I am very happy to announce that The Facts In the Case of Mister Hollow will have its world premiere at Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival (Thursday July 17, Concordia’s Hall Theatre 7:15 pm). The film will also be premiering in competition at the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (July 19-24 Puchon, Korea) and Fantastic Fest 5 (Sep 18-25 Austin, Texas). I will be introducing the film in Korea and Texas, along with producer Marco Pecota. Check out the trailer and full screening schedule.

Rue Morgue Cinema continues to criss-cross the globe as part of Aarón Soto and Cathy Alberich’s XV JORNADA ACADEMICA DE COMUNICACION: Arte y Comunicación de la Universidad de Occidente, Unidad Los Mochis of the Comunication Major of the Sinaloa State, in the city of Los Mochis. Both The Eyes of Edward James and The Demonology of Desire will be shown at the event, taking place at Sinaloa’s Centro de Inovacion y Educacion (Obregón y Ángel Flores, Colonia Centro, this July 3), so if you are taking a summer vacation in Northern Mexico, come and join the horror party, Los Mochis style! Details here.

My apologies for not having posted for such a long time, but things have been extremely busy at Rue Morgue headquarters with the recent launch of the brand new Rue-Morgue.com, the ongoing plans for this year’s Festival of Fear and, of course, new screening dates for the films. I am happy to announce that The Eyes of Edward James just keeps going with a new screening in Australia’s Revelation Perth International Film Festival happening July 3-13, 2008. The film will screen as part of the festival’s Night of Horror programme. The Demonology of Desire also continues to tour and has been scheduled as part of Terror In the Aisles!, featuring over 14 hours of horror madness in Chicago’s Portage Theater (August 16, 2008). The film is also scheduled to play in the 18th Edition of the FANCINE Fantastic Film Festival of Málaga in Spain (November 6-14 2008). See the full screening schedule.

I have been working very hard along with David Daniloff and the guys at Hobbystar to put together this year’s 5th Annual Festival of Fear event and I am happy to say that I think this will be our best year yet. And that ain’t no line. Our Guest of Honour this year will be none other than Wes Craven (Last House on the Left, A Nightmare On Elm Street, The Hills Have Eyes, Scream). Special Guests will include Sid Haig (House of 1000 Corpses, Spider Baby), Ruggero Deodato (Cannibal Holocaust), Tura Satana (Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Astro Zombies), the legendary Brad Dourif (Exorcist III, Blue Velvet), Shawnee Smith from the Saw movies, Kristy Swanson (the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Melantha Blackthorne (Death Race), Lloyd Kaufman from Troma, Johnny Hollow, my friends at Gaslight Studio, the Suicide Girls and tons more! There will also be a performance from Canadian horrorbilly ghouls The Creepshow, one of my fave bands right now, along with a lot of other stuff I will be announcing in the coming months. So make a space on your calendar for the weekend of August 22-24 and join usssss….!

I just got back from Montreal where my hands were featured in a cameo for a teaser for my friend Karim (Subconscious Cruelty) Hussein’s new film called Filthy. The bizarre story centers around a disenfranchised woman who seeks and finds sexual satisfaction among the city’s most destitute. The teaser features a naked woman (played by Canadian Butoh dancer Rasili) lying in a pile of garbage from which a series of hands emerge to smear her body with unimaginable filth. Karim suggested I play the love interest - a pair of shit smeared hands that Rasili lovingly clasps at the end of the teaser. Here’s a still from the shoot, which Mondo Macabro produced!

Hey kids, this really cool radio show called Dread Media just did a special on my films. They had some nice things to say about Rue Morgue and even reviewed The Eyes of Edward James and The Demonology of Desire and spoke about The Facts in the Case of Mister Hollow. The show also includes reviews of the fifth volume of Lurker Films’ HP Lovecraft Collection, Strange Aeon plus news and music by Iron Maiden, Primus and Saltillo, so check it out!

I thought you guys might dig word of the private screening that me and co-director Vincent Marcone had for our new film called The Facts In the Case of Mister Hollow, which we presented to cast, crew and staff from Rue Morgue. Vincent’s band Johnny Hollow played a short and intimate set which really prepped everyone for the movie. The evening also included a screening of RM’s Audra Jacombs and her husband David’s film called The Laundromat, a stylized and energetic zombie short which was shot by RM photog Ashlea Wessel. Afterwards we all ended up at Margaret’s, which has become our new watering hole here in the Junction part of Toronto. Here are a few pics from the evening’s events, hope you dig ‘em!

I just returned from the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival where I screened The Demonology of Desire and met some great fans there who really impressed me with their passion for horror movies. I also got to spend some time with Herschell Gordon Lewis (who was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award), the sultry Melantha Blackthorne (Countess Bathoria’s Graveyard Picture Show), the legendary Roy Frumkes (Street Trash) and BNFF’s Greg Lambertson (Johnny Gruesome). The staff and attendees were very accommodating and hospitable and I had a really amazing time.
Anyway, when I got back home and was blown away by news that The Demonology of Desire scooped the award for Best Short at this year’s Boston Underground Film Festival. Awards were also bestowed to Karim Hussain’s La Belle Bete (which won for Best Feature) and the films Who Is KK Downey?, 3 Stories About Evil and Pop Skull, and the short film My Name is Pochsy: An Industrial Film.
The Backseat Film Festival out of Philadelphia also bestowed an award to The Demonology of Desire in the category of Best Creature Special Effects, so a big congratulations goes out to the guys at Gaslight Studio for that one.

I had the pleasure of meeting Peter Gutierrez from Firefox News this past February in New York when I was there for Valentine Villainy: An Evening of Short Horror Films About Love and Desire. Peter was kind enough to check out my movies and turn me on to one of my now favourite websites KinderTrauma.com. He also offered to do a very thoughtful and in-depth interview with yours truly on the state of horror films and my movies in particular. Called “Horror Today - An Interview With Rue Morgue’s Rodrigo Gudino“, the interview has recently gone online and can be read in its entirety at the link.
And while I’m at it I just realized I never posted any pics of my villainous valentine in the Big Apple so here they are, a little belatedly. A big thank you to Shade Rupe for putting on the event, to Jennifer “Rabbit” Arcuri for chaperoning me around NY, and to Phil Mucci for adding his kickass film, The Listening Dead, to the bill!

I am very pleased to (finally!) be able to announce my latest finished film project which I co-directed with the brilliant Vincent Marcone. The film is called THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF MISTER HOLLOW and it stars Julian Richings (Kingdom Hospital, Wrong Turn), and newcomers Alan Alderton, Tony Morrone and Lea Lawrynowicz. I am describing it (at least colloquially) as a spooky visual puzzle and yes, I realize this is a cryptic description, but it’s a cryptic movie… and besides, I’ve never been one to give up my secrets very easily! Below is the synopsis and attached is the poster art. More soon….

A single image that tells an entire story, THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF MISTER HOLLOW is the groundbreaking new film by Rue Morgue founding editor Rodrigo Gudiño (The Demonology of Desire, The Eyes of Edward James) and award-winning visual artist Vincent Marcone (MyPetSkeleton.com, Johnny Hollow). The visually stunning film centers on an unusual photograph dating back to the 1930s. An investigation of its particulars reveals a tapestry of secrets hidden in the details, and a tale of kidnapping and murder captured in a haunting moment.