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Rue Morgue #85 - Coffin Joe Resurrected!
This month Rue Morgue is pulling out all of the stops with issue #85. I have to say that when it arrived in the mail that I was completely and utterly shocked at the cover that stared back at me. Upon opening the packaging I noticed a cover that blew my mind as the iconic horror character of Coffin Joe practically exploded right before my very face. I’m a huge fan of the Coffin Joe movies and considering how ahead of their time they are, I’m shocked that they don’t get more recognition. So I have to say that I was pleased that Rue Morgue was covering the man and his films. Also I have to give credit to Rue Morgue for going all out to bring the best possible articles on the man. See, years ago in Ultra Violent Magazine (another excellent publication that’s generally released once a year) the Coffin Joe films were covered in great detail. So who did Rue Morgue get to bring them an interview with Jose Majica Marins (Coffin Joe)? The best person possible, who is Ultra Violent magazine editor/publisher Scott Gabbey. So many times in the horror community people get concerned with stepping all over each other just to get the jump on something. But I’ve found personally that Rue Morgue not only doesn’t do things like this but they actually support the community around them. Ever wonder why you see reviews for Rue Morgue on our site but not any of the other horror mags? It kind of shows you right there the type of magazine we’re dealing with, which is in my opinion a stand up publication that stands behind their work. I couldn’t ask for anything more and this issue is a great example of how to use the horror community out there to put together another great issue.
Honestly I have to give credit where credit is due in this issue and that’s to Jovanka Vuckovic. Personally I’m a proud fan of the magazine and a lot of the reasons why are summed up on this cover. How many magazines of the horror variety would put something like Coffin Joe, who is basically a cult figure from Brazil and is known for making movies in the 70s? I know that Ultra Violent has done so, but they are more of the underground magazine. Not to name any names, but very rarely if ever do you see anyone doing this on a mainstream horror magazine level except for Rue Morgue.
So with all of my gloating out of the way I guess we should get down to business and talk a little about what issue #85 has to offer shall we? Like I mentioned earlier the cover shows cult icon Coffin Joe (with beautifully done artwork by the great “Ghoulish” Gary Pullin) which means we are going to be treated to an assortment of articles about the man and his demented work.
First off the story of who Coffin Joe is called “The Unholy Undertaker Returns) by Scott Gabbey and Jovanka Vuckovic cover the man’s legend in Brazil and who he is there, to an actual interview with Jose Majica Marins himself! It’s an extremely interesting read which includes information on his battle to get the films made, his cult status, the feelings about him in Brazil, all of his censorship issue and more! Also there’s the excellent “Visions of Hell” article by Scott Gabbey which is billed as the essential Joe Majica Marins filmography. Also Rue Morgue staffer Kier-La Janisse brings us the article “Blood Brothers” about Dennison Ramalho who not only co-wrote the new Coffin Joe flick “Embodiment of Evil” but was destined to work with Marins at some point. All of this together will put a smile on any Coffin Joe fans face as well as bring new fans to his movies as well. In the end, it’s all great work by Rue Morgue to even put this in their magazine in the first place.
Something that seems to be reoccurring in Rue Morgue on a monthly basis is their articles that have to do with being fans of the genre in an old school manner. Lately with articles about “Famous Monsters” magazine and the Castle 8mm films, I was pleased to see an article in this issue called “Retro Plastic Nightmares” about the Aurora Monster Scenes model kits. Although they were out a bit before my time I do actually remember an Uncle of mine having these tucked away in a closet at my Grandmothers house. But the point being is another nostalgia article for old school fans and another interesting article that I really enjoyed. Kudos to James Burrell on this because of the history involved. One of the pastimes of horror besides the movies themselves is collecting and there is no doubt that Rue Morgue recognizes that.
One of the most interesting articles this issue is “Paperback Shudders: The History of Horror Novelizations” by James Burrell and Monica S. Kuebler. The article is about all of the horror tie-in novels from a lot of the successful horror films and franchises around the time of their release. I have to admit to a feeling of nostalgia while reading this article as I really enjoyed a lot of these growing up in the 80s. At the time it was a good way for young fans like me to check out a story for a film that you most likely weren’t allowed to see. Although a lot of the times they weren’t carbon copies of the films they were tying-in if you will, they were extremely similar. The article does a great job covering the most sought after collectable novels as well as some of the fan favorites from years past. There’s even an accompanying article titled “Translating Terror” by James Burrell about author Dennis Etchison who wrote a great deal of these tie-in novels as well. Sure it’s only a one page add on article but I thought that it was a nice complement to the article on the history of these types of novels.
As far as reviews goes this issue is jam packed with tons for movie fans to enjoy. Expect reviews for films such as QUARANTINE, SAW V, FEAST II: SLOPPY SECONDS, RETURN TO SLEEPAWAY CAMP, ZOMBIE STRIPPERS, TRAILER PARK OF TERROR, SEED, SCARCE, VIPERS, THE HILARIOUS HOUSE OF FRIGHTENSTEIN: GORY GORY TRANSYLVANIA, CANNIBAL TERROR, SUNDOWN: THE VAMPIRE IN RETREAT, STRANGE BEHAVIOR, and more! Also The Gore-Met brings us another edition of gory goodness as he takes a look at the films VAGRANT and BLITZKREIG: ESCAPE FROM STALAG 69.
All of this combined makes issue #85 a must read magazine in my opinion. It’s one of the most complete editions of the magazine I’ve seen all year as every article is very different and will give fans a lot to get excited about. Personally I was shocked to see the Coffin Joe cover and the fact that Rue Morgue would put something like that on their cover that they completely understand of their own audience.
-Ed Demko
Rue Morgue #84 - 2008 The Year of the Vampire!
This month Rue Morgue covers "The Year of the Vampire" as 2008 has been a solid year for bloodsuckers. With "Let the Right One In" making waves as far as the foreign film market go, the teen flick "Twilight" about to be released in theaters, as well as there being many releases of fiction this year on the bookshelf related to vampires as well it's a nice issue from top to bottom. As well as few other oddball articles that Rue Morgue manages to have month after month that make it in my opinion the best genre magazine going today. This year RM has seemingly gone the way of the "theme" on a monthly basis. They seem to have gone in the direction where the bulk of their major articles follow said theme but in all honesty I really like that way of thinking. Considering there's enough other stuff on a month to month basis in the magazine (music reviews, different movie reviews not pertaining to the theme) to keep you interested even if you aren't too into what their theme is. This one is a great example of that and even though I'm not the biggest vampire fan in the world I thought that this issue had some really interesting reads.
One of the highlights of this issue for me is the "Dreadlines" section which covers the genre films from this year Toronto International Film Festival. Reviews from Dave Alexander, Stuart Andrews, Liisa Ladouceur, and Editor in Chief Jovanka Vuckovic cover films like "Acolytes", "The Burrowers", "Deadgirl", "Eden Log", "Martyrs", Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, untold story of Ozploitation!", "Pontypool", "Sauna", "Sexykiller" and "Vinyan". It's a great report from the festival and gives some great insight on movies that I'm sure we'll be seeing on the big or small screen very shortly.
Monica S. Kuebler goes into the mind of author John Ajvide Lindquist who is the writer of the "Let the Right One In" novel, as well as covering the film "Twilight" with the article "Young Blood Lovers". She's not quite done yet as well as bringing us "Vampire High" covering the latest in young teen vampire fiction. Rounding out the vampire theme this month is Liisa Ladouceur's article "Coming Out of the Coffin" about the new HBO vampire series "True Blood".
But to me the gem of this issue is easily "Creature Features" by Eric Veillette which covers the old Castle 8 mm films that were among some of the first films to be viewed in the living rooms everywhere. It's honestly a great article I'm sure if you grew up with them or even remember them. I can recall being a kid and seeing them all of the time at flea markets and garage sales myself. Not only that but the article goes into the covers of the films as well as the reasons why they were mainly edited versions of the original feature length films. Personally I found a lot of this stuff fascinating reading and I loved every line of this article. I commend Eric on the column and for Rue Morgue for having it within the pages of their magazine. It's stuff like this that honestly has made me a big fan of their magazine for years.
Jason Lapeyre brings us "Ghost House Exorcized" covering the newest releases from Ghost House Pictures under the "Ghost House Underground" name. The films include "Dance of the Dead", "Room 205", "Last House in the Woods", "No Man's Land: The Rise of the Reeker", "Trackman", "Brotherhood of Blood", "Dark Floors" and "The Substitute" which will interest fans on the brink of maybe picking up the films. Also it's worth the read to see how Lapeyre reacts to the whole Ghost House imprint as well.
Obviously something near and dear to my heart this month would be the "Travelogue of Terror" article about the Monroeville Mall. Monroeville Mall is of course the mall where George A. Romero's zombie epic "Dawn of the Dead" was shot. But to me it's been much more than that as it's been my local mall since I can remember learning to walk. Thankfully this issue Rue Morgue decided to take notice that as well as Romero's Pittsburgh as a whole with a smaller write up about the Evans City Cemetery. Its quite the fitting article and it was something that I found to be pretty cool to see in the magazine.
In what has been my favorite column that appears in each issue for sometime, "The Gore-Met" this month brings us something different. Usually he reviews some gore film that we all love, hate, or haven't seen yet, but this month there was no movie at all! Instead we're treated to a brief interview with Josh Schafer and Ted Gilbert the creators of Lunchmeat. Lunchmeat happens to be a new Zine of sorts that's all about VHS! Of course after reading the article in the magazine I immediately got online to pick up a copy and they we're all sold out! Either this is something that has yet to reach me or this thing has been flying off the presses since this issue of RM's release, but I really want one! Either way if I manage to get a copy or my head explodes first I have to thank RM and The Gore-Met himself for introducing me to something like this. By the way you can check out the creators of the Zine online at myspace.com/Lunchmeatzine and see why I'm dying to get my hands on one!
All this and more surely make another great issue of Rue Morgue Magazine that you'll want to pick up today!
-Ed Demko
Rue Morgue #83 – 2008 Halloween Issue
This month Rue Morgue Magazine delivers a spectacular Halloween issue with a cover that is more than appropriate for this time of year. It looks very similar to a magazine years ago known as Famous Monsters and the cover is a beautifully done portrait of it’s creater Forry J. Ackerman by the legendary Basil Gogos. Anyone who was a horror fan in the 50s through the 70s recognized these names and most likely is a big reason why they became horror fans in the first place. Inside the magazine you get a ton of coverage for fans of Famous Monsters as well as Uncle Forry himself. Any fan of horror films will be impressed with the knowledge and expertise of Ackerman as he’s a huge wealth of knowledge about the golden era of the genre. This is all kicked off as Paul Corupe talks with Forry himself about Famous Monsters, his start in publishing, and many other things. It’s honestly a great read and a nice look back at one of the most important horror icons of all time. Also Rue Morgue Editor and Chief Jovanka Vuckovic talks with the creator of those legendary Famous Monsters covers Basis Gogos detailing his career in art and how he got started with Famous Monsters. Even Kiss demon himself Gene Simmons weighs in with his commentary about Forry, Famous Monsters, and who was actually behind the Kiss demon. In another great article Paul Corupe catches up with genre directors Joe Dante and John Landis about their love and inspiration they received from Famous Monsters magazine. If that wasn’t enough there’s a interesting article written by Forry’s best friend Joe Moe, an article entitled “Famous Mansion” written by film director Tim Sullivan about the Ackermansion in it’s prime, a great list by Forry himself about some of his most prized memorablilia, and even a article written by special effects genius Rob Bottin about his love and admiration for Famous Monsters as well.
One of the most interesting articles in this magazine or any that I’ve seen recently is The Gore-Met’s 50 Essential Gore Films write up that is a must read for fans of gore films. Since I would consider myself quite the gorehound in my horror fanhood I couldn’t wait to check out the list. After checking it out I would certainly consider it a well written and well thought out list that’s worthy of it’s place in the magazine. Also, I have to give The Gore-Met credit for knowing his stuff in the gore department because very few films are forgotten on the list that deserved a spot. Of course you’re going to have people arguing with choices on the list, but that’s one of the best things about an article like this…..it will get people talking.
Just another reason why I enjoy Rue Morgue so much is evident in the article titled The Simpsons Vault of Terror by Philip Brown. Brown goes through the entire history of the show and talks about the highest and lowest points in the series. Also he catches up with writers from the show and intercuts a lot of their comments in the article making it quite the interesting read that fans of The Simpsons won’t want to miss.
Rue Morgue really shows the fact that they are trying to differ from the rest of the genre magazines and a great example of that is in the article Shockwave: A Classic Horror Radio Roundup. The article is a look at the horror radio shows of yesteryear that scared many prior to the days of television. Another companion piece to the article is And Now the Screaming Starts: Audio Horror on the Web talking about the return to audio horror reborn on the web.
Besides the magazine Rue Morgue is known for the annual convention known worldwide as The Festival of Fear that they hold each year in Toronto. As another year of the convention passes it’s time for a look back that only Rue Morgue Magazine brings you. A great photo layout of the event shows you what you missed if you couldn’t get up there for the convention yourself, something I actually look forward to in the magazine as it’s usually too timely or expensive for me to get there myself.
All this including reviews of Stuart Gordon’s Stuck, Death Race, Alexandre Aja’s Mirrors, Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead, End of the Line, Shutter (remake), Resurrection Mary, Rest Stop: Don’t Look Back, Dark Honeymoon, Triloquist, Steel Trap, Wide Awake, and Trapped Ashes. DVD reviews include Child’s Play Chucky’s 20th Birthday Edition, the Barracuda/Island of Fury double feature from Dark Sky Films, Man of a Thousand Faces, Psycho Kickboxer, Swamp Thing the series Volume 2, The X-Files Revelations, The Unseen, and Virgin Witch.
The Gore-Met also comes to us with “Jack of All Rage” about the new film “Jack Brooks Monster Slayer”, which is one of the best films of the year and a pretty good read in the magazine as well. This month the Gore-Met talks about the new release of “Faces of Death” in his monthly column which adds even more enjoyment to this welcome Gore-Met heavy issue. He’s one of my favorite writers in the magazine and I’d certainly be welcome to see more issues with multiple columns from him.
