Table of contents for RM#185 in RUE MORGUE

Confession time: before I fell for horror, my heart belonged to musical theatre. Back in the era of cassette tapes, while my friends recorded pop songs off the radio, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s showtunes were my jam, and Norman Jewison’s 1973 movie adaptation of Jesus Christ Superstar remains among my favourite films of all time. In my view, a great story can only be made greater with the inclusion of music and dance – I’d marvel at the linguistic ability of long-time Webber collaborator and lyricist Tim Rice’s ability to craft stories to songs, turning compelling narratives into rhyming verses and catchy hooks with choreography that could conjure feelings of joy, pain, chaos, and despair among its audience in a way that simple dialogue just can’t compete with. You can imagine…

1 TRIVIAL PURSUIT HORROR MOVIE EDITION $19.99 CAD Challenge your best fiends with this bite-sized edition of Trivial Pursuit, aimed right for the hearts (and brains) of horror fans. It comes packaged in a compact plastic wedge with over 600 questions and categories on all your favourite subgenres (slasher, psychological, paranormal, etc.), so put years of Rue Morgue readership to the true test! thinkgeek.com 2 NOT THE END SHOWER CURTAIN $29 USD Feelin’ mystical AF? Better wash that off! Protect your modesty while you cleanse with Killstar’s Ouija-inspired shower curtain, guaranteed to keep bad juju out of your bathtub. Measures 187 x 180cm, hooks included, so it’s ready to hang with you, dirty or clean. killstar.com 3 LAMENT CONFIGURATION PUZZLER $13 USD Forget the Rubik’s Cube, Hellraiser’s Lament Configuration is…

WHEN LUCA GUADAGNINO’S CALL ME BY YOUR NAME ARRIVED IN THEATRES LAST YEAR, IT ENTRANCED AND IMPRESSED CRITICS AND AUDIENCES ALIKE with its powerful story of emotional and romantic awakening. At the same time, with its languid storytelling and studied, painterly visuals, it had some horror fans (this writer included) asking, “This is the guy who’s remaking Suspiria?” Dario Argento’s primary-coloured, aggressively scored, confrontationally grisly 1977 landmark would seem a hard act to follow by any filmmaker (other than Argento himself, who rounded out the Three Mothers trilogy with 1980’s Inferno and 2007’s Mother of Tears). The movie, following American ballet student Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) as she discovers that the prestigious Tanzakademie Freiburg harbours a coven of witches, is so defined by its flamboyant style and unique colour palette…

MANY RUE MORGUE READERS WHO GREW UP IN THE 1990S AND EARLY 2000S WILL UNDOUBTEDLY REMEMBER a charmed childhood of those highly detailed figures from McFarlane Toys’ Movie Maniacs and Aztech Toyz’ Silent Screamers lines, but those of us of an older persuasion have an unshakeable affinity for the simple plastic and cloth figures of yesteryear. Yes, we’re talking about Mego, long gone from toy racks but still very much alive in the hearts of grown-up monster kids and on the shelves of some lucky collectors’ display cases. That’s all going to change this year, however, with the long belated resurrection of one of the most beloved toy companies of all time, which, like the immortal Count Dracula and Frankenstein’s monster, is rising from the dead. Mego Corporation, a name…

BRITAIN HAS A LONG TRADITION OF CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES, SO IT’S ONLY APPROPRIATE THAT THE UK SHOULD ALSO GIVE US THE FIRST YULETIDE ZOMBIE MUSICAL. And thank Santa it turned out so well: Anna and the Apocalypse, opening on home territory and in limited US release November 30, and going wide December 6, is a total charmer. It’s also a full-bore bloody ghoulfest packing real terror and tension, which co-exist surprisingly easily and naturally with the singing and dancing. “The first act is a zany teen comedy, the second act is a sort of horror/comedy/drama, and the third act is straightup horror,” explains director John McPhail. “I thought that by structuring it that way, we’ve been with the characters, we’ve laughed with them and enjoyed them, and by the time…

