Table of contents for Issue 143 April 2014 in RUE MORGUE

Last night a woman, bathed in a bright light, appeared in the corner of my bedroom and told me that one of the radiators in there was named Jason, and that it was evil. This means two things: A) I just conjured up the worst idea ever for a horror movie, and B) I may have overdosed on Twin Peaks leading up to our cover story on David Lynch’s TV masterpiece. Re-watching the series has made things for me downright Lynchian as of late (considerably better than saying I got “Lynched,” I suppose…), which, as anyone with a passing knowledge of his work knows, is a synonym for weird. So then, exactly what type of weird is “Lynchian?” It’s a particular brand of surrealism bubbling beneath 1950s Americana. If I…

A new project is putting an intriguing cultural spin on the familiar horror anthology model. México Bárbaro, currently in production, will bring together eight Mexican filmmakers to offer modern interpretations of some of the country’s traditional legends and folklore. The project was conceived by Lex Ortega, a sound-designer-turned-director whose technical credits include Richard Raaphorst’s Frankenstein’s Army, plus Adrián García Bogliano’s Here Comes the Devil and the upcoming Late Phases. Ortega wanted to provide a platform for short films, which are otherwise limited to the genre festival circuit. “Short films are some of the most powerful weapons we have as independent filmmakers, but unfortunately it’s almost impossible to get your work shown regularly at movie theatres,” Ortega says. “They’re always welcome at film festivals and special showings, but their life is…

1 BEAST OF BOGGY CREEK SCULPTURE $89 – $179 Holy Fouke, our resident crypto expert/hunter Lyle Blackburn has teamed up with Resin Realities to release a series of sculptures of the Beast of Boggy Creek! Sculpted by Jean St. Jean, these 8” Fouke Monsters come as resin model kits, bronze-coloured statues and fully-painted figures – thankfully not offered in a scented version. Live the legend exclusively at foukemonster.net. 2 RAM PRIEST ZIP-UP HOODIE $50 Black Craft Cult makes the most diabolical gear, including this Ram Priest hoodie with wickedly arcane prints on the front and sleeves, plus their logo on the hood. It’s 80 percent cotton, 20 percent polyester and 100 percent pure evil. The Devil may wear at blackcraftcult.com. 3 OUIJA COFFEE TABLE $850 - $1200 Get yourself one…

THE STORY OF TWIN PEAKS BEGINS WITH TRAGEDY: THE DEATH OF LAURA PALMER. The murder of the sixteen-year-old homecoming queen gave the series its original raison d’être, as week after week, audiences watched as the town mourned her death while the law searched for her killer. Laura’s appearance in the series pilot was key to making audiences care about the world they were entering. Cast in the role was an unknown aspiring theatre actor named Sheryl Lee. “I got a call one day that David Lynch was in town and that they were going to be filming a very secretive television pilot around the Seattle area and would I come in and meet him?” recalls Lee during a phone conversation the night of February 24, 2014 – the 25th anniversary…

FLUFFY SOMMERS ODD THOMAS Starring Anton Yelchin, Willem Dafoe and Addison Timlin Written and directed by Stephen Sommers Anchor Bay The prospect of a new film from the director of The Mummy Returns and Van Helsing will hardly inspire nut-busting joy in most cinephiles. Neither will the knowledge that this latest offering from Stephen Sommers was delayed for almost a year due to legal disputes. The (maybe) good news is that, though Odd Thomas still exhibits the lapses and excesses present in his previous works, it does halt – or at the very least slow – the perceived downward trajectory of “the poor man’s Spielberg.” Based on the best-selling novel by Dean Koontz, the eponymous Odd Thomas (Anton Yelchin) is a short-order cook who possesses an extraordinary gift: he can…

A beautiful young girl wakes up in an abandoned subway station, naked and alone. Seemingly suffering from amnesia, she appears to have an affinity for rats and speaking in rhymes. Stumbling onto the street, she’s attacked by a group of men and the confrontation not only ends in a horrific display of violence, it hints at a terrifying power. So begins Veil, the new series by Eisner Award-winning writer Greg Rucka and artist Toni Fejzula, about a young woman seeking her identity and the dangerous and shocking secrets her search will ultimately reveal. Rucka has written for numerous companies over the years and has handled some of the biggest characters in comics, including Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and Wolverine. Last year he also launched Lazarus, his creator-owned series for Image,…