All this and much more make this issue a winner. Personally I think that Rue Morgue Magazine’s Halloween issue is their best of the year and this year is no exception. With a strong year from the magazine so far I have to say that they continue getting better throughout and this is probably their most entertaining issue that we’ve seen from them this year. So this Halloween season get to the bookstore and pick up a copy…..NOW!
-Ed Demko
Rue Morgue #80
This month in Rue Morgue Magazine we have all kinds of goodies to wet our horror appetites all thanks to our Canadian friends from the North. The cover this month is for the new Guillermo Del Toro film "Hellboy II". First up in "Beasts of the Apocalypse" Rue Editor-in-Chief Jovanka Vuckovic sits down with Del Toro to talk about his newest outing. Before she talks to Del Toro though she writes a very interesting piece to setup the interview that is great to read if you are curious about going into Hellboy II without being properly primed. The interview is a really good read with Jovanka asking some great questions about the film itself as well as moving into a few other things here and there. I was particularly interested when she speaks with him about Hellboy seemingly becoming a Harryhausen monster flick. This is a must read for Hellboy and Guillermo del Toro fans respectively.
Jovanka also catches up with Doug Jones, a man who has mainly showed up on screen in full makeup. It's titled "The New Man of 1,000 Faces" and she speaks with Jones about his experience in film, working on Hellboy II, and his perspective on his character of Abe Sapien. Personally I really enjoyed this as I love hearing about experiences like his in the movie business. Folks like him are far more important to the horror genre than people ever give them credit for, so kudos to Jovanka and the Rue Crew for giving the man his props!
To keep the Hellboy coverage going Rue also looks into the area where Hellboy started, which of course is the crazy world of comics. Gary Butler, Monica S. Kuebler, and Jovanka all review some of the comics that created the Hellboy mythos. In the article titled "Hellboy's Black Books" we get write-ups for books like "Hellboy II: The Art of the Movie", Hellboy: The Companion", "Hellboy Volume 1: Library Edition", "Hellboy: The Crooked Man" #1 (of 3), "B.P.R.D.: The Ectoplasm Man" (One Shot) and "B.P.R.D. War on Frogs" (One Shot).
If you aren't into Hellboy then there's still plenty in the magazine for you. This month there is a really cool article by Monica S. Kuebler entitled "The X-Files Declassified". Of course Rue Morgue being on the cusp of things in the industry they've decided to include this look back at the series and some of it's more interesting episodes to coincide with the fact that a new X-Files film is on the way as well. Also list mongers will be happy to know that there's a list included by Monica as well of 10 of the creepiest episodes in the series history.
All you video game fanatics should be geared up for this issue considering there's a article entitled "Terror in Central Park" about the reviving of the "Alone in the Dark" horror video game franchise. The article is from staffer Daniel Kaszor and even hits up the producer of the game for some extra info for gamers out there.
Another extremely interesting article in this issue has to be "Dreyer's Darkest Dream" by Paul Corupe. It's an article about a film called "Vampyr" that's getting a release through the folks at The Criterion Collection.
As usual this one is chalk full of reviews for movies, DVD's, books, and music in the way that only the RM crew does. In "Cinemacabre" this month we get reviews of DVD's such as "Botched" (Warner), "Sisters" (Image Entertainment), "Otis" (Warner), "American Zombie" (Cinema Libre Studios), and "Side Sho" (Lions Gate). In Last Rites, Last Chance Lance gives us a triple feature of monster movies including "Manticore", "Creature Unknown", and "Dark Woods". This month in "Reissues" Rue brings reviews for some of the most awaited titles on DVD. First up James Grainger looks at the new Dimension Extreme release of the horror classic "Night of the Living Dead", John W. Bowen checks in with a review for "Visions of Hell: The Jim VanBebber Collection", and Paul Corupe reviews one of the newest releases from Dark Sky Films in "Simon, King of the Witches". In another article this month Rue staffer Kier-La Janisse brings us "Kiss the Corpse" featuring two new issues on DVD of "Lucker The Necrophagus" (1986) and "Love Me Deadly" (1973). In "Cinemarquee" James Grainger takes a look at the Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee starred Amicus film "The Skull" that was recently released on DVD by the folks at Legend Films.
In the RM #80 installment we get a brand spanking new "It Came From Bowen's Basement" and it's called "Mill Creek Marathon". This month John talks about some of the cheap goodies that you can find in those wonderfully cheap, yet very cool Mill Creek box sets. As a huge fan of the Mill Creek stuff I had to say that it really brought a smile to my face when I saw this in the issue for the first time. I couldn't have asked for a better article choice considering I don't remember the company being covered in a major magazine article before.
Comic fans never fear as the month's Rue Morgue brings something for you as well in "Blood in Four Colours". This month the Rue Crew reviews titles such as "M", "Cthulhu Tales #2", "Gabriel", "The Lost Boys: Reign of the Frogs", "Strange Embrace HC", "The Straw Men #1 (of 12)", and last but not least "Three Shadows".
Also in this issue there are some book reviews in the "Ninth Circle Books" section that you may be interested in as well. First up John W. Bowen takes a look at the book "Wild Beyond Belief" (Brian Albright, McFarland Press), James Grainger reviews "The Bleeding Horse and other ghost stories" (Brian J. Showers, Mercier Press), and Justine Warwick looks at "Sins of the Sirens; Fourteen tales of dark desire" (Loren Rhodes, Maria Alexander, Mehitobel Wilson, and Christa Faust, Dark Arts Books). Justine also reviews the title "The Price" (Alexandra Sokoloff, St. Martin's Press) Also W. Brice McVicar brings us an article called "Judgment Comes to Cedar Hill" about the Gary A. Braunbeck novel "Coffin County".
In this month's issue the "Travelogue of Terror" section is all about The Paris Opera/Notre Dame Cathedral/The Louvre in Paris, France.
Our good buddy The Gore-Met brings us "The Worst Horror Movie Ever Made" in issue #80 and it's not quite what you'd think. It's not actually the worst horror movie ever made, it's "The Worst Horror Movie Ever Made" which is actually the title of film maker Bill Zebub's newest film!
In Audiodrome you get album reviews for "The Mist" soundtrack by Mark Isham, Tyler Bates' soundtrack for the film "Doomsday", "La Terza Madre" by Claudio Simonetti, as well as albums like The Devils Outlaws by Thee Merry Widows, Looking Glass EP from The Birthday Massacre, Ninewinged Serpent by Devian, Till Death Do Us Part by Deicide, Full Metal Racket by Bong-Ra, and ObZen from Meshuggah.
Upon first glance you might not see the appeal in the issue unless you're a hardcore fan of Hellboy. But to be honest with you as someone that's not, I was really impressed with the issue. Great columns very cool feature articles, and Rue never forgets to take a look back at the past. So I would definitely recommend getting to your local newsstand and picking up a copy today!
-Ed Demko
Rue Morgue #77
If
you're a fan of all things Vampira you will want to pick up this issue
of Rue Morgue for one of the most complete and comprehensive looks at
the television horror icon. Everything from accounts from people who
knew her, to a look at her career in film, to the creation of the
Vampira character it's everything you'd want to know about the person
Maila Nurmi as well. Rue Morgue once again shows respect
to icons of the past and this issue is chalk full of everything you
could want pertaining to the woman. Kudos to RM for doing this as I'm sure her fans would appreciate it.
This months "Notes from the Underground" section of the magazine is
one of the more interesting things I've read in awhile. It's about the
funeral of Maila "Vampira" Nurmi and it doubles as a semi biographical
article that's well worth the read. Especially if you were like me and
didn't really know how much stuff that she did in her career outside of
Ed Wood's "Plan 9 from Outer Space". It's just another case of Jovanka
bringing her love of the genre into something she shares with the fans
every month in every issue, which is something I very much appreciate. Not
to bad mouth any other specific magazine by name, but this is something
that I can say feels honest in RM, and that's something missing
elsewhere in the horror magazine lexicon.
This issue's "Dreadlines" brings an update on the newest project
from "Phantasm" director Don Coscarelli based on the book "John Dies at
the End". He also talks a bit about some of his other projects that
are springing up on him recently and even some more info about "Bubba
Nosferatu". Also there's a piece about director Lee Demarbre's HG
Lewis homage "The Dead Sleep Easy" featuring former WCW wrestler
Vampiro, as well as an write-up on a website that encourages people to
upload their films and have a committee of people vote on the projects
progression. It's certainly something that's different and its
honestly a pretty interesting read.
Now for something that I always think Rue Morgue Magazine handles
wonderfully, which is the passing of someone within the horror
community. Because just like things they've done in the past they
honestly do a great job writing up a considerable amount of information
here with Maila Nurmi aka Vampira. This issue contains the last
interview ever conducted with Vampira and I have to say that Dave
Alexander did a great job with it. She was honestly a pretty unique
person and even getting to hear her talk about her past was great. I
also thought it was cool to hear her opinion of what is scary to her,
as well as her opinion on the state of horror films today.
Paul Corupe writes an article titled "Portrait of a Dark Diva" that
highlights a documentary about Maila Nurmi's life called simply enough
"Vampira: The Movie". There's also a great article written by comedian
Dana Gould (a close personal friend of Vampira) talking about the women
that he knew. Dave Alexander also comes to us with another great
accompanying article about Vampira's very final film appearance called
"I Woke Up Early the Day I Died" that's well worth checking out
considering there's at least funny story in there. The
woman was truly dedicated to the character and this article gives you
some insight on how and why she did the things she did in the movie
business.
Taking an unconventional route this issue with Rue Morgue I noticed
that it's one of the first times I remember a large portion of the
magazine dedicated to things that aren't movies. I know that's Rue
Morgue's angle with their magazine that it's not just movie related
things as much as it is horror, but I was a little disappointed by that
fact. It's still a solid issue, but outside of the movie review
section there weren't too many things in the one that related to horror
films. But for people looking for interesting horror related stuff that's not about movies, this is the issue for you.
This issue also contains a large portion of coverage on the new
trend of "Ghost and Paranormal" related television shows. Not only is
there an article about the Ghost Hunter's TV Show (The Real
Ghostbusters) but there is also a article featuring the best and worst
of these types of shows on television today called "Caught on
Television" by Claire Horsnell that fans will be able to possibly find
some of these shows that they haven't seen before. Or at least ones
that they might want to avoid.
Rue Morgue staffer Last Chance Lance brings and article entitled
"The Witch Hunters Bible" about the history behind the "Malleus
Maleficarum", which details the Catholic Church's knowledge of witches
and witchcraft. It's something I personally found very interesting and
I highly recommend this article that most likely you would only read in
something like Rue Morgue Magazine which is another reason's why I
really enjoy checking it out every month.
Monica S. Kuebler writes about some very cool and morbid artwork in
"The Devil in the Details". The article takes a look at some of artist
Kris Kuksi's artwork and the real meaning behind some of the man's
work. Kuksi talks about his interest in Edgar Allen Poe and how it
inspired his work as well.
Fans of the band Dimmu Borgir will be happy to know that RM
features them in an article the black metal band from Norway this month
as well. Writer Keith Carman talks with the band members as well as
taking a look back that their career in the article too. They also
talk about their interest in Satanism and have some things to say in
the article about Anton Levay and his Church of Satan doctrine.
Horror fans might not know the name Del James very well but if
you've heard Guns N' Roses song "November Rain" then you are aware of
his work. Jovanka Vuckovic talks about his influence over some of
GnR's biggest songs, as well as his novels in this article called "The
Devil You Know".
In Cinemacabre this month there are reviews for films such as
"Nightmare Detective", the latest installment of "Rambo", the remake of
"The Eye", "They Wait", "Automatons", "The Attic", and "Storm Warning".
Last Chance Lance takes a slasher theme this month in Last Rites as
he reviews "Wedding Slashes", "Dream Slashers", and "Slash". LCL also
takes a look at some of Asylum's releases of their latest rip off
titles like "I am Omega", "Alien vs. Hunter", and "Monster".
This month "Reissues" packs a punch with reviews of DVD's of "The
Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue", "Barn of the Naked Dead", and
"42nd Street Forever Volume 3: Exploitation Explosion".
Jason Pichonsky reviews a double dose of Aldo Lado Gialli in "The
Politics of Gialli" featuring "Who Saw Her Die?" and "Short Night of
the Glass Dolls".Cinemarquee features Paul Corupe's review of the film
"The Hands of Orlac (1924)" for you old school horror fans. John W.
Bowen talks about movies influenced by "Richard Speck" in this month's
"It Came From Bowen's Basement".
This month in the "Blood in Four Colours" section we have a look at the usual heap of genre comics with "Delphine #3", "The Demons of Sherwood" (Weeks 1-14), "Ghosting" #1-5, "Se7en" HC, "Friday the 13th" Trade Paperback, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" Trade Paperback, and "A Nightmare on Elm Street" Trade Paperback.
In Ninth Circle books this month there are some very interesting titles being reviewed as they take a look at "Nekromantik", "The Films of Kiyoshi Kurosawa: Master of Fear", "Film Alchemy: The Independent Cinema of Ted V. Mikels", "Inferno", "God's Demon", and a special article from James Grainger called "Undead Again" about the book "Varney the Vampire" by James Malcolm Rymer.
In "Travelogue of Terror" we have Bill Moseley taking us on a tour of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, one of the most famous resting places for, well the famous!
This month we have a double feature from The Gore-met as he brings us reviews for "Daughter of Darkness" and "Trilogy of Lust II". Honestly I've said it more than once and that's the fact that I very much look forward to this column every month in the magazine and this one isn't disappointing in the least. I consistently find new and exciting films showing up on a monthly basis here and even when I don't, I find myself enjoying reading his thoughts on film's I've seen as well.
In Rue Morgue's Audiodrome this issue we have reviews of the Driftwood soundtrack, The Mad Doctor of Blood Island soundtrack, as well as album reviews from Judgehydrogen's Atheistic God, The Undead's Still the undead….after all these years, Piggy D's The Evacuation Plan, The Forbidden Dimension's A Cool Sound Outta Hell, Necrodeath's Draculea, and Sever Torture's Sworn Vengence.
