Table of contents for Issue 95 November 2009 in RUE MORGUE

bleederseries.com New vampire web series Bleeder poses the question: “What if the ladies of the night were actually creatures of the night?” Production values are surprisingly high on the nine-minute inaugural episode, which sees the vamps drain unsuspecting Johns before stumbling across a desperate hemophiliac with a plan. Cue cliffhanger. darklordbunnykins.wordpress.com/ Rue Morgue’s own Sean Plummer recently launched his own daily horror blog – with a very unusual name. Content ranges from coverage of Toronto-area events to film and concert reviews and interviews with horror celebs. Drop in on the Dark Lord. zombaritaville.blogspot.com The anonymous soul behind Zombaritavilla has a knack for kitsch. Posting anywhere from one to three updates a week, this site offers revised “zombified” lyrics to popular songs from a number of musical genres. A particularly inspired…

1. DEVIL CANE $300 Support your evil old bones with this diabolical cane. Topped with a stainless steel sculpture of Old Scratch, it has a cloven hoof at the bottom, suitable for knocking small children out of your path. Stroll with Satan at dvlstudio.com. 2. BLOODY BEANIES $27 Whether you’re shopping for a lid that says “can’t function: head eaten by worms” or you prefer the immediacy of the stake-through-the-skull look, Specter Studios has a latex prop-enhanced beanie for you. The grey polyester hats come in five different designs to keep your dome suitably disgusting. Aim for the head at specter-studios.com. 3. LOVECRAFT SCENTS $15 per 5 ml bottle Envelope yourself in the miasma of the Great Cthulhu with Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s Picnic in Arkham line of perfumes, inspired…

WHEN THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE COMES, those roaming rotters don’t stand a chance, thanks to an entire generation of gamers that has been honing its skills slicing, clubbing, shooting and chainsawing pixilated versions of the pusbags. The zombie made its first appearance in 1982 in a little-known game developed for the Atari 2600 console system called Entombed. Game play consisted of nothing more than one or two players trying to navigate a crudely animated stick figure through a scrolling maze while being pursued by zombies (differently coloured stick figures). The following year another maze navigation game surfaced, called Zombies. Available for a number of systems, this one once again found players plotting a course through a series of mazes and dungeons as they attempted to elude the undead, plus some spiders…

THE TINGLER (1959) Vincent Price stars in this audaciously entertaining B-movie as Dr. Chapin, a scientist who theorizes that death-by-fright is caused by a creepy crawly that lives in the spine and feeds on fear. The only way to kill the parasitic “tingler” before it snaps the backs of the truly terrified is to scream loudly. To test his theory, Chapin cruelly scares his friend’s wife, a mute who is unable to scream, causing her death. When he removes the creature from her body to study it, however, the tingler gets loose and terrorizes a movie theatre audience. Boasting a grotesque rubber monster model, Hollywood’s first onscreen LSD trip, a colour sequence and one of Price’s most maniacal performances, it’s clear that the filmmaker pulled out all the sensationalistic stops…

I MUST’VE BEEN ABOUT TEN WHEN MY DAD ARRIVED HOME with a VHS player and a copy of The Wicker Man,” recalls Irish writer/director Glenn McQuaid. “There was just something about the intrigue of horror that I caught onto when I was very young. So I grew up watching movies like The Beast with Five Fingers and Amicus films and a lot of older school horror.” Those influences are clearly apparent in his infectiously playful feature debut I Sell the Dead. It stars Dominic Monaghan (Lord of the Rings) as Arthur Blake, a 19th-century Dickensian grave robber sentenced to face the guillotine for his blasphemous deeds. While awaiting execution, he confesses his crimes to the sadistic Father Francis Duffy (Ron Perlman). This meeting forms the framing device for a series…

FOREST HUMP THE EVIL WOODS Lionsgate Every filmmaking class should start off with a session titled How Not to Make a Horror Film 101, in which the teacher locks the classroom door and forces the students to watch The EvilWoods. The movie follows a bunch of horny, pot-smoking, beer-guzzling, foul-mouthed college students on a camping trip who are soon hunted down and killed one by one, by an axe-wielding maniac in a big green parka. Though there’s some nudity, it’s not enough to absolve a script that appears to be mostly ad-libbed profanity and kill scenes that are telegraphed from miles away. It’s textbook slasher filmmaking but done poorly. I’m pretty sure that the guy who recommended that Lionsgate distribute this film works at a McDonald’s drive-thru right about now.…

THE NATURE OF THE BEAST DR. JEYKLL AND MR. HYDE (1941) Starring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner Directed by Victor Fleming Written by John Lee Mahin and Robert Louis Stevenson Warner Long before Sigmund Freud thought up the ego and id to describe man’s dual nature, Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson was exploring the idea of virtuous and wicked behaviour in his 1886 novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A product of Victorian-era morals which warned that those who gave into their sexual desires would be destined for a life of evil, it was an allegorical interpretation of the theme of sexual repression – the Hyde character was a creation of Jekyll’s repressed lust. A mainstay of the horror genre, the story has since…

