Table of contents for Issue 205 Mar/Apr 2022 in RUE MORGUE

I don’t miss being forced to attend church, but I sometimes wonder if people who never went are aware of the macabre pageantry they might be missing out on. I was raised Roman Catholic until my parents gave up on my eternal soul, and I used to dread giving up Sunday morning cartoons for masses held in my elementary school gym – bad enough to make me go to church but it was literally school on a Sunday! For the bigger religious holidays, however, we’d pack up our Chrysler New Yorker to spend the weekend in Montreal with my wider family, and on those occasions, we’d attend mass in Italian at a fancy basilica. And lemme tell ya, Italian mass on Easter weekend was a trip. You see, even at…

THE PUGLOO FROM PLANET P A ghastly mash-up of the trendy dog breed and an alien creature from outer space, the Pugloo from Planet P is available in a pair of sizes (two-inch or nine) and two colourways: painted green or “bloo.” The nine-inch version, limited to 500 units, features a rotating head as well as fully articulated wrists, ankles, arms, legs and tail. If they seem familiar to sharp-eyed horror fans, it’s because they were inspired by filmmaker Adam Dougherty (a.k.a. Kreaturekid)’s short film/music video LIME before being licensed by former Mondo CEO Justin Ishmael for his collectibles company ISH, and sculpted by Isabel Anderson. INSPIRATION “Adam Dougherty/Kreaturekid created Pugloo as a stop-motion maquette and actually made stop-motion sections for the video. I liked it so much that I…

ON A PITCH-BLACK NIGHT, THE SOLE BEACON OF CANDY-COLOURED LIGHT CAN BE SEEN FROM A DISTANCE. The sight of the red-and-white striped circus tent beckons, though the scent of hot buttery popcorn and fried sugary dough doesn’t hurt. The paper ticket is a key to a whole other world. The carnival is packed with characters of the likes you have never seen: grease-painted clowns with wide red smiles, a mysterious organist playing music ripe with eerie enchantment, a top-hat-adorned magician effortlessly bending all rules of logic and reality, and what’s that over there? A white-blonde strongman battling a giant, manic gorilla?! Moving closer to the ring, you realize that the gorilla has the same pale blue eyes as every mysterious towering figure you have encountered… even the wrestler he’s grappling…

THE ORIGINAL 11:43 mins/YouTube via the DUST channel Michelle Garza Cervera’s short film may be in black and white, but the choices her protagonists must make are shades of heartbreaking grey. Alana and Gwendolyn (Ariana Lebrón Baez and Rebecca Layoo) are a vibrant young couple we meet just as they learn Gwendolyn is terminally ill. Cut to what seems like a lifetime later where Alana and Gwendolyn look haggard and exhausted, but an experimental procedure seems to be the answer to their prayers. Although all seems to have gone according to plan, an unexpected side effect from the procedure forces Alana to make an impossible decision. Both Lebrón Baez and Layoo are exceptional in conveying the physical and emotional toll of their ordeal with minimal dialogue, and you’ll find yourself…

If you see only one Louise Lasser slasher movie this year in which she makes out with a guy at a drive-in while her twin sons sleep in the back of the station wagon, sits on her kitchen floor dejectedly eating Thanksgiving leftovers while having an existential crisis, engages a telephone operator in a long, really weird and highly personal conversation, yells “I’m Todd” over and over again while bodies pile up like the last act of Hamlet, and does a quite a few other equally weird things with spectacularly bad hair, well, you should probably see 1987’s Blood Rage (a.k.a. Slasher, a.k.a. Nightmare at Shadow Woods), because even if she does all those things in another film, it’s unlikely that other film will be quite as entertainingly bad as…

https://frequencypodcastnetwork.com/podcasts/parkdale-haunt/ PARKDALE HAUNT THEME: The occult FREQUENCY: Seasonal Inspired by the true horror that is the big city real estate market, Parkdale Haunt’s chilling stories address the question: what if you were dealing with an actual reno from Hell? Written, produced, and performed by Emily Kellogg and Alex Nursall, the podcast follows the exploits of lifelong friends Claire and Judith over the course of two seasons (so far). When Claire inherits a home in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood from her unknown biological family, she and Judith decide to document the renovation process as a fun podcast. But it doesn’t take long before things go awry, both with the home (e.g., drains overflowing with centipedes), and with Claire. Did she just become a Goop-ified lifestyle influencer seemingly overnight, or is something more…