Trevor Tuminski checks in this month with "The Electropop Alchemy of Johnny Hollow" In the article he checks in with the band about their newest project as well as a little history into how the whole thing got started.
In "Classic Cut" Philip Brown gives us a retrospective of sorts about Lars von Trier and his series "The Kingdom".
Overall
this months issue was one that differed very much from every magazine
beside it on the newsstand and that's certainly something
important that should be mentioned. Rue Morgue continues
to bring the best to its readers each and every month and although I do
look forward to the movie related articles the best, this one still managed to impress me.
-Ed Demko
Rue Morgue #76
This month we have another very interesting edition of Rue Morgue Magazine on tap complete with “Mulberry Street” on the cover. You may remember it as one of last years After Dark Horrorfest titles that are also hitting DVD about the same time as this magazine hits newsstands. This edition of Rue Morgue is spotlighting independent horror films which is one of the coolest things I’ve seen this year so far by any magazine out there. It spotlights movies like the already mentioned “Mulberry Street”, “The Living and The Dead”, “Jack Ketchum’s The Lost”, and the remainder of the After Dark 8 Films to Die For.
First up this month in “Jovanka’s Notes from the Underground” we get a very spirited article about the difference between “homage” and “theft” straight from Jovanka herself about the current climate of filmmaking. I couldn’t agree with her more and I have to give her credit. Since taking over the helm at Rue Morgue Magazine Jovanka has continuously written very thought provoking things in this section and I continually find myself impressed issue after issue with this particular section of the magazine.
In “Dreadlines” you have some good stuff as Sean Plummer writes about Jim Agnew and Sean Keller the team of writers who are working on new projects with horror film legends like John Carpenter and Dario Argento. Stuart Andrews brings a very different piece on Director Bruce LaBruce’s exploits into gay art porn, and Justin Warwick brings a piece about a new season of horror comedy for a Toronto improv troupe.
Here is where Rue Morgue explodes into the world of Independent horror cinema as writer Mitch Davis interviews the director of “Mulberry Street” Jim Mickle about the production and what went into making a movie in New York City. Not only that but they talk about how the idea came up for the movie in the first place, the script changes, working with the actors they had, and the usual trials and tribulations for an independent filmmakers. Not only that buy RM’s Dave Alexander catches up with Nick Damici who plays the main character of Clutch in the movie and who is actually the co-writer of the film with Jim Mickle.
Also Keir La Janisse brings us the article “Regressions of a Dangerous Mind” about the new UK horror film “The Living and The Dead” and it’s director Simon Rumley. He talks about how it’s difficult for indy movies to get picked up because of issues of being able to “sell them”. It’s an interesting vantage point and certainly is an interesting read for anyone that’s a horror fan today.
Not only that but we have a look at each of the 8 Films to Die for as writers James Grainger, Last Chance Lance, and Justine Warwick give us their thoughts on “Borderland”, “Crazy Eight’s”, “The Deaths of Ian Stone”, “Lake Dead”, “Nightmare Man”, “Tooth & Nail”, and “Unearthed”.
It should also be mentioned that there is even more coverage as Brad Abraham comes with “Jack Ketchum’s Bad Seed” about the new film from Anchor Bay Entertainment called “The Lost”. Director Chris Siverston talks about the difficulties on trying to adapt a book for the big screen on a small budget and much more in the piece.
Now this issue may do a great job at covering the indy horror stuff out there, but that’s certainly not all. Issue #76 brings us a great retrospective look at the entire “Prom Night” franchise as well. First up there’s “Massacre at Hamilton High” in which James Burrell catches up with the director of the original “Prom Night” and talks about how the first film came to completion. He talks about the influence films like “Halloween” and “Black Christmas” were to “Prom Night” as well as getting Jamie Lee Curtis for the lead, and how it became successful at the box office too. James Burrell also looks at the soundtrack for the film as well with “Death By Disco”. John W. Bowen talks about the remainder of the series from “Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II”, “Prom Night III: Last Kiss”, as well as the final installment “Prom Night 4 . Finally rounding out the coverage of the series James Burrell gives us a preview of the upcoming “Prom Night” remake by filmmaker Nelson McCormick and what we are to expect from that.
Of course I love to read everything about the movies in Rue Morgue Magazine but they always manage to have coverage of other cool genre related material in each issue as well. This time there’s a great article called “Illustrating the Indescribable” by Monica S. Kuebler highlighting some of the best (and worst) graphic art created from the world of H.P. Lovecraft. It’s mainly about the new coffee table book called “A Lovecraft Retrospective” covering about 85 years in the history of these types of illustrations. If you are fan of Lovecraft you’ll certainly get a kick out of this, but even if you aren’t it’s still a pretty cool read.
Lance Chance Lance brings us an article about hearse bikes as in motorcycles that have coffins as their sidecars in “Rolling with the Reaper”. This article basically highlights the unusual history of making motorcycles into delivery vehicles for the dead, which is something that I had no idea even existed prior to the article.
Cinemacabre features reviews for movies such as “Cloverfield”, “I am Legend”, “The Orphanage”, “One Missed Call” (remake), “Spiral”, “Catacombs”, “Alien vs. Predator: Requiem”, “The Blood Shed”, “Lake Placid 2 , “Hack ”, and “Fallen Angels”.
Last Chance Lance has his “Last Rites” section this issue with three movies that all feature actress Chiaki Kuriyama. Those movies include “Mail”, “Hair Extensions”, and “Last Quarter”.
Writer Trevor Tuminski also highlights three low budget zombie flicks in “Tag You’re Dead” as he checks in with “Die and Let Live” (Which features my quote on the front of the box Thanks guys ), “Days of Darkness”, and Day X”.
This issues “Reissues” has reviews of the new Dark Sky release “Tragic Ceremony”, “Guru The Mad Monk”, “The Nude Vampire”, “The Loreley’s Grasp”, “Killing Spree”, “Swamp Thing: The Series”, and “Ricco The Mean Machine”.
This month Paul Corupe leads CineMarquee as he takes a look at one of the newest DVD releases of vintage horror in “Earth vs. The Flying Saucers from 1956.
In “It Came from Bowen’s Basement” you have writer John W. Bowen bringing us an article dedicated completely to the film “The Green Slime”. Bowen brings us all of the reasons and more why he loves this movie that most people would just walk by the rack not paying any attention to it. They say one man’s trash is another’s treasure and John W. Bowen shows us that every week with this interesting article that can only be found in Rue Morgue Magazine.
Comic fans are going to want to check out this month’s “Blood in Four Colours” as they take a look at some of the more interesting genre comics coming out today. This issue they take a look at “Halloween” from Devils Due, “The Evil Dead” from Dark Horse, “High Moon” from DC/Zudacomics.com, “Innocent” Vol. One Trade Paperback from King Tractor, “Therefore Repent” from No Media Kings, and last but not least “The Killing Joke” Special Edition from the people at DC/Vertigo.
In “The Ninth Circle” Rue Morgue gives us horror fans some of the coolest stuff to read and this issue is no exception. We get reviews of books like “Chicago TV Horror Movie shows”, Tales from the Cult Film Trenches”, “Dr. A.C. presents Horror 101", “Road from Hell”, and “Haunted America and Haunted Heritage. The Grim Reader also brings us some good literature if you will in reviews of “Devilish Greetings: Vintage Postcards”, “The Number 121 to Pennsylvania”, “The Union of Hope and Sadness: The Art of Gail” and “God Laughs When You Die”. Also Brian Keene fans will be pleased as there is a very interesting article by Monica S. Kuebler about him and his writing entitled “Primal Fears”.
This month’s Travelogue of Terror comes to us from James Burrell as he visits The World Famous Frankenstein 1818 Pub from Edinburgh Scotland.
In AudioDrome you get reviews of all of the latest music as usual and this month is no exception as the Rue Crew brings us reviews of the “Death Laid and Egg” Soundtrack, “The Other Side” Soundtrack, The “Halloween III” soundtrack, “The Monster Squad” Soundtrack, as well as other albums like Zombie Battle Axe’s new record Now You Are Dead, The Scared Stiffs - The Last Horror Movie, HorrorPops - Kiss Kiss Kill Kill, Horror of 59 - The Golden Age of Sin, Zombie - Live, and finally Cavalera Conspiracy - Infilkted.
All this in much more in what I still consider the greatest monthly genre magazine on the market today, and that folks is Rue Morgue Magazine.
-Ed Demko
Ed Demko takes a look at the graphic novel.....The Unwanted
Written by Diablo and Mark Michaels
Illustrated by Juan Romera
Lettering by Juan Moyano
As a kid growing up I certainly had an interest in comics, but as years went by that kind of died off for me. Although a few years ago there seemed to be a boom in horror comics on the scene bringing me back into checking out issues consistently once again. From there I found the world of graphic novels which made things a lot easier for me to keep up with.
This time around we have a new graphic novel from writers Diablo and Mark Michaels entitled "The Unwanted". It's the story of a group of troubled teens who have been shoved off to the McClaren Reeducation Center to be reformed. Once they are there the teens are subjected to exorcizes and things to get them ready to go back into the real world. But because of Ms. Sterns who is a instructor at the center's dabbling in cursed amulets there is about to be some serious evil unleashed at McClaren. See, the amulet is an old artifact from Tibet that is a key that opens one of the gates of hell. One night while fooling around with the amulet and trying to figure out what is written on the backside of it, she manages to activate it unleashing a shape shifting demon on the establishment. Will the group of young teens be able to stop it with the help of the hipster teacher Mr. Albright? Or will the demon conquer all in the conquest to destroy all human kind?!
As far as the illustration goes for this one the artwork is fairly decent. Nothing too ambitious here, although there really wasn't much warranted for this piece of the story. The whole book is done in black and white and sometimes I don't mind that for a graphic novel, but I think that this one would have benefitted from some color. The scenes in which the demon shows up certainly would have benefitted from it and it would have made the book better. Not that it's a big deal, it is just a minor gripe but it's a gripe nonetheless.
The story however is one that will keep you enthralled. It's interesting enough to make me want to stick to the story regardless of where it's going and I enjoyed the way it was all wrapped up. They could go a whole myriad of ways with the story in this and that will make it an outstanding series if they choose to do it that way. The characters were all at least interesting and this did a good job introducing them to the reader. They all have unique character traits and that is always a good sign to me. It'll keep the reader caring about the book and it's characters and without good characters there isn't anything there in the world of comics and graphic novels.
Overall I would recommend people check out "The Unwanted". It's an interesting read that has some stuff in it that I think horror fans can and will appreciate if they check this one out. There's no doubt that they have something cool in mind here and I would love to see how future issues of this turn out.
For those interested you can check out the official website for "The Unwanted" at www.misterdiablo.com/unwanted, if you were interested in checking out a copy you can order ir by contacting itcho@aol.com. Or if you want to pick it up in stores or your local comic shop it is being distributed by Diamond and will be available this June.
-Ed Demko
Magazine Mayhem - Rue Morgue Issue #74
First I have to mention the excellent "Notes From the Underground" section this month from Jovanka Vuckovic in which she brings up a great point on why "The Girl Next Door" is such a powerful movie. It's wonderfully written by her and I give her a lot of credit for doing something like that. I agree with the points that she made and I'm pleased to see it appear in the magazine.
This month in Rue Morgue Magazine we get a huge holiday helping of horror goodies to get us through the new year. First and foremost I have to thank everyone over at Rue Morgue for the Bloodtype Online mention in the "Roadkill on the Info Highway" as it really meant a lot to our staff as well as myself. Rue Morgue is my favorite horror magazine and the recognition they've given us was very kind. Also, it's just pretty damn cool to see something that you helped create get recognition by people that you respect a great deal. So thank you.
Also this month Rue Morgue gives it's cover and a lot of pages dedicated to what I believe to be one of the best films of 2007 with "Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door". First in "Home, Sweet Homicide" they track down director Gregory M. Wilson for a very telling interview about his film. Also it gives you some insight into why Wilson thought that the movie was such an important one to make. Rue Morgue's own Monica S. Kuebler catches up with the woman who does a great job in her portrayal as Ruth Chandler in "The Girl Next Door", Blanche Baker. Not only that but Kuebler also catches up with Blythe Auffarth who plays the roll of the most sympathetic victim in any film I've seen this year in Meg. I was very pleased to see this as well because she played the toughest role in the film in my opinion so it was extremely smart for the Rue crew to track her down.
That's not all though as a huge fan of Mario Bava I really enjoyed Kier-La Janisse's look at the new Tim Lucas book entitled "All the Colors of the Dark", covering the Italian Master of Horror and his films. They also speak with Lucas on the book and it's history which is something I found interesting considering that Lucas is the be all end all when it comes to knowing the history on the filmmaker. Also Bava fans will be thrilled as Jason Pichonsky takes a look at the films included in the Mario Bava Box Volume 2 entitled "Box of Blood"
If you are big into Hammer films you can't miss the unique look into Hammer films poster art in James Burrell's article "A Brush with Evil". It lets you into the world of Tom Chantrell a man who made posters for countless films, but he was also behind the poster art for the Hammer films that he did. Covering how he got started and into the work that he did complete with beautiful examples of Mr. Chantrell's art this article is a sure winner for fans of all things Hammer.
Are you longing for the days of Mystery Science Theatre? Well no reason to fear because Paul Corupe checks in with "Mike Nelson: Heckler at Large" this month and lets you in on what the former Mystery Science 3000 host has been up to. Not only that but it talks about some of his new project which could include something that MST3000 fans have been waiting a long time for!
In Dreadlines this month we see the lineup of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival and how the movies panned out, as well as a very interesting story at how the folks over at MPI/Dark Sky are producing their first feature film in "Plague Town".
