Table of contents for Issue 208 Sep/Oct Halloween 2022 in RUE MORGUE

Is it Halloween again already? It seems like only yesterday I was hanging cobwebs on the walls and spraying my face with fake blood… oh wait, that was yesterday. It might be Halloween year-round for us horror fans, but this year is especially momentous for the twisted souls at the Rue Morgue Manor as we celebrate 25 years! So much has changed in the past quarter-century – culturally, technologically, and otherwise – but Rue Morgue has persisted with the unflagging determination of the masked slashers we know and love. Our evolution from a free, black-and-white zine to the glossy pages you now hold in your hands has defied more odds than the eponymous final girl, and we’ve fought just as hard to survive and thrive. This is what makes it…

GATHER ’ROUND, SCUM-SUCKING MAGGOTS – THE GATEKEEPER IS BACK! Not that the esteemed host of the VHS horror video game ever truly left the scarred psyches of those ’90s kids who gathered around the spirit board of Atmosfear, controlling coloured tombstones to roleplay as one of six classic monster characters, known as “harbingers” from the “Other Side.” Gameplay is simple: rolling dice and picking up cards, players collect keys to unlock the gate to freedom and face their greatest fear (which each player wrote on reusable cards that lie stacked in the centre of the board). The first to gather their like-coloured keys and draw their own nightmare card within 60 minutes wins… but there’s more. Standing in your path to victory is “Master of Cemeteries,” the sinister Gatekeeper, his…

IT’S OLD NEWS TO ANYONE READING RUE MORGUE THAT THE ’80S WERE GROUND ZERO FOR MUCH OF THE HORROR WE HOLD DEAR, from the VHS boom and boundary-pushing practical effects to the birth of innumerable iconic creatures, characters, and franchises. But away from the flashy, trashy spectacles of cinema and home videotapes, there was another emerging art form lurking in the shadows, ready to dig its claws into popular culture: the music video. Spurred by the meteoric rise of MTV and John Landis’ thirteen-minute mini-horror movie for Michael Jackson’s 1983 megahit Thriller, music videos soon began to boast bigger budgets and even bigger ideas. For FX artist Norman Cabrera, music videos were not only the visual soundtrack of his youth but a source of creative inspiration he would later apply…

IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE A TIME WHEN CLOWNS WEREN’T SCARY. Between serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who entertained kids as Pogo the Clown in the 1970s when he wasn’t murdering young men; the various book, TV and film versions of Stephen King’s Pennywise; and recent iterations of the Joker, clowns have become figures of fear more than fun for the last half-century. In fact, the fear of clowns became official in the 1990s when the term "coulrophobia" entered the lexicon, a condition marked by extreme reactions to the pasty-faced jesters. Indeed, you have to go back to the mid twentieth century to find fun-loving clowns like Ronald McDonald and Bozo the Clown. But these mass-market entertainers were merely sanitized versions of a darker centuries-long tradition seen in the pygmy clowns…

WHILE THE INFAMOUS E.C. COMICS SET THE ETERNAL BAR FOR SPLASH-PANEL TERROR IN THE 1950S and publisher James Warren held court over the 1960s and 1970s, horror comics of the early 1980s were briefly and quietly defined by an independent comic known as Twisted Tales, a title that still enjoys a healthy cult following in spite of a tragically short run. The brainchild of writer Bruce Jones and upstart publisher Pacific Comics, Twisted Tales set a new kind of standard for comic book horror, and Jones’ work remains some of the finest the genre has ever seen. This year marks the 40th anniversary of Twisted Tales’ debut issue – surely a watershed moment in the world of horror comics – but in spite of numerous E.C., Warren, and other classic…

EDGAR ALLAN HOE https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3547530/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 POERN Darkstar Films Let’s talk about one of the things I admire most about horror films – the addition of softcore porn. Jason, Freddy, and Michael Myers kill horny teenagers for one reason only: so we can watch a bunch of teens get off before they get offed. It only seems natural, then, that someone would take stories by Edgar Allan Poe and add some skin (Poern, get it?). The resulting anthology takes on “Ligeia,” “William Wilson,” and “The Black Cat” along with the lesser known poem “Alone” from a variety of directors who each added their own smutty slant while staying true to the author’s tragic romanticism. Alas, I’m sure you’re shocked to read that not every outing is a winner, but hey, I’ve seen…

KIER-LA JANISSE’S HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN BOXED SET In 2012, Kier-La Janisse set a new standard for genre analysis with House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films, tying in her observations on the subject with a revealing memoir of her own troubled history. This year sees not only FAB Press’ expanded 10th-anniversary edition of the book (see review on p.72), but Severin Films’ boxed set House of Psychotic Women: Rarities Collection, giving American Blu-ray debuts to four features covered in its pages. Released through Severin’s website on August 30, the set goes into wider distribution October 25. Rarities Collection assembles newly restored transfers of Giuseppe Patroni Griffi’s Elizabeth Taylor-starring psychodrama Identikit (a.k.a. The Driver’s Seat), Grzegorz Warchol’s extremely offbeat vampire film I…