Femme Fatales From the biggest blockbuster movies to the most obscure indie comic books, diversity has made a big impact on the way we consume pop entertainment over the last few years. But as more traditionally marginalized creators – especially women – get the chance to tell their own stories, evolving approaches to power dynamics have also provoked a considerable amount of unease among certain audiences. The simmering gender anxiety that often fuels these criticisms is nothing new, and is even addressed directly by films such as the 1959 B-programmer The Wasp Woman. This Roger Corman-directed effort, which recently received an HD makeover from Shout! Factory, presents a corporate world that mirrors the matriarchal structures of some insect species even as it speaks to how sexual politics have become a…

HARD ROCK ZOMBIES SOUNDTRACK Paul Sabu Lunaris Records Of the many (many!) WTF aspects to 1985 Z-grade horror film Hard Rock Zombies is the fact that the songs performed by the unnamed band in the movie sound more like adult contemporary music than anything hard and/or rock (EZ Rock Zombies might have been a more accurate title). Lunaris Records’ reissue shines a new light on these tunes written by Paul Sabu (a studio musician who’s worked with everyone from Alice Cooper to Elvira) revealing a good cross section of styles, including the old-time rocker “Shake It Out,” cheese-dipped ballad “Cassie,” and, yes, even some actual hard rock numbers (“Street Angel”). Interestingly, the record mixes the songs with the film’s synth score – also composed by Sabu – wedged in between.…

VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE (5TH EDITION) Tabletop White Wolf Publishing Who hasn’t dreamed of being a vampire at one point or another? Whether it’s the silver-tongued, dashing creatures of Anne Rice’s mythos, or the cutthroat country bumpkins of Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark, something about the idea of life eternal is just, well, toothsome. Whatever one’s preferred brand of vampirism may be, White Wolf Publishing has built upon every variety of bloodsucker imaginable with their flagship pen-and-paper roleplaying title Vampire: The Masquerade since its launch in the early 1990s. After failing to fully appease its fanbase with 2004’s Vampire: The Requiem, White Wolf has struck a carotid artery with a darkly seductive revamp that refines and expands on the original game in equal measure. In a typical Masquerade ‘chronicle,’ anywhere from…

COMMENTS QUESTIONS CRITICISM I HAVE TO SAY, Andrea, you are absolutely killing it at the magazine. I enjoyed Rue Morgue in the past, would grab an issue now and then if I saw it somewhere. It has always been a good read. But I’ve grabbed the last few issues and was so impressed that I went ahead and got a subscription. I love what the magazine has become. So good on you and all the writers and talented folks over there who are making such an enjoyable read. Congrats! SEAN LEONARD, VIA FACEBOOK HI THERE. I just wanted to say that I love your magazine. However, international readers (like me in the United Kingdom) are being severely let down, because we have to order your publication via our local comic…

IT'S HALLOWEEN ALL YEAR ROUND AT BUTCH-O-VISION With a heavy dose of horror, Louisiana native Butch X (a.k.a. Butch Von Dreaux) blends several genres together to create unique, collectible merchandise, including enamel pins, clothing, accessories, figurines, patches, stickers, piggy banks, air fresheners, original art and more. A visit to his storefront, Haunt Nola Gallery, located in the heart of New Orleans, reveals a wall of over 250 enamel pin designs on display, as well as a vast collection of Butch-O-Toys, which mash up cartoon characters such as The Simpsons with iconic horror villains including Michael Myers and Leatherface. Halloween is always in season at Haunt Nola, where jack o' lanterns feature prominently on scarves, trucker hats and socks. Heavily influenced by New Orleans culture and art, Butch draws inspiration for…

