CANAL+, the French premium pay television channel, has acquired the rights to show The Eyes of Edward James in France, Monaco, Switzerland, Mauritius and French overseas territories. The film will be shown on December 15 at 10:30 pm and on December 21 at 10 pm as part of the program “Mickrociné’’. Check it out!
Masque of the Black Death, Rue Morgue’s 10th Anniversary Halloween Bash wrapped up with it annual bang this past Saturday. As usual, attendees rose to the challenge of putting together some of the wildest costumes ever. I’d go on about the event but I’ll let the pictures do the talking. Photos by Ashlea Wessel of Revolver Photography. A big thanks to our sponsors this year, Warner Bros., Alliance Films Canada and Anchor Bay Entertainment.
It’s been a few weeks since I returned from the Sitges Fantastic Film Fest where I screened both films along with Rue Morgue Cinema producer Marco Pecota. It was a crazy cool trip where we got to see some old friends, including TIFF’s Colin Geddes, Ken Foree and Nacho Cerda, and meet some new ones, notably Ruggero Deodato, Zoe Bell (who was on the jury) and short filmmakers Wei Ling Chiang (Aunti Tyger) and Daniel Domachowski (Pig Tale). I also got to see what kind of films are currently doing the festival circuit; some of the standouts included the Spanish science fiction headspinner Los Cronocrimenes (The Time Crimes), the horror comedy Teeth and Takashi Miike’s Sukiyaki Western Django.
On the last Sunday of the festival we were shown around Barcelona by my old friend Shade Rupe who took us to Gaudi’s Familia Sagrada church where we climbed the spires and posed for some touristy photos before heading off to Gaudi’s La Pedrera. Just as night was falling we wandered into Barcelona’s barrio gothic, a huge and labyrinthine quarter of the city known for its striking gothic architecture. The trip was too short and the parties made it seem like a some jet-lagged hallucination brought on by the excesses of freak films and double vodka sodas but despite all that, I managed to document a few things thanks in large part to Colin and Shade.
It’s Halloween which means you should be listening to Rue Morgue Radio, the weird wide web’s original horror broadcast. And the best part is: it’s free! This week, a look at Return of the Living Dead featuring an interview with B-movie scream queen Linnea Quigley, plus a tribute to death rockers The Flesh Eaters and terror tunes from Tomb Dragomir including Ghoultown, Motorhead, Send More Peramedics, Necro, The Groovie Ghoulies, The Cramps, Tom Petty, 45 Grave, Boris Randall and more. So tune in, turn on… and drop dead.
Check out the new issue of Canadian Business Magazine (Oct 22/07) featuring an article on yours truly by writer Calvin Leung, who refers to me as a “Horror Meister”. The article is a really cool overview of ten years of Rue Morgue plus my ventures into filmmaking. Although the piece insinuates that I pressure my staff to run harsh reviews (?) and has a few bitter words from filmmaker Eli Roth regarding the negative review of Hostel that I wrote many moons ago, overall it is a balanced overview of my business philosophy and of Rue Morgue’s financial successes over the years. And hey, it’s always nice to be noticed. So check it out and give it a read, just don’t forget that grain of salt…
It’s that time of year again, in the words of Ray Bradbury, when “noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger and midnights stay. [When] people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts. Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain.” I’ll be at Masque of the Black Death, our 10th Anniversary Halloween party where I’ve put together a great show to ring in Rue Morgue’s first decade, including a host of grisly acts like Plague Doctor Horror Theatre, a Satanic Circumcision, the ever popular Rue Morgue Go-Go Ghouls, midgets, magicians and lots more. There will also be a rare appearance by Goblinia featuring Maurizio Guarini and Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni performing music from Dario Argento’s best films, as well as Johnny Hollow, Canada’s goth pop trio, performing sinister atmospherics. This plus monsters on stilts, horror films, ghastly tricks and even a few treats. I’ll be in the top hat and coat-tails, but if I don’t see you… have a Happy Halloween.
I am hugely proud to announce that Texas’ Fantastic Fest 2007 has awarded The Demonology of Desire the Special Jury Prize For Best Actress (Bianca Rusu) and Special Jury Prize For Best Effects (Gaslight Studio). Congratulations to Bianca and the guys from Gaslight for an amazing job!
Also, London England’s Raindance Film Festival recently announced the nomination of The Demonology of Desire in the category of Best International Short. Among the jury members who will be judging the winner are Brian Tufano (cinematographer for Trainspotting, Shallow Grave), Sandy Lieberson (former president of 20th Century Fox and MGM International, and rock stars Iggy Pop and Mick Jones (The Clash).
Here’s what critics and programmers are saying about The Demonology of Desire:
Hard to believe that it was ten years ago this October that Rue Morgue came to be. Its beginnings were humble: 20 black-and-white pages, bound and saddle-stitched, distributed for free in Toronto. Rue Morgue has since grown to become a monthly glossy available worldwide and even branched out into its own horror festival, radio show, monthly movie night and film company. But it all started in the fall of 1997 when a frustrated journalist with a degree in literary studies and philosophy decided he had had enough of the music biz. Here’s the first chapter in that tale, available in its entirety in the Halloween Issue of Rue Morgue available on stands October 1.
Memoirs From the Rue Morgue
A Decade in the Making of Canada’s Premier Horror Magazine
by Rodrigo Gudiño
The year was 1997 and horror was in the air. David Lynch’s Lost Highway was in theatres; Scream was a fledgling franchise and Event Horizon was being touted as the scariest movie of the year. The DVD reissue craze was in full swing and Anchor Bay Entertainment was leading the pack in classic releases from the video era – stuff like Argento’s Suspiria and Raimi’s Evil Dead. The X-Files was on its fourth season and White Wolf’s Vampire: The Masquerade role playing game was at its peak. Nine Inch Nails was huge, Marilyn Manson had just declared himself AntiChrist Superstar and Rob Zombie was working on his first solo album. Horror was in the air…
In what will undoubtedly be an evening of challenging cinema, festival programmers at Austin’s Fantastic Fest have decided to screen The Demonology of Desire alongside Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door, director Gregory Wilson’s adaptation of Ketchum’s terrifying novel. The films will screen together on Saturday Sep 22 at 9:30 PM and Tuesday Sep 25 at 3:30 PM, both at the Alamo S. Lamar 1. Producer Marco Pecota and I will be there to introduce The Demonology of Desire; introducing The Girl Next Door will be director Gregory Wilson, producer Andrew van den Houten and star Grant Show. Bring a box of tissues…
The Fourth Annual Rue Morgue Festival of Fear was a huge success, thanks to everyone for coming out and making it in early on Sunday to see what I’ve been up to. Alas the show never stops so I will be presenting The Demonology of Desire in Austin’s Fantastic Fest before heading to Spain for the premieres of both The Eyes of Edward James and The Demonology of Desire at the prestigious Sitges Film Festival. I have done a complete overhaul of the Tour page with all the new dates included so check it out and hope to see ya.
