Table of contents for Issue 134 June 2013 in RUE MORGUE

Once upon a time there was Frank and Mary… Frank was a thoroughly damaged young man who was abused by his mother, and, as a child, witnessed her having relations in public with strange men. He could not function sexually and literally objectified women by scalping them with his big knife in order to decorate the mannequins that adorned his bedroom. He was a maniac. Mary, on the other hand, was a damaged young woman who was raped by her mentor but got revenge at the end of her big knife. She decided to teach the man who objectified her a lesson by turning him into an object that clinged to life in the basement of a strip club. She was maniacal. They are both protagonists in low-budget horror films…

Genre enthusiasts know that there are established rules for staying alive through the night when there’s a masked lunatic with a blade after you. Now horror fans have the chance to test their slasher-survival skills at the inaugural Great Horror Campout – a twelve-hour open-air adventure, taking place at the Los Angeles State Historic Park from June 7 to June 8. Part sleepover, part live play, the Campout is a fully interactive experience complete with monsters, sacrificial rites and vengeful maniacs out for blood. The Campout is the creation of Melissa Carbone, president and founder of horror entertainment company Ten Thirty One Productions – the outfit behind Los Angeles’ popular Haunted Hayride Halloween attraction. The Great Horror Campout, she says, was born out of her love of ’80s slasher movies…

1 CHILD’S OWN MONSTERS $90–$140 Bring the monsters under your kid’s bed to life! Wendy Tsao transforms children’s sketches of strange beasts into real-life toy “softies,” made of fabric. All her work is custom; the website’s gallery showcases her fantastic critters, along with the sketches that inspired them. Build a boogeyman at childsown.com. 2 A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET TOASTER $54.95 There’s a certain irony in the possibility of surviving the nightmare world of Freddy Krueger only to have the claw-wielding killer pop up at the breakfast table. This toaster sears an image of Krueger – complete with glove – into your loaf of choice. Get Fred on your bread at urban-collector.com. 3 MISFITS PLATFORMS $55 Walk among us in a pair of these platform peep-toe shoes, featuring the Misfits’…

T’S SIMPLY NOT POSSIBLE TO OUT-CREEP JOE SPINELL AS THE HULKING, SWEATING, LEERING AND PHYSICALLY REPULSIVE FRANK IN THE ORIGINAL MANIAC, which is why the producers of the remake decided to go in the opposite direction and approach Elijah Wood to play the movie’s murderous protagonist. The star of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy and other Hollywood films is the anti-Spinell: a slight, wide-eyed, boy-next-door type who doesn’t look capable of playing a killer, much less one with severe mommy issues and a penchant for scalps. It seems like outright career suicide for such a leading man to take on such a sick persona. Wood doesn’t see it that way at all, however. “First and foremost I’m a fan of genre cinema,” he asserts during a phone…

ACCORDING TO CHINESE ASTROLOGY, 1981 WAS THE YEAR OF THE ROOSTER. Any horror fan can tell you that’s superstitious bullshit; with An American Werewolf in London, Wolfen and The Howling all hitting theatres that year, ’81 belonged to the wolf. Joe Dante’s The Howling is just now getting the Blu-ray treatment, thanks to Scream Factory. Featuring the film’s first ever high-definition transfer, the disc is packed with new bonus material such as deleted scenes and a director’s commentary, as well as many of the previously released DVD bonus features, including the documentary Unleashing the Beast: The Making of The Howling. Though in retrospect it seems the shapeshifter was the go-to ghoulie of the early ’80s, Dante says that wasn’t the case when his film went into production. “Werewolf movies were…

