The
new, December issue of the RUE MORGUE magazine is on stands, and has several
articles and reviews by yours truly. Yes, there are even more pages of my texts
than in the notorious SERBIAN FILM-inspired focus on Serbian horror cinema
which I wrote for the #106 (see details on that
HERE).
It's a real Ghoul's OCCUPY THE MORGUE STREET! Here
are my contributions to #129:
DARKLANDS:
My article on
the first Nort American release of the long-in-limbo occult thriller which premiered
1996. I met its director,
Julian
Richards (Last Horror Movie) at this year's Grossmann film festival in Slovenia,
and he explained the reasons for the delay and talked about his influences (Arthur
Machen, THE WICKERMAN...), about merging of urban
environment and paganism etc.
MUSIQUE FANTASTIQUE:
This book
earned the Spotlight in THE NINTH
CIRCLE section dedicated for book reviews. More than a mere book, this is a huge,
unique study of music scores in SF, Fantasy and Horror films by the leading
expert in the field, Randall D. Larson. He explains the background of this endeavor and provides an exclusive list of
undeservedly neglected, lesser known, unsung masterpieces of horror scores
which are not so often invoked in the discussion of the best ever.
The very same NINTH CIRCLE also contains
my review of BOOK OF CTHULHU II: the
latest, and certainly one of the very best Lovecraftian anthologies out there! The
second volume of The Book of Cthulhu (edited by Ross E. Lockhart) exemplifies
the richness of Lovecraft's legacy: gloomy terror, mystery, thrills, vivid
action, chilling visions, satire, SF, humor... all of that, and then some, is
crammed into more than 400 large pages awaiting readers eager for some
apocalyptic horror! See the review for the best titles singled out!
Among
the book reviews you'll also see one devoted to
SPEAKING OF MONSTERS, an anthology of essays about monstrosity in
horror fiction and film. My essay on
HIGH
TENSION is selected for this prestigious book from Palgrave Macmillan.
Therefore, I did not write the review, but its review in this issue remains
Ghoul-relevant. More details re: this book are to be found
HERE.
Just
when you thought there's too much Ghoul in this issue, on the very last page
the regular CLASSIC CUT is devoted to a somewhat forgotten or at least
neglected, unsung near-masterpiece, THE
OTHER (1972) by Robert Mulligan. In this essay I'm pointing towards the
timeless qualities and influences this film has had on further development of
horror, especially when it comes to the "creepy kids" subgenre, and
even more – to the "big twist" horrors...
Talking
about my contributions to RUE MORGUE, here's what I wrote about for them in
2012, in reverse order (latest first):
#128: PRINCE OF DARKNESS
=== Popular Revenants: The
German Gothic and Its Internationcal Reception, 1800-2000
#127: 100 Years of Universal
=== European Nightmares:
Horror Cinema In Europe Since 1945
#126: ANTIVIRAL
THE NINTH CIRCLE
=== The Vampire Film: Undead
Cinema,
===Stefan Grabinski's
On the Hill of Roses
#125: RAY BRADBURY
===Laird Barron's The Light is
the Darkness
CLASSIC CUT
===The Literature of Terror
(1980)
#124: THE ENTITY
===Laird Barron's The Croning
#123: THE LOVED ONES
===Film Violence: History,
Ideology, Genre
Here are the
full contents of #129, whose highlight & cover story is devoted to the
"CABAL cut" of Clive Barker's studio-butchered NIGHTBREED.
RUE MORGUE, Issue #129
MIDIAN CALLING
Two decades ago Clive Barker's
Nightbreed was taken out of his hands and butchered by the studio. Now, thanks
to a dedicated fanbase, the visionary Cabal Cut takes form.
PLUS: Interviews with actors Simon Bamford, Hugh Ross, Anne Bobby and Nicholas
Vince.
RESTLESS SPIRITS
Genre legend Lance Henriksen taps
Native American folklore for his first comic series, To Hell You Ride.
PLUS: Dark Horse editor-in-chief
Scott Allie on building the company's horror line, and more!
HO-HO-HOMICIDE
Two of the men behind Silent
Night, Deadly Night gift us with their fond - and not-so fond - memories of the
scandalous 1984 slasher flick.
PLUS: Director Steven C. Miller
on the remake.
FROM ANVIL TO ALFRED
Hitchcock director Sacha Gervasi
explains how making a rock doc got him behind the camera on a star studded
biopic about the Master of Suspense.
NOTE FROM UNDERGROUND
"What is this place?"
DREADLINES
30 Days of Night creators Niles
and Templesmith reunite; Gregory Lamberson spearheads new eBook format with
upcoming novel; "Sleepy Hollow" to get biker makeover in Chopper
Movie.
THE CORONER'S REPORT
Weird stats and morbid facts.
Sick Top Six: Barker's Beasts and Bad Guys
NEEDFUL THINGS
Day of the Dead Corkscrew,
Nevermore Body Company Three Witches Line, Frankie And His Bride Salt and
Pepper Shakers, and Ouija Shoes.
CINEMACABRE
CineMacabre features Julian Richard's Darklands, plus
reviews of Frankenweenie, Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines, The Hole, Airborne, FDR:
American Badass, Werewolf: The Beast Among Us, Bloody Tease, Blood Oath and
Tied In Blood. Reissues reviews They Live (1988), The Night of the Devils
(1972), The Complete Bob Wilkins Creature Features, House of Dark Shadows
(1970) and Night of Dark Shadows (1971).
THE LATE-NITE ARCHIVE
In The Vault: Gifts that Keep on
Killing.
BOWEN'S BASEMENT
Dug Up: Hard Rock Zombies.
BLOOD IN FOUR COLOURS
Features Haunted Horror, plus
reviews of Ghost #1, The Pound: Ghouls Night Out #1, Sleepy Hollow #1, Rachel
Rising #11 and Billy The Kid's Old Timey Oddities and the Orm of Loch Ness #1.
THE NINTH CIRCLE
Spotlight: Musique Fantastique: 100 Years of Fantasy, Science Fiction
& Horror Film Music. Library of the Damned finds a new Christmas horror
classic in Brom's Krampus: The Yule Lord. Plus, reviews of The Forrest J
Ackerman Oeuvre, Speaking of Monsters: A
Teratological Anthology, The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia: Volume 2, The Book of Cthulhu II, Hunter Shea's
Swamp Monster Massacre, Mark Morris' Vampire Circus, Nicholas Vince's What
Monsters Do and R.L. Stine's Red Rain.
THE FRIGHT GALLERY
On Display: Marc Hagan-Guirey's
Horrorgami.
THE GORE-MET
Menu: Frank 'N' Flesh.
AUDIO DROME
Featuring the strange sounds of
Corpusse. The Devil's Playlist explores the Darker Side of Christmas. Plus,
reviews of Silent Hill: Revelation OST, Truth or Dare OST, Dead Souls OST,
Alain Leonard and Alex Wank, Cradle of Filth, Swamp Thing, Theologian,
Malignancy, and Satan's Wrath.
PLAY DEAD
Features reviews of Resident Evil
6 and You Are The Maniac!
CLASSIC CUT
The Other (1972)