We also get great reviews for theatrical and DVD releases such as "30 Days of Night", "Driftwood", Species: The Awakening", "Pumpkinhead 4: Blood Feud", "Murder Party", "Masters of Horror: The V Word", "Night Junkies", and "The Victim" in this month's Cinemacabre. In this months section of "Last Rites" Last Chance Lance himself looks at Cinderella themed horror films like "Cadaverella", "Red Riding Hood", and the appropriately titled "Cinderella". Lance also gives us his take on the film "Teeth" as well as James Grainger for "Boy Eats Girl". This month in "Reissues" we get reviews for "Twilight Zone The Movie", "Someone's Watching Me!", "The Iron Rose", "The Hand", "Alligator", "Species", "Silent Night, Deadly Night", and "Black Roses". Also in Cinemarquee this month Paul Corupe takes a look at the 1956 film "The Werewolf" that was recently released to DVD in the "Sam Katzman Collection".
Paul Corupe also takes a look at the Elvira hosted DVD's entitled "Movie Macabre Melee" that looks at the double feature DVD's including "Gamera, Super Monster" / "They Came from Beyond Space", "Blue Sunshine" / "Monstroid", and "Maneater of Hydra" / "The House that Screamed".
In Audiodrome this month we see reviews of the new Dethklok album as well as reviews of soundtracks from the movies 28 Weeks Later, D-War/Dragon Wars, and The Last Winter. Also there are reviews of albums from Steve Moore, Juicehead, Necro, Denial Fiend, Pentacle, as well as an interview with Daniel Licht who makes the music for the television show "Dexter".
In
Bowen's Basement John W. Bowen takes a look at the often forgotten
Renny Harlin film "Prison", and in The Gore-Met this month he takes a
look at the Clive Barker film "Hellraiser".
Not only all of that but you will also see The
Arrival. Plus reviews of Alan Moore's Yuggoth Cultures HC, Eating
Steve, The Goon: Chinatown HC, Proof #1-3, and Shazam!: The Monster
Society of Evil HC in this month's "Blood in Four Colours".
Also in "The Ninth Circle" you'll see a spotlight on
Steven Hall's Raw Shark Texts and reviews of Hollywood Horror from the
Director's Chair, Grimm Pictures: Fairy Tale Archetypes in Eight Horror
and Suspense Films, The Mammoth Book of Modern Ghost Stories, Brett
Alexander Savory's In and Down and No Further Messages, and Brom's The
Devil's Rose.
In this month's Travelogue of Terror they visit the haunted Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio.
I really enjoy this article every month too because it gives you a look at lots of places that you'll never be able to visit. Oh, and if by chance you've actually been to where they feature it's even cooler to read!
Another thing that I was excited about this month was the
"Classic Cut" as they look at one of my favorite movies out of the
1990's in "Man Bites Dog".
So with all of this and much more how could possibly call yourself a horror fan if you haven't picked this up yet? So if you haven't get on out there and pick this one up today to find out what's what and who's who in the world of horror!
-Ed Demko
Magazine Mayhem: Rue Morgue # 73
James Grainger wrote the article on Thomas Jane and the challenges that came about working on such an intense project. Thomas Jane also talks about Darabonts tactic of using live action models on set instead of blue screens. I think that while they might have been acting against such things that the final product was laced with a bundle of CGI. Thomas Jane took the project very seriously and was very giving with his thoughts and techniques he used when helping to build his character in "The Mist". Actually I think the entire ensemble of actors created and explosive drama with creatures.
To accompany "The Mist" Rue Morgue's Aaron Von Lupton talks about some Stephen King reissues. Rue Morgue gently chastises genre fans for saying that King can't be turned into on screen magic. To prove their point he goes on to discuss Lewis Teague's "Cujo", Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" and Rob Reiner's "The Misery". Each film is given their respect but the DVD's get M.D like examinations and that made the article great. Which DVD does Aaron think deserves a fans hard earned purchase? Read and find out.
Being that Rue Morgue is the ultimate horror culture magazine Rue Morgue goes three decades deep into horror board games. I am not into games much but god damn does Rue Morgue take me by surprise each month. Who else goes from Horror Core Hip Hop to Death Photography to Vincent Price's Hangman. Read this piece of Milton Bradley style nostalgia and being at awe of all of these monster games. The article is accompanied with pics of all of these items that would be goldmines on ebay or in case of "Dawn of the Dead" fans, an item you would forever cherish. Dawn of the Dead actually had a board game!
Canada's horror expo Festival of Fear gets covered with plenty of pics while earlier in the magazine the Toronto International Horror Festival gets a great write up by a number of the Rue Morgue Staff. They keep the buzz rolling for George A. Romero's angst driven zombie film "Diary of the Dead" while they pull no punches on Dario Argento's "The Mother of Tears". Still they said that the film was a gory affair and it was basically a birthday party being that it was Argento's 67th birthday. Other films they mention include "The Devil's Chair" from the U.K, a film that was recently replaced last minute during the unsuccessful After Dark Horror Fest "Frontiers" and a film by Stuart Gordon titled "Stuck". The buzz, the acclaim and the story in general has me really excited for this film. Rodrigo Gudino basically gave me theatrical ecstacy because I cant wait to get my hands on my "Stuck" ticket. I personally love the gritty direction Stuart Gordon is going with his theatrical pieces of late. Staff member Ed Demko and I cant get enough of the Mamet penned "Edmond" and hopefully Gordon collaborates with both Mamet and William H. Macy again!
Is all the good films becoming too much. You want some straight schlock? Well too bad because from what I read in John W. Bowen's Night of the Chicken Dead article the always amusing head honky in charge Lloyd Kaufmann makes it sound like Poultrygeist is polically charged while being as silly as the Troma fan favorite "Terror Firmer". I hope it is more like "The Toxic Avenger" because "Terror Firmer" is too over the top for my taste. Still after reading the article I would blind buy the move. Chicken Zombies and Political Satire. I'm there!
The Rue Staff reviews plenty of new stuff like Larry Fesseden's atmospheric "The Last Winter" (A film that can be purchased on Comcast On Demand for 5.99 in my parts), The wacky religious cult film "The Believers", Resident Evil: Extinction, Kurtman's "Buried Alive" and "Antibodies". They don't slow done there as they go on to review a sick variety of reissues that include "Francis Ford Coppola's take on Bram Stoker's Dracula", the Severin release Malabimba: The Malicious Whore" and "Mystics in Bali"!
Director of "Acne" and the upcoming George A. Romero Documentary "Dead On: The Life of George A. Romero" Rusty Nails writes a wonderful piece about his initial thoughts on "Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things". It was great to learn that Bob Clark's zombie satire made him enough bank to go on to make his ultimate classic "Deathdream". The article is tiny but it was never published so I am not complaining. It's a shame Bob Clark passed and he will always remain a legend in the horror genre.
Great to see that there is a new section by John W. Bowen. It's titled It Came From Bowens Basement. I hope no one thinks we jacked this title being that Ed and I do a weekly podcast called The Bloodtype Basement. It should be another section dedicated to overlooked and continuously slept on sleepers throughout the history of horror. The article is more of an introduction to who John W. Bowen is, what his cinematic taste gravitates towards and what he plans on dishing out every month. Good luck to him and it looks like a fine replacement to Chris Alexanders Schizoid Cinephile.
On to the Gore-Met. The Father of Gore Critiquing himself Gore-Met is much more into Argento's latest film than Rue Morgue writer Stuart Andrews. Gore-Met examines Argento's finanicial success throughout his career and also looks into the minescule budgets Argento has had for his last few films. While I am not an Argento nutball in all honesty I have to agree with Gore-Met's assessment of Argento being the Master of the Masters of Horror. "Jenifer" and "Pelts" are absolutely two of the best episodes on Mick Garris's one hour film series. While he makes Argento fans aware of what they may dislike he convinces me to maybe give the film a chance as it might be fun. He also says it might be for the "Tenebrae" fan and thats where my love for Argento's films begin and end. So far that the only film of his that grabbed me from beginning to end.
Much more is in the mag but I will close this review of the 73rd edition Rue Morgue with my final thoughts. Buy this magazine every fucking month. I just read an article about a Gwar like band called Maris the Great and The Faggots of Death. The quotes in this bizarre article will have you shaking your head and chuckling unless your a tight ass! He'd be sure to loosen you up. They have band members named Faggoria and Penis Colada! I am satisfied again. Each month my eyes are opened up to such strange and new material!
-Russ Rutter
Magazine Mayhem- Rue Morgue Issue 72
Well this is a first for me.
I’ve never reviewed a magazine before and I have to tell you it isn’t
easy. Not because there isn’t good stuff in Rue Morgue 72, it
is chocked full of horror goodness. No the problem is trying to
capture what is in the magazine without ending up with a review that
is nearly as long as the publication itself! Not only that but
this is the jumbo-sized 10th anniversary issue. But
I’m going to try, so here we go.
The Thing (which is on the
cover) retrospective is the first thing that I want to discuss.
I’ve never seen a magazine be as thorough as Rue Morgue is when they
cover an older movie like this. They conducted interviews with
John Carpenter, Kurt Russell, Keith David, and effects wizard Rob Bottin.
While the interviews are only a couple of pages long they manage to
get pretty in depth with all four. In addition to the interviews
there are a couple of shorter inserts that discuss a Theme park attraction
inspired by the movie as well as a short discussion of the movies soundtrack.
Finally the magazine dedicates a page to the story of a huge fan of
the movie that actually started Thingfest, a gathering that celebrates
all things related to the movie. If you are a fan of the movie
you will definitely dig the coverage, and if you aren’t you may be
converted into a fan of the movie.
Interested in just how Rue
Morgue ended up as cool as it is today? Well this being the 10th anniversary of the magazine it’s founder Rodrigo Gudino chimes in
with a short article describing Rue Morgue’s history. As a fan
of the magazine I found it to be a very interesting and illuminating
look behind the scenes. Personally I think the coolest part about
the article is how we get to see how some of the now familiar personalities
that make up the staff of the magazine initially became involved.
One of the best things about
Rue Morgue is how they keep up with what is going on in the world of
horror. Pod casting is a very big deal these days with all sorts
of fans sharing their own shows on the internet for all to hear.
Well even though some of these podcasts compete with Rue Morgue radio
the magazine still put together an excellent list of the shows that
are out there. Including a couple of knuckleheads from Kentucky
who I happen to think are pretty cool! And even though they
missed out on covering the kick ass show that is the Bloodtype Basement
it is still a cool article.
As a child that grew up in
the 70s I also enjoyed the piece that they did on the General Mills
cereals with horror icons. I remember eating bowl after bowl of
Boo Berry and Count Chocula (which may explain the onset of diabetes
as an adult). Not only do they discuss the origins of the cereals,
but there is a discussion of some of the advertising and promotional
materials (toys, records, etc.) that they spawned as well. I can’t
even imagine another of the horror magazines covering something like
this, which is yet another reason I love Rue Morgue so much. Great
job guys.
But as if what I’ve already
mentioned weren’t enough the magazine offers several other articles
that are very cool. There are 29 movie reviews, an excellent article
on the latest couple of efforts from Uwe Boll, discussion of the latest
couple of oddities from Synapse, and a nifty discussion of the re-release
of Spider Baby. The magazine also does a retrospective on the
wonderful Repairman Jack novels from F. Paul Wilson.
I’ve only scratched the surface
of what the magazine has to offer. Anyone who calls himself or
herself a horror fan needs to go our right now and buy this magazine.
I know what you are saying to yourself, “I get all of my news on the
internet”. Well Rue Morgue offers far more than just news.
And unlike the publication that I used to subscribe to is worth every
penny.
-John “El Juan” Shatzer
Magazine Mayhem - Rue Morgue Issue #71
The September issue of Rue Morgue magazine is easily one of their best of the year, especially when they put my favorite zombie of all time on the cover with Tarman. Justin Erickson really did a great job on the cover and kudos to Rue Morgue for getting such great artists to work on their covers, that is instead of just putting photos on the cover. It's something that makes their magazine stand out to me and it shows you just how serious they are about putting out a great magazine.
In this months "Notes from the Underground" Jovanka talks about the oral history of zombies, which would be fitting considering that the main story this issue is about the classic 1984 film "Return of the Living Dead".
In the "Dreadlines" section we have stories about the new reality show attempting to find the new "Elvira", as well as the Molotov Theatre Group trying to revive the old Grand Guignol plays, and Joe Dante's venture into hooking up classic grindhouse trailers for mobile phones.
But the reason to pick up this issue is the coverage of "Return of the Living Dead'. Dave Alexander (one of my personal favorite writers at Rue Morgue) brings us "The Day the Dead Rawked the Earth" article complete with an interview with writer/director Dan O'Bannon. Also Last Chance Lance speaks with scream queen Linnea Quigley about her experiences working on the film, Chris talks with Allen Trautman about his role as Tarman, and Liisa Ladouceur speaks with the lead singer of 45 Grave Dinah Cancer about their song "Party Time" which appears on the soundtrack. All of this comes together to make one nostalgic casserole that fans of the film are sure to eat up, myself included.
Last Chance Lance also comes through with a very interesting article about "The Lost Art of Death Photography" that proves once again that Rue Morgue is one of the coolest magazines on the market today. Their articles like this really make the magazine worth picking up because even though you may have read or heard about the movies they cover, they always have something new and original to check out.
John W. Bohen does a write up on the new Adam Green slasher flick "Hatchet", there is an entire wrap up of the best of the best at the Fantasia Film Festival 2007, an article from Monica S. Kuebler entitled "Trapped in a Paradise Lost" about the new "Bioshock" video game, and she also brings us a write up on the Dexter novels called "Mild Mannered Murder".
All that and reviews to boot! This issue they take looks at the films "Right at Your Door", "Wrong Turn 2", "I Know Who Killed Me", "Captivity", "Skinwalkers", "Unholy", "Arang", and the Masters of Horror episodes "Sounds Like" and "The Washingtonians". There are also DVD reviews of "Witchfinder General", Tobe Hooper's "Eaten Alive", and the 1978 version of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".
Also not to be forgotten would be Aaron Lupton's article "Shear Terror" covering the 1981 slasher flick "The Burning". Showing up in "CineMarquee" this month is the 1958 Vincent Price film "The Fly", The Gore-Met (one of my favorite sections every month) talks about the Hong Kong flick "Ebola Syndrome", and the "Classic Cut" this month takes a look back at the legendary Chas. Balun's Deep Red Magazine!