DARK DUETS Christopher Golden, ed. HarperCollins Looking for a unique twist on the anthology format? Check out what editor Christopher Golden has cooked up for Dark Duets, a compilation of seventeen original short stories from author tagteams who have never worked together before. Heavyweight collaborators including Charlaine Harris and Rachel Caine, Tim Lebbon and Michael Marshall Smith, and Kasey Lansdale and Joe R. Lansdale offer imaginative, disturbing and genre-bending shorts (witness trolls, graphic self-mutilation and a human breeding facility, among other unholy offerings), proving that sometimes two heads are better than one. JESSA SOBCZUK THE VIOLET HOURTHE Whitney A. Miller Flux Raised by an enigmatic religious cult (is there any other kind?), a teen girl is plagued by auditory and visual hallucinations urging her to kill. Whitney A. Miller’s debut…

The art world recently paid tribute to the work of David Lynch with a March 8 exhibit at the Spoke Gallery in San Francisco, titled In Dreams, which included a fair share of Twin Peaks-themed pieces and featured some of today’s biggest artists this side of the Red Room. “We’re always looking to put on interesting and compelling shows here at the gallery and realized that no one, as far as we know, had put on a show dedicated to the masterful works of Mr. Lynch,” says gallery owner Ken Harman. “We handpicked the 40 or so artists we thought would work best aesthetically with Lynch’s films.” Prolific print artist Joshua Budich’s “The Owls Are Not What They Seem” – the title taken from a line in the series –…

Twin Peaks was a game-changer for television, and its reverberations continue to be felt throughout pop culture, especially in music. While the electronic and industrial genres often sample clips from the show, the 25-year-old series has also inspired other types of music, from Sinead O’Connor sampling it in a remix of “I Am Stretched on Your Grave” (1990), to Marilyn Manson’s “Wrapped in Plastic” (1994), right up to modern indie rock band Surfer Blood’s “Twin Peaks” (2010). But one of the best tributes to the series is “Black Lodge” on Anthrax’s 1993 Sound of White Noise album. During the promotion of singer Scott Ian’s spoken word tour this winter, I caught up with him to discuss both the song and Twin Peaks in general. “There was nothing like it on…

USA - 1986 After more than twenty years of repeats in syndication and a major Hollywood movie, The Twilight Zone was revived in 1985 by CBS under the stewardship of executive producer Philip DeGuere. Although this anthology series boasted several memorable episodes – helmed by the likes of William Friedkin, Wes Craven and Joe Dante – perhaps its most frightening offering was “Gramma,” scripted by the show’s creative consultant, Harlan Ellison, and directed by cinematographer Bradford May. Adapted from the short story by Stephen King (which first appeared in the 1984 issue of Weirdbook #19 and was later collected in Skeleton Crew), “Gramma” centres around eleven-year-old Georgie (Barret Oliver) who is left home alone one stormy night with his terrifying grandmother (Frederick Long). Bedridden by obesity and dementia, Gramma is…

GREAT EDITORIAL in RM#142 on how I, Frankenstein misses the essential core of the character @DAVID_ANNANDALE, VIA TWITTER IN RM#140, director of The Exorcist, William Friedkin, revealed in his interview that he believed that the Germans during the Nazi era were literally possessed by demons. I found this to be astonishing. This kind of ignorance should have been challenged. I wonder if Friedkin would consider demonic possession to be the cause of the genocide of Native Americans? Something tells me that has never crossed his mind. In fact, there is some evidence to show that Hitler based his extermination campaign against the Jews on the US government’s program for the eradication of Native Americans. Mr. Friedkin also subtly tries to link the Nazis’ fake and twisted version of national socialism…

For anyone who has ever watched a horror film and thought, “That’s not what I would do in that situation,” comes Exit, a new gaming experience for genre fans that provides the opportunity to put your brain – and guts – to the test. The interactive real-life game, which has opened in Richmond, British Columbia, locks players in a room to test their logic, endurance and, quite possibly, sanity. Room escape games originated in Japan in 2008, starting as an online pastime that evolved into real-life simulations. Exit creator Justin Tang first tried one of the simulations in Bejing, then decided to take the concept global. In Exit, two to six players are locked a themed room and given 45 minutes to get free; there are puzzles and clues to…

Despite its popularity, Twin Peaks only spawned a few pieces of merchandise, including this set of 76 trading cards. Featuring a photo on the front and a character bio (listing accomplishments, strengths and weaknesses) on the reverse, cards were created not only for series regulars such as Sheriff Harry S. Truman, the Log Lady and killer BOB, but also for creator David Lynch, composer Angelo Badala-menti and singer Julee Cruise. Complete sets can be found on eBay for around $20 MORE CRYPTIC COLLECTIBLES AT RUE-MORGUE.COM…

