RUE MORGUE NO. 108

RUE MORGUE
No. 108
Editor: Dave Alexander
Publication Date: January/February 2011
Publisher: Marrs Media, Inc.
Color cover/ Full color interior
72 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $9.95
Subscription rates: Half year (six issues): $59.70 US; One year (11 issues): $74.95 US

You gotta admit, RUE MORGUE magazine is just like a fine Bar-B-Q steak dinner with all the trimmings, it makes you salivate with a gnawing hunger just by looking at it. Exquisitely designed, beautifully printed, and the articles and photos ain’t bad, either!

But, you know, the people that make monster ‘zines look like they do oftentimes go unheralded. So here goes: Art Director Gary Pullin and Graphic Designer Justin Erickson . . . congratulations for making RUE MORGUE the overall best looking monster mag on the market today! Others come close, a few closer than others, but Da Morgue rules when it comes to hardcopy eye candy.

So, what’s in store for the reader in issue #108? The usual bumper crop of departments that offer everything from movie reviews (both new and old), books, comics, music, games, web site recommendations (brilliantly titled “Roadkill”), and one of my favorites in each issue, a full page filled with the “Coroner’s Report: Weird Stats & Morbid Facts”, “Tortured Taglines” – weird and wacky blurbs from movies posters, the “Sick Top Six” listing gory ways that people get off’ed in movies, and, last but not least, the cartoon “Disfigured Speech” which takes common phrases and puts a morbid twist on them. If that sounds like a lot of fun, it is!

For features, leading off is Monica S. Kuebler’s “Piety and Pestilence”, where she asks the question, since the Middle Ages were so dark, depressing, brutal and bloody, why aren’t more horror films set in the period? She cites Vincent Price’s THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, but stops there, ‘cause there’s not much more to mention. The new films, SEASON OF THE WITCH and BLACK DEATH are here to resolve that factoid. Monica interviews BLACK DEATH’s director, Christopher Smith, to explain a little.

Next up is a talk with Ji-Woon Kim who’s KILLER IN ME KILLER IN YOU has garnered the ostentatious distinction of being South Korea’s most graphic and violent film to date. This is followed by a shorter piece on Asian serial killer movies. Kinda makes ya’ all warm and fuzzy so far, huh?

There’s a review of 2010 in media, but I didn’t see an entry for best publication other than in books. Well, I guess it would be silly, since I’m sure the folks at RUE MORGUE, even being a humble sort, would lean toward voting for their own ‘zine (how could you blame them?). Some of the highlights from the selections chosen by the staff were: [REC] 2 Best Feature Film, Greg Nicotero’s UNITED MONSTER TALENT AGENCY (you can see that right here at MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD -- just click HERE) Best Short Film, PIRANHA 3-D Best Guilty Pleasure, THE WALKING DEAD Best Television Show, and THE ART OF HAMMER Best Art Book. Rounding things off are 2011 horror convention and film festival schedules.

All-in-all, the usual meaty fare from the folks at RUE MORGUE. And, just like that scrumptious Bar-B-Q steak, it’s smokin’, juicy, and runnin’ with the red stuff. Dig in, monster lovers.