RIP Forrest J Ackerman.
November 24, 1916 - December 4, 2008

We'll miss you, Famous Monster.

Sorry, I've been MIA - being a full-time editor and writer makes me a terrible blogger.

In personal news, I got to lick Hellboy's horn stumps. A fantasy come true.


And my friend Mark (of The Unseen) and I rocked out in Florida at Screamfest recently. That too, was immensely fun.


Oh and my black metal band's called Murderlepsy. We formed on October 31, 2008.






In case some of you may have missed this, it's the funniest thing I've read in a long time:

Man Tries To Pay Bill With Spider Drawing

Rue Morgue Magazine 11th Anniversary Halloween Double Issue Sneak Peek: 50 Years of Famous Monsters of Filmland!

ON STANDS OCTOBER 1st!
Cover painting by Basil Gogos
140-page double issue!



FAMOUS MONSTER
When Famous Monsters of Filmland hit newsstands in 1958, it united an entire generation of creature-loving children and sparked genre fan culture. No one anticipated the effect it would have on some of those "Monster Kids," who would go on to become genre legends. This Halloween, Rue Morgue celebrates the 50th anniversary of the magazine that started it all via a conversation with founding editor Forrest J Ackerman. Featuring words with and by filmmakers John Landis and Joe Dante, rock legend Gene Simmons, legendary cover artist Basil Gogos, SFX Wizard Rob Bottin, and more. Plus! Director Tim Sullivan takes us on a guided tour of the Ackermansion in its heyday, and much more!
by Paul Corupe, Gene Simmons, Jovanka Vuckovic, Joe Moe, Tim Sullivan, Forrest J Ackerman, Dave Alexander and Rob Bottin

THE GORE-MET'S 50 ESSENTIAL GORE FILMS
A comprehensive list of vital cinematic atrocities every hardcore horror fan needs to see. Bring on the blood!
by The Gore-met

NOCTURNAL ADMISSIONS
American Baroque painter Michael Hussar reveals the very personal meaning behind his perverse and morbid body of work.
by Jovanka Vuckovic

THE SIMPSONS VAULT OF TERROR
Once a year The Simpsons is taken over by The Treehouse of Horror Halloween special. Time to take stock of nearly two decades of hilariously blood-curdling cartoons.
by Philip Brown

SHOCKWAVES: A CLASSIC HORROR RADIO ROUNDUP
Gather 'round the wireless and set your transistors for terror as Rue Morgue explores the sinister chills and thrills of yesteryear's audio plays.
by Richard Gavin

FESTIVAL OF FEAR 2008
Pics from our 5th annual horror convention.
Photos by Ashlea Wessel and Ian Goring

COSMIC CARNAGE
Gory new video game Dead Space launches the survival horror genre deep into outer space. Plus: Downfall, the animated prequel.
by Monica S. Kuebler

DEVIL'S ON OUR SIDE
The Creepshow, Canada's horrorbilly sensation returns with an album warning you to Run for Your Life.
by Trevor Tuminski

DOUG BRADLEY'S DEADTIME STORIES
Everyone's favourite cenobite tackles Lovecraft in a new type of audio book.
by James Grainger

NOTE FROM UNDERGROUND
Famous Monsters of Filmland.

DREADLINES
Toronto After Dark Film Festival continues growth for year three, Fright Channel to relaunch online, Teen filmmaker preps second horror feature.

THE CORONER'S REPORT
Weird stats and morbid facts. Sick Top Six Instances of Torturous Transformations.

NEEDFUL THINGS
Halloween Living Dead Dolls, Thanksgiving T-shirt, Royal Mail Classic Hammer Stamps, Toilet Ink.

CINEMACABRE
CineMacabre presents features on Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer, Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown and Wicked Lake. Abbreviated Terrors reviews 2007 Toronto After Dark Film Festival short film highlights. Plus! Reviews of Stuck, Death Race, Mirrors, Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead, End of the Line, Shutter, Resurrection Mary, Rest Stop: Don't Look Back, Dark Honeymoon, Triloquist, Steel Trap, Wide Awake and Trapped Ashes. Last Rites reviews The Raven, Kaw and Birds of Prey. Reissues presents features on Pieces, Fox Horror Classics Collection Volume 2 and Friday the 13th: The Series. Plus! Reviews of Child's Play (1988), Barracuda (1978)/Island Fury (1989), Man of a Thousand Faces (1957), Psycho Kickboxer (1997), Swamp Thing The Series Volume 2 (1992-1993), The X-Files: Revelations (1993-1999), The Unseen (1981) and Virgin Witch (1972).