THIS ISSUE: LANCE DODGES DETENTION BEHEAD OF THE CLASS MURDER UNIVERSITY Wild Eye Releasing How long has it been since I attended university? Hint: Reagan was in the White House and Googling somebody had a whole different meaning. But at least I didn’t have to worry about getting my head cut off by a cult of killers wearing devil masks. Not so with Josh, the hero of Murder University, who’s attending a college where the students are dropping like flies in a rash of unexplained murders. Having survived an attempt on his life by the aforementioned masked kooks, he teams up with a detective and his hot daughter in order to stop the killers. It’s a playful throwback to ’80s slasher films and features some decent acting, lots of sex…

You know about spooky 1967 stop-motion classic Mad Monster Party, but animation specialists Rankin-Bass just might have made a bigger, more primitive footprint on the horror genre with their liveaction kaiju romp King Kong Escapes. Released the same year as their tribute to classic horror, this lesser-known work of giant monster madness was the company’s first and only co-production with Toho, home to Godzilla, Mothra and numerous other giant creatures. The result is a kid-friendly mix of spies and smashed cityscapes that reveals how the Japanese were able to retrofit cinema’s original 900 lb ape to match their usual kaiju sensibilities. Debuting on Blu-ray this month, King Kong Escapes is surprisingly engaging – a well–balanced effort that incorporates its monster action fairly seamlessly into a thriller about attempts to control…

STEPHEN KING ONCE SAID A SHORT STORY IS LIKE A KISS IN THE DARK FROM A STRANGER. IF THAT’S TRUE, THEN PUCKER UP, BECAUSE WEIRD FICTION AUTHOR SIMON STRANTZAS HAS ELEVEN NEW YARNS THAT MIGHT LEAVE YOU BREATHLESS. “I wanted to explore a type of horror story, namely the ‘traditional weird,’” explains the British Fantasy Award-nominated author, whose work has been published in such revered tomes as Postscripts, The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror and The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror. “This certainly encompasses the work of Lovecraft, as it does other weird writers like [William Hope] Hodgson and [Robert W.] Chambers. My first collection, Beneath the Surface, has as its focus a more [Thomas] Ligottian outlook, and I’ve long felt that the book succeeded because of its…

Get out your knives! Served up first on our serial-killer splatter platter is a reissue of Richard Terrasi’s 2007 debut feature, Am I Evil, now in a director’s cut rendered in tasty black and white, and featuring new scenes. In the vein of grim indie serial-killer movies such as Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, viewers are dropped into the life of outwardly charming boy-next-door type Andrew (Mark Vazquez) for a ride-along while he hunts women in internet chat rooms and on the streets of New York. We follow him on a blind date as he takes a nice young lady out for dinner and then to a motel for sex, cannibalism, necrophilia and dismemberment. Andrew’s appetite for murder and brutality becomes stronger with each kill – a chainsaw bisection…

JOEY RAMONE ONCE SANG, “ON MY LAST LEG, JUST GETTING BY. HALO ROUND MY HEAD, TOO TOUGH TO DIE.” HE COULD VERY WELL HAVE BEEN DESCRIBING THE INDEPENDENTS, ONE OF HIS FAVOURITE BANDS. While we lost the punk icon in 2001, the South Carolina band he produced in the late ’90s is still surviving, with a new album out this month. “Into the Light is the scariest record we have ever put out” says The Independents frontman Evil Presley, but he isn’t referring to the monster-under-the-bed or the killer-in-the-closet kind of scary. “It really is the first time I have opened up for the world to see. It’s in-your-face, and definitely a more focused record as far as the song styles [go].” Funded through a Kickstarter campaign supported in part…

Ever have a DATE go bad because you’re a horror fan? Watching Hellraiser. The lady excused herself to get something out of the car. Never saw her again. More beer and pizza for me I guess… JEREMY OLSON I’m a huge Rob Zombie fan; this douche saw my Captain Spaulding tattoo and felt that he needed to tell me loudly about what a horrible character he was and what a terrible movie it was. I smiled and nodded and told him to fuck off. ROSE BEACH-MENDOZA We had been introduced by a mutual friend who wanted to set us up. We were all at my place and decided to watch a movie. She started looking through my DVDs and asked, “What are you, a psycho?” There was really nothing…

Take a haunted house story, throw in the influences of H.P. Lovecraft and Lucio Fulci, add some popular genre actors, and you’ve got a movie that’ll get the attention of horror fans. The project in question is We Are Still Here, the first feature by writer/producer Ted Geoghegan, whose credits include co-scripting Andreas Schnaas’ Demonium and Timo Rose’s Barricade. “I tend to lean more towards slasher films and things that are a bit lighter,” explains Geoghegan. “This is definitely not a light film, although there are moments of wonderful levity amidst all the darkness and gore that eventually shows up. My hope is that we have a stellar concept that turns into a stellar movie, like House.” We Are Still Here stars scream queen Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator, You’re Next) and…