As the horror genre continues to deconstruct itself, one of the more intriguing ideas to emerge over the last few years is the examination of post-traumatic stress disorder among survivors of ordeals. While earlier explorations, such as in the Scream franchise, took a tongue-in-cheek approach to the topic, more recent fare, such as the Halloween reboot, has taken a far more serious and introspective perspective. But it was another movie altogether, the 2011 meta-horror-comedy The Cabin in the Woods, that inspired writer Josh Eiserike to plunge headfirst into the genre to create his new graphic novel, The Very Final Last Girls. “I leapt down the rabbit hole, falling in love with the genre’s classics, deep cuts, and cult favourites… and I kept coming back to the final girl trope that…

GHOST EATERS Clay McLeod Chapman Quirk If Clay McLeod Chapman’s previous novels hinted at his burgeoning talent for horror storytelling, Ghost Eaters sees it fully realized. It’s an addiction parable, a ghost story, a haunted house yarn, a zombie-esque siege tale, and a putrid bit of fungal body horror all rolled into one trippy package, and none of it plays out in the expected ways. The book is even more impressive for how long the horror is sustained without respite, causing the reader to become just as trapped in the proceedings as main character Erin is in her near-endless trip. Ghost is a new drug, one that allows those who drop the pills to see the ghosts that haunt them – typically loved ones who have passed. When Silas, the…

THIS MONTH: THE SINISTER SENTIMENTALISM OF STEVEN RHODES A RUE MORGUE COLLECTIBLE Steven Rhodes grew up in the 1970s and ’80s and spends his time revisiting childhood memories from those eras with a deep sense of nostalgia… infused with a twist of darkness. His make-believe books Let’s Summon Demons, Necromancy for Beginners, and E is For Existential Dread are a perfect combination of retro kid nostalgia shot through with a macabre sense of humour. No question, Rhodes has cornered the market of elementary school art mashed up with demonic possession, masked killers, and satanic cults! NAME Steven Rhodes HOMETOWN Brisbane, Australia WEAPON OF CHOICE “I always begin with drawings on paper and I use brush pens for inking the linework. This is then scanned, and I do all my colouring,…

COLLECTIVELY, HORROR FANS need let go of the “nothing but remakes and sequels!” gripes. For one: Rue consistently highlights what else is out there from all corners of the globe. Secondly, it’s not a new trend. Never forget the OG Universal Monsters each had, like, six sequels and then a few more mash-up offshoots. Aren’t we all pleased that at least Bride of Frankenstein came out of it? Should no one have attempted Frankenstein again after Edison in 1910? Judy Garland’s Wizard of Oz is technically a remake even. And where would we be without remakes like The Thing, The Fly, and even The Blob? What would we do without all the Halloween and Friday the 13th, etc. sequels that introduced, carried, and sustained many of our loves of horror?…

NATURALLY Tinashe (2022) Forsaking the tulle and lace of Britney’s slumber party for a down-home nightmare, Tinashe pays broad homage to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in this slinky, sanguine cut from her independently produced 333 album. Directed by Raul Rosco Guerrero, “Naturally” sees the alternative R&B songstress swinging a cleaver and giggling through mouthfuls of fruit (or is it flesh?) between boot-clad dance breaks. As she sings to rekindle an erotic connection so deep it penetrates skin, meat, and bone, Tinashe makes it clear that she’s the kind of gal who will always get her Marilyn Burns moment… and her (wo)man. RTT ZICK ZACK Rammstein (2022) No one would ever accuse Rammstein of being subtle, and the group stays true to form with its 2022 video for “Zick Zack.” The…

AMONG HORROR’S GREATEST STRENGTHS IS THE OPPORTUNITY FOR INDIE FILMMAKERS TO MAKE AS BIG A BLOODY SPLASH in the genre as the Hollywood heavyweights, and streaming services like Shudder have risen to the occasion by providing a widely accessible platform for these less conventional passion projects. Among Shudder’s crown jewels is 2016’s surprise hit Terrifier – an intensely gory low-budget slasher about a sadistic clown stalking a pair of drunken costumed teens who think their night of frights ended at the Halloween party. Unfortunately (for them), their nightmare has just begun when they first encounter Art the Clown at a pizzeria, winking and waving from across the aisle. The silent but deadly mime has much more than murder on his mind, with a sadistic bloodlust that goes well beyond the…