Overall this is a great magazine every month, but they really did a great job this month at getting a little bit for everyone. Great articles and cool personalities really give Rue Morgue Magazine a identity second to none and it makes it that much more enjoyable for hardcore fans and noobies alike. So what are you waiting for? Get your ass out and pick up that new Rue Morgue today!!!!!
-Ed Demko
Magazine Mayhem - Rue Morgue Issue #70
This months Rue Morgue offers
so much stuff that interested me and I didn’t skip one section. For
those interested in the Rob Zombie media train, keep your eyes glued
to his interview and article titled “The New Boogeyman of Haddenfield”
written and conducted by the Rue Morgue Editor-In-Chief Jovanka Vuckovic.
Rob Zombie pulls no punches and while I enjoyed the interview I am already
hearing a number of complaints about his personality and his vision.
I just think he is doing Halloween his own way. He is not ruining the
franchise that is already a disaster. The bottom line is years from
now there will be a cult group that actually digs “Halloween: Resurrection”.
Michael
Myers makes the cover but Rue Morgue doesn’t only cover Rob Zombie’s
latest reimagining. Dave Alexander does a piece on the Halloween fan
films that will surely give more people films to seek out but knowing
the different clicks of Halloween fans these will either be unwatchable
and original or must have to go with the Eight legit Halloween movies
on DVD.
The
best article by far is the article/interview conducted by Last Chance
Lance called “The Copycat Killers”. This portion is just flat out
interesting. Message board regulars either hate The Asylum for their
unapologetic rip offs and miniscule budgets. While I only find their
films watchable because I am a horror enthusiasts, I still admire the
brash business technique and find a straight to video company from Hollywood
copying off theatrical Hollywood’s own unoriginal sequels and remakes
to be much more respectable. This section has numerous informative quotes
from The Asylum’s President and sometime director David Michael Latt.
Last Chance Lance also gives mini-reviews for a number of The Asylum’s
films from there growing catalog including “Halloween Night”, “Hillside
Cannibals” and many more.
Since
I review movies myself I always have a good time reading Rue Morgue’s
reviews in their Cinemacabre section! This month they cover Eli Roth’s
“Hostel: Part II”, Mr. Brooks, Meatball Machine, The Thirst, Bloody
Reunion and the two MOH Releases “Valerie on the Stairs” and “We
All Scream For Ice Cream”. I don’t agree with their criticisms of
Tom Holland’s Master’s of Horror Season 2 effort “We All Scream
For Ice Cream”. I fucking dug it but to each it’s own. Still I can
understand how they didn’t find it scary or threatening at all because
it’s not. I just dug the concept of a clown ghosts using ice cream
and children to create a vengeful Voodoo.
Chris
Alexander covers “The Devil’s Nightmare” this month in his “The
Mad Musings of a Schizoid Cinephile” and while that film is in deed
a must see I am always much more interested in “Gore-Met”. This
time around he covers the Zombie Bloodbath trilogy and took time to
track down and interview Todd Sheets. This is a must read for zombie
fans and will leave you wanting to see this series of video shot zombie
flicks.
Another
great article was done by Mark R. Hasan. In this article he discusses
the work of Jaye Barnes Luckett who is a composer in “May”, “Sick
Girl” and “The Woods”. She is helping giving Lucky McKee’s distinct
feel and I hope she continues to offer her music to his films. I can’t
lie , I am a huge “May” fan. I will most likely be buying
the Original Soundtrack Recordings for May. The CD also features other
selected works of Jaye Barnes Luckett.
The
bottom line this was a great issue with tons of stuff for readers, gamers
and flick lovers. Another plus is the article toward the front about
Andrey Iskanov’s “Plilosophy of a Knife”. I have been anticipating
this part documentary/ exploitive film about Unit 731 (This group inspired
“Men Behind the Sun”). Unearthed head honcho Stephen Biro has so
much passion about this film. Not only could I sense this in the article.
I spoke to him about the film, the gore, it’s exploitive nature and
the numerous cuts. He believes in it so much he is trying to shop it
to a major company. If that falls through he can still put it out through
Unearthed strictly.
Excellent read and I can’t
wait for next month!
-Russ Rutter
Flashback Weekend 2007 by Rod Schroeder
In Defense of Torture Porn…by Andy Copp
I've seen people do a lot of stupid things in a movie theater during a horror movie but I have never seen anyone beat their meat because the murder scenes got them so hot and bothered. That's not to say there isn't some psychopath who gets turned on by this stuff. But they are the minority, the sick few who by no means represent the whole.
But furthering the term "torture porn" in use when describing horror films it does just that. It ghettoizes the genre by connecting it to pornography in the minds of those who are already looking for reasons to claim the genre is harmful. The media is simply looking for any excuse to degrade the horror film because it is an easy target. They have no reason to go after porn itself anymore because it has mainstreamed itself in the last ten years. Porn is as American as baseball and Apple pie. Porn Stars are invited into our homes on reality TV and game shows now. Horror has quietly replaced porn as the catch all evil for societies ills.
A look back at the "Friday the 13th" franchise…By Tim Gross
Like most seven year olds, ok like most weird seven year olds I was looking for horror movies, monster movies, anything that remotely looked cool. I loved Godzilla, the Universal Monsters were fucking awesome, and couldn't get enough of the haunted house movies of the late 70s/early 80s. Then watching HBO late at night, I came across "Friday the 13th Part 3", where Jason wears the goalie mask. My imagination went through the roof and my love for Jason films grew by the second when I saw the big retarded man hit the screen cutting off a biker's arm and then trying to kill someone else. I knew I had to see more. So of course through the ways of technology of the VCR, I was able to see the first two films and thought I was in heaven. This character 'Jason' was so crazy, such a killing machine, he was a hero…Yes, the big J was the man. As I grew older my love for the sequels only grew not matter how outlandish the plotlines got!
When "The Final Chapter" rolled around and was heavily advertised that this was the last one, I was crushed. There was Nightmare on Elm Street and quite a few other slasher films to enjoy but nothing like a Jason film. Then we were rewarded with "A New Beginning". At the time I got to see the film and knew at the end it wasn't him. I was disappointed at first, but as time passed and I watched it several times on USA Network's "Up All Night" and "Skinemax" , I learned to enjoy it and see it for what it was, a classic cheese ball movie like "Halloween 3:The Season of the Witch".
When "Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives" came out, I was a little older and was able to make my way into theaters for R-rated films. A little older meant 11 years old, which now people would have heart attacks about shit like that! But I was going on vacation the summer Part 6 came out and was pissed I wouldn't get to see it for awhile. But what came next was an omen of what the horror gods had in store for me and my life, and you could only experience it by being there. Here I am in Columbia, South Carolina fresh from a few days at Myrtle Beach. Sunburned, pissed about no TV (come on mid 80s in South Carolina was like Green Acres… except the fruit stand I went to with my dad on the side of a road and I was served a beer, oh I love the south!), and nothing to do. That is until my cousin who was 17 at the time asked if my stepbrother and I would like to go see a movie at the drive-in with her and her boyfriend. It could have been shit on the screen, I was fucking going! For the love of god it was a Drive-In, I had to go! On the way I noticed at the back of this muscle car that I'm sitting in was a jug. What's in the jug I ask? Moonshine I was told, which at the time I was just thinking I'm at drive-in who cares what moonshine is? Getting back to the point, I went and grabbed some popcorn and saw what was going to be playing and almost shit myself! Real big above the refreshment stand "All-Nite Drive-In – Friday the 13th Part 1 thru 6". To say the least I was so fucking excited I stayed up and watched them all. At 4 or so in the morning, it's me sitting on the hood of this car and maybe two other people in the whole drive-in awake or not bumping uglies watching the ending of "Jason Lives". It left such impression on me that it didn't matter what the studios would do with Jason because I would be buying a ticket. If they chopped him up in a blender and mailed his pieces to Norway, I would go buy a ticket for it!
Even though "The New Blood" seemed bloodless, the franchise seemed popular as ever with the new Nintendo game out at the same time. Believe me I killed him like ten times once in the game with an axe, stones, etc. and he came back just like the films! By this time I was in full horror mode, watching whatever would come to the theater horror wise, and if I wasn't there I was in my brother's bedroom watching two or three horror movies every Saturday because he had a VCR. But when I seen that trailer for Part 8 and the "I love NY" song was playing, I almost had a tear in my eye because of how cool it was going to be! Well of course that didn't happen since studios only make certain films for money and not for fans such as myself and many of you out there. But opening night I was in the theater with my brother, his girlfriend/now wife, and her mother. It was shitty but funny as hell since a) there was only one other person in the theater and b) the mother of my sister-in-law was jumping and screaming like a 5 year old seeing "The Exorcist" for the first time. At one point we thought she pissed herself! My brother of course does not let me live that film down acting like I made him go see it!
Well a few years pass, we get a couple Child's Play sequels, a few Halloweens, a couple Nightmare on Elm St.'s, and no Jason until the news of New Line Cinema now owning the rights to the Jason series. It was the spring of 1993, I was graduating high school, and my girlfriend now wife had no fucking clue what I was all about yet. I seen the film opening night at a theater called the "Whitehall Twin" in Brentwood (a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pa.) which has been torn down for awhile now. But I got there 45 minutes before show time. There was a line that wrapped around the building outside while hundreds of us were inside waiting at the doors screaming, cheering like it we were a drunken crowd of idiots at a football game! The crowd could have not been better for this movie as ten minutes in when Jason gets blown up, popcorn, T-shirts; shit of unknown origin flew at the theater screen! People thought it was over! People gasped when the morgue doctor bit into Jason's black heart, it was a type of crowd that would have made the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" crowd run for their lives. I will never forget that experience as long as I live.
Years would pass before we would see another Jason sequel. Rumors of the supposed "Freddy vs. Jason" film would be squished on a monthly basis via Fango or on the internet! The 90s down right sucked Godzilla's left nut at times! Then at the dawn of a new century hope came with "Jason X". No, it wasn't the best sequel but it wasn't the worst, and and it seemed to leave theatres after about ten days. But somehow, someway this sequel pushed the right button somewhere in New Line Cinema studio land and we the horror fans got what we wanted for almost a whole generation, "Freddy vs. Jason". It was "King Kong vs. Godzilla", it was "Dracula vs. Frankenstein", and it was so huge that it spilled over into mainstream media that summer making over $125 million at the box office, unheard of for two over the hill genre characters. But I seen it as a rebirth, as it introduced the big man, "Jason" to a whole new generation. Fun times, fun to just imagine where the sequels could go from here now especially with "Freddy vs. Jason Part 2" in the works and the so-called remake that seems to loose steam every time it is mentioned. So with the warm weather we have thunderstorms, flowers, swimming, summer blockbusters, cook outs and my memories of "Friday the 13th" films that I feel not only changed me but also changed the whole genre. So remember next time you go camping make sure the place doesn't have a 'death curse' or better yet stay home and watch what is the most entertaining films of all time, "Friday the 13th"!
In case you didn’t know… It’s great to be a fan of horror movies again! by Tim Gross
I sit here writing this article not to kiss ass but to point out some things many horror movie fans have not noticed recently. This isn’t any kind of lovefest or anything like that but me being the overcrazed horror movie fan I am feel more horror movie fans need to know this or have it pointed out to them because you just don’t know when it might stop?
A) Let’s tackle horror movie magazines. The genre has had yet another growth spurt that is rivaling the late 80s! Horror geeks, have you noticed how many horror magazines we have now. Fangoria (still kicking), Rue Morgue (somewhat reminds you that there is Canadian horror fans but the magazine shows the passion Fango once did), Ultra Violent (possibly the most underrated horror movie magazine in print), Horrorhound (Really cool magazine), Horrorshow (reminds me of the very early days of Fangoria), Cryptic (great idea, but needs a little work), plus a few others trying to get off the ground. It is amazing there is this many magazines dedicated to horror films. So much information, so many pictures and articles, and so much support.
B) Part 1: much information now if it isn’t the magazines it is the internet that supports what we love, horror movies. From myspace to fangoria.com to Bloodydisgusting.com to the movie dedicated websites it seems horror movies are the most talked about subject on the internet besides porn. If you need a DVD of Night of the Creeps, you can find it. Pissed because the Phantasm “Sphere set” is sold in the UK only. No worries, you can buy it over the internet on eBay, Amazon, or several other horror related websites. But what has been amazing the past 18 months is the podcasts or radio shows or whatever you want to call them. There has been an explosion of podcasts about horror but there is one show that leads the revolution and it isn’t Fango radio. Honestly, anyone who claims they know me or wants to claim that know that I am a huge Fango reader. I pretty much own all the issues and buy a copy every month not matter how bad it is at times! Fango radio is well casted with Dee Snider and Debbie Rochon but the show itself seems to talk down to the people instead of with the people as Dead Pit radio at www.deadpit.com does. Huge difference is these are just two good ole southern boys from Kentucky that are just huge fans of the genre and started their own show and have done it right from day one. Fango Radio has its place but Dead Pit Radio is the show to listen to if you are any kind of horror movie fan. They sound like your two buddies who only watch stuff like The Burning, Friday the 13th, Gates of Hell, and would look at you funny if you mentioned a “Walk in the Clouds” or “Pretty Woman”! Creepy Kentuckian and Uncle Bill take you through recent DVD releases, fights with members of Fango’s message board, take calls, and oh yeah have in-depth interviews with Bob Clarke, Tom Savini, Angus Scrimm, etc., etc. Also you have Rue-Morgue Radio which has also found its niche in internet radio playing bands, talking about Canadian and other horror information. Fango Radio might be on Sirus satellite but that doesn’t mean it’s the best but it still has its own niche in this growing revolution of the horror genre.
C) Part 2: Going away from podcasts you got to look at websites. If you want to push your horror film you go to myspace or dead pit or even Fango, but if you want information, interviews, or just want to know what is the latest micro-budget release that is actually worth checking out you go to a select few. Dead Pit and Bloodtypeonline seem to be the two that are becoming the most popular among fans and respected. You have the big guns like Bloodydisgusting, Gorezone, Fango, but if you want the information about your favorite horror film coming to theaters soon, you become addicted to such websites such as myspace, Dead Pit, and Bloodtypeonline. But all horror related websites are playing a part in this big or small, crappy or not, you can’t go on Google without coming across a listing for a horror movie website when you do any kind of search.
