Rue Morgue #85 Review Score: 10/10 | Date Posted: December 5th 2008 In: Media Reviews Review By Vince D'Amato http://www.creepysixfilms.com Rue Morgue #85 December 2008 Final Score: 10/10 Rue Morgue’s Christmas offering to its readers is, as far as content goes, on par with this years’ phenomenal Halloween issue. This issue really has a great vibe as far as genre coverage goes, with the crew handling articles & interviews and splashy full-page inserts on Coffin Joe’s lengthy horror and exploitation cinematic career, and this is followed by a wonderfully graphic article on artist Bernie Wrightson’s cult take on the Frankenstein book, with detailed excerpts of the art that knocked me right out. I must’ve stared at the central two-page splash for half an hour on its own, and it’s said that Wrightson actually started going blind as he worked on the detailed intricacies of his inspired Frankenstein vision. Follow this onto another splashy article on horror movie tie-in novels from the past century, including Hammer and Amicus horrors, Larry Cohen exploitation opuses and the slashers of the 80’s, including an interview with author Dennis Etchison himself, who wrote several John Carpenter film–novels under the name Jack Martin. There are some amusing and interesting reviews in the Cinemacbre section this month, and a pretty hilarious look at a few “Horror-Porn” offerings. Funny, I reviewed an issue of RM a few months back mentioning that I didn’t think it was necessary to hear the details of a reviewer’s pornographic preferences in a direct-to-video movie review. Well, here of all places, that sort of thing would’ve been entirely appropriate, but writer Last Chance Lance instead sticks to a good-humored take on the material in review, making for a pretty entertaining piece. After this somebody (okay, it was the Gore-Met) finally had an in-depth exploration of these double-feature exploitation cinema DVDs that have been coming out with some regularity over the last two years from the BCI/Eclipse distribution company, and here we get reviews for the likes of “Mausoleum”, “Blood Song”, “Cemetery Girls”, “Vampire Hookers” and more. Indie and DIY flicks get their own page, as does Hitchcock’s Psycho and DePalma’s awesome cult musical Phantom of the Paradise and It Came From Bowen’s Basement all round out a highly entertaining, detailed, and totally comprehensive selection of articles, columns, essays and interviews in one of the best compilations Rue Morgue has created all year. Very nicely done, indeed. -Vince D’Amato

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