THE WORD “CRYPTID” WAS COINED IN 1983 BY ONE J.E. WALL in the newsletter of the International Society of Cryptozoology, in response to a call for “new terms to replace sensational and often misleading terms like ‘monster.’” By that time, the study of so-called hidden animals was well on in years, having emerged in the 1950s – a heyday of supposed monster sightings in America that lasted well into the ’70s – leading to an extraordinary proliferation of small-town local creature legends, lurching through every state in the Union. It’s this very history and geography that former Rue Morgue contributor J.W. Ocker has turned his magnifying glass on for his exhaustive new field guide, The United States of Cryptids, out Sept 27 from Quirk Books. Organized by region, the book…

Most horror fans are well acquainted with the surrealist work of Swiss artist H.R. Giger, if not for his vast output of paintings and airbrushed visual art, then for his Academy Award-winning design work on the Alien films. Giger’s trademark “biomechanical” themes – where organic humanoid matter is fused with the cold steel of industrial machinery – have been adopted across many visual mediums throughout the man’s working life and beyond, further cementing his singular style in art history; often imitated, but never duplicated. His is a world where metal pipes course like arteries toward motor centres with alien heartbeats, where cyberpunk environs breed liminal creatures that border on the obscene, where the uncanny valley is explored to its deepest depths. This fall, a new atmospheric horror video game invites…

MAKE A WISH 8:13 mins/YouTube via the Screamfest channel What works so well about the humour in Dinh Thai’s short film is his ability to subvert a very tired trope into something darkly relatable. When Freddie (Edward Hong) comes home on his birthday, he’s horrified to find that his fiancé Lexie (Josephine Chang) has a special guest waiting for him: his high school bully, Brock (Roman Moretti), tied to a chair so that Freddie can enact revenge for years of torture. Naturally, Freddie balks at the idea, and Lexie goes full-on Crazy Girlfriend as she tears up the house in a fit of rage. But when Brock continues to inadvertently remind Freddie of all his terrible deeds in the past, the film takes a turn that reminds us that sometimes…

https://booksinthefreezer.com/ Books in the Freezer THEME: Horror fiction FORMAT: Discussion FREQUENCY: Bi-weekly Rarely do we say, “The movie was better than the book,” so why do most horror podcasts focus solely on film? Luckily, Books in the Freezer is here to offer our ears a refreshing antidote with bi-weekly deep dives into the world of horror fiction. Hinging on the idea that some books are so scary they ought to be locked up in the icebox for everyone’s safety, this podcast has been broadening horror fans’ literary horizons since 2017. Hosted by Stephanie Gagnon, each 45-minute episode features a different guest co-host – many of whom are independent horror artists and writers by trade. Everyone comes to the table with several pieces of literature pertaining to a general theme, such…

https://youtu.be/Zh2K7SxRHmo THE QUARRY Supermassive Games Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, PS4, PS5, Windows It’s hard to believe it’s been seven years since Until Dawn took horror gaming by storm; a cinematic tale of terror that combined the novelty of a branching, choose-your-own-adventure storyline with top-notch motion capture performances from noteworthy Hollywood talent. After three less-compelling titles comprising their Dark Pictures Anthology series, Supermassive returns to classic slasher sensibilities with The Quarry, a trip down memory lane for the ’80s slasher fans that’s content to play to its strengths. Drawing heavy inspiration from movie slashers of yesteryear, players are laced into the unfortunate sneakers of camp counsellors at Hackett’s Quarry, which harbours a nasty family secret and some less-than-savoury characters (including Ted Raimi!). Stalked by humans and monsters (or…

1 CHUCKY CHIA PET $19.99 USD Ch-ch-ch-Chucky! The terracotta Chia Pet planters were an ’80s sensation, not unlike the killer toy from the Child’s Play franchise. Measuring 7 inches in height, this pottery planter is as duplicitous as the doll himself, featuring two sides to reflect either Chucky’s innocent Good Guy face or his sinister, stitched-up smirk. Walmart.com 2 MEDITATING BIGFOOT $3.95 USD Having been hunted for decades by ruthless paparazzi, we could all benefit from some of Bigfoot’s zen. Available in brown, white, and tan, and measuring 2 inches tall, this mini soft vinyl figure will bring pure ’squatch serenity to your wilderness. Just nama-stay out of his woods! Mcphee.com 3 COFFIN BUTTER DISH $26.99 USD You know what butters our bread? A ceramic coffin-shaped butter dish with a…

WHERE WERE YOU WHEN YOU DECIDED YOU WANTED TO WATCH YOUR FIRST HORROR FILM? For many of us, it hit like a flash at the local video rental store – an anxious sense of excitement brought on by an overwhelming selection of tantalizingly weird titles with garishly illustrated VHS boxes. Video store shelves were a veritable horror art gallery back then, and distributors took full advantage, with evocative and terrifying (and occasionally intentionally deceptive) cover art that burned into the retinas of the youth who dared peruse these forbidden aisles. The cenobites that graced the box art of Hellraiser and Hellraiser II were every bit as traumatic as the movies they advertised, and it remains impossible for horror fans of this generation to recall ’80s fright fare such as Creepshow,…