CINEMARQUEE
The Portrait of Dorian Gray (1945).

BOWEN'S BASEMENT
Spotlight: Invasion of the Blood Farmers.

BLOOD IN FOUR COLOURS
Steve Niles on Gotham after Midnight. Plus reviews of Almighty, City of Dust 1 (of 5), The Nightmare Factory Volume 2, Zombie Tales 4.

THE NINTH CIRCLE
Spotlight: Matthew Warner's Horror isn't a 4-Letter Word. Plus, reviews of A Hallowe'en Anthology: Literary and Historical Writings over the Centuries, The Alfred Hitchcock Story, The Book of Lists: Horror, Joe R. Lansdale's Leather Maiden, Ryan Mecum's Zombie Haiku, Ramsey Campbell's The Grin of the Dark, and Bill Hussey's Through A Glass Darkly.

TRAVELOGUE OF TERROR
Halloween in Sin City.

THE GORE-MET
Menu: Faces of Death.

AUDIO DROME
Spotlight: Son of Sam. Plus! Reviews of Hellboy 2: The Golden Army OST, The Midnight Meat Train OST, The X-Files: I Want To Believe OST, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor OST, Shutter OST, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Score, Midnight Syndicate, The Rotted, In a World..., Chris Alexander & Carrie Eliza, Displacer, Diemonsterdie, The Night Shift, Brother Von Doom, Ghosts Run Wild, Captain A-Hole a.k.a. Yogi, Leather Wolf, and more!

PLAY DEAD
Zombies!!! 7: Send in the Clowns!, Magic: The Gathering - Planeswalker, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

CLASSIC CUT
Vampirella.

GIVEAWAYS THIS ISSUE!
10 new subscribers will win the Halloween: 30th Anniversary Commemorative Set on DVD, from Anchor Bay/Starz.

Happy 50th birthday FM, Happy 11th birthday RM and, of course... HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

I hope you like it, we nearly killed ourselves making it.

I'm honoured to have been invited as a guest at this year's H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and CthulhuCon in Portland, Oregon, taking place on October 3, 4 and 5. I'll be hosting a panel on Lovecraft in Popular Culture with Mars of Dead House Music, helping out with the awards ceremony on Saturday night, watching all the killer movies they've got lined up, rocking out with The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets, getting scared at FrightTown (Portland's kick-ass, three house haunted attraction), eating haunted donuts (?!) and hanging with like-minded Lovecraft weirdos and nerds (you know who you are - comic book junkies and Satanic hearse collectors). I mean, what more could you want in a weekend?

Come out and celebrate the enduring legacy of the Dark Prince of Providence with us. By Cthulhu, we'll drive you mad!

Andrew Migliore and the guys at Lurker Films outdo themselves each year with killer poster art. Check out this year's piece, by Hellboy creator (and artist guest of honour), Mike Mignola.



MORE INFO, from the Fest's press release:

Portland Oregon's own H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival & CthulhuCon. An annual event founded in 1995, the festival attracts filmmakers, authors, artists, and nearly two thousand movie goers who gather in the historic 1926 Hollywood Theatre to watch feature-length and short films, attend panels, and purchase genre related merchandise.
"As part of Dark Horse's commitment to keep the horror genre alive and twitching in comics and other dark corners of the world, we are proud to sponsor Portland's annual H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. This homegrown annual festival has gained international attention in recent years and draws fans and special guests from all corners of the world," remarks Dark Horse editor Shawna Gore.
"Now that Starbucks are apparently just seeds for flowering bushes of gentrification blooming all over town, thank god we have things like the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival to keep Portland weird, in the eternally funky Hollywood theater," quips Dark Horse editor Scott Allie.
This year's guests include Author Guest of Honor Brian Lumley (Necroscope, Titus Crowe) and Artist Guest of Honor Mike Mignola (Hellboy). Many other notable artists and authors will be attending and participating in panel discussions, including author Robert M. Price, scholar S.T. Joshi, author Laird Barron, Rue Morgue editor Jovanka Vuckovic and many others.

