Drive Hungry
HELLDRIVER Blu-ray/DVD
Starring Yumiko Hara, Eihi Shiina and Kazuki Namioka
Directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura
Written by Yoshihiro Nishimura and Daichi Nagisa
Sushi Typhoon

If you’ve ever wondered what a Romero zombie movie would look like through the eyes of Yoshihiro Nishimura (The Machine Girl, Tokyo Gore Police), Helldriver is your chance to satiate that pondering. But be forewarned! Even by my low standards for goopy Japanese splatter flicks, the experience is a little like watching Sushi Typhoon collapse under the weight of its own prosthetic boob cannons. (Okay, there might not actually be boob cannons in this particular title but you know that they probably tried to fit them in there somehow.)

The plot gets a little abstract at times but the basic premise is that an asteroid hits Earth, which causes the release of a toxic ash that turns half of Japan into zombies. The rotters seem to possess pretty normal intelligence and exhibit – among other things – malevolent intent, and the abilities to organize and brandish chainsaws, however. (The rules are somewhat murky.) Anyway, a wall is built to quarantine the zombies to one half of the country while the survivors on the other side are left to reform society, now in a perpetual state of political turmoil and economic chaos. There is a revenge plot wrapped up in all of this too, the Helldriver part, which involves the Zombie Queen (yes, they have a zombie queen…played by Audition’s Eihi Shiina) and her daughter (Yumiko Hara), who is also undead, but not in the zombie kind of way. More like in the “my-mother-ripped-my-heart-out-and-is-now-using-it-for-herself” kind of way.

Expect plenty of slow-motion close-up profile shots, endless pre-fight shouting and intimidation matches, bloodcurdling screams of hatred stemming from an unquenchable thirst for revenge, a car chase where one of the cars is made out of…zombies? There is also an airplane made of zombies and a mountain of zombies and seeing as there is no way the production budget could keep up with these particularly ambitious ideas, you can imagine how terrible the CGI turned out to be.

Why is this not an animé? Then we’d all want to bow down to the Zombie Queen From Outer Space! But since this is live action on an over-extended budget, any inspiration in the kooky plot is simply lost in translation.

Jessa Sobczuk

magGot Films mastermind Michael Todd Schneider is slithering north of the 49th this week for two exclusive Canadian screenings of his brilliant ’70s exploitation homage, And Then I Helped.

This Friday, February 3, Horror in the Hammer will be presenting a double bill of And Then I Helped and Romario Sanchez’ Day Zero in Hamilton as part of their Fright Night series at the Staircase Café and Theatre (27 Dundurn Street N). Schneider and assorted magGots will be there for a post-screening Q+A. Doors open at 8 p.m.

Then on Sunday, February 5, Rue Morgue, Eyesore Cinema and Suspect Video present the return Toronto engagement of And Then I Helped at the Toronto Underground Cinema (186 Spadina Avenue) at 7 p.m. Those who missed the world premiere of And Then I Helped at the 2010 Festival of Fear have a singular chance to correct that oversight. I will serve as host again, and the unpredictable but always entertaining Schneider will join me to fly in the face of good taste with you afterward.

These are unique opportunities to see a true underground film in a venue that couldn’t possibly be more fitting, sans a gooey floor, low moans in the back rows, and the stench of amyl nitrate. And Then I Helped is a surreal, psycho-delic tale of a relationship consummated in a most arcane manner that raises the bar for independent filmmaking through the compelling performances of Nikki McIntyre and the legendary Ben Tatar, consistently cinematic cinematography, and an organic, original score wonderfully evocative of the era. This is a cult film in-waiting that successfully captures the essence of ’70s by never referencing the ‘70s. You need to see it to understand that.
If that’s not incentive enough, Schneider will be filming in Toronto for a scene in a forthcoming feature, Let’s Make a Horror Movie, so those who attend will want to start getting their IMDb profiles together.

Don’tcha dare miss it! (All apologies to the late Billy Red Lyons).

It’s coming out on DVD and Blu-ray on Feb 14th through IFC Midnight but apparently, you can watch the UNCUT version on the Sundance Now chonebook page HERE.

Endure…

:- FDBK

p.s. Here’s a great little bonus ‘Behind The Scenes‘ clip (but it’s probably best to wait until you’ve seen the flick first as it’s a bit of a spoiler.)
http://www.ifcfilms.com/uncategorized/human-centipede-2-the-making-of

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The design you see below is available at shirtpunch.com as of midnight EST tonight, for only 24 hours.

