of vape as she recounts the self-harm experiences that inspired her 2002 debut directorial effort In My Skin (Dans ma peau). “There was blood everywhere – on the wood, on the ground, everywhere. I said to them, ‘It’s my body. I do what I want.’ And they were answering, ‘No, it isn’t your body.’” A crown jewel of the so-called New French Extremity movement, In My Skin has been somewhat scarce on home media and streaming – perhaps due to the astonishingly personal nature of its violence. Now, thanks to a brand-new restoration by Severin Films, de Van’s shocking confessional body horror masterpiece is finally ready to fill a place…

https://youtu.be/GdTbz2uUcRI?feature=shared BRAIN FREEZE BLOOD AND SNOW Dystopian Films For Rue Morgue’s summer issue, I figured I’d be contrarian and extend the misery that is the Canadian winter by showcasing three films where the winter just… never… ends. I’m kicking it off with this snow-filled sucker about a couple of scientists near the North Pole (natch) who dig up an ancient meteor that kills one of them and infects the other. Seeking refuge in a nearby research station, the infection spreads among the station’s crew, who succumb to the deadly virus one by one. I know, I know, you’re probably thinking of a certain John Carpenter movie. But you read this column to have your hopes dashed and I don’t aim to disappoint. I pooched many a pause button watching Rob…

THE LAST SHARK FINALLY RESURFACES Since the beginning of the DVD boom back in the late ’90s, the most coveted titles by horror disc collectors have included uncut, properly presented editions of Italian genre films. Among these movies, the white whale (so to speak) has been Enzo G. Castellari’s Jaws derivative The Last Shark. Retitled Great White by U.S. distributor Film Ventures International, it was in the midst of a fairly successful stateside release in 1982 when Universal Pictures obtained a legal injunction against any subsequent exhibition. As a result, it has been absent from official American video release, even as it eventually enjoyed various disc editions in Europe. This summer, Britain’s new boutique label Treasured Films brings The Last Shark into English-speaking waters with a limited-edition Blu-ray, now in…

The idea of a specific location being cursed by something malignant is arguably as old as humanity itself. Whether a haunted cave, mountain, or house, such places have fascinated and terrified humans for millennia and still continue to resonate. Hoping to provide a new perspective on old haunts are writer Michael W. Conrad and artist Dave Chisholm, whose series Plague House aims to give the haunted house trope a new lease on life. “As far back as we can trace in human history, there have been locations that have been seen as holy, cursed, and all [points] in between,” says Conrad. “For some, this has been based on practical data; even the Bible makes mention of such things. The title Plague House is in fact a reference to a biblical…

BELOW THE GRAND HOTEL Cat Scully Clash Books Mabel is a thief with some very firm rules, and “never follow marks into a hotel” is one of them. But when she spots a woman with a huge, sparkling yellow diamond necklace, Mabel thinks this could be the heist to end them all. Little does she know the hotel she’s about to enter is run by demons… and the price of going after that diamond is going to be her soul. Soulless and trapped in the Grand Hotel, she must honour the agreement made and feed that yellow diamond 100 souls in a month’s time in order to facilitate the boss’s demonic ascension. But Mabel isn’t exactly one to be told what to do – and with the new friends (as…

1 ZOMBIE COCKTAIL MIX IN A TIKI GLASS $26 USD An undisputed classic among tiki drinks that refuses to die, the Zombie is a rum-based cocktail that sure tastes better than brains, but might well render the drinker a little clumsy and slow of speech. This nightmare of a nightcap has never been easier to mix, thanks to Urban Palate’s cocktail kit with layered ingredients in a fancy tiki glass! Perfect for experienced barkeeps as well as necrotic noobs. Urbanpalate.ca 2 ALIEN FACEHUGGER WINDOW CLINGER $16.99 USD Is your back seat the warmest place to hide? Us horror fans need no further reason to deck out our wheels with the genre we love, but this plush Facehugger window clinger might also make that jackass in the Cybertruck think twice about…

