Rue Morgue (Issue 57: June 2006) Review Score: 10/10 | Date Posted: June 7th 2006 In: Media Reviews Rue Morgue Issue 57: June 2006 Review by Vince D’Amato | HNR Special Contributor Since March’s issue, each monthly copy of Rue Morgue has consistently been getting better and better. I’d dare say this has been their best issue this year. In preparation for the big-screen release of The Omen: 666 remake unleashing this week, Rue Morgue serves up a special 30th-anniversary retrospective on the original 1976 film – a film that launched the careers of writer David Seltzer and mega-star director Richard Donner (Superman, Lethal Weapon, Tales from the Crypt). This feature article boasts an interview with writer David Seltzer – and while I’ll admit the interview gets off to a bit of a lame start, after the first couple of questions, things get pretty damned interesting - as well as a tad bizarre. In between Rodrigo Gudino & John Bowen’s lead article, Jovanka Vuckovic and Bowen splice in a full-page chat with director Richard Donner and Bowen takes a look at the upcoming 30th-anniversary DVD re-release from Fox in a comprehensive side-bar. Gudino follows up the lead article with a look at the Biblical Revelations and its place in pop & horror culture, Jovanka Vuckovic tracks down the MIA child-star from the first Omen film, and Bowen reviews the sequels that followed the 1976 original. (How this man sat through all three sequels and managed to write such a vibrant full-page review of these boring films, I’ll never know – good on you, man!) Finally, Tom Murray rounds the whole thing off by bringing it up to date with the 2006 Omen remake, as he has a lengthy and fairly appealing chat with director John Moore about the validity of the remake, Seltzer’s feeling regarding his re-used script, and the frank publicity used by 20th Century Fox as a money-grabbing catalyst to get the film done. The following articles consist of The Queen of Horror Manga by Dave Alexander, which reminded me a little of the Hideshi Hino Horror feature they printed over a year ago, but Alexander’s article is still amazing. Liisa Ladouceur’s two-page retrospective on Cemetery Man (Dellamorte Dellamore) was a surprising treat, complete with a side-bar on the Dylan Dog comics (on which the film was based) by Dave Alexander and Ladouceur’s full-page follow-up where she interviews the stunning Anna Falchi, Cemetery Man’s co-star. Kick ass! Stuart Andrews talks to Fantasia’s Mitch Davis about the new Synapse Films release of Small Gauge Trauma, a collection of 13 shorts from the annual Fantasia film festival in Montreal. The article comes with some luscious stills from a few of the shorts. And speaking of luscious stills, Jovanka Vuckovic has a look at the paintbrush work of former tattoo artist Paul Booth, with some absolutely astounding full-page and full-colour reprints. Getting in the regular monthly columns, I don’t know how I felt about Last Chance Lance’s fence-sitting review of the uber-sucky Silent Hill that kicks off the Cinemacabre film review feature. However, his spotlight on the new-to-DVD Andre the Butcher was entertaining and comprehensive. Other goodies that are interspersed throughout the last half of the magazine include his full-page look at Leif Jonker’s Darkness, Chris Alexander’s The Red-Headed Sex Killers and The Rise of Peter Straub by Brett Alexander Savoy; while The Gore-Met slashes, guts, fillets and roasts the new Don’t Go near the Park DVD – but he does it with style. I actually received this new issue of Rue Morgue two days ago, but only sat down to read it this afternoon. When I was rudely interrupted on a call, I found that I couldn’t wait to get back to this issue! This is textbook Rue Morgue, and if things do indeed keep getting better, than I don’t know what I’m going to do – I don’t have any score higher than ten. I guess I shouldn’t have blown it all this month!

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