THE BUENO NEWS: A SLEEPY SPANISH VILLA IS ROLLING OUT THE WELCOME MAT FOR A NEW, JOB-CREATING PET FOOD MANUFACTURER THAT HAS MOVED TO TOWN. The malo news: That manufacturer happens to be the infamous Lotus Cat Food Company (motto: “For Cats Who Love People”), and it won’t take long for mutated, flesh-eating felines to start terrorizing the locals. ¡Ay, caramba! Eighty-four-year-old exploitation filmmaker extraordinaire Ted V. Mikels recently premiered the latest chapter of his Corpse Grinder saga at the Vegas International Film Festival, more than four decades after the first installment. Directed by Manolito Motosierra and written by Motosierra and Marc Gras, The Corpse Grinders 3 was filmed in Spain over a three-week period. Mikels served as executive producer and was given final approval over the shots and edits.…

William Castle didn’t have much to prove to moviegoers by the 1970s. After spending almost his entire working life luring audiences into theatres with dazzling gimmicks and the carny showmanship of films such as The Tingler, House on Haunted Hill and Homicidal, he eventually mounted the most ambitious film of his career. An eccentric, largely pantomimed effort, the bizarre Shanks (1974) has celebrated mime artist Marcel Marceau in a dual role as an old inventor who has figured out how to reanimate the dead and as a mute puppeteer who uses this technique to make corpses dance to his commands. There were no buzzers under seats or cardboard “Ghost Viewers” this time, just a curiosity that stands as Castle’s most unorthodox contribution to cinema. Though it’s now common for horror…

Gather ’round and say grace – it’s time to dig into three new releases from indie distributor Chemical Burn Entertainment! The first course, Samuel M. Johnson’s 9 Days: Whipped, Chained & Tortured by a Psychopath (2013), is not the salacious torture-porn epic the title implies; rather, it’s a psychological exploration of the dynamic between captor and captive as seen in such films as Brutal (2012, RM#130), The Bunny Game (2012, RM#127) and Breaking Her Will (2009). Tired of being molested, Danielle (Maura Murphy) runs away from her abusive foster father. While hitchhiking to freedom, she reluctantly accepts a ride from the quirky Virgil (Chris Schleicher). Virgil takes her home, makes her dinner and gives her a bed to sleep in – and then slaps a chloroform-soaked rag over her face…

MANIAC WILLIAM LUSTIG US–1980 Because art is often served to us so tastefully, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking it’s supposed to be pretty. William Lustig’s Maniac corrects that mistake spectacularly – it not only shows us ugliness, repeatedly and unblinkingly, but makes it hard to forget that ugliness once it’s been seen. As such, it’s a reminder of not only the power of horror, but also of the genre’s unique cultural role. It’s a truism to say that art holds up a mirror to society. But in the case of Maniac, a grimy, gory tale of a psychopath who stalks, murders and scalps women in New York City, what that mirror captured was especially repellent and unmistakably real. That sense of reality came partly from its…

@RUEMORGUE’S MAY 2013 British Horror Movie Issue is brilliant! Frantically reading it from start to finish. They never disappoint. @THATKATHMASSIER, VIA TWITTER IT HAD BEEN A WHILE since I picked up a copy of Rue Morgue. Being a diehard Evil Dead fan, I couldn’t resist the cover of RM#132 and had to buy the magazine again. While I enjoyed all the coverage for the new movie what really stood out to me was the editorial on remakes. Kudos to Dave Alexander and the RM staff for keeping an open mind in regards to reinventing a classic! Never understood all the hate people have for remakes. There are numerous examples of updated classics that live up to the original and I’m happy to have Evil Dead added to the list. Seen…

Why remake Maniac? You know, Maniac is one of the few movies that really got me into the genre. I remember the first time I saw the cover of the VHS as a kid in the video club; I was so scared. I remember watching it a few years after and being completely sucked into the story. I remember the suspense, I remember the feel, Joe Spinell, faces that stayed in my nightmares for a long time. When we did High Tension, it was really like a big homage, a big tribute to Maniac, and we did a whole scene almost shot by shot. I would have never dared to even touch the original Maniac if the idea didn’t come directly from [Maniac creator] Bill Lustig. A few years ago,…