D) Stars, stars, and more stars… In the beginning we had the Universal Monsters, then Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, then the legendary Scream Queens Linnea, Brinke, Michelle. We have a Rutger Hauer here, a Lance Henriksen there; a Tim Thomerson, a Bruce Campbell but two people who don’t get enough credit in recent times are Tiffany Shepis and Debbie Rochon.
Why would I say Debbie, why not, you would be stupid to not notice her impact on horror films made for less than $100,000? She lives for these films it seems like, she enjoys it, whether it is the freedom, the money (ok laugh), or it is what god put her on earth for. This small (5’2” on a good day and 115 pound) but beautiful and talented actress has been able to build up a resume of over 150 B-movies, horror movies, and etc. together. Whether she is working with Lloyd Kaufman on the latest Troma flick or working with an unknown filmmaker who has only enough money for her and the film he is filming on for his budget, Debbie gives it her all. It is an Oscar winning performance everytime! She redefined the term “Scream Queen” by making it a term no longer. Debbie showed she not only had the beauty and “talents” but proved she can be pretty much a better overall actor than anyone in Hollywood right now. While morons like a Misty Mundae were busy doing “Erotic Bitch Project” or something like that Debbie would be working on several things that eventually all the horror magazines had to notice! Debbie Rochon should be declared the first lady of horror movies. With her breaking through the barriers she has been given an opportunity at being apart of Fango’s three hour radio show! Very under used at times she shows off her knowledge only rivaled by Joe Bob Briggs when Dee Snider is not around and she is the one running the radio show! She has done it in film and now radio, what is next for her?
Tiffany Shepis seen the crack in the male dominated genre door that Debbie Rochon went through and Tiffany went busting through it completely naked and an attitude that makes some males fall to their knees and weeping when seeing her! Tiffany took a similar but at times different route than Debbie in the genre. Tiffany started at an early age with Troma and Lloyd. When she was at conventions I met her through Debbie and my first impression wasn’t good as I thought she was immature and not going to last in the business. Well, ‘shit the bed’ she proved me almost completely wrong. Still a little immature in a very hot and sexy way Tiffany has become a great actress like Debbie with not only a near perfect body to kill for but brains that just blow you away. Tiffany uses her beauty to her advantage but has learned and matured in the way that she knows her acting ability is off the chart and very few in film altogether even come close! But her freedom to be naked in a film has gained a following like no other but still amazes the horror geeks to no end that unlike some in the industry she knows what 2 + 2 is. Her brains are her asset to the business and her just being naked in a film like “The Hazing” maybe gives you a peek into her wild but very lovable and down to earth personality. It is only a matter of time for Tiffany to either star in a huge mainstream horror film or have an opportunity like Debbie with horror radio.
Tiffany and Debbie are two very beautiful and smart actresses proved you don’t have to be dumb and blonde or a Goth chick to get somewhere in the horror genre.
E) What about the men in the genre? Yeah, we have Rob Zombie, Eli Roth (don’t send me hate mail), Edgar Wright, but the ultra low-budget men seem to be on the rise. With young filmmakers like a Fred Vogel, Justin Channel, Henrique, and a few others, I see these guys becoming the next Raimi or Peter Jackson in the next few years. I feel the ultra-low budget horror is where it is at right now. Its funny, at times mocks itself, uncensored, but this where you see talent first hand before they are off making Spider-man or those dam Lord of the Rings movies…
As I try to finish this article, I know I missed a few people or even possibly a few points to my reasoning, but in my opinion whether you love it or hate it, the early to late 80s have been reborn into a revolution or evolution of horror film and fanfare like never before. These things I mentioned in the article are things I can only hope you sit back take a breath and actually enjoy what’s going on right now, even just for a second because it can just pass you by while you are bitching about the latest remake, who is playing Michael Myers in Zombie’s Halloween, or what is Eli Roth going to fuck up next. Sit back, take a breath, and take it in because just remember it could be 1994/1995 when the horror genre really sucked big donkey dick!
Horror Retro-Review #2: The Lost Boys
A couple of months back I wrote a thorough retrospective on "The Howling" and it is now time for my second in-depth look at a horror classic. This July will mark the 20th anniversary of one of my favorite horror movies of the 1980's: "The Lost Boys"! Therefore, this film will be the subject of my newest horror retro-review. "The Lost Boys" was released in the summer of 1987 and was one of the season's biggest hits. It was directed by Joel Schumacher from a script written by Jeffery Boam. Schumacher's biggest film to this point was "St. Elmo's Fire" so it was a much different direction to head into when he was chosen to helm this hip horror comedy. Schumacher does a thorough and very good job directing his young cast. Overall, I like Schumacher as a director even though he is more of a Hollywood big budget director and I usually despise many that go by that description. As far as writer Jeff Boam goes I believe he wrote a hell of a script and he would actually go on on to write a bunch of modern classics including "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade".
The cast of "The Lost Boys" is a who's who of 80's (and beyond) stars. Many of which are very young in this film. The stars include Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, Keifer Sutherland, Jason Patric, Jami Gertz and Dianne Weist. Most of these actors need no introductions or descriptions. Everyone does their part and the casting is near perfect. Patric fits well as Michael the lead character who is slowly turning into a creature of the night. Keifer Sutherland is cast wonderfully as the leader of the vampire gang. A very young Haim and Feldman play their roles well, also. Feldman, especially stands out as one half of the notorious Frog brothers. Jami Gertz (who currently stars in a prime time sitcom) is very good as love interest, Star, delivering a sultry, sexy and desperate performance.
The plot of the film should not need a thorough description from those readers of the site. After divorcing her husband, a mother (Weist) and her two sons (Patric and Haim) move to fictional west coast town Santa Carla. It doesn't take too long before the older brother, Michael, sees a beautiful and mysterious young woman (portrayed by Gertz). Michael's pursuit of the voluptuous young beauty leads him to the introduction of David (Sutherland) and his gang. The introduction of Michael and David leads to Michael being initiated into David's little gang. It turns out, however, that David and company are vampires and that Michael has slowly begun to transform himself.
The setting really helps the overall effect and atmosphere of the film. Santa Carla is a fictional version of Santa Cruz in California. A lot of scenes take place on the boardwalk which is a cool environment, especially in 1987. Some of the characters in the background are priceless. It's amazing that people used to dress like that! Part of the boardwalk scenes include the comic book shop where the Frog brothers work. Personally I'm a fan of comics so the fact that the Frog's hippie parents own this shop was always a cool little extra tidbit for me. Another key scene that takes place at the boardwalk is at a concert the first night Michael and Sam arrive. This is where Michael and Star see each other for the first time. Even more importantly to me, however, is that this scene displays an all-time classic moment. The performance of the song at the concert is one of the funniest fucking things you will ever see. First off the song is a great 80's rock theme. The comedy comes in, though, with the lead singer. The dudes shirtless, built like former pro wrestler Jim Powers, and is all oiled up. On top of that he has a saxophone strung around his neck and the way he performs the song is just too fucking funny. For those of you that might not remember this scene or may have missed it, definitely check it out during your next watch.
The appeal of "Lost Boys", just like so many other "modern classics" like it, has just a little bit of everything. By this I mean that numerous components come together to form an unforgettable film experience. It's one of the first films to make being a vampire look cool. The lost boys were leather jacket wearing, earring sporting, and bike riding 80's bad asses. The perfect cast choices are another component that obviously heavily influences the positives of the movie. The young Coreys, the up and coming Jason Patric, the hot Jamie Gertz, the veteran Weist, and of course the awesome Keifer Sutherland. The script to "Lost Boys" is also near perfect. The fluidity is amazing. This film is such an easy watch the viewer more than likely doesn't want it to end. The soundtrack (which I proudly own) also adds even more depth. The title track "Cry Little Sister" (by Gerard McKann) is so fucking catchy and also fitting for the movie that it truly makes the film as a whole stand out that much more. With all this going for it "Lost Boys" was destined to become a classic.
Looking back to 20 years ago it is incredible how this film has held up over time. I popped it in a couple of weeks ago in preparation for this article and it instantly brought me back to the first time I viewed it as a teenager in the 90's (I saw it on VHS). I enjoyed it just as much presently as I did when I first saw it. Some of my personal highlights include Corey Feldman as Edgar Frog. He cracks me up throughout the film as a Rambo wannabe vampire hunter. It's seriously probably the best performance of his career. Another personal highlight is the scene in which David and his crew finally show Michael exactly what they are. The gang and Michael are all perched in a tree watching some guys party on the beach. As "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith blares in the background, David and company turn into their vampire forms and feast on the unsuspecting party goers. This scene is the fucking shit. Lastly, the ending of the film is great. Sam, Michael, Star, and the Frog brothers must make a final stand against a vengeful David and his vampire brethren. Everything culminates with the head vampire being unveiled, a huge explosion, some kick ass vampire deaths ("death by stereo!") and, of course, grandpa ending the film with that classic line. "One thing I always hated about living in Santa Carla. All the damn vampires." For all of us moviegoers, thank god that Santa Carla had all those damn vampires.
-Jared Bajoras
A Look Back at “The Monster Squad” by Tim Gross
The film, “The Monster Squad” came out to theaters in 1987 to flat box office totals and not much of a campaign on TV for you to see it. But that is where this look back at the film begins…
With not much box office totals there wasn’t really a rush to get this PG-13 horror/comedy to video. So it showed on HBO first at a rare time but it helped since HBO owned the rights before it made it to its VHS release. Good or bad at the box office that did not matter to me as I was 12 going on 13 and just starting to find my obsession for horror films. It also helped around the same time I found “Evil Dead 2” on video in 1988, when I found “The Monster Squad”. And this was all with not owning a VCR yet! But that did not discourage me as I was so crazed the day I found this film on video. It was in a supermarket called, ‘Golden Dawn’ where my mom worked one of her two jobs at the time. It was the first week of summer vacation for me and I was already driving my mother crazy especially since I found out you could rent a VCR at this supermarket also. So with my paper route money every week pretty much I would rent the VCR, “The Monster Squad”, “Evil Dead 2”, and “Spookies”, along with the original “TCM”, Halloween 1 & 2 here and there! But when I ran out of money, luckily HBO started to play “The Monster Squad” on a regular basis by the end of the summer. When I was 13, I once watched it three times in a row! But this film not only changed me into a full fledged horror movie fan but left an impression on me in my young life. Yes, I was Fangoria, Gorezone, and Slaughterhouse reader at the time but the need for watching this film and others became more apparent what I wanted to do with my life?
This film for me came out just at the right time. With the key main character ‘Sean’ being 11 or 12 at the time in the film and believed not in only monsters but wanted to hit up his dad for money to see “Groundhog Day Part 6”! I constantly did this when I would see my dad on weekends and whenever I seen my mom. Not only did I connect with the ‘Sean’ character, but having a ‘Monster Club’ just seem so cool to me at the time. But this movie was great in so many ways and I connected with so many parts of the film as many horror fans have. It was able to mix replica ‘Universal Monsters’: Dracula, the Mummy, Frankenstein, Gillman, Wolfman, and even Dracula’s minions with kids who believed in monsters and the only ones to kill them and save the world. Who wouldn’t want to do this at the age of 12 or 13 where your hitting that age where life is just plain uncomfortable for a boy who is just trying to figure out what he likes and sees girls in a whole different light? “The Monster Squad” was able to have a serious tone with monsters trying to take over the world that most horror film fans haven’t seen since the 50s most likely? Then on the other side of that coin was the comedy between characters like ‘Fat kid’ who seemed to have all the great lines in the film for example: “Wolfman’s Got Nards!” after he is told to kick him in the nuts by Sean and does. Or where after he shoots and kills the “Gillman” he turns to his bullies from earlier in the film and says “My name is Horris!”, demanding respect from them. Or where the kids in the monster club gave a monster test to a newcomer and tried to say there was more than one way to kill a werewolf? The movie did not get its due right away for being not only a great mix of horror and comedy and being somewhat of a blueprint for future horror films that would see not always a high body count meant giving you an entertaining horror film. But the movie didn’t get its due for just mainly because it just wasn’t marketed right. But like all great horror films people would find it on VHS and now DVD. “The Monster Squad” like other films such as “Evil Dead 2”, “Intruder”, “Darkman”, “TCM”, or even “Dead Alive” became apart of an elite group of films only horror fans seem to know about for a long period of time. And at these times it seemed when I would meet up with another fellow horror film fan, male or female, the question would always come up, “have you seen “The Monster Squad”?”
Now twenty years later which is hard to believe, there is no real DVD release yet? Just a DVD-R passed between horror fans or a laserdisc of the film floating around. But there are lots of hope and Monster Squad fans that have discovered the film over the years. Enough fan support that it warranted a reunion at a convention in New Jersey recently that horror fans could not stop talking about months before it was even going to happen. The reunion consisted of all the young members of the cast at time the movie was filmed including a couple of the actors that were inside the great creature costumes. Sadly I wasn’t able to make it but knowing there is lots of horror fans that love the movie as much as I do just gives myself hope and others that even after twenty years there could be a sequel and most horror fans would support it! With that look back I leave you with this… One of my favorite if not the best lines I ever heard in a movie.
“Fat kid, kick Wolfman in the nards!” as Fat kid does it he looks in amazement as Wolfman falls to the floor holding his nards. Fat kid says, “Wolfman’s Got Nards!”
John "El Juan" Shatzer takes a look back at legendary director Roger Corman
For those of you that have been paying attention to my reviews you may of noticed that I’m a huge fan of the B sci-fi and horror films of the 50s and 60s. This is the stuff that I grew up watching as a kid on Saturday afternoons and the weekend late shows. This is of course before home video made movies available anytime you wanted to watch them. One of the absolute best director/producers to come out of the 50s and 60s is the great Roger Corman. I’ve always been a huge fan of his work and I hope that thru this article I can make some of you fans as well. So with that in mind I had to ask myself how I would approach this. Entire books have been written that just discuss the long career of Corman, who produced his first film more than 50 years ago. I’ve decided to just touch on my favorite Corman movies (mostly focusing on the ones he directed) and tell you why they are so great! Also I wanted to point out the impact that he has had in the industry.
