HALLOWEEN TOP 10: SEASONAL SERENADES

As always, I let music play a big part in my horror watching. Therefore I've decided to put together a little list of ten jingles from this year's movie releases I feel represent the 2012 Halloween season best.

10. Michael Rault - Call Me On the Phone (Grave Encounters 2)
I really had to do some digging to find this one. I remembered I'd heard something that caught my attention watching the sequel to what actually was a decent mocumentary. But Grave Encounters 2 was such a dissapointment for me. Obsessing over a movie showing a student obsessing over a movie that's obsessing over a haunted facility? Nah, not really my thing. But this featured track was a good distraught from the poor plot and even more poorly executed acting.

9. Foreigner - Feels Like The First Time (True Blood) If you would have to choose just one song from last season of True Blood it would literally be impossible. Each episode is filled to the brim with great new indie bands, southern tunes, old classic American rock and modern punk. And old classic I was reminded about when watching the first episode of season 5 was Foreigner's debut single Feels Like The First Time. Which is a good description of my giddiness every summer when the fang banging resumes.

8. Claudio Simonetti - Kiss Me Dracula (Dracula 3D)
Writer and director of cult classics Suspiria, Inferno, Phenonema and Opera, Dario Argentino, has now returned with a 3D remake of Dracula. Some people desperately wish Argentino would stop making movies and instead aim to preserve his legacy. I, on the other hand, am all for letting the old sports return to mix their cult minds with us mortals of the modern world. I haven't seen Dracula 3D yet but doing some research on trailers and teasers, I quickly came to like this song.

7. REO Speedwagon - Roll With The Changes (The Cabin In The Woods)
I'm all about old American rock and REO Speedwagon has produced two of my favorite rock songs from the 80's - Can't Fight This Feeling and Keep On Loving You. Avoiding mainstreamíng and making the obvious choice, The Cabin In the Woods chose one of the band's more low-key songs which I feel make a great atmospheric statue of the otherwise uncanny genre deconstruction.

6. Little River Band - Lonesome Loser (The Loved Ones)
Though released in its homecountry Australia back in 2009, I didn't come across The Loved Ones until this year. Apart from Wolfmother I've never really found any interesting classic rock from 'down under'. But Little River Band makes a good impression in the midst of the 21st century high school drama and sadistic prom theme.

5. Jessica Lowndes - In All My Dreams I Drown (The Devil's Carnival)
For a musical nerd like myself, what could be better than a rock opera? Saw II director Darren Bousman's experimental short horror film The Devil's Carnival has Aesop's fabels as its core, with the main characters each representing a fabel. Bousman has stated that The Devil's Carnival will be an ongoing project with chapter two and three already being written. With the intention of being more of a subversive experience rather than just a dark and enchantingly comedic movie, The Devil's Carnival set on a multi-city road-tour in April 2012 and with it released a 12 song album. From it I've chosen my favorite soundtrack; All In My Dreams I Drown sung by Jessica Lowndes.

4. Mozart - Requiem (The Lords Of Salem)
Being schooled in piano (Baroque, Classical and Romantic) it would be sinful not to have Chopin, Mozart, Bach and Beethoven as rolemodels and/or musical inspiration. Mozart's Requiem (in D Minor) is one of my favorite pieces. It was left unfinished by its composer upon his death and was completed by the Austrian composer Süssmayr within 100 days of Mozart's death. Whether the two men had discussed the Requiem during Mozart's last days is unknown, but Süssmayr took on the task of completing the score and his version is to this day the most played. The Requiem's well-contained complexity and the incorporation of many different musical elements and vocal forces in each bar and section makes this a triggered and atmospherical sequence to Rob Zombie's upcoming The Lords of Salem.

3. The Carpenters - On Top Of The World (Dark Shadows)
Featured in Tim Burton's latest horror comedy Dark Shadows (based on the 1960's gothic soap opera with the same name), is the 1972 song On Top of the World by the Carpenters. Although having listened to a rather large extent of 60's and 70's music during my childhood, this vocal and instrumental duo was never part of my favorites. Although this song belonged to the sibling's record-breaking run of hits, it's so far up the clouds with its cheesiness and 70's groove that it literally makes me cringe. That's why it's the perfect match for a 200 year old vampire indulging in interior design. 

