Have Yourself a Trashy Xmas: Day 3/Rigor Mortis

I was lucky enough to come of age – exploitation-wise – during what I fondly refer to as the last "golden age" of genre entertainment. Flicks like DEMONS and RE-ANIMATOR still played theaters. Drive-ins not only existed in decent numbers but weren't above screening the likes of CUT & RUN, NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES, SWITCHBLADE SISTERS and VAMPIRE HOOKERS. And maybe, most important of all, there was a thriving subculture of zines that focused on trash cinema, drive-in junk and old school gore.

For years now, that passion and dead-ication has been missing. Yes, great publications like SHOCK CINEMA and VIDEO WATCHDOG exist, but where are the drenched-in-blood, cut-and-paste publications that champion the best (and worst) the genre has to offer?!

Enter the good old photocopied horror film zine like RIGOR MORTIS. This excellent Baltimore-based zombie-centric publication is still heavy on living dead content (including a nice comparison of the two versions of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD as well as an exploration of zombie comedies or zom-coms that sadly fails to include the great NIGHT OF THE CREEPS) but there's also a look at Carpenter's THE FOG, paranormal reality shows and more among the pages of its first couple issues.

Even our main man Klaus Kinski gets a nice nod, with a five page article in RM#2 on Kinski's performance in Herzog's NOSFERATU and how it compares to other portrayals of the vampire mainstay. Unfortunately, there's no exploration of the trash-tastic NOSFERATU IN VENICE.

The third issue of the zine has an awesome Nazi zombie cover that doesn't belie the issue's contents. If there's anybody on your holiday shopping list that loves THE WALKING DEAD or professes to know what they'd do when the zombie apocalypse comes get them a subscription to RIGOR MORTIS.