Rue Morgue’s Festival of Fear: Toronto FanExpo 2008

By Less Lee Moore

Being a tremendous fan of things Halloween- and horror-related, I look forward to the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear each year at the Toronto FanExpo. It’s a genuine thrill for me to look at original artwork, drool over horror movie posters, create my ongoing DVD wish list at the Anchor Bay store, and watch people wander around in costume.
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Five More Instruments Of Evil: Horror Movie Picks

By Less Lee Moore

Here are five more horror movie picks, just in time for Halloween viewing!
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Look Who’s Growling, Too: Our Deep, Abiding Love of Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby

By John Lane and Less Lee Moore

Hands-down, Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby is one of our favorite horror movies of all time. We love it as much for what it doesn’t do as for what it does do. It seems that there’s a storm cloud of creepiness that settled upon this movie before, during, and after which makes it all the more fascinating. Like a lot of other things from the late sixties, it is a sinister relic from a haunted time. So here are our reasons why Rosemary’s Baby—behind and in front of the camera—is one of the most enduring, complex horror films ever committed to celluloid.

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The Zombified’s Hallowhaus: Q & A with Artist Krystal Fancey Beck

By Less Lee Moore

Hallowhaus tells the tale “of a newly undead girl, risen from the grave on one Halloween midnight, soon to discover she’s not quite as alone as she’d first assumed.” In this issue of Popshifter, we chat with artist and creator Krystal Fancey Beck about the comic as well as The Zombified website.
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Getting With The Program: Q & A With The Spook Lights

By Less Lee Moore

From Legends of America:

According to the legend, the spook light was first seen by Indians along the infamous Trail of Tears in 1836; however, the first “official” report occurred in 1881 in a publication called the Ozark Spook Light.
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The Abyss Gazes Into Thee: Batman, The Dark Knight, and Modern Gothic

By Less Lee Moore

“He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.”
Frederick Nietzsche, Beyond Good & Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future

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The First Synthpop Song, Part Two

By Less Lee Moore

In the July/August 2008 issue of Popshifter, I attempted to answer the question, “What was the first synthop song?”

Having arrived back at the old “Popcorn vs. Chicory Tip” quandary once again, I figured I’d better find out more about both.
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Now Let Us Praise Famous Monsters

Count Dracula, 1977

In reviewing a series of horror and ghost story anthologies, literary critic Edmund Wilson wrote that the “sudden revival of the appetite” for such tales arose in part from:

“. . . the instinct to inoculate ourselves against panic at the real horrors loose on the earth. . . by injections of imaginary horrors, which soothe us with the momentary illusion that the forces of madness and murder may be tamed and compelled to provide us with mere dramatic entertainment.”
—From Classics and Commercials, 1950

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Ten Instruments Of Evil: Popshifter‘s Horror Movie Picks (And Five To Avoid)

With Less Lee Moore and Megashaun

Here are our ten horror movie picks for this issue of Popshifter. We’ve tried to keep the Popcast as spoiler-free as possible so as not to ruin your enjoyment of any of these great movies. And in order to avoid playing favorites, we’ve listed them in alphabetical order.

We’ve also got the scoop on five movies that we wish we hadn’t watched, even in part.

And don’t forget to check out “Five More Instruments Of Evil,” too.
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Cherchez La Femme: My Affair with The Black Dahlia

By Less Lee Moore

The Black Dahlia was the first James Ellroy novel I read and I loved it. I had become a fan of the hardboiled detective fiction genre after being introduced to the pulp novels of Jim Thompson in a Film Noir class. Then, seeking more books in that vein, I soon devoured all the books of Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain. Since Thompson, Chandler, and Cain were all deceased, I was thrilled that Ellroy was still alive and kicking.

But it was more than that.

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