By now you’re likely aware of virtual reality headsets: once the stuff of sci-fi movies, they’ve peaked in the consumer market for their tantalizing offer of a changed reality under the past few years of intermittent lockdowns. For myself, I had pretty much sworn them off, having tried a handful of titles on a borrowed PlayStation VR kit with varied results. Games that involved less player-driven navigation like Tetris Effect, Rez Infinite and Thumper were a neat upgrade from the 2-D, flatscreen versions I was accustomed to, but the turning point for trying out the PSVR was the mighty return of a classic horror title, namely Resident Evil, and I discovered some novel horrors within. Now, for some context: I’m aware of RE4’s status as arguably the best game in…

ONE OF THE many great things I enjoy about Rue Morgue is the thrill of discovering new and older films, books, items, music, and all things horror. Your article about Kaelan Mikla, the black metal trio from Iceland, made my whole winter! Immediately after finishing it, I watched all of their videos and live performances on YouTube and have been listening to their new album, Undir Köldum Noroumjósum (Under the Cold Northern Lights), on Spotify. This album along with their earlier work is perfect for cold winter days when the sun sets early and the wind whips up against the windows. Their synth, bass, and vocals are both haunting and inspiring. I can’t wait to see them perform live someday down the road. Thank you for once again opening a…

THE MASK MAGIC MYSTIC MASK (1961) Unlike countries such as Germany, the United States, France, and England, which had been producing horror films since the 1920s and ’30s, Canada didn’t take the plunge until the early ’60s, when the country released its first feature-length fright flick – the 1961 black-and-white 3-D shocker The Mask. Directed by former documentary filmmaker Julian Roffman, the movie tells of an ancient skull-like tribal mask that has the power to transform those who wear it into hallucinating, homicidal maniacs. The nightmarish delusions experienced by characters donning the mysterious item are rendered in the third dimension for audience members with the help of the “Magic Mystic Mask” – a green cardboard mask with red and green lenses that basically acts as a pair of 3-D glasses.…

PICTURE THIS, FELLOW FRIGHT FANS: YOUNG COUPLE ESSI (ANNA PAAVILAINEN) AND JULIUS (LEO SJÖMAN) DRIVE HOME ON A SNOWY NIGHT AND WIND UP IN A CAR ACCIDENT. They awaken in a large rural farmhouse whose strange occupants insist they stay the night to recover from their bumps and bruises. When Essi remarks on a Hellraiser collectible in the house, its owner is suddenly infuriated, demanding how she could recognize such an item. The other men of the household join in a swarm, spouting unsolicited and uninformed tirades on topics ranging from genre cinema to general life to Essi’s own anatomy and female reproduction. Can Essi make it through the night amid all this advice she never asked for? Or in other words, as the short film’s tagline puts it, “Who…

SOME OF HORROR’S MOST CELEBRATED CLASSIC WORKS ARE POEMS. One need look no further than the contributions of Edgar Allan Poe, which have escaped the confines of the genre and bled into the public consciousness. Still, oftentimes when someone brings up horror poetry, eyes immediately glaze over, perhaps recalling painful high school English classes and the equally painful “dark” poems those hormone-fuelled years produced. It’s an unfortunate and misguided reaction, given that speculative poetry is uniquely suited for marrying the gorgeous with the grotesque, while also tackling difficult issues on a profoundly emotional and visceral level. That’s not to say it’s all serious stuff, however. Contemporary horror poetry is nothing if not versatile, encompassing everything from clever rhymes about our favourite monsters to complex, free verse explorations of personal and…

https://youtu.be/OXw8sSWDwvQ WOLVES WITHIN SHEPHERD Starring Tom Hughes, Kate Dickie and Greta Scacchi Written and directed by Russell Owen Saban Films They say no man is an island, but it’s easy to feel like one sometimes – like when your adulterous pregnant wife dies, leaving you with more than a little emotional baggage. This is the story of Shepherd, where Eric (Tom Hughes) is reeling from the loss of Rachel (Gaia Weiss), who not only stomped on his heart but drove a wedge between him and his family, leaving him a widow and a complete fucking mess. After a failed attempt to reconcile with his mom (Greta Scacchi) and a botched attempted suicide, an ad in the newspaper for a long-term, live-in shepherd position catches Eric’s eye. Figuring that some solitude…