The Day the World Ended is an interesting movie from 1955. It tells the story of a group of survivors that all find themselves in a valley fleeing TD (Total Destruction) day. This movie has it all, the requisite bad guy (in this film a mobster) and his girl. There is the heroic scientist type who has to sacrifice himself and his virginal daughter. Finally we are rounded off by the heroic everyman who will end up with the girl and save the day. Throw in some good science stuff like radiation not being able to cross a few hills and humans mutated into cyclopean monsters that are killed by rain and fresh air! Yes this is a silly movie and a very enjoyable one. This is also notable as the first big financial success that Corman had.
1956 was a banner year for Corman with the release of both It Conquered the World and Attack of the Crab Monsters. Neither of these movies moves far from the standard monsters menacing the earth plot, but they do have something in common. They have a couple of the dumbest looking monsters ever put to film. In It Conquered the World you have what looks to be a giant cucumber from Venus that can control the minds of its victims. In Attack of the Crab Monsters you have mutated crabs that can absorb the mind of anyone that they eat, and then project their voices to any metal object so that they can menace and taunt the survivors. Both of these films are a blast to watch if you don’t take them seriously.
The Wasp Woman, which was released in 1959, is my favorite of Corman’s monster films. This movie has it’s own cheesy monster mask (clearly inspired by the Fly), but has something that none of the earlier films have. This movie has a very interesting script and plot. The head of a cosmetics company, who also happens to be a woman, is beginning to realize that her fading beauty will cost her the company that she has spent her life building. She becomes desperate and quickly agrees to the experimentations of a questionable scientist. She not only agrees to fund him, but also uses herself as the guinea pig. As she begins using the product she does actually start looking younger, the downside being she also mutates into the titular Wasp Woman. I was impressed by the movies attempt at a message, which is pretty unique for a film from this era and genre.
In addition to the standard monster movies Corman also created some great black comedies. Most genre fans are aware of Little Shop of Horrors from 1960. This movie tells the story of a put upon shop boy at a florist’s shop that stumbles upon an odd plant at work one day. In his efforts to save the plant he cuts his finger and to his surprise discovers that the plant wants blood. Soon the mild mannered young man is murdering people and feeding them to his plant! As good as Little Shop of Horrors is my personal favorite of Corman’s black comedies is A Bucket of Blood. In Bucket Corman regular Dick Miller (who later appeared in many of Joe Dante’s films) plays a waiter at a coffee shop that really wants to be accepted by the “cool” beatnik crowd. He tries to win them over with his artistic skills, of which he has little. After yet another unsuccessful attempt he throws his putty knife down and accidentally kills a cat. He covers the cat in clay and takes it to the coffee shop. Of course everyone loves it and wants to see his work. Next thing you know he is killing people strolling around the neighborhood and covering them in clay. Both of these films are great fun and really need to be seen.
The Creature from the Haunted Sea, from 1960, is considered by many to be the third of Corman’s black comedies, but I disagree totally. This movie feels more like a parody of the kinds of monster films that Corman had been doing up until this point. In this film a group of army officers is attempting to escape a revolution with a strongbox full of gold. To this end they enlist the aid of a mobster from the US and his yacht, who also just happens to have a secret agent from the US working as a member of his crew. After setting sail the mobster schemes that the only way to separate the gold from its guards is to kill them off. Of course if they use a small garden rake they can make it appear that a sea monster has taken them. The unforeseen twist is that there really is a sea monster that appears and starts to kill off the cast. Again this is a total parody of the earlier monster movies.
No discussion about Roger Corman would be complete without talking about the Poe films. These are movies that were inspired by the works of Edgar Allen Poe. The first of these films was The Fall of the House of Usher. Horror icon Vincent Price plays Roderick Usher one of two siblings who according to the family curse are going slowly insane. This film was a big departure for Corman and began a new phase in his career. It had a far larger budget, and established start (Price) and was shot in color. It was also a huge success, which spawned other Poe inspired films such as Pit and Pendulum (1961), The Premature Burial (1962), Tales of Terror (1962), The Raven (1963), The Masque of the Red Death (1964) and The Tomb of Ligeia (1964). I’m not going to go into too much detail on these films because there has already been so much written about them. Needless to say you should check them all out because they are all decent films that are very entertaining.
Before I wrap this up I just wanted to mention a couple of non-horror films that Roger Corman directed. Corman was always looking to hit on that next big “thing” and to that end he made some pretty interesting movies. For example during the 50s and 60s gangster films were very popular, so Corman made Machine-Gun Kelly in 1958. This is a pretty cool gangster films starring a young Charles Bronson and is one of the best films of the genre. Also biker films were becoming popular in the 60s so of course Corman made The Wild Angels in 1966. This movie starred Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra and while not being a great film is still fun to watch. One of the few movies that Corman made that didn’t make money was a film called Intruder. This is an interesting movie that tells the story of a racist that moves from town to town stirring up the locals against court-mandated integration. This movie was made in 1962 when not many filmmakers were even willing to touch a subject like this. Also pretty interesting is the star of this film a very young pre-Kirk William Shatner. This is probably the best acting I’ve ever seen from Shatner and really has to be seen to be believed. For whatever reason this movie just doesn’t get the credit that it should receive.
With a few exceptions Roger Corman retired from directing films in the early 70s and moved to producing full time. For a solid 15 year stretch Corman produced and directed some of the most successful independent films on the market. This helped create the market that produced most of the films that we as horror fans enjoy so much. As a director Corman was able to help start the careers of actors like Peter Fonda (The Wild Angels, The Trip) and Jack Nicholson (The Terror). In fact when these two were putting a little film called Easy Rider together they originally wanted Roger Corman and AIP to make it. Even after he stopped directing Corman was still developing talent. As a producer he gave Ron Howard (Grand Theft Auto), Francis Ford Coppala (Dementia 13), and Joe Dante (Piranha) a chance to direct commercial films. Interesting note Joe Dante cast two Corman alumni in his Gremlins films. The Futtermans were portrayed by Dick Miller (The Terror, A Bucket of Blood) and Jackie Joseph (Little Shop of Horrors).
I hope that some of you may be interested in checking out the work of Roger Corman after reading this. Trust me you won’t be disappointed at all. In my opinion he is a genius at not only making films but the business side as well.
Remembering “Chiller Theater” By Tim Gross
Years, years, years, ago, you know back in the day for the young folks there was a program that was unlike any program for the general area of Pittsburgh, Pa. This program was called, “Chiller Theater”. It was program that was hosted by a local news anchor now retired named “Bill Cardille”. Well, of course if you lived anywhere near Pittsburgh or the Allegheny County area you knew of or have seen Bill before and eventually heard about the program “Chiller Theater” which ran anywhere from after to the local news during the 60’s to after the Saturday Night Live show during the 70’s. Well, I first witnessed this program when I was three years old in the year 1978. This wasn’t any ordinary program it was a program for people who loved cheesy horror and sci-fi films. Bill would have anywhere from two to three films on every Saturday night! You are reading this and asking how in the hell can he remember when he was three, when I can’t remember if I took a shower or not today? Well guess what, I am able. Why? Well, two films came on that night when waiting for my mom to get home from her job: The Creeping Terror aka “Carpet Monster” and Twisted Brain aka “Horror High”. My mom worked late everyday but being Saturday my brother would let me stay up until whenever I wanted too! So, Saturday Night Live ended and on came on “Chiller Theater” with the host Bill Cardille being cheesy but lovable character who would talk about his friends Terminal Stare and his little friend which his name escapes me among other people that would enter into the show from time to time for different skits in-between movies. Then he would introduce the movies. When these two movies came on something clicked or we can say broke in my head? No longer had I watched these types of movies just for entertainment… This was the beginning of something great in my life, “Horror Movies”! After staying up a few more years on Saturday nights watching crap or cheesy movies with Bill Cardille it became apparent the station that ran this program no longer cared anymore, and would put it on later and later or not on at all! But every once in a while there was “Chiller Theater” specials that ran locally when I was 4, 5, 6 that would be sponsored by the local corner store (Stop-N-Go) that would show movies like: Creature from the Black Lagoon! And you were able to get 3-D glasses at these stores also! But “Chiller Theater” was gone by the age of 7 and replaced by a program called “Haunted Hollywood” which I watched religiously! But it was Bill Cardille and his antics on “Chiller Theater” that would help make that spark in my head to enjoy and want to see more cheesy horror films! In 1990, they ran an hour special with Bill going over the characters he did from the late night movie show and talked about memories but it just wasn’t the same when I was a big bright-eyed kid. Now-a-days Bill is local AM radio show host and usually does the 50’-60’s convention called ‘Monster Bash’, which will have people now in their 40’s, 50’s and 60’s lined up around the corner just to get an autograph! But I just like to say right now, thank you Bill…for inspiring a obsessive horror movie fan!
A Bloodtype Online Horror Retrospective: The Howling by Jared Bajoras
The horror genre is filled with classic actors, scream queens, stories, and of course creatures. Of the numerous memorable characters that have appeared throughout the history of horror cinema, a few stand out as fan's all-time favorites. At the top of most fan's lists is the central character to Bloodtype On-line's first horror retrospective. The creature I'm speaking of is none other than the werewolf. The legend of a man who is bit by a mythical wolf and cursed to live the rest of his days as a man/wolf hybrid has been told for hundreds of years. Numerous horror movies involving werewolves have been released beginning with 1941's Wolfman starring Lon Cheney and continuing to this day with films such as last year's Cursed. The numerous different horror films involving werewolves had many unique plots and outlooks on the classic legend but none had the style and overall experience of Joe Dante's 1981 masterpiece The Howling.
The Howling follows news anchor, Karen White (portrayed by Dee Wallace), who volunteers to aid the police in the capture of a serial killer. The killer has a known infatuation with Karen so to lead the police to him she agrees to meet him. After narrowly escaping the meeting with serial killer Eddie Quist, Karen suffers from amnesia, dilusions, and nightmares. To help her cope with her current psychological problems, a doctor friend suggests Karen and her husband Bill attend a retreat that he runs deep in the country. Known as "The Colony" Karen and Bill arrive and are instantly introduced to some zany characters. Some of these goofy personalities include a ranting old man, a creepy kid that wears animal fur and has the attributes of a blood hound, and a steamy suductress. Not before long, strange things begin to happen. First Karen begins to be woken in the midle of the night by loud howling. Her husband Bill brushes it off as a neighbor's dog and wants to get back to sleep. A day or so after Karen hears the howling, Bill is attacked by a wolf-like creature after he turns down a pass from the seductress and is heading back to his wife. Shortly after, though, Bill finds himself having sex with the seductress. This is the first truly eye catching scene of the film as both Bill and the Seductress transform into werewolves while making love.
The film then transfers back to the city where Karen's reporter friends discover that Eddie Quist's body has disappeared. After a call from Karen that Bill had been attacked by a wolf, her friend Terri rushes to her side at The Colony. Terri begins snooping around and is soon attacked by a werewolf and barely gets away. The werewolves of The Howling look good. They're huge, intimadating creatures and the effects are very well done. As Terri begins to find out more information after her escape from the werewolf attack, she calls her reporter boyfriend Chris to fill him in. On the phone, she is attacked yet again. This is where the film really gets going and never stops. I won't fill in the rest of the plot at this point because you've either already seen this great film or if you haven't I don't want to ruin any of the really good stuff.
In my opinion, The Howling is one of the three best horror/werewolf based movies in American cinema. The other two that are right there with it are director John Landis' An American Werewolf in London and Neil Marshall's Dog Soldiers. The debate of which film is better than the other is a whole other article so for this exclusive look on The Howling let's just say that they all belong as top horror movies in their own rights. The Howling and An American Werewolf In London were released the same year which makes them easy to contrast because the audience, technology, ect. was the same for each film. This is what makes The Howling stand out; it's originality. "American Werewolf" and The Howling are two completely different werewolf movies. "American" is more of a black comedy in a lot of ways as The Howling is very serious for the most part. The Howling delivers a lot of scares, many of which still hold up to this day. I also believe that the cast of the film was chosen very appropriately. Dee Wallace does a very convincing job as Karen White who is a regular everyday newscaster suddenly thrust into a serial killer attack, "The Colony", and, of course, a world of werewolves. The supporting cast is great also, my favorite being Robert Picardo's performance as Eddie Quist and Dick Miller's small yet very effective role as an occult book dealer.
No film is perfect and The Howling has its flaws. The reason this movie is as good as it is, though, is because most of its flaws are simply nit-picking. There are definately some small plot holes. I reinterate that I consider this nit-picking because these negatives are very minor. When Karen and Bill first arrive at The Colony it's a very strange scene and isn't explained very thoroughly on what exactly The Colony is. My only problem with this is that you can figure out what the Colony's about for the most part but since you know what Karen is like you would think that she would never agree to even be a part of this scene. There is also some small acting miscues that I noticed, but they are very miniscule as I stated earlier.
Moving on from a few flaws, I would like to discuss the special edition dvd and its features. The dvd is a double-sided disc with the feature on one side and the special features on the other. The special features in this dvd are definately above average. There is a "making of The Howling" featurette, an "inside The Howling" feature, deleted scenes, outtakes, trailers, and photos. The special features are truly packed in and for the $9.99 I spent at Wal-Mart is more than worth the money. Obviously the main attractions of the special features are the "making of" and the "inside" features. The "making of" is broken up into five different parts including a brief history of werewolves, making a werewolf picture, a look into wearing the creature outfit, and a couple of other cool insights. The "inside" is a documentary style look at the actors, director, and making of the film. A movie fan can't ask for much more additional content, especially for a film that was made in 1980. There is even an "easter egg" on the feature side of the disc (click your dvd remote onto the smiley face). The "easter egg" contains an interview with actor Dick Miller who discusses his career, acting, and the film. Dick plays the occult book dealer and is in a ton of films, most notably in Joe Dante's other classic Gremlins.