DEADLY DANGEROUS DECENT DULL DRIVEL DEAD ON ARRIVAL THE BELIEVERS SOUNDTRACK J. Peter Robinson PERSEVERANCE It’s a bit surprising to learn that one of the best horror scores of the ’80s was a first-time feature film effort, but J. Peter Robinson’s The Believers still packs a punch with a title theme layered with authentic voodoo percussion and incantations, western chorales and snarling synthetic brass. Part of the score’s success is the clever co-mingling of three themes, including the title music, a love theme (admittedly syrupy in its all-synth versions) and a lullaby chime that slowly erodes, complementing the narrative, in which a boy’s home life is threatened by a nefarious cult. Perseverance’s CD (limited to 1000 copies) runs over 58 minutes, with previously unreleased material that reduces the occasional monotony…

GRAPHICS PLAYABILITY SHIVERS WOLFENSTEIN Xbox 360, PS3, PC Activision Sure, Lara Croft might look better in a bikini, but when you want to scorch hordes of SS Schweinhund with your trusty Flammenwerfer, you want to have an über-soldier such as Wolfenstein’s B.J. Blazkowicz pulling the trigger. In this sequel to 2001’s Return to Castle Wolfenstein, the Nazis have created a porthole to a supernatural dimension, which has enabled them to create powerful weapons and monsters in yet another attempt to take over the world. It’s up to B.J. to stop them. Action takes place in environments, such as an underground bunker, a labyrinthine sewer system, creepy hospital and the interior of a zeppelin. Players battle German super-soldiers, mutated humans, insect-like “geists,” plus a couple of…

RE: POST MORTEM RM#94: The letters page was somewhat surreal this issue: “Dear Rue Morgue, how DARE you present a pentagram in a negative light (despite its usage in the film, which is what you were referring to)! I am pissed and offended!” “Dear Rue Morgue, I understand that your reviewer didn’t like our album and that’s fine, but I feel he is, in fact, a fan of someone else we played with and, upon knowing we were on the outs with that other person, decided to use that as fuel to make his review even worse! Also, we believe he’s complicit in the New World Order/FEMA concentration camps and is likely a reptilian in the David Icke vein. Thanks!” “Dear Rue Morgue, I was reading your magazine, and suddenly…

After some mostly dismal attempts to bring the horrors of H.P. Lovecraft to the big screen, the dark stars might finally align under the direction of Hollywood mainstay Ron Howard. This past September, the director of The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons told the Los Angeles Times that he hopes to bring Cthulhu and company to life in an adaptation of Image Comics’ recently released The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft. In that series, a fictionalized Lovecraft discovers that the dark horrors that plague his nightmares actually slither forth to wreak havoc whenever he sleeps. “It’s challenging, but if we get it right, it could be really original and psychologically interesting and scary in a great way,” Howard told the Times. Series writer and co-creator Mac Carter spent…

EVEN AS HORROR VIDEO GAMES become ever more cinematic and narratively complex, the Left 4 Dead franchise continues to buck the trend by delivering titles that hearken back to the medium’s simpler arcade roots. The development team at Valve Software, makers of Left 4 Dead and the new Left 4 Dead 2, understands that when it comes to zombie mayhem, it’s all about destroying as many rotters as possible, in the most gory ways imaginable. When the original L4D was released in November 2008 for the Xbox 360 and PC, it proved itself a surprisingly unique entry in the horror gaming canon; gone were the lengthy storylines of the Resident Evil franchise and other zombie favourites such as Dead Rising (for a history of zombie video games, see p.20). Instead…

ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE Konami Xbox Live/PSN If you get nostalgic for the simpler arcade titles of yesteryear, then allow me to introduce you to Zombie Apocalypse, a downloadable game that’s as retro as it is gory. In the game, one to four players choose a character – either the OCD-suffering Harlan, schizophrenic Natalie, who cuts down the living dead in a “haze of lithium and thorazine,” gamer Jimmy 86 or Ed, whose wife ran off with the pool boy – and attempt to survive as long as possible during a – you guessed it – zombie apocalypse. Players who choose to take on this mostly futile endeavour (in single-player, multiplayer or online multiplayer mode) are equipped with only a chainsaw, gun, some zombie bait and their wits – though truth be…

