Former Rue Morgue Editor-In-Chief and Guillermo Del Toro team up on a horror short.

A lot of my “blossoming” as a horror fan has been attributed to Canada’s Rue Morgue Magazine.  Not only have I made some contacts through fans of the magazine and other people who read it – be it filmmakers, writers and staff of the magazine – but it has also guided me to some films that I may have never of seen.  I started reading Rue Morgue back in late 2004 and attended my first convention which was Rue Morgue’s Festival of Fear in 2005.   I am tickled with ghoulish delight to announce that former Rue Morgue Editor-In-Chief, Jovanka Vuckovic, has teamed up with one of the most original creators of our genre to make her short film.  Read on fiends, read on…

From the Press Release:

Former Rue Morgue editor-in-chief Jovanka Vuckovic is preparing to shoot her debut short film, The Captured Bird, with Guillermo del Toro, director of the Academy Award-winning Pan’s Labyrinth and the Hellboy films, in the Executive Producer chair.

Vuckovic was recently named by the Horror Society as one of the top thirteen most important women in the history of horror, alongside genre heavy hitters Mary Shelley, Kathryn Bigelow and Vamipra. Now, in a return to her creative roots, she’ll make her own horror/fantasy film after years of writing about them in the popular horror genre magazine, Rue Morgue.

 “Jovanka’s vision has been honed to perfection and combines true poetry with savage instinct,” says del Toro. “[It’s] lyrical and brutal. Just what the doctor ordered.”

The production has just launched TheCapturedBird.com, a feature-packed website that will track the development of the film with regular blog updates from Vuckovic. The site will also feature videos of the film’s progress, including location scouts, production meetings, and interviews with well-known genre filmmakers about how to approach making your first movie – filmmakers such as del Toro, George Romero (Night of the Living Dead), John Landis (An American Werewolf in London) and Mick Garris (Masters of Horror).

The website makes use of “crowdfunding,” a growing financing trend for filmmakers outside of Hollywood. Fans and supporters who visit TheCapturedBird.com can make a donation in any amount towards production, which to date has raised thirty per cent of its budget through Canadian broadcaster Bravo!, which has first-time Canadian broadcast rights. All funders will receive a thank you credit in the film and donors of a certain amount are given special rewards, some of which include an autographed copy of Jovanka’s forthcoming coffee-table book on zombies or a Pan’s Labyrinth script autographed by del Toro.

The Captured Bird is scheduled to shoot in the spring of 2011 for a film festival tour through 2012. It has already been accepted – sight unseen – to the prestigious Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal. Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas and the Toronto After Dark Film Festival and several international festivals have also already shown interest.

For more information on The Captured Bird visit http://www.thecapturedbird.com.

Jovanka is an awesome person and has a genuine love for horror.  I really can’t wait to see what she comes up with.  Also, don’t forget that Rodrigo Gudiño, Rue Morgue’s previous Editor-In-Chief prior to Vuckovic, has gone on to make three critically acclaimed shorts (review) and will be directing a pseudo remake of Cut-Throats Nine.