WHEN ONE THINKS ABOUT TRIPS TO FLORIDA, BUSTLING BEACHES, HAPPY TOURISTS, AND MICKEY MOUSE GENERALLY COME TO MIND. Independent horror auteur Mickey Keating set his latest movie in a scarier side of the Sunshine State – with a distinct lack of sunshine. Offseason sees Marie (Jocelin Donahue from The House of the Devil) and her boyfriend George (indie stalwart Joe Swanberg) arriving on an island off the Florida coast in the middle of pouring rain, and just in time before the place becomes closed to visitors. Marie is anxious to check on her mother’s grave, which has apparently been vandalized, but there are far worse sights and situations awaiting her as she makes her way through this desolate environment, where the few locals she finds don’t seem eager to help…

Rattling Cages “THOUGH NO CLASSIC HORROR FILM COULD HAVE PREDICTED OUR MODERN LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH SOCIAL MEDIA, THE WAYS THAT MANY OF US ARE ENSNARED IN SELF-MADE PRISONS ARE CLOSELY EXAMINED IN THE OFTEN SHOCKING 1964 CLASSIC LADY IN A CAGE.” Even on the best of days, tending to our social media feeds can feel like an unpleasant obligation. Forget about living your #bestlife or spreading #goodvibesonly, it’s hard enough to escape the gossipmongers, conspiracy cranks, and obsessive fandoms that clutter our timelines with hostility and disingenuous takes. And yet we still keep scrolling through this cycle of reaction and rage, afraid we’ll miss that one piece of news everyone’s going to be talking about. Though no classic horror film could have predicted our modern love/hate relationship with social media,…

https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/art/all/08019/facts.witchcraft_the_library_of_esoterica.htm WITCHCRAFT Jessica Hundley and Pam Grossman, eds. Taschen Taschen’s new series of lushly illustrated books, The Library of Esoterica, explores “the symbolic language of our most potent universal stories, the tales we tell through paint and ink, costume and clay.” After the comparatively innocuous subjects of Astrology and Tarot, the company’s latest title delves into darker waters, devoted entirely to witchcraft. Clearly, the texts, images, and overall attitude of the book view witchcraft as a positive, empowering alternative spirituality rather than a satanic malignant evil. That said, the book’s aim is to present “a kaleidoscopic, wide-lensed look at depictions of witches throughout history – both as we’ve imagined them and as they self-identify.” And, since witches have been portrayed primarily in a sinister light throughout most of history, many…

As a kid, I discovered mass-market horror novels through supermarket spinners, which led me to seek them out in public libraries and on the bookshelves of others. As such, my introduction to popular horror fiction followed a similar trajectory to other readers of my vintage: Stephen King, then Dean Koontz, James Herbert, Clive Barker, insert the names of a few more white men here. It says a lot about the publishing landscape of the era. Of course, by this point, Anne Rice (1941-2021) had already released the first three installments of The Vampire Chronicles, the first Ramses book, two stand-alone novels, and several more under pseudonyms, but it would still be a couple years before I’d encounter her work. When I did, early in high school, I read those vampire…

1 TOXIC AVENGER PLUSH CUSHION $29.99 USD Fully licensed by Troma and endorsed by the leisure specialists here at Rue Morgue, Creepy Company’s plush Toxic Avenger cushion is the perfect snuggle buddy for between moppings! Measuring 16 inches in height, the reverse side is covered with nuclear green nubbins, fit for the toxic waste that is your living room. Creepycompany.com 2 JAWS 2-PIN SET $15 USD You’re gonna need a bigger lapel for this pin set from Mondo! Inspired by the original theatrical poster, this soft enamel pin duo by designer Oliver Barrett features the titular shark and his first victim so you can recreate the iconic scene from the movie. Mondoshop.com 3 THE EVIL LURKER BOOKMARK $29.99 USD Who says your bookshelf needs to be boring? Keep your fiction…

WE’VE ALL SEEN THAT MOVIE ABOUT A BAD SEED, BUT WHAT ABOUT A BAD EGG – one conceived out of stifling familial smothering, cracking under the pressure of perfection before bringing forth a monster that’s as innocent as it is violent? Out March 4 from IFC Midnight, Hatching is a rare export from Finland, where director Hanna Bergholm and writer Ilja Rautsi have become the newest creatives to bring Nordic terror to North American audiences. Titled Pahanhautoja in their native land (which translates more literally as “Evil Graves”), Hatching tells the story of a young gymnast named Tinja (Siiri Solalinna) growing up in a domestic pressure cooker of her narcissistic lifestyle-influencer mom (Sophia Heikkilä). As life gradually becomes too much for her to bear, Tinja finds a strange speckled egg…

