‘Zine Review: Rue Morgue #59
Johnny Butane
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Issue #59
August 2006
Miike's always good for an offensive cover, isn't he? I tell you, it's weird to go to my "day job" reading Rue Morgue once a month; I get looks that vary between slightly amused to horrifically appalled… and that's usually just seeing their covers.
This month the focus is on the Masters (of Horror), and most specifically Takashi Miike's infamous banned episode from series one, "Imprint" (review). With text by Asian cinemaphile extraordinaire Tom Mes and an interview by Jovanka Vuckovic, it's definitely one of the more opinionated articles the mag's had in a while. What it pretty much comes down to is that the Rue crew believe that Showtime should've known what they had on their hands when they gave Miike $2 million US and told him the holds weren't barred, but sadly they wussed out when the real horror master showed his stuff. Agree or disagree, we'll all finally be able to see for themselves if Miike's episode was ban-worthy come September 26th, when the mini movie hits DVD.
A brief chat with Masters creator Mick Garris follows, discussing the next season of the show, which I have to admit sounds more and more badass the more I hear about it. Be sure to read David Bertrand's visit to the set of John Carpenter's next episode, "Pro-Life", for a glimpse at the show's major badass demon.
From there we travel to the other side of the pond for a retrospective on the works of British badboy filmmaker Pete Walker in celebration of Shriek Show's release of The Pete Walker Collection on DVD. It's a great article that gives some long-overdue respect to the notoriously private director and throws out some hope, albeit minor, that maybe he might be back for one more slashing before it's too late.
Liisa Ladouceur turns in a very strange article about the history of murder ballads, traditionally Southern songs about murder and death, and sheds light onto yet another underground musical phenomenon I've never heard of before. I'll be damned if I'm not intrigued by it now, too. Chances are we've all heard at least one murder ballad in our time but just never knew that's what we were hearing…
A quick article about horrific skateboard design follows as well as a look at artist Jason Soles, who has managed to create some truly disturbing home décor. Be sure to give ‘em both a read as they're great pieces about little-discussed subsections of our genre.
Then the reviews kick in, the highlights being the overwhelmingly positive discussion of Brett Leonard's Feed, a movie which has sharply divided audiences from its first showing, and a focus on the recent Criterion Collection release of the cheapy monster flick Equinox.
Oh, and do you want to know what set Chris Alexander down his path of twisted wickedness? Make sure you read this month's "Mad Musings…" column. Seems H.G. Wells was partially to blame.
Good stuff as usual, this being one of the more varied issues they've put out in recent memory and serves as a great example of just how diverse the ground they're willing to cover is. Be sure to hit Rue Morgue's official site for all the subscription information you'll ever need!
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