Here are just a few highlights from this year's film offerings:
Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown, a new documentary featuring interviews with Guillermo del Toro, John Carpenter, Neil Gaiman and more
AM 1200, a delightfully creepy and masterfully crafted thriller from award-winning DVD Producer David Prior (Flight Club, Master & Commander, Zodiac)
Eel Girl, a cautionary tale about the dangers of getting too close to your work,
featuring spectacular creature makeup from WETA Workshopʼs Gino Acevedo
The Casting Call of Cthulhu, A humorous take on the process of casting a
Lovecraftian film, with auditions from actors both comic and cosmic
The Dunwich Horror, a new feature treatment of Lovecraft's classic tale starring
Jeffrey Combs and Dean Stockwell
Hellboy, a special screening of the original 2004 movie followed by a Q&A
session with Hellboy creator, Mike Mignola

Another highlight of the festival will be the live dramatic performances of M.R. James' gothic horror tales by award-winning actor Robert Lloyd Parry. Our musical guests this year will be The Darkest Of The Hillside Thickets, who'll be performing at a special afterhours party at Tony Starlightʼs Supper Club and Lounge. The festival will even be hosting a wedding ceremony (the fifth in the festival's 14-year history).
Sponsors include Dark Horse, Baseline Studio Systems, Film Action Oregon, Night Shade Books, Bullseyedisc, and Lurker Films. Vendors include Cosmic Monkey, PaganPublishing, Rainy Day Games, Centipede Press, Sigh Co Graphics, and more.
This October 3rd, 4th, and 5th, the three screens of the Hollywood Theatre will be aglow with cosmic horror and the dark seats and hallways of that historic structure will be literally crawling with fans of H.P. Lovecraft and his literary, artistic, and cinematic legacy. Tickets are available through the festival's website and PDX Ticket Network.
Day passes are $15 for Friday, $18 for Saturday and $18 for Sunday. Passes for the entire three-day-and-night event start at $46.

* * * * *
The H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, founded in 1995 by Andrew Migliore, celebrates H.P. Lovecraft, the master of Gothic horror. Starting with the goal of encouraging more adaptations for film and television, the festival has exploded into a multi-media, multicity event hosting such distinguished guests as singer/poet Patti Smith, author Ramsey Campbell, and actors Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, and Christopher Heyerdahl.
A haven for filmmakers and fans, the festival has created its own following: a unique community of iconoclasts, all speaking the international language of cosmic horror. Lurker Films Inc. produces the Zompire Film Festival every May and the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival every October. The Hollywood Theatre is at 4122 NE Sandy Blvd.

Cthulhu waits dreaming ... in Portland! See you there! Cthulhu fhtagn!

This is a quick video tour of my office, The Rue Morgue House of Horror, where we publish Rue Morgue Magazine. It's a more than 100-year-old funeral home with a chapel and an embalming room, doors that go nowhere and stairs that lead to nothing in the creepy basement, which was full of giant drums of embalming fluid when Rodrigo first looked at purchasing it. My cousin Danny of all people was the real estate agent so we kind of lucked out. He said it was vacant for a while and no one really wanted to open a restaurant in a former morgue and it can't be torn down because it's a historic building. Nor did the owners want to sell it as another funeral home because they own two others in the area and didn't want competition. Potential buyers were creeped out when they did the math and realized literally thousands of dead people have been in this place over the years. It was perfect for us.

it's a pretty cool place to work, especially for a horror fan. And for a place that once housed so much grief, it's remarkably fun. Rue Morgue is a really close family, we fill it with a lot of laughter and good times. Thought some of you might want to check it out:

The Rue Morgue House of Horror


Oh and I realized afterward that I forgot to shoot the creepy basement so I'll do that this week.

I can't even begin to pretend I have the time to break down my Comic-Con experience, but the most important part was this, my new Cthulhu tattoo, drawn for me by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, and lovingly pimped out and tattooed on me by my dear friend Sean Herman. Thanks Sean, you're the fucking coolest. What an amazing gift.


Isn't he cute?

Oh and don't forget to come to our convention this month! See you there!


Plus the offsite events:

Help Save Clive Barker's Midnight Meat Train!