“SHE’S DEAD, HARRY. WRAPPED IN PLASTIC.” Those words, uttered with complete fear by actor Jack Nance, set the stage for a television show that redefined the way audiences would view episodic dramas. A quarter century after its debut, Twin Peaks’ influence continues to be felt. Supernatural evil. Incest. Murder. Twin Peaks delivered them in a manner never before seen on network television. Co-created by director David Lynch and former Hill Street Blues writer Mark Frost, the series began with the brutal murder of high school homecoming queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). Since she’s a seemingly perfect teenage daughter, her death sends shockwaves though the idyllic Northwest town of Twin Peaks, where soon, everyone becomes a suspect. On the surface, it’s not a unique concept for a story, but in the…

THE RAID: BERANDAL VS 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE BLOOD AND BRUTALITY ON THE BIG SCREEN DOESN’T NECESSARILY BELONG TO THE HORROR GENRE THESE DAYS, AS TWO NEW ACTION MOVIE SEQUELS DEMONSTRATE WITH FOUNTAINS OF SPLATTER. The first, Warner Brothers’ 300: Rise of an Empire –; directed by Noam Murro and co-written by 300 (2006) director Zack Snyder – is technically not a sequel as it takes place in ancient Greece around the same time as the events in the previous film. This go around, instead of Spartans, we follow Athenian general Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton) as he leads a severely overmatched naval fleet to try to drive back the invading Persian armada, led by Artemisia (Eva Green), who’s as skilled in battle as she is at scheming. On behalf of…

HIDDEN HORROR Aaron Christensen, ed. Kitley's Krypt In this age of file-sharing, torrents and online accessibility, the concept of the “overlooked” film can be a nebulous one. It’s hard to feel like an all-knowing cinematic gatekeeper amongst your friends when there’s a “cult movies” section on Netflix and entire Doris Wishman films available on Youtube. Because of this, we should be exceedingly grateful for hardworking types such as Aaron Christensen, who has brought a new collection of essays written by a smart and passionate pack of journalists, thinkers and obsessives (including Rue Morgue’s own Dave Alexander, Monica S. Kuebler and John W. Bowen) on their favourite overlooked horror gems. Hidden Horror covers an impressive variety of titles over its 101 essays: while the reader may recognize cult masterpieces such as…

All the buzz surrounding the upcoming television adaptation of The Strain, Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan’s vampirism-as-a-virus trilogy, which kicked off in 2009 with a best-selling book of the same name, has me reflecting on another incredibly original parasitic vampire story: Scott Westerfeld’s Peeps. If you haven’t heard of it, I’m not surprised. Peeps (out from Razorbill) is a young adult novel that hit bookstores in 2005, mere months before the first Twilight installment, and pretty much got lost in that book’s roaring din. It’s unfortunate, really, because if Peeps had become a huge hit instead of those sparkly vegetarian vampires, the teen bloodsucker boom of the last eight years would have likely looked a lot more horrific. Peeps is the story of nineteen-year-old biology major Cal, a carrier…

SOUNDTRACK OUT OF THE AEONS: MUSIC FROM A NEW DARK AGE, VOL. 1 Reber Clark, Mars Homeworld, Troy Sterling Nies, et. al. INDEPENDENT The words and impressions of twelve eerie H.P. Lovecraft tales are brought to life in this fairly low-key concept project written and performed by four composers that you’ve probably never heard of. Designed as a slow-burning, hour-long mood piece, each track begins with text read by a calm and slightly melodious Doug Jones (Abe Sapien from Hellboy), after which the composers unfurl their musical portraits, mostly rooted in traditional orchestral writing, with rare forays into rock and techno. Each effort has an appropriately snarling quality, and it’s easy to pick out shades of Bernard Herrmann, Danny Elfman and even Tangerine Dream (à la the Sorcerer soundtrack). The…

THE LAST OF US: LEFT BEHIND DLC PS3 Naughty Dog Not staying true to its title, last year’s blockbuster PS3 exclusive The Last of Us has just expanded with another DLC. Unlike the previous multiplayer add-on, Abandoned Territories (see review in RM#140), Left Behind gets back to what put this game on our Best of 2013 list: the story. It features two plotlines with young protagonist Ellie taking centre stage for both. One is set in the original game’s post-apocalyptic timeframe, with Ellie racing to find first aid and medical treatment for her grievously injured guardian/friend, Joel, while avoiding bandits and zombie-like “Clickers.” The other is a flashback, set during the early days of the outbreak, which highlights a crucial turning point in Ellie’s life. If you’ve played The Last…