2. The Singing Nun - Dominique (American Horror Story)
Safe to say, the common room scenes are my least favorite in the second season of American Horror Story. It's impossible not to balance on the verge of insanity when constantly fed this high-pitched bird like jingle. And as AHS is all about the clues, the interesting fact is that Jeanine Decker (known as 'the Singing Nun') left her nun position at the church to live with her female partner (clue #1), with whom she eventually engaged in an OD suicide. The Express also notes that she was the daughter of a baker (clue #2) and that the song originally was praise to the Spanish-born founder of her order, St Dominic. Instead American humourist Joe Queenan has written: "The song would have us believe that St Dom­inic was a humble, lovable monk who fought valiantly against the forces of darkness (clue #3). In fact he founded the religious order that brought mankind the monstrous Spanish Inquisition.”

1. Doris Day - Que Sera Sera (American Horror Story)
With its usual creepy take on everything it touches, American Horror Story: Asylum is using Doris Day's classic Que Sera Sera as its teaser tune for the second season of the US' most popular horror show. What creeps me out the most is that this is a tune my grandmother used to sing to me when I was little. It has been one of my favorite tunes ever since.

FRIDAY THE 13TH WEEK, PART VI: JASON LIVES

"He's back! He's the man behind the mask." Yes, in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, Jason returns from the dead to stir up a new death frenzy at Crystal Lake. Although this is the fifth movie in the installment (check out the previous posts in FRIDAY THE 13TH WEEK) to take place at a camp around Crystal Lake, I have to say it's nice to come back to the campgrounds after the preceding movie's total failure at trying a new approach.

This movie could easily be watched without having seen its prequels, as it's a classic 80's movie; it's humorous, plays fierce music (Alice Cooper's Hard Rock Summer and Teenage Frankenstein, and Felony's I'm No Animal) accompanying got car crashes and police chases, it's got a various span of death scenes and more mature actors. I would say this is probably the best movie since Part I.

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives movie poster

Despite being a huge fan of 80's rock and the fact that some of my favorite bands had their moment of stardom around the time I was born, I was never an Alice Cooper fan girl. However, "He's Back: The Man Behind The Mask" is a great example of a classic 80's song, twisted into Alice Cooper's own little version of music making. I've seen Alice Cooper live at several festivals (amongst them Sweden Rock Festival 2006 and Sonisphere 2010) but never performing this song, which would be fun to watch considering Alice Cooper's ordinary scen art and characteristic stage performances.

BEST PART OF INTRO  SCENE
Jason accidentally getting electrocuted in his grave.

BEST LINE
Lizabeth: "I've seen enough horror movies to know any weirdo wearing a mask is never friendly."

BEST NUDITY SCENE
Although not so nude- Cort and Nikki's power humping in the trailer.

BEST SCREAM
Lizabeth, screaming as her boyfriend Darren gets slashed all over the windshield of her car, crawls out of the car and falls into a puddle of mud, shortly before getting her head pierced.

MOST GORY SCENE
With not so much gore to choose from I would have to go with Jason's strangling Nikki in the back of the trailer and pushes her face into the wall.

BEST DEATH SCENE 
Burt get's his forehead smashed into a tree. And a smiley-face.

BEST KILLER FEATURE
Jason drowns. Again.

JUICY JINGLES: 10 SUBLIME REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH 'LOVE.LUST.PAIN'

Ever seen better visual (and audio) stimulation than this? Swedish band NALE takes you on a tour in the world of rock 'n roll metal with their debut video Love.Lust.Pain, leaving you on the absolute threshold of conscious perception.

You'll probably won't find better subliminal stimuli than this! And this is why - love and behold!

Full on Barbie action

Questionable choice #1

Snorting horse #1 and a froth covered gag ball

Full frontal nudity sailor style

Questionable choice #2

Men's locker room Barbie style

Fellow adventurers, Swedish band The Tlark

Snorting horse #2

Ultimate gay subliminal message

Fellow adventurers, Swedish band Orangeclub

And last but not least, my own hubbie!

TOPLIST TUESDAY: 3 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH AMERICAN HORROR STORY

Let me start by saying that I've become somewhat obsessed with American Horror Story. Now that this year's True Blood sexiness is over, the first season of Game of Thrones with the overwhelmingly hot Khal Drogo is over, The Vampire Diaries has become too repetitive and hormonal, The Secret Circle lacks hormonal outrages, Glee is too PC, Grimm is just in the line-up, The Walking Dead is somewhat picking up its pace but still haven't gotten quite there yet and my yearly Twin Peaks-marathon is finalized, I really needed something this fall to trigger my senses and satiate my need for the sexiness of horror.

And American Horror Story definitely has!