MASTURBATOR & COMMANDER DIG SPLATTER? OF COURSE YOU DO. How about chopsocky? Frankenstein? Troma? John Woo? Mexican Lucha Libre? Nunsploitation? Japanese “pink?” Coffin Joe? Monty Python? Softcore porn? Theatre of the absurd? Goats? I wouldn’t be surprised to hear a chorus of “Fuck, yeah!” to all of the above, but how many of you have seen them all deployed – almost seamlessly – in a single micro-budget film? I have, and if loving Masked Avenger versus Ultra-Villain in the Lair of the Naked Bikini (2000) is wrong, I don’t want to be right. Almost ten years ago, I got my first-ever Post Mortem response from a Rue Morgue reader. It was a positive one, which made me happy (at that point I had not yet experienced the perverse thrill of…

BEYOND HAMMER: BRITISH HORROR CINEMA SINCE 1970 James Rose Auteur Blimey, guv’na, things ain’t what they used to be! In this in-depth and eclectic study, James Rose takes a selection of British horror films (though his definition of “British” is a wee bit stretched by the inclusion of An American Werewolf in London) and places them in the context of post-Hammer themes and events in British culture and history. The flicks he chooses are diverse: from 1970’s The Vampire Lovers, through Death Line and Hellraiser, to Shaun of the Dead and The Descent. Rose begins by briefly examining the output of Hammer studios’ golden age and placing it in the cultural context of the British post-war period. He ultimately extrapolates that one of the principal themes in British horror is…

It is regarded as the world’smost unique and macabre tomb – and it is not in Paris or Rome, or any of the other major cities famous for unique burial sites. This profoundly personal memento mori sits high in the Peruvian Andes in the tranquil village of Lampa. Almost completely unknown outside of the region, this sepulchral masterpiece is South America’s largest decorated ossuary, and perhaps the only charnel in the world constructed as a memorial for a single individual. Ensconced here as the Mausolus of the Andes is Enrique Torres Belon, and the tomb he conceived reveals a post-mortem vision so powerful that it has taken on its own life in the consciousness of the town. Torres Belon traced his ancestry to the original 16th-century Spanish gentry that founded…

GATEKEEPER “Fright night, who’s it gonna be tonight?”J. GEILS BAND For every boy (or girl) who falls in love with horrormovies, there’s another falling in love with horror movie music. Alright, perhaps it’s nowhere near a 1:1 ratio but there are at least two boys whose eBay and yard sale hunts are much more about scoring vinyl albums than VHS: Aaron Ross and Matthew Arkell of Chicago. Aaron (a student of classical music) and Matthew (a club DJ) discovered the sounds of John Carpenter early in life, watching stuff like Christine on TV. Now grown up, they’ve formed Gatekeeper, a disco-electro-industrial act with a heart-on for Carpenter, Claudio Simonetti and other masters of spooky synth scores. “We came together more over an affinity for horror movie soundtracks than horror movies…

AMOK TIME 2949 Hempstead TPK Levittown, NY 516-520-0975 amoktime.com BURNING MOON VIDEO 1505-11th Ave. SW Calgary, AB 403-228-2899 burningmoonvideo.com LE CABINET DES CURIOSITIES 97 Enmore Rd. Enmore, Sydney, Australia THE CINEMA STORE Unit 4B, Orion House Upper St. Martins Ln. London, UK COLLECTORS CORNER 8108A Harford Rd. Baltimore, MD 800-979-3353 collectorscornermd.com COMIC EXPLOSION 86 Centre St. Nutley, NJ 973-235-1336 THE COMIC HUNTER 177 Lutz St. Moncton, NB 506-855-4950 comichunter.net CORNERSTONE COMICS 980 E. Orangethorpe Ave., Ste A Anaheim, CA 92801 DARK DELICACIES 4213 W. Burbank Blvd. Burbank, CA 818-556-6660 darkdel.com DIMENSION COLLECTIBLES 10 N. Main St. Ambler, PA dimensioncollectibles.net DREAMHAVEN BOOKS 2301 E. 38th St. Minneapolis, MN 612-823-6161 dreamhavenbooks.com THE DREAMING COMICS & GAMES 5226 University Way NE Seattle, WA 206-525-9394 thedreamingcomics.com 8TH STREET BOOKS & COMICS 1010 8th St.…

ZOMBIES, VAMPIRES AND SUBURBAN MAYHEM MARK GENRE HIGHLIGHTS OF TIFF 2009 Once again the Toronto International Film Festival featured only a smattering of genre titles among its hundreds of entries, with the bulk of them premiering in the Midnight Madness program. Midnight Madness kicked off its ten-day run with the star-studded red carpet premiere of Jennifer’s Body (see review p.39). Australian filmmakers were behind some of the fest’s other most talked about titles, including the Spierig Brothers’ sci-fi vampire film Daybreakers and newcomer Sean Byrne’s torture comedy The Loved Ones. George A. Romero’s Canadian citizenship was celebrated during the festival, yet his latest zombie film Survival of the Dead was upstaged by Spanish sequel [REC] 2. Among the genre highlights outside of Midnight Madness were Lars Von Trier’s controversial Antichrist…