Arguably the most prominent practitioners of The New Wave of American Heavy Metal movement, Virginia’s Lamb of God rolled into (and over) Toronto on Friday night during the band’s current six-date tour to promote their just-released seventh studio album, Resolution (out now from Epic).

The last time the band came through town, they were the opening act for Metallica on the World Magnetic tour in October of 2009 at the cavernous Air Canada Centre (capacity: 20,000). Arena shows can be great spectacles, of course, but it’s no secret that warm-up bands get the short end of the stick as a general rule. They’re seldom granted the same calibre of sound, the lighting schemes are kept to a minimum and, when they’re standing in the shadow of a musical giant the size of Metallica, typically generate a response made up of equal amounts polite applause, general disinterest or audible indignation by the headliners’ increasingly anxious, impatient and/or drunk fanbase.

On this particular night, however, Lamb of God was the main attraction, and a sold-out crowd of roughly a thousand lecherous metalheads wedged into the sweltering Phoenix in hopes of being sonically lambasted by the band’s overdriven and blackened update of Pantera’s Southern-fried power-groove metal.

They were not disappointed.

In front of a simple black and white banner that riffed upon the American flag, the band opened with “Desolation” and “Ghost Walking,” two of Resolution’s most devastating anthems. The one-two punch worked well to get the crowd onboard early, though it also signaled the end of audibly discerning any of singer Randy Blythe’s growled lyrics as his well-cured rasp seemed to dip down into the mix for the rest of the night amongst a maelstrom of artificial harmonics and drummer Chris Adler’s best attempts at driving his drum riser right through the floor of the stage.

Next came the lead track from 2006’s Sacrament, “Walk with Me in Hell,” “Set to Fail” from 2009’s Wrath, and “Now You’ve Got Something to Die For” from 2004’s Ashes of the Wake. Throughout, the quartet of Adler, his younger brother Willie (guitar), Mark Morton (guitar) and John Campbell (bass) were supernaturally tight. On record, one of Lamb of God’s strengths is finding an even heavier riff to go to during a sequence in which the band sounds as if they couldn’t get any heavier. This ability to shift the songs into a gear you didn’t know was there was even more effective in a club setting. Blythe’s banter, on the other hand, was pretty lunkheaded (“Hey Canada! You guys ready to get crazy?”) for a guy who has literally played thousands of shows over the past decade. Nonetheless, the crowd hadn’t gathered to talk about “stuff” and they didn’t require any coercion to bang their heads. They were there to pick up a T-shirt and a case of tinnitus, and have their craniums caved in by one of the most consistent and badassiest bands in mainstream metal right now.

The rest of the set was comprised of eardrum crushers from throughout the band’s meaty catalogue, including “Ruin,” “Hourglass,” “Blacken the Cursed Sun,” “Laid to Rest,” and two more standout tracks from Resolution, “The Undertow” and “The Number Six.” Unsurprisingly, the fighting Virginians were called back for an encore by the inconsolable crowd, who were treated to clinically executed renditions of “The Passing,” “In Your Words,” and the Grammy-nominated “Redneck.”

And no Lamb show would be complete without a “Wall of Death,” the moshing stunt in which the crowd in front of the stage divides itself into two distinct sections with a large gap between them. The two groups then run at each other at full speed and violently collide in a melee of sweaty, flailing limbs.

Before ripping into the final song of the night, New American Gospel‘s “Black Label,” Blythe warned that those who didn’t have any clue what was about to transpire better get the fuck off the dance floor. Few wavered, though, surprising at least this reporter. Hailing from the rough-and-tumble prairies as I do, I’ve watched in amazement over the past five years at how incredibly well a sniffy Toronto audience can collectively impersonate a flaccid penis on a porno set at the various rock shows I’ve taken in. I’m happy to have been proven wrong for this show. Dead wrong. It was an unexpected manning-up; a fit of courage in the form of a flesh yard sale that summed up what Lamb of God had done all night from the stage.

Toronto, I didn’t know you had it in you.

But have no fear, we did not go gently into that good night. We raged, raged against the dying of the light with this: a two hour, double whammy FINAL TRANSMISSION!

Hear Tomb Dragomir’s ramblings on David Lynch’s CRAZY CLOWN TIME!

Thrill to the Caustic Critics pontifications on RATLINE starring Emily Haack and Jason Christ, directed by Eric Stanze!

Plus, some final words from Shannon, a last blast of Terror Tunes by Tomb and a supersonic giveaway to end all supersonic giveaways!