I loved it from the first minutes in the pilot and I'll probably love all 13 episodes. It's all a bit over-the-top, but that's obviously what you get when you let Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck (co-creators of Glee) go bananas! You need to have a thing for stylized cliches, a fondness of B-horror, a humorous approach to cinematic homages, a special love reserved for Twin Peaks aesthetics and no PC ethics to dig this. Well, since I'm raised in probably the world's most liberal country (Sweden) outside any politic, religious or other traditional condemnation and have a life long love affair with all things horror related, it's in my nature to love this! So here are three reasons why you should watch American Horror Story.

OBS! THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS! 

#1. The underlying mystery of the 'murder house'
Fueled by the use of adorable 30's to 50's songs during perverted and gory scenes, the underlying mystery of American Horror Story is accompanied by a series of juicy jingles and mood setting tunes. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm a huge advocate for using the effect of music as a mood setter. With hints dropping everywhere, the storyline changes with each episode's flashback to previous house owners' life stories and brutal deaths. New and interesting characters are introduced as the timeline and history of the house is laid out piece by piece. It also becomes more and more evident that the next door neighbor Constance is pulling the strings, having the Harmon family at her mercy. The question is how and why. Each episode development also leaves me wondering which character will turn out to be dead despite their full on staging.

#2. The cinematic homages
Homage paying or rip-offs? Without being shy about its influences, American Horror Story acknowledges and blazes through every horror movie reference that they could possibly come up with in a bloody blur. A horror nerd fan base for a show like this a given, although I bet half of them think American Horror Story might be knocking out one too many references, as they get piled up in each episode. I, however, think it's a ballsy move and I love all the hat tipping. Some references are full on homages where as others are more subconscious absorptions by personal reference. Here are a number of my personal favorites:

The shapeshifting, ghostly seductress: The Shining 

The home invasion: The Strangers

Creepy twins: The Shining

Mentally unstable mother trying to up-bring an even more unstable daughter: Carrie

Whichever party being ghosts: The Others

Abortion clinic doctor sewing together his dead baby with animal body parts: The Human Centipide  

The housekeeper with too much inside information: The Others

Father turned mad by potential haunted house: The Amityville Horror

A potential supernatural rape resulting in pregnancy: Rosemary's Baby

 And last but not least - taking an adorable song (or a nursery rhyme) and pervert it in a horror sequence: A Nightmare on Elm Street, Insidious... amongst others.

  
#3. The characters
Going on its sixth episode American Horror Story has finally let horror mythology take a back seat to the characters.

The creepy next door neighbor

Straddling the genre line between drama and horror extremely well, Jessica Lange plays the role of next door neighbor Constance; who makes Ipecac cupcakes, has a cleptomaniac behavior going on when it comes to silverware and refers to her daughter as the not so PC term 'mongoloid'. This aggressively sassy woman, who had to put her acting dreams on the hold to give birth to previously mentioned mongoloid daughter, has a define cruel streak that is evident in her history of killing the housekeeper (Moira) after finding out she had an affair with her husband. Constance also seems to be pulling the strings of the haunting drama with her growing number of ghost accquaintances.  



The mongoloid girl next door

First seen in the pilot episode as the little girl back in the 70's who warns the twin brothers Troy and Brian ("You're going to die in there") when they're vandalizing the 'murder house', the next door neighbor girl Adelaide plays a short but impressive role in the first four episodes. Born with Downs syndrome she (in a Carrie-Margaret kind of relationship) has been resented by Constance since birth; a condition that makes me love her character. The resentment from her mother's side is so strong that Addie undergoes less ethical methods of up-bringing. Her (lack of) intelligence is also constantly undermined as her mother even sees her as a threat towards her (alarmingly) younger lovers. 

The future high school massacre kid
Being Ben Harmon's first patient in LA, Tate Langdon reveals his dreams of going on a killing spree at his high school, constantly speaking in a provocative way in order to upset Ben. Your average revolting teenager gone pervert, sort of. Masturbating to keep his high school massacre thoughts at bay, Tate starts secretly visiting Ben's daughter Violet in her bedroom at night. Having some dark evil friend hidden in the Harmon's basement and being the (bastard?) son of Constance, Tate would have his share of PTSD-syndromes. And it turns out that his dreams are based on his subconscious memories of him already having gone on a murder spree at his old high school in the 90's (Bowling for Columbine, much?). Current ghost-Tate doesn't seem to be aware of this fact, though. And despite his verbal perverseness he's unable to perform sexually with Violet. If this is due to him being a ghost or his unstable mental health in general; we don't know yet. 

