Rue Morgue

One of the benefits of being a vendor at a Halloween market is that you never know who your neighbour will be. Mine was James Fisher.

Fisher is a local artist and creator of Rue Morgue Magazine's "Disfigures of Speech" column. The print I purchased - pictured right - is from that collection.

Fisher is also the creative mastermind behind Zircocircus.com where you'll find links to more of his artwork and illustrations, along with some macabre melodies he's put together. I know a number of you folks are looking for new music to use in your haunts, and this might be the fresh sound you're looking for to replace some of your stale standbys. You can hear some samples on his myspace page.

With both prints and CDs priced at $10, you can't go wrong.

Fisher spent the whole day sketching the faces of lucky customers onto prints of delicious monstrosities (so the head of the customer was now atop a skeletal form, or a creature, or even decapitated). By the afternoon, it was rare to see his portrait chair empty.

And on top of it all, he's a nice guy. Offered me some of his pasta, gave me his sunglasses to wear when the sun was melting my eyeballs, and entertained me with friendly conversation.

I'm back from Rue Morgue's Festival of Fear (part of Hobby Star's Fan Expo). I'm dead on my feet, but I had a great first day. Let me tell you about it.

There aren't many Canadian events for Haunters, Horror fans or Halloween freaks. Even in my busy city of Toronto, home to countless conventions and festivals, the pickings are slim so I'm always keen to stay on top of what's happening.

In August, as part of Hobby Star's FanExpo, Torontonians are treated to the Festival of Fear (brought to us by our beloved Rue Morgue).

They haven't posted their list of exhibitors or guests yet (more announcements coming in May) but I do know one thing that might be different about this year: I'm hoping to attend as both a fan and an exhibitor.

A special hello to creepy Canadian critters reading this blog. I've returned from a full day at Fan Expo Canada, and more specifically, the Festival of Fear brought to us by Rue Morgue. I'll be publishing a series of blogs on my experience and some great finds, but today's post will be a general overview. Let me get my harshest criticism out of the way.

My friend and I arrived at the convention centre at 11:15 AM. We had not purchased advanced tickets (having missed the deadline to do so) but knew we could get them at the door. Unfortunately, Hobbystar claims they haven't figured out how to make credit card payments available to visitors (though some retailers inside did, so I don't see what the problem is). If you don't have cash on hand (or in your bank account) you will be out of luck on Sunday (and that's a lot of cash for families to fork over at once).

I love horror movies, but I am not the type of person who likes a movie simply because it fits a certain genre. Therefore, I don't get excited about a new film coming out just because it's a horror movie. There has to be something about it that catches my interest.

Clive Barker's 'Midnight Meat Train' is one of those movies that has the potential to be more than just a slasher gore-fest (though what's with the string of horror movies that focus on photography lately?).

For one night only, Rue Morgue is presenting the premiere of Midnight Meat Train at the Bloor Cinema this Thursday at 9:30 PM. There will be prizes and 'Evangelical Satanic Faith Healing' with Pastor Morgan Wilkes and Victor Marshall of Cloven Path Ministries.

In less than two weeks, Rue Morgue will be holding their annual Festival of Fear National Horror Expo in the Toronto Convention Centre.

I went last year and have mixed feelings about the event. As a horror fan, they had some impressive celebrity guests. As a Haunter/Halloweener, they had very little to get excited about. Most retailers weren't offering anything I hadn't seen around the city (either in speciality or party stores) and the prices were the same (or more expensive).

I'd gone to a workshop offered by a well known make-up artist complete with tips and free samples of their make-up line for making a classic Zombie look. Perhaps they didn't want to share complicated techniques in such a short time frame, but I was very disappointed.

Fellow frighteners, you may have seen the work of Ghoulish Gary Pullin before, but let me formally introduce you.

After earning a degree in graphic design and advertising, Pullin moved to Toronto from London (Ontario). For a time he was producing work for the corporate market, but soon Pullin became involved with Rue Morgue (which is where most of you have probably seen his work. And for any of you who thought to yourself 'What is Rue Morgue?', sweet lord. Get thee to their website).

When he isn't adding creepy-cool to Rue Morgue, he's creating web illustrations, posters (for bands like Canadian horrorbillies The Creepshow) and other various commercial pieces (all worth a peek). One day when I finish building the bones of this site, and come into money, perhaps I'll ask him to spookify my own little real estate on the web. Donations gladly accepted *wink*.

Until then, I've posted a couple of my favourite pieces here on this blog, including a nifty drawing of the 'Hilarious House of Frightenstein'.