In conclusion to this exclusive Bloodtype On-line retrospective I figured that this is the best time to discuss the conclusion of the film. The ending of The Howling is great in my opinion. I know that earlier on in this article I didn't want to reveal to much of the main plot points for those who haven't seen it. Although, since this is an article entirely based on The Howling, if you haven't seen it yet you deserve to have the end ruined. Karen and Chris' plan to have her deliver an unapproved monolouge on the live evening news show and then transform into a werewolf in front of everyone's eyes is classic. How else can you prove that your warning rant about werewolves being a real threat is true? The ensuing shots of characters who are watching the newscast is both hilarious and probably true on how people would react. One little girl tells her mom that she and her brother are watching the news lady turn into a werewolf and the greatest part of all of this is when they show the guys in the bar. One of the bar patrons mention how good special effects are nowadays and the other guy says, "that's not special effects. She really turned into a werewolf and they shot her." Fucking classic! The Howling truly belongs in any horror fans collection. Bloodtype Online proudly salutes The Howling as the subject of our first "Retro-Review" series.
[Editor's Note To Fans of the Site: We will continue "Retro-Reviews" periodically on the website celebrating our favorite horror movies of all time with more depth and personal commentary than our usual reviews.]
Remembering Clive Barker's Nightbreed by Tim Gross
February 1990, I think it was the first week of the month; Clive Barkers Nightbreed was being released to theaters. I was so excited knowing it was coming out. I read so much about it in Fangoria, Gorezone, and the Toxic Horror magazines which were the top horror magazines at the time. The movie was supposed to have near 200 different creatures and sport some the coolest make-up of all time. It made me hard just thinking about how fucking cool this movie was going to be and not only they were just starting to release a comic book adaptation of the film also which would continue the storyline! I was 14 years old going on 15 and the only thing going through my mind besides trying to get laid was Nightbreed!
Clive Barker was coming off of just having Rawhead Rex released not too long before this in the states and Hellraiser 1 & 2 was just finally being found by the mainstream crowd on video. Clive Barker was the talk of horror genre at the time. There were things being said like: Clive will be the savior of the glut we call the horror. Or Clive is the answer to the tired slasher genre. Or Clive will kill Freddy and Jason and show you real terror! It seemed the table was set for Clive Barker to not only take over the horror genre but Hollywood itself. His books were finally being noticed outside of the horror fiction crowd and he was becoming the next Stephen King with his books becoming movies it seemed until Nightbreed was being advertised on TV. Orion Pictures, if I remember correctly owned the original rights and sold them only a few weeks before release because they were going under as it affected many films (The Dark Half, Army of Darkness, etc.) including this film. Next thing you know Universal or 20th Century Fox picked up the rights to be released in the theaters and had no clue of how they should promote this one big extravaganza of a monster film! Trailers disappeared only replaced by a small picture in your local papers entertainment section that was a womans eyes peaking through a boarded up window in black and white and had the saying Its Terrifying above it in a two inch by two inch square! This happened all within the few weeks before the release of the film to theaters. Who could blame Clive Barker? It was the logical step in filmmaking; he was getting bigger especially with his past three films and his Books of Blood series. It was what any director, filmmaker would have moved on to, a bigger and better budgeted horror film. In that span of few weeks whatever most horror fans would think about the movie had no clue about it when it was released the first week of February which use to be considered a dead film time (studios use to drop films they didnt care about in January or February).
Still the time before the internet most people became turned off or just forgot about this monster film. It was released and I was there opening night with about 5 or 6 other people in the theater. And we witnessed possibly the coolest monster film to date and a travesty for had been done to it since it was cut by the studio without Clive Barkers permission or presence! The film was unbelievable from the character Boone who later becomes Cabal to the funny Narcisse with have the sides of his face ripped off to the intense but cool as hell Peloquin which the likes have never been seen before this side of the horror genre! Midan is where the monsters live and Boone needed to get there and find out why they were in his head. But with this came a price Dekker played by the great legendary filmmaker David Croenberg who possibly played the sickest and most demented serial killer to date. But you wouldnt know all this because his role and the monsters roles were limited because of editing by the studio!
This film was cut the shreds and the few horror fans that got to see it in its two weeks of release were just blown over how cool the film was. But with critics panning the film as most horror films and Clive Barker being given full blame for the failure at the box office you wouldnt of knew how great the film was until a year later when the comic book series actually made a dent in the usual Marvel and DC reading material for the average comic book fan and when the VHS was released! Two or three months afer the film was released to theaters, Fangoria magazine was still showing off pictures of monsters that were cut out and scenes that were lost. Clive Barker was even interviewed and just refused to talk about the film for years and made him bitter and shy towards in ever going behind camera as a director. Yeah, we had Lord of Illusions and Saint Sinner but that was it over what 13, 14 years! Clive Barker was upset and upset for good reason, but what he didnt know was people like me who went to see the film three times during that two week period and bought the VHS, knew what happen and still liked what we got! And for as shitty as the theatrical release was the video release had sent some of the coolest shit to promote a horror movie. One of the rare promo items which is hard to find and I own is small booklet called, A Humans Guide to the Nightbreed. The booklet highlights a few monsters that were in the movie and ones that were cut out and explains their origins and what powers they possess along with a little thing about Clive Barker.
Years have past since the release of this horror film, knowing there was over 70 monsters and whole scenes cut out of the film. But the legend of the film grows inside the average horror fan as even without a directors cut it is usually mentioned in everyones Top Ten favorite horror films! A few years ago Clive Barker came out in an interview and talked very vividly about the film and his experience and explained whats missing (possibly up to 30 minutes) and what he thought went wrong but as admitted he is surprised how horror fans have embraced the Nightbreed movie through tattoos, art, books, and even comic books. He also promised if he has it his way the story will be revisited through a remake or uncut film or even a sequel that he would have complete control over! In my last thoughts of this film, I feel sometimes the world isnt ready what is in Clive Barkers mind as he produced some of the coolest and scariest monsters ever in the film, Nightbreed. And because of his beautifully sick and twisted mind it can be most people are not ready for that and know how to market that. Now if Nightbreed was released today the only way it would make it if Clive Barker went through his studio or Eli Roth was directing it with some fuck-ups as actors in it and Quentin screaming this is the scariest film I ever saw as he does for Roth, which means it would be a piece of shit! But the true horror fans know what they got with Nightbreed is a beautiful, artful monster film that will not be forgotten and hopes that the story will be continued some day.
Note: Candyman was not brought up because it was released not to long before Nightbreed as he went from one production being done to starting on the next.
-Tim Gross
Greetings from Tromaville! by Ed Demko
When it comes to horror there are plenty of things that come to mind, The Universal Monsters, George Romero zombies, Christopher Lee, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Freddy Krueger as well. But when you really think about it, you know what SHOULD come to mind? Troma Entertainment. Now I know what you’re thinking. Those crappy movies?! YES, exactly! Just hear me out and I think you’ll understand. Troma has been doing something for horror that very little if anyone else has. They’ve been making horror films outside of the studio system successfully for well over thirty years now. Don’t think that’s a big deal? Ask George Romero how hard it is to do just that even when your movies are revolutionary and get critical acclaim. Troma’s done it WITHOUT critics on their side and that’s another reason it’s such an amazing feat. Troma was started in 1974 by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, and they’ve been here ever since. You see, Lloyd is one the “true” believers in art as he feels the more independent you are the less that your “art” will be tampered with. I can’t say that I would disagree with that either. One of the problems with the movie industry today as a whole is that things are being made just to make money and the art of filmmaking is being ignored. If you read his book “Make Your Own Damn Movie” you’ll see that Lloyd became soured on the studio system from actually working in it and not because he’s too “punk rock” or a feeble attempt to become Mr. Cool. He believes in this shit with all of his heart, and how could you NOT admire that? Every year Troma puts on the Tromadance Festival in Park City, Utah during the famed Sundance Festival to even drive his point of independence across. It should also be mentioned that Lloyd makes appearances in low/no budget movies and offers his advice for FREE! Now name me ANYONE that has been in the filmmaking business for 35 plus years that is willing to do that? Don’t bother looking high and low because there isn’t any. That is just how dedicated this man is to independent cinema. But don’t be fooled by the image that Troma puts out there either. They’ve had some big names appear in their films before they were stars proving that they know talent when they see it. Also it shows that even though they are an independent company they know their shit. Do the names Kevin Costner, Billy Bob Thorton, Samuel L. Jackson, Marisa Tomei, Oliver Stone, Eli Roth, James Gunn, Vincent D’onofrio, Trey Parker, and Matt Stone ring a bell? Good, because they’ve all worked with TROMA in some capacity in their careers. Plus, co-founder Lloyd Kaufman was a former student of Yale University. How many people in the horror industry can make that claim? He also worked on the sets of such renowned films such as Rocky, Saturday Night Fever, and The Final Countdown. Troma made its name on the popular Toxic Avenger series which spawned three sequels, a Saturday morning cartoon, and merchandise galore. Branding Troma as “The house that Toxie built”. Also they’ve built up one hell of a fan following that includes some of Hollywood’s elite. Lloyd himself has also directed a good deal of Troma’s catalog of films under the name of Samuel Weil (his grandfather’s name) to avoid the rules and regulations of the Director’s Guild of America. Even though most of Troma’s films would be considered Schlock or simple comedy, there is usually an underlying message in them. One of those prime examples would be The Toxic Avenger making a statement on the conditions of the environment going on at the time of the Reagan Administration. Also the film TROMA WAR says volumes about that same administrations stance on the glamorization of war. But the main thing that makes Troma what it is and standout from the pack at the same time is that their movies are fun. Sure they are Politically Incorrect (which I’m sure they are VERY proud of), filled with large amounts of violence, gore, sex, and nudity but that’s part of Troma’s charm. They don’t take themselves that seriously and obviously they are more enjoyable that way. In closing, the world needs more Lloyd Kaufman’s and more Troma’s because lets face it, it wouldn’t be the same world without them.
Recently I was privlidged enough to catch a screening of the Toxic Avenger (35mm uncut print) at The Oaks Theatre in Oakmont Pennsylvania. Also it was even better because Troma President and co-founder Lloyd Kaufman was there to present the film. For those of you out there who are unfamiliar with Mr. Kaufman, you really should get familiar with him as hes had a had in independent cinema now for over 33 years. Plus, the guy is an extremely charismatic and funny individual who really knows the deal when it comes to film. It was really cool to see him introduce the film that not only opened my eyes to Tromas films, but it also was one of the first horror films I saw during the whole VHS craze of the 80s. See, I have a confession to make. Even though I appreciate what Troma has done for horror and independent film in general (believe me, its more than they even get credit for), Im not their biggest fan in the world. BUT, that certainly doesnt mean that I dont like my fair share of Troma stuff. The Toxic Avenger would be one movie that I would consider myself a big fan of though. Lloyd was seconded by one of their newest Tromettes Labia, one of the stars of the upcoming Poltrygeist film, and of course.Toxie himself! Lloyd talked in detail of how well former Troma director and writer James Gunn is doing these days. He also mentioned of being a fan of his work with the Dawn of the Dead remake and a movie Lloyd appeared in himselfSlither. He also mentioned that Eli Roth (who didnt get the warmest reception from the audience, I think Russ will cover that part nicely) worked in a few Troma films (Terror Firmer, Toxic Avenger IV, and Tales from the Crapper) and he also said that Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike grew up a Troma fan as well. Lloyd mentioned that he would continue to film in 35 mm for all of the films that he is directing, but he mentioned that a lot of the people that make movies for Troma shoot on 16mm, as well as DV.
Then it was time to see The Toxic Avenger on the big screen. Hey, Ill admit it. I was rather excitied to check it out in all of its big screen 35 mm glory. I was an 80s kid, who grew up on the VHS market (and thats how I basically supplied my thirst for horror as early as I could) and didnt get to see many of the classics on the big screen. So whenever I can, I will check out screenings and do my best at catching up. Now, I wouldnt call Toxic Avenger to be a horror classic, but its a classic to me. Growing up in the 80s like many kids, Im sure you remember what it was like to go and rent movies and the excitement that caused. I remember my Uncle opening up my eyes like never before because he had an impressive collection of horror films on VHS. That was where I first saw films like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Evil Dead 2, and many other classics. Other than my uncle my other outlet was all of the local mom and pop VHS rental places that existed during the home video boom in the 80s. These places had everything you could want under the sun. All the newest blockbuster films on VHS, all kinds of strange horror films, and PORN! Yes, I remember the beaded entrance way that the video store had that we rented our stuff from and yes, I remember how much I WASNT allowed in there. But I WAS allowed to rent all the horror flicks I wanted. Sometimes I think my Dad used to let me rent whatever just to see the reaction out of my mom as we sat down and watched them. One of those films was The Toxic Avenger. I remember the lasting effects of the kids head getting ran over had on me. I wasnt disgusted or fritened in anyway but I sure remembered what it looked like. Thinking back on it, that may have been the beginning of my love with splatter in some strange way. But anyway, I still remember being a teenager and being shocked that they turned the Toxic Avenger into a Saturday morning cartoon!!! What was even funnier was that when Lloyd was speaking before the film started, he even mentioned the preposterous nature that they made the cartoon too! I also give Lloyd a lot of credit because I know that hes working in conjunction with a few friends of mind on their debut film Gone the way of Flesh(its been picked up by Troma and will be released worldwide VERY soon) and he even mentioned them last night and asked them to stand for the crowd last night. This is how much this man enjoys and loves independent cinema.
I was really impressed at the 35mm print of The Toxic Avenger as well. It looked beautiful on the big screen and it was something to see Toxie kicking all kinds of ass in all of his big screen glory. I would personally like to thank the good people at the Oaks, Bruce Lentz from the greatest movie store in the whole world Incredibly Strange Video, Lloyd Kaufman, and all the Troma people for allowing me to relive a piece of my childhood by bringing The Toxic Avenger to Pittsburgh!
You can check out everything that is Troma at www.troma.com
-Ed Demko