So on behalf of everyone at Rue Morgue Radio, I wanna thank all the folks at RUE MORGUE MAGAZINE for making it possible for us to do this show over the last seven plus years, especially Monica and Justin who’ve worked hard behind the scenes every week.

Also, a big thanks to all my former Caustic Critics combatants (there’s been about 16 of them in total), especially Chris Alexander who was as much a part of establishing Rue Morgue Radio as anyone else and the Gore-Met for stepping in to fill a void following his departure.

But most importantly, I wanna thank the loyal fans of RUE MORGUE RADIO who’ve tuned in every week, some from the very beginning. It’s been your support and enthusiasm that has allowed us to remain on the weird wide web all this time. We’d often get letters thanking us for helping some of you get through a long drive, a long day at work or even just an otherwise bleak scenario (I know that in Owen Garth’s case, he likes to put the show on in the background while he preps his victims for the deep freeze).

Those little comments have gone a LONG way to keeping us enthused about doing this. And over the years, we’ve made cyber friends with some of you and met others at the Festival of Fear and it feels like we’ve gotten to know a few of you a little bit.

And of course, to those who voted for us in the Rondo Hatton Horror Awards, we are perpetually in your debt. And I mean that literally because I bribed many of you personally. Don’t worry, I’ll get those cheques out immediately! (Cheques will not be honoured.)

But while RUE MORGUE RADIO may be disintegrating, we’re not vanishing entirely from Cyber Hell. Sir Tomb will be back soon with his own horror music podcast and you can viddy his whacked out, mental shenanigans on TOMB TV.

And even though it’s RUST IN PEACE for the Caustic Critics, Lance and I will continue making the odd appearance on the RUE MORGUE PODCAST.

So no tears please! It’s a waste of good suffering.

Anyway, without any further ado, I present for your slooshying agony, the grand finale to end all grand finales: RUE MORGUE RADIO: FINAL TRANSMISSION.

:- FDBK x

R.I.P. RUE MORGUE RADIO (2004-2012)

Not only is he a Rock ‘n’ Roll God but he’s a horror movie maniac and he’s just started his own production company, not surprisingly entitled SLASHER FILMS.

He teamed up with producers Rob Eric and Michael Williams (Session 9) and they’re about to go into production on their first feature Nothing To Fear. It’s set in the town of Stull, Kansas which, apparently, is one of the seven gateways to Hell.

So here it is, ladies and germs. For your slooshying pleasure, the first ever interview anyone has ever done with the guitar genius Slash about his brand new horror movie enterprise!

Endure….

:- FDBK

The Rue Morgue Podcast now has a FACEBOOK page of its own. Check it out HERE.

To have one of your letters read on an upcoming edition of the Rue Morgue Podcast, send an email to letters @ ruemorgueradio.com.

To listen to the episode, use the embedded player or click HERE
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GHOST
13 Dates of Doom Tour
w/Blood Ceremony
and Ancient VVisdom
Mod Club – Toronto
January 22, 2012

Avid RM readers will know that we here at the mag sure as hell love us some Ghost (so much, in fact, that we even named them the Best Musical Discovery of 2011 in the latest issue). So when we heard that they had rescheduled their first North American tour (the one they’d initially planned last fall cancelled due to travel visa-related complications) I jumped at the chance to finally bear witness to them firsthand.

Known around the world for their elaborate get-ups and soul-shattering stage show, the Swedish six-piece have begun to explode in popularity over the last two years, all the while keeping a tight lid on their identities. While we may not know who they are, their success is certainly no secret.

First up was Ancient VVisdom from Dallas, Texas, and yes, it is spelled with two Vs. I’d never heard of this band before I saw their name on the bill, but like a responsible concertgoer I did some research beforehand. What I was excited to discover was a band that keeps things mostly acoustic (though they do splice in occasional heavy guitars and drums) while delivering a series of dark ballads dedicated to the Great Horned One. The songs transition very well to a live setting and seem to be turned up a notch to keep the crowd rocking and heads banging. Lead singer Nathan Opposition manages to double as the percussionist and his use of chains instead of drum sticks for one song was definitely something to behold.

Next was Blood Ceremony, a local Toronto band that damned us last year with their presence on both our Hymns From the House of Horror Vol. II compilation and our official Festival of Fear party. The witch-rockers did not disappoint as their patented mix of rocking guitar, haunting organ, and whistling flute all came together to create a sound that’s reminiscent of both Jethro Tull and Black Sabbath. Their stage show was equally as possessing as their music. Lead singer Alia O’Brien is one of the few people that can truly rock out on a flute, nevermind her magnetic demonic leering. I enjoyed every minute of it.