Rue Morgue · 002 Rue Morgue #224 - Final Destination   Back at the turn of the millennium, a teen horror film turned a lot of people into nervous flyers when Alex Browning (played by then-unknown Devon Sawa) deboarded a plane after having a vision of it going down in flames, only for it to explode upon takeoff. The first Final Destination (2000) introduced audiences to the idea that while a group of teens may temporarily cheat death, it will come back for them twofold – a concept that gave rise to a franchise with the most outlandish, violent, and gory kills ever committed to screen [see sidebar]. And while it’s been over a decade since Final Destination 5 (2011), a new installment is shooting fresh blood into the…

ON THE SLAB: BEST SERVED COLD https://youtu.be/pfGEdmZyVyY?feature=shared MAKE ME A SANDWICH 3:00 mins/YouTube via Deformed Lunchbox’s Channel Doting housewife Marcy (Anne Shepherd) tries to occupy herself with her hobbies when she’s interrupted by the sharp yells of her husband Johnson (Peter Hodgins), demanding that she make him a sandwich while he lazes in front of the television set. Marcy grows more rattled with each trip to the kitchen, emboldening her to add extra ingredients to his favourite meal, leading to a meaty conclusion. Canadian filmmakers Denman Hatch and Matt Hamilton take this oft-quoted misogynistic catchphrase to the extreme in this short, fleshing out a nightmarish scenario of domesticity in a scant three minutes. Hatch would later go on to direct the 2024 mystery horror Baleful, also available on Deformed Lunchbox’s…

https://www.amazon.com/Texas-Chainsaw-Massacre-Original-Soundtrack/dp/B0DQK56J6L/ref=sr_1_1?crid=5A6KZEPPMZEV&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.32Zqvwc3pRTkMbI5xG6J0uBnvNdvY0Ygr4ISXX5g4aNUYJuLNxY2DH-WgH2xL4rHUPNvpBpwiuzQIV97gEfdSZoOkNeiWORX3dubeiKd3j8.-VTC-CuBrhMpSqLEyuO8Wcx9q35RoTQUF31mmi9fhcY&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+texas+chainsaw+massacre+soundtrack+cd&qid=1744396437&sprefix=the+texas+chainsaw+massacre+soundtrack%2Caps%2C118&sr=8-1 THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE SOUNDTRACK Tobe Hooper and Wayne Bell WAXWORK RECORDS It hardly needs to be said, but The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was – and remains – a groundbreaking masterpiece. While the lurid title, unforgiving storytelling, and stark, savage imagery twisted necks and dropped jaws, it was the sense of grubby unease that really set stomachs roiling. The soundtrack is key to this uncanny power, eschewing horror tropes in favour of an abstract, experimental score and scraping sound design that prods, goads, and smothers like another cackling member of the Sawyer clan. Composed by Tobe Hooper and Wayne Bell in D.I.Y. freeform fashion, the pair proved the old “necessity is the mother of invention” maxim as they squeezed terror from random instruments, toys, animal calls, and kitchen implements.…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuIJ7HTZUZQ KARMA: THE DARK WORLD Pollard Studio LLC, Wired Productions, Gamera Games PC, Playstation 4/5, Xbox X/S/One, Nintendo Switch No one will blame you if you spend much of Karma’s playing time fixated on how amazing this dystopian first-person narrative puzzler would be on VR. From its pan-anywhere camera to its motion-inspired interactions (push and pull the mouse to open doors and drawers, etc.), it’s all gloriously cinematic as it casts players into an alternate 1980s East Germany, full of corporate malevolence and human experimentation – and brain diving. The latter being where the majority the game’s surrealistic environs spawn from; nightmarish “memory” places where eyeballs grow from walls, folks have CRT monitors for heads (like the TV men in those Skibidi Toilet viral YouTube shorts), Twin Peaks’ notorious Red…