IN LUCA GUADAGNINO’S SUSPIRIA, THE ADDITION OF A CONSPICUOUS NEW CHARACTER MOTIVATED THE MOST EXPLICIT CALLBACK TO DARIO ARGENTO’S ORIGINAL FILM. While attempting to suss out what’s going on within the walls of Madame Blanc’s dance academy, Dr. Josef Klemperer (Lutz Ebersdorf) is also haunted by the unknown fate of his wife, Anke, during WWII. Late in the film, Anke appears before him, and this echo of his past is appropriately embodied by the 1977 Suspiria’s star, Jessica Harper. Nevertheless, the actress’ brief but moving turn exists outside the film’s horrific content, and Harper describes it as a subplot love story. “It’s a very touching exploration of love and loss, and the agony of coming together and then losing each other a second time,” she explains. “That was very relatable…

DESPITE WHAT HALLMARK’S YULETIDE PROPAGANDA MACHINE WOULD HAVE YOU BELIEVE, THE HOLIDAYS CAN BE HELL, and this truth is taken to a riotous extreme in Secret Santa. The first offering from independent company Skeleton Crew, co-written by director Adam Marcus and partner/actress Debra Sullivan, this Christmas horror comedy is the feelbad film of the season, boasting an upper-crust family so dysfunctional it makes the Griswolds look like the Cleavers, and heaps of intelligence beneath its schlocky, blood-spattered surface. When April (A. Leslie Kies) returns home for the holidays, determined to force a perfect gathering upon her cantankerous family, things go from bad to worse when she discovers that someone has opened a can of worms with a surprise gift that strips away impulse control. With everyone’s true colours exposed, she…

FLIM + DVD + REISSUES THE NIGHT HE REMAINED HOME HALLOWEEN Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer and Nick Castle Directed by David Gordon Green Written by Jeff Fradley, Danny McBride and David Gordon Green Universal At Halloween’s world premiere at TIFF, co-writer Danny McBride stated that the only thing more terrifying than Michael Myers was the prospect of writing another Halloween movie. The actor/comedian isn’t kidding; wiping the slate clean once more for a new take on Haddonfield’s Boogeyman demands more than a massive marketing campaign and the promise of returning talent to deliver something new and familiar at the same time. Halloween 2018 picks up 40 years after the events of the 1978 film. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), the sole survivor of the “babysitter murders,” now lives…

PUT THE SAM IN SAMHAIN TRICK ‘R TREAT: COLLECTOR’S EDITION (2007) Blu-ray Starring Dylan Baker, Anna Paquin and Brian Cox Written and directed by Michael Dougherty Scream Factory It’s only been a decade, and Trick’R Treat is fast becoming a new Halloween classic, which is really saying something when you consider the glut of product out there fighting for a chance at repeat viewing. Part of the pleasure comes from writer/director Michael Dougherty’s clear appreciation for the holiday and its traditions, both cultural and cinematic; there are nods to John Carpenter’s film, of course, but as mentioned in the interview clips provided on this release, Dougherty centres his film around a new holiday icon, the sublimely creepy pumpkin-headed spooky kid Sam. It also helps that the movie is exceedingly well-photographed…

GRADY HENDRIX Quirk Books If you’re going to mine that trope of selling your soul for rock’n’ roll in 2018, you’d damned well better put a fresh spin on it, because that shit is old, older in fact than rock’n’ roll itself. Luckily, the tale conjured up by Grady Hendrix – author of last year’s acclaimed Paperbacks From Hell and novels My Best Friend’s Exorcism (2016) and Horrorstör (2014) – grabs you by the devil horns and doesn’t let go. As the story begins, we glimpse our hero Kris as a teenager, noodling on her first guitar before the book rockets us forward some 33 years. The band is done, the tours are over, the music is gone, and all Kris has to show for it is her shitty dead-end…

THERE’S A NEW HORROR MOVIE OUT SOON THAT DETAILS THE STRANGE AND SINISTER GOINGS-ON IN A EUROPEAN DANCE SCHOOL, AND, NO, WE’RE NOT TALKING ABOUT THE SUSPIRIA REMAKE. Due in cinemas in early 2019, Climax is the fifth feature from Gaspar Noé, the enfant terrible behind such cinematically dizzying and narratively controversial films as Enter the Void (2009), Irreversible (2002) and I Stand Alone (1998). Shot in just fifteen days, Climax sees a troupe of ambitious, young French dancers who have been sequestered at a remote dance academy to rehearse for an upcoming American tour, indulging in some post-rehearsal sangria, dancing, and flirtation. What no one knows until it’s too late, including choreographer Selva (Sofia Boutella; The Mummy), is that the sangria has been spiked with LSD. As the night…