A century ago the art of cinema was still young, but becoming ever more conscious of its possibilities. Visionary artists had a fresh, powerful tool at their disposal to paint with, and they used moving images and the flickering interplay between light and dark to portray new, unseen worlds. Some of Europe’s greatest filmmakers of the time, though unrelated to one another and without conscious intention, actually brought the nascent horror cinema genre into adulthood by defining the basics of its language. This was achieved through four distinct masterpieces that premiered within two years from one another, three of which were German. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) exemplified cinema’s ability to depict the distorted, irrational world of nightmares, while The Golem (1920) embodied the possibilities of expressionistic painting with…

https://youtu.be/raAL3JgdpWE NEIGHBOUR OF THE BEAST ABOVE US LIVES EVIL Sector 5 Films Your house is supposed to be your sanctuary – the place where the monsters can’t get you. But what happens when the place you call home is also occupied by nefarious creatures thirsting for your blood? That’s the premise of this outing, in which a dysfunctional family is forced to move into a dilapidated fixer-upper whose previous inhabitants disappeared overnight. Though Above Us Lives Evil proves to be a meandering mess, it evicts the suck for crowd-pleasing kills in the end. Unfortunately, the premise can only be taken seriously by the most credulous segments of the paranormal TV-viewing populace. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from watching horror, it’s that if you hear scary noises in the attic,…

ALLIGATOR BREAKS OUT ON 4K/BLU-RAY The flood of late-’70s/early-’80s nature-run-amok movies that swam in the wake of Jaws carried few films that could truly be considered classics, but Lewis Teague’s Alligator (1980) is one of them. Despite uncharacteristic raves from mainstream critics at the time, it wasn’t a big hit for indie distributor Group 1, but huge ratings for Alligator’s ABC broadcast premiere in March 1982 helped the film toward the appreciative following it maintains today. “It is kind of hard to make a convincing movie about a giant alligator loose in the sewer,” says Shout! Factory’s Cliff MacMillan with a laugh, “and [scripter] John Sayles did it, just like he wrote a good piranha movie [1978’s Piranha]. He’s a terrific writer, and he creates people you really care about.…

Fresh from their bloody book Wailing Blade, creators Joe Mulvey and Rich Douek reunite for Happy Hill, a tale of the supernatural and humanity’s endless quest for contentment. Happy Hill is an exclusive resort deep in the woods of the idyllic Catskills Mountains, where vacationers gather to forget their troubles. Needless to say, when a child goes missing on the grounds, it risks tarnishing the locale’s reputation. Compounding the matter, a young journalist named Wyatt is convinced the area is being stalked by the Wudsman, a mythical figure allegedly responsible for a series of mysterious disappearances over the decades. Though Wailing Blade had its share of blood-spurting, gut baths, at its heart it was more of a medieval, sci-fi epic, a cross between Mad Max and He-Man. Happy Hill is…

https://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-valancourt-book-of-world-horror-stories-vol-2.html THE VALANCOURT BOOK OF WORLD HORROR STORIES, VOLUME 2 James D. Jenkins and Ryan Cagle, eds. Valancourt The first volume of Valancourt’s Book of World Horror Stories earned glowing reviews everywhere from Publishers Weekly to right here in Rue Morgue (RM#197), and was nominated for the World Fantasy and Shirley Jackson Awards. The second volume has a lot to live up to, and although a hundred pages slimmer, it still contains a wealth of riches: stories from twenty countries on five continents, originally published in sixteen different languages. Greed is a universal theme, from Nigeria’s “Owolabi Olowolagba” to Bulgaria’s “The Recording of the Will” about a notary summoned to a notorious moneylender from whom he receives an unexpected burden. A sellout is behind Brazil’s “Screamer,” in which a businessman…

https://cadabrarecords.com/collections/all/products/h-p-lovecrafts-the-festival-2x-lp-set-read-by-andrew-leman-score-by-fabio-frizzi H.P. LOVECRAFT / ANDREW LEMAN / FABIO FRIZZI SPOKEN WORD The Festival CADABRA RECORDS It’s still Christmastime as this issue of Rue Morgue is being put together, which is why you’re reading a review for H.P. Lovecraft’s The Festival on vinyl – arguably the darkest Yuletide tale ever written, one that begins with the innocence of freshly fallen snow and ends in predictably damp, monstrous madness (and a copy of the Necronomicon). Narrator Andrew Leman lends the story’s nameless protagonist sufficient emotional depth, optimistic and hopeful at the start before becoming ambivalent and ultimately anguished, which ties in nicely with the score by Italian horror maestro Fabio Frizzi. Here, the composer offers one of his most beautifully powerful yet subtle scores, pulling out all the stops including synth, piano,…