It was once believed that placing a dead mouse in one’s mouth could cure a toothache. As a child, H.R. Giger became fascinated with skeletal anatomy (which figures into much of his artwork) after his father brought home a human skull. This past September, Tampa Bay-area volunteers tasked with cleaning up a secluded beach made a grisly discovery when they stumbled upon the decapitated remains of a goat, duck and hen. Argentinian sculptor Nicola Constantine creates art out of the fat she has removed from her body during liposuction treatments. Twilight Zone writer Charles Beaumont was born Charles Leroy Nutt. He initially used “Beaumont” as a pseudonym, but later legally changed his name. From the 16th through 18th centuries it was believed that mental illness could be cured by drowning…

THERE’S A SUCKER BORN EVERY MINUTE – at least according to circus impressario P.T. Barnum – but filmmaker William Castle knew that even the savviest audience loved to be taken for a ride, as long as they were in on the joke. One of the most distinctive and accessible directors of the 1960s, Castle made the world of cinema his own personal carnival midway with a string of horror films designed to maximize audience interaction. He honed attention-grabbing gimmicks into a fine art and became something of a celebrity as he churned out campy thrills in films such as The Tingler (1959), 13 Ghosts (1960) and Mr. Sardonicus (1961). He even capped off his career by producing a bona fide mainstream horror classic, 1968’s Rosemary’s Baby. “Castle was very genuine…

A CARNIVAL OF CADAVERS ZOMBIELAND Starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg and Emma Stone Directed by Ruben Fleischer Written by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese Sony Sorry Mickey, if I ever win the Superbowl, I’m going to Zombieland! This rom-zom-com is an adventure park fused onto celluloid: from the unforgettably brutal and beautiful opening credit sequence you’re strapped in for a thrill ride across America, playing whack-an-undead-cranium with a rootin,’ tootin,’ shootin’ Woody Harrelson, only stopping long enough to search for a fast food sugar high, and maybe pick up a few girls. The plot is familiar: America has been overrun with zombies, in this case due to a plague. Two months after infection, all that remains are some abandoned, burnt-out cars, hordes of blood-encrusted crazies and a few survivors trying…

VINCENT AND VAN GO! THE HILARIOUS HOUSE OF FRIGHTENSTEIN: BATS, BONES AND CREEPY POEMS (1971) Starring Billy Van, Vincent Price and Fishka Rais Written and directed by Rifael Markowitz Anchor Bay/Critical Mass Ah… to be a kid growing up during the ’70s. Sure, we had bad haircuts and some truly awful clothing, but we also had Saturday mornings with The Hilarious House of Frightenstein. Produced in 1971 in Hamilton, Ontario, Frightenstein is part variety show and part educational program. It stars comedian Billy Van as greenskinned vampire Count Frightenstein, who’s desperately trying to revive his monster Brucie. Assisting the Count in his quest, albeit none too successfully, is his wellmeaning, but eternally inept servant Igor (Fishka Rais). In addition, each episode of Frightenstein features zany supporting characters (many played by…

IN THIS ISSUE NORTH 40 Aaron Williams and Fiona Staples Wildstorm productions VINCENT PRICE PRESENTS THE TINGLER #1 AND #2 Mark Miller and Alex Lopez Blue Water Comics SUPERMAN & BATMAN VS. VAMPIRES & WEREWOLVES Kevin VanHook and Tom Mandrake DC FVZA #1 OF 3 David Hine and Roy Allan Martinez Radical Comics SULLENGREY: SACRIFICE #1 OF 2 Jocelyn Gateway and Drew Rausch Ape Entertainment THE UNKNOWN: THE DEVIL MADE FLESH #1 OF 4 Mark Waid and Minck Oosterveer BOOM! If human beings truly are a product of their environment, this certainly explains the bizarre cast of characters populating North 40, a new series by Aaron Williams and Fiona Staples. After all, when the entire county is cursed, it’s only natural to find an assortment of Lovecraftianmonsters, walking corpses, winged…

I WAS FILLED WITH A CERTAIN DEGREE OF HUBRIS WHEN I BOUGHT MY FIRST DVD PLAYER. Region coding enhancement (RCE) wasn’t going to be an issue for me; any film I wanted was going to be available because I lived in the number 1 region! Besides, RCE was a tool for major Hollywood studios to restrict distribution of mainstream films in certain markets, and I wasn’t interested in those. I quickly realized how wrong I was when I began collecting import Hong Kong and Japanese DVDs. The heartache of having to ignore R3 titles such as Battle Royale (2000) (which is still only officially available as a Hong Kong, Japanese or European import) or Ichi the Killer (2001), combined with the number of discs that weren’t properly labelled as being…

MORE BACK ISSUES AVAILABLE. SEE RUE-MORGUE.COM FOR A COMPLETE LIST…