DOMO ARIGATO, MR. KOSTANSKI MANBORG Starring Adam Brooks, Matthew Kennedy and Meredith Sweeney Directed by Steven Kostanski Written by Jeremy Gillespie and Steven Kostanski Anchor Bay Steve Kostanski must have long arms. While many directors dig through the bargain bin to pull out all manner of horror and exploitation to draw inspiration from, he goes all the way to the bottom of the pile: the largely unexplored, post-Terminator cyborg movie cycle (think Eliminators, Robot Jox, etc.). And with his multi-angled brand of tribute, the filmmaker and the whole Astron-6 gang drop one of the funniest and most inspired genre flicks in ages – the incredible Manborg. During his invasion of Earth, Hell’s Count Draculon (Adam Brooks) commands his forces to lay waste to every living thing, including a brave pair…

DEAR HEMLOCK GROVE FANS: IF YOU DON’T PLAN TO WATCH NETFLIX’S TAKE ON BRIAN MCGREEVY’S NEOGOTHIC MONSTER NOVEL BECAUSE YOU THINK YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS, THINK AGAIN. “There’s a major deviation at the end that we kept them in the dark about,” McGreevy says, during a series of roundtable promotional interviews earlier this year in Toronto. “That’s also to keep them on their toes. You think you know what we’re doing, bitches? Take this!” Adds McGreevy’s writing partner Lee Shipman, “We’re not above putting a hatchet in anyone’s head.” Released last year, Mc-Greevy’s novel detailed the odd happenings in a Pennsylvania town in the wake of a local high school girl’s murder. Teaming up to find the killer are gypsy teen Peter Rumancek (played in the show by Landon Liboiron)…

EVIL DEAD SOUNDTRACK Roque Banos LA-LA LAND RECORDS Fans who were wondering how Spanish composer Roque Banos would approach his task of creating some frightening and horrific sounds for Fede Alvarez’s tense, visceral reimagining of The Evil Dead are in luck, for Banos’ work here is successful on almost all levels, presenting a score that strikes a perfect balance between malevolent soundscapes and imaginative main themes. “Don’t Say It, Don’t Write It, Don’t Hear It” and “Demon Possession” strike at a moment’s notice with heart-stopping percussive aggression and screeching violin strikes, while “The Evil Dead Main Theme” offers a nod to the original by providing some soothing melodic piano accompaniment to undercut Banos’ relentless reliance on drones, sirens and unsettling, subliminal demonic utterances. It’s a terrifying sonic trip that stands…

FOR 30 YEARS NOW, SKINNY PUPPY HAS BEEN MAKING music about terrible things. And while Vancouverites Kevin “Ogre” Ogilvie and cEvin Key may have started out sampling horror movie dialogue to layer over their menacing industrial beats and stream-of-conscience lyrics about the evils of such things as animal testing and psycho cults, they’ve long since turned to creating the scary sounds themselves. In the case of Weapon, the group’s fourth recording since reforming in 2000, after breaking up five years earlier, they decided to go one step further: create an album that would not just be about terror, but would itself be a tool of torture. “The concept came about in 2011, based on meeting a fan who ended up being a guard in Guantanamo,” explains Ogre from his home…

First-time director Parthan Mohan has not only made an independent, found-footage horror film in India – a country known for its epic dramas and musicals – but has taken a pledge to go green with the film’s promotion. “We genuinely believe in doing one’s share to save the planet,” explains Mohan. “Hence, we have decided to abstain from printing film posters for One. Further, we have tried to minimize the use of paper during the pre-production and shooting stages of One as well.” The movie is among a growing crop of found-footage horror projects in Malayalam cinema, which takes its name from the language in which it’s shot and mainly consists of films produced in Kerala, a state in southwest India. According to an article published online for The Hindu,…