Finally, it was time for the main event. The anticipation had been building since the beginning of the night when I saw the banners hanging on the back of the stage. Resembling a less-than-wholesome set of cathedral windows, they featured imagery that wasn’t exactly what you’d call Vatican material. As the curtains closed, I began to discuss with my fellow Rue Crew members (24 of us in total!) what was going to happen next. We imagined a crowd that would move in a way that was part mosh and part exorcism, and in a strange way we were right.

Then the music began, the curtains parted, and five hooded “Nameless Ghouls” took to the stage, followed by their leader: the Satanic pope himself, Papa Emeritus I. The crowd was entranced for the entire set as devil horn hand gestures rarely left the air and small pockets of the crowd had begun to headbang to the point of demonic assistance.

Ghost played the entirety of their first and only album Opus Eponymous and a cover of The Beatles “Here Comes the Sun,” which had appeared only as a bonus track on the Japanese release of the album. Their live version is even better than the recording and it would certainly have George Harrison turning in his grave. The band’s meld of doom and hard rock comes off amazingly well live, and with the added theatricality you truly feel like you’re seeing much more than mere rock show. It was apparent that several songs were being played to a click track so that sequenced backing vocals could help bolster the choruses but this is easily forgiven considering the difficulties the hooded band members would’ve likely experienced trying to sing while still maintaining complete anonymity. As it was, they had their hands full playing their instruments with their faces completely covered and in various stages of dim concert lighting.

The only real gripe would be the lack of an encore. When you headline a show with only one album under your belt, I guess you’re bound to run out of material. But there was hope that maybe they would test out some new sermons. T’was not to be. All a part of the mystique, I suppose.

Overall, this was certainly one of the best shows I’ve ever been to and I can’t help but feel a little more “enlightened” because of it. With a great line-up of bands and tickets just under $20, you’d be blasphemous to not flock to the church of Ghost.

The 13 Dates of Doom Tour continues until February 2 so for those of you with your souls still intact, I suggest you make your way to the nearest show pronto.

January 18 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
January 19 Washington, DC Rock N Roll Hotel
January 20 Boston, MA Middle East (downstairs)
January 21 Montreal, QC Corona Theatre
January 22 Toronto, ON The Mod Club
January 24 Chicago, IL Bottom Lounge
January 25 Saint Paul, MN Station 4
January 27 Denver, CO Marquis Theatre
January 28 Salt Lake City, UT The Vertigo (The Complex)
January 30 Seattle, WA El Corazon
January 31 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theater
February 1 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill
February 2 Los Angeles, CA The Roxy

CFC is presenting a special screening of an episode of AMC’s The Walking Dead followed by an in-depth Q&A with executive producer Gale Anne Hurd, moderated by film critic Richard Crouse. From the press release:

“Hurd will speak to the making of this series, the process of adapting a popular graphic novel series as live action series, balancing expectations of the horror genre with those of a human drama in an award-winning and highly charged prime time show, as well the creative and producing challenges faced along the way.”

The screening starts at 7:30 pm at the TIFF Bell Lighbox (350 King Street West, Theatre 1) on Tuesday, January 31 (doors open at 7). It’s a free event, but the best way to make sure you get in is to win one of the ten pairs of tickets they’ve set aside just for Rue Morgue readers. To enter, be sure you’ve “liked” Rue Morgue on Facebook and send your name and full address to facebook@rue-morgue.com. Winners will be selected at random and notified by 3pm on Monday, Jan. 30.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sent to settle the affairs of a recently deceased widow in the decaying grounds of Eel Marsh House is middle-aged solicitor, Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe). Upon his arrival, Kipps finds himself seeing and hearing unexplained noises that nearly send him over the edge. It soon becomes clear that everyone in the town is keeping a deadly secret. Although the locals try to keep him from learning their tragic history, Kipps discovers that the house is haunted by the ghost of a woman whose appearances foreshadow a child’s death. Who is this woman? Watch the shocking mystery unfold in this new portrayal of the classic ghost story that will send chills down your spine.

No one, not even the children, are safe.

In theatres February 3.

Watch the EXCLUSIVE livestream of the black carpet premiere of The Woman in Black on the Alliance Films Facebook page this Thursday, January 26 at 6pm EST with special guest, Daniel Radcliffe.