THE YEAR WAS 2013, AND WE WERE JUST FAR ENOUGH AWAY FROM THE ’80S TO MISS THEM. The movies of the era endured, but what of those hammy TV station specials we recorded with our VCRs? To fill this aching void came Chris LaMartina with his experimental yet delightful WNUF Halloween Special, a fictionalized VHS recording of the titular local station, complete with faux commercials for imagined products that were just silly enough to be believable. It was grainy, it was weird, it was barely a movie, but it quickly became essential Halloween viewing for the Gen-X nostalgics. Now, LaMartina is back with Out There Halloween Megatape, a loose sequel to WNUF that affectionately lampoons the decade that followed; an homage to ’90s boob tube culture with equal parts comedy,…

FROM SPIKE JONZE AND DAVID FINCHER TO GORE VERBINSKI, countless established Hollywood directors got their start in the business by directing music videos. The medium came into its own with the MTV generation of the ’80s, and has continued to evolve over time, from music videos that aimed to tell a micro-story in a few minutes, to far more ambitious and cinematic entries. This career trajectory is less common among genre filmmakers, but many of them dabbled in music videos in the midst of their careers which, let’s face it, were less lucrative than the likes of Michael Bay and Brett Ratner. Some horror directors’ forays into the genre are truly legendary, the most obvious being Rob Zombie’s atmospheric videos for White Zombie and his solo career, as well as…

INTRODUCING A SHINY NEW STAR TO THE PANTHEON OF ICONIC HORROR VILLAINS AIN’T EASY, but Terrifier’s maniacal mime pulls it off without so much as a word. Making his cinematic debut in Damien Leone’s 2011 twenty-minute short Terrifier (which reappears in his 2013 anthology feature, All Hallows’ Eve), Art the Clown personified cinema’s golden rule of “show, don’t tell” by limiting his menace to gestures and expressions that would be perfectly at home in the proper context, but deliver visceral chills in the franchise he spawned. Played by Mike Giannelli, Art’s role in All Hallows’ Eve saw him harrassing a young woman named Casey (Kayla Lian) at a train station as she minds her own business, reading a book, while drunken Halloween partiers drift through. Art’s approach starts innocently enough,…

https://youtu.be/kJIi_gg9sKs MEMENTO ARGENTO DARK GLASSES Starring Ilenia Pastorelli, Asia Argento and Andrea Gherpelli Directed by Dario Argento Written by Dario Argento and Franco Ferrini Shudder The name Dario Argento conjures up brilliantly coloured, dark, artistic, violent films. One could argue the director single-handedly defined the giallo genre through films like Suspiria (1977) and Opera (1987), but recent years have seen his work move away from artsy and brutal horror to straight up campy schlock. Originally written in 2002, Occhiali neri (Dark Glasses) had been shelved due to the bankruptcy of the production company that had optioned it. Now, it promises Argento’s highly anticipated return to his giallo roots after a ten-year sabbatical. The film opens with sex worker Diana (Ilenia Pastorell) stopping her car to watch an eclipse that’s plunging…

HELL FOLLOWED WITH US It wasn’t until I was in my twenties that I realized how prevalent dead parents were in Disney films. I simply never noticed as a kid because my mom died when I was seven, so “dead parent” was my everyday reality. I felt less isolated seeing my trauma reflected in those characters’ experiences – especially critical in the 1980s when we didn’t talk about these things. That’s a long way of saying that it’s important to see some reflection of ourselves in the media we consume. I’ve now been writing for RM for twenty years, just a few years shy of half my lifetime, and it’s been remarkable to watch the publishing industry evolve, from emerging technologies (hello eBooks!) to the recent push towards more diverse…

https://cadabrarecords.com/products/m-r-james-count-magnus-lp-read-by-robert-lloyd-parry-score-by-pentagram-home-video-chris-bozzone M.R. JAMES / ROBERT LLOYD PARRY SPOKEN WORD Count Magnus CADABRA RECORDS Grab a pint of your favourite English bitter and pull up a seat at the bar. Robert Lloyd Parry, who has been performing the ghost tales of M.R. James since 2005, has his latest yarn to spin: the 1904 supernatural story Count Magnus. A recognized expert in James’ work, Parry brings to life with educated accuracy the various characters in this story of a seasoned travel writer discovering the mysterious history of Count Magnus while stopping in Sweden. Cadabra Records brings in a duo of soundtrack-influenced recording artists for the 2XLP’s score: Pentagram Home Video and Chris Bozzone. It’s a novel approach, as the artists shift between acoustic and electronic instrumentation as character and narrative shifts necessitate.…