WILLIAM LUSTIG’S GRIMY 1980 SLASHER PROTOTYPE MANIAC IS THE DEFINITIVE EXAMPLE OF GRINDHOUSE CINEMA. Star Joe Spinell, a character actor with notable appearances in such highly regarded films as The Godfather (1972), Rocky (1976) and Taxi Driver (1976), conceived, co-wrote and executive-produced Maniac specifically for the now-mythical strip of rundown theatres on 42nd St. in New York City. The film is a disturbing chronicle of the downward spiral of Frank Zito, portrayed by Spinell as a self-loathing schlub tormented by memories of the abuse he suffered at the hands of his sexually promiscuous, dearly departed mother. Zito wages a one-man holocaust on women he envisions as incarnations of her – prostitutes, club goers, night-shift nurses and fashion models. After brutally garroting, strangling or stabbing his victims, he takes their…

THIS ISSUE: LANCE VS. NINJAS ENTER THE SKINBAG NINJAS VS. ZOMBIES Seminal Films As a kid, all I wanted to be was a ninja – and I’ve got the scars to prove it. I bought a ninja costume after seeing an ad in the back of a magazine and promptly fell off my parents’ roof trying to climb up a drainpipe, breaking my arm and cracking three ribs. And speaking of white guys pretending to be ninjas, Ninjas Vs. Zombies features three of them who team up with a wizard to stop their town from getting overrun by an army of gut-munchers. Also known as Zombie Contagion, this fun, low-budget romp packs a high body count, lots of kick-ass fight scenes and a theme song that’ll get stuck in your…

Since its debut in 2011 as a four-issue miniseries, Witch Doctor, by writer Brandon Seifert and artist Lukas Ketner, has become one of the most beautifully bizarre comics on the market: a gruesome mix of the occult by way of science, magic, gross biology, monsters and medical soap opera. The initial story was followed up by a fantastic one-shot – an instant sell-out – and the six-part Witch Doctor: Mal Practice, both of which have been conveniently collected in a new trade paperback. Seifert always had an urge to pen comics but it wasn’t until he met freelance artist Ketner in 2007 that the dream became reality. The pair created Witch Doctor, a self-published “demo” comic that caught the attention of Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, who quickly commissioned a…

William Stout’s talent for conceptualizing and illustrating living dead nightmares has left a juicy bite mark in the hearts of horror fans the world over. Traditionally trained, he’s worked steadily within the competitive LA film industry for over three decades, creating key designs for Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth and some tentacled troubles for Frank Darabont’s adaptation of The Mist. He also designed one of the most memorable zombies ever to shuffle across the screen: Tarman, the goopy, skeletal rotter from Dan O’Bannon’s Return of the Living Dead. Stout was raised in Salt Lake City, ground zero for conservative Mormons, and not exactly a stronghold for horror. His mother, father and brother were all big movie buffs, though – particularly westerns and horror films, which set him on the path…

Ever notice that horror and punk rock seem to attract the same kind of people? Both subcultures are generally made up of anti-establishment types that identify with the underdog. In other words, both groups have a tendency towards rebellion. It makes sense, then, that psychobilly – a genre that combines the old-school rebelliousness of ’50s rockabilly with modern punk rock – tends to affiliate with yesteryear’s drive-in monster movies, the kind of films whose original audiences would have been populated by greaser boys and girls, who were essentially the original punk rockers. Canada has given rise to its share of iconic rockabilly and psychobilly bands, and right at the top is Montreal’s The Brains, a group whose image is firmly rooted in both horror and rock ’n’ roll badassery, a…

DEAD ISLAND: RIPTIDE PS3, Xbox 360, PC Deep Silver If you’re planning a family vacation on Palanai Island this year, you just might want to leave the kiddies and suntan lotion behind and stock up on fresh water, a first-aid kit and lots of weapons instead. Dead Island: Riptide is the follow-up to 2011’s zombie kill-fest Dead Island (RM#115), and features the same four characters from the first outing, who made it off the infected island only to be stranded on another one that’s absolutely teeming with the walking dead. Joining them this time around is a new playable character: navy cook John Morgan, who’s as good at hand-to-hand combat as he is at serving hash browns in the mess hall. Unlike the first title, this game has a lot…