SCARED STIFF HAUNTED HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW Independent Entertainment There was a time when the worst you’d have to fear from a vengeful spirit was clanking chains, the furniture getting moved around or that dreaded boo at the foot of your bed during a thunderstorm. Nowadays, though, one must also be on guard against those frisky spectres that might crawl into your bed for a little bit of unsolicited nookie. Case in point: the lustful entities in this flick get a little handsy after a sorority house sets up shop in their dirty digs. Try as they might, the girls can’t stop the lecherous post-mortem molesters intent on some action from beyond the grave. The moral of the story? No always means no – especially when you’re dead! BODY…

Otempora, o mores! The whole postmodern, self-aware, ironic, fourth-wall-breaking schtick is about as old hat as any hat can get these days, but back in’73, J.S. Bach’s “Sheep May Safely Graze” must surely have seemed a weird-as-fuck choice for the opening credits music of a horror film. Of course, by the time you’re a few minutes deeper into Godmonster of Indian Flats the choice makes sense, insomuch that it’s possible for anything to make sense in this flailing, cheap-ass jalopy-wreck of a movie. Enter sheep farmer and full-time hapless doofus Eddie (Terry Wills) who wanders into a Reno, Nevada, casino and promptly hits jackpot, goes on a drunken tear, gets into a bar brawl, and winds up catching a lift back home to the quaint burg of Comstock with the…

ALL WORK AND NO PLAY DURING THE HOLIDAYS can give anyone the urge to grab the nearest axe and go full-on Jack Torrance on their family. This blood-red twist on a classic Hot Buttered Rum will help keep you from freezing to death out in the cold hedge maze, with a generous splash of spiced rum to calm those nerves. The prepared mix also makes an easy and inexpensive holiday gift without requiring much by way of muscular coordination. Cheers! If you give this recipe a try, let us know! Don’t forget to tag your photo with #ruemorgue #homicidalhomemaker on Instagram and Twitter. Get free printable Hot Buttered REDRUM labels at Rue-Morgue.com! HOT BUTTERED REDRUM REDRUM MIX: • ¾ cup dark brown sugar, packed• ½ cup salted butter, room temperature•…

If there is a Rue Morgue music hall of fame, the initial line of inductees would undoubtedly include Alice Cooper, Glenn Danzig (and his various bands), John Carpenter, and Canadian horror-industrial pioneers Skinny Puppy. The latter band’s blood-spattered live shows, dark conceptual themes and macabre artwork have ensnared many a horror fan’s heart, especially with their most beloved era – their legendary Remission EP (1984) and Bites (1985) album. Then consisting of just two members, founder cEvin Key and vocalist Nivek Ogre, these early efforts are remembered for their hazy atmosphere, borderline pop quality and use of samples from horror films such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Tenant, and The Legend of Hell House, which gave their music a unique and creepy effect. This month, Toronto’s Arttofact records are set…

VIRGINIA’S ARSIS HAS BEEN HONING ITS SINGULAR BRAND OF MELODIC DEATH METAL SINCE THE EARLY 2000s, and though the band has touched on the themes near and dear to the genre throughout its extensive career, the majority of the songs have focused on personal subjects rather than horror movies. That is set to change with the new album, Visitant, out this month from Nuclear Blast, which is a love letter of sorts to the heyday of horror on VHS. The decision to devote an entire album to horror classics of yesteryear came from a very personal place for vocalist/guitarist/songwriter James Malone, a lifelong fan who discovered the genre through outings with his dad, who would take him to see movies like The Keep and Children of the Corn from the…