A Plea from Clive Barker:

My Dear Friends,
As you may or may not have heard, due to certain politics, "Midnight Meat Train" is in danger of Lionsgate not giving it a wide release. The below email was brought to my attention earlier today and shows a movement, of sorts, in order to get the picture the proper support and release it deserves. I'm asking you to please help spread the word in order for all to enjoy this film. I want to passionately encourage everybody who cares about my work to use this chance to change the minds of the folks at Lionsgate. I'm excited at the prospect of a movement of people who care deeply enough to initiate a campaign such as this.
Anything any of you can do - be it emails, web postings, word of mouth, and the like - to help encourage this movement would be deeply appreciated. The film is worth the effort in my mind, and I do not want to see my work fall by the wayside.
If any of you have any further ideas, thoughts, or suggestions to help with this effort, please let me know.

Thanks, as always, for your help and support.

Much Love,
Clive

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OPEN LETTER TO ALL HORROR FANS:

WE NEED TO START A VIRAL CAMPAIGN TO GET THIS MOVIE A WIDER RELEASE!!!

A very reliable SOURCE from within Lionsgate has told me that the decision to dump Midnight Meat Train in as few as 100 screens and then rush the film to DVD is based purely on INTERNAL POLITICS.

Something along the lines of: the new head honcho does not like the old head honcho so he is deliberately dumping all of his films out of spite and malice.

But there is HOPE. The only thing that overrides backstabbing politics in Hollywood is PURE GREED. It is clearly not healthy for investor relations to dump a movie that has a vocal and dedicated audience. Midnight Meat Train represents the kind of horror film that audiences have been dying for!!!

There is growing internal pressure within the company for a wider release of this film and PUBLIC FAN PRESSURE may help to push this decision over the edge.

If you wish to see MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN in all its big screen glory at a THEATER near you, please do the following:

Cut and paste the message at the bottom of this post and e-mail it to:

1) investor relations at Lionsgate: keasterling@lionsgate.com

2) Lionsgate: general-inquiries@lionsgate.com

3) call Lionsgate at (310) 449-9200 and express your desire to see MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN get the release it deserves.

BE POLITE AND PROFESSIONAL! We do not want to piss them off, just want them to know how many fans out there would like to shell out their hard earned cash to see the most groundbreaking horror film of the past ten years in a real movie theater!

4) SEND THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!

WE HAVE WAITED TOO LONG FOR THIS MOVIE TO LET IT GO STRAIGHT TO DVD!!!

Post this message everywhere, send it to your horror friends and spread the word! We need to act FAST to have an effect!!!

And LONG LIVE THE MEAT!!

HERE'S A SAMPLE MESSAGE FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE (or feel free to compose your own):

Dear Lionsgate,

As a long time Clive Barker fan, I am writing you to express my strong desire to see "The Midnight Meat Train" on the big screen.

Rumors are currently circulating that the film will only be released on a limited basis and I am very concerned that I will miss my opportunity to see the most highly anticipated Clive Barker film in over a decade in all of its big screen glory!

There are millions of horror fans like myself who have been disappointed by the recent trend towards watered down PG-13 horror movies. Clive's work represents a return to serious, thought provoking horror movies and with Ryuhei Kitamura at the helm, I am even more excited to experience this collaboration as it was intended: in a packed theater with hundreds of other horror fans like myself!

I urge you to please give this film the release it deserves!

Many thanks,

YOUR NAME

If Peter Lorre, Ernest Borgnine, Admiral Ackbar and Nien Nunb Went Through a Meat Grinder...

... and got stuffed into a Pug Sausage, it would look like my dog Godzilla.


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Am I wrong?

You may have noticed the moniker change. Some of you SG Old Skoolers might recall SKINJOB was actually my first username on the site. At some point over the years I changed it to ZOMBIEQUEEN. Now, for the life of me, I can't remember exactly what motivated me to do that. I do love zombies, but nowhere near as much as Blade Runner.

I don't love ANYTHING as much as I love Blade Runner.

At any rate, I got a very moving letter the other day - from another old member on the site. He explained that he'd written me once, years ago, revealing some painful memories that were stirred inside him after reading one of my very naked journal entries about my personal experiences. He also said I wrote back, with a thoughtful letter, that he's never forgotten. (I had totall recall of his epistle as well as my reply while reading his new correspondence). I addition, he reminded me about my true nature as a replicant, not a zombie. So I switched back to SKINJOB for a while in tribute to this person, who I may never hear from again. I might keep it indefinitely.

Whaddya think?

This has been on my helmet since I was 18 years old:

Rue Morgue Festival of Fear Official 2008 Guest List