The teenaged, self-harming daughter  

The typical teenager; resenting her parents because her father is a liar and her mother is weak. Add being a cutter to the equation, and we've heard the story before. But the petulant side of Violet Harmon was over shadowed by her strong will and courage during 'Home Invasion' (S01E02) and she's the only one who's actually willing to stay in the house as she sees it as a place of triumph, where she and her mother survived the attackers. Even though she's a bit annoying and immature for her age, I would have to agree that Violet grows with each new episode, much due to her emotionally struggling the fact that her boyfriend is a ghost.  



The all-time horny father

Ben Harmon; the all American dad, the handsome therapist, the uninterested father, the douche bag husband. The list can be made long. After Vivien had a miscarriage, Ben couldn't accept the fact that she was no longer interested in sex, and being horny as he was, he decided to have an affair with Hayden. The event of Vivien walking in on the two of them is what led the family to move to LA, making their relationship strained in the start of the series. The new house immediately starts to play tricks with Ben. It makes him sleepwalk and perform violent actions which he forgets about due to constant black outs. It makes him see the housekeeper Moira as her young 80's seductive self instead of the 60 year old woman she portrays herself as in front of the rest of the living. Topping that off with Ben walking in on her as she's masturbating with her legs sprawling in the air. Poor guy. As if that wasn't enough, he gets stalked by a pregnant Hayden who claims he's the love of her life and he really can't seem to get his hormones under control, as he lashes out and kills Hayden in a rage. 

The dependent and rock solid mother

It's still taking some personal adjustment to see Connie Britton in any other role than Tammy Taylor in Friday Night Lights. However, she does a fantastic job as the betrayed but strong mother of Vivien Harmon. Vivien has developed a strange biological tie with the house (like all pregnant women on the Island in LOST) after having sex with the rubber man (which she thought was her all-time horny husband being S&M playful) and becoming pregnant. With a fast growing baby in her belly, Vivien puts all her awakened time and energy into trying to sell the house after falling out of love with it due to not only the home invasion, but some very persistent ghost visits.


The scorned ex-mistress

Following Ben to LA and stalking him in his home, Hayden can't seem to get over the thought of Ben having another family apart from her and the pre-born baby that he left her with and which she never had aborted. Killed by Larry in a rage after terrorizing Ben in his home and pissing off Larry, Hayden's body is buried underneath the gazebo in the garden. It doesn't take long for Hayden to return, making Vivien believe she's still alive and Ben to believe that she faked her death in a conspiracy with Larry.


The stalking psycho

Larry seems to be the only actual living person who knows the secrets and evil of the house. Being the previous torment victim of the house's mental games, Larry burned his wife and daughters to death and became left behind covered in second degree burns. Having been recently released from a mental institution, Larry claims he has inoperable brain cancer and not much long to live. In an attempt to be either a pain in the ass or actually trying to help Ben to become free of the house's power, Larry starts terrorizing Ben, taking advantage of Ben's dire situation. After having killed Hayden with a shovel, Larry starts to blackmail Ben to pay him off or he'll tell the cops about Hayden's body being buried in the back yard.

The seducing housekeeper

Being one of the ghosts of the house, housekeeper Moira, was shot in the eye and killed by Constance during the 80's after Constance caught Moira and her husband Hugo having what she believed was an affair. When the Harmons move in to the house, Moira shows up on their doorstep revealing herself as an old woman to Vivien, asking to be taken on as their maid. While Vivien sees the older version of Moira, Ben sees the young seductive version that is stuck in a seducing-her-employer-loop. One thumb up for young Moira constantly trying to seduce Ben and two thumbs up for Violet walking in on the old version of Moira straddling her dad.

LOVE.LUST.PAIN BY SWEDISH BAND NALE

Although not so horror related, Swedish band NALE is well worth notice for their debut video 'Love.Lust.Pain' that without a doubt would make an awesome soundtrack to some sexy horror movie scene. Not only are they sexy, rocking and make damn good music, I also live together with the bass playing Asian dude in the Transformers t-shirt. <3

HALLOWEEN TOP 10: MACABRE DANCE NUMBERS

#10 - Cherry gives the dance of death in Planet Terror (2007)

#9 - Kim's frisky dance moves in Prom Night (1980)

#8 - Satanico Pandemonium gives a table dance in From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

#7 - Iris starts a rebellious dance in The Ward (2010)

#6 - Violet does a sweet robot dance before getting stabbed to death in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)

#5 - Baby Firefly performes 'I wanna be loved by you' in House of 1000 Corpses (2003)

#4 - Arlene gives Stuntman Mike a lap dance in Deathproof (2007)

#3 - One of Leland Palmer's many compulsive dance moves in Twin Peaks (1990)

#2 - Boy in hat does the creepiest dance scene in Insidious (2011)

#1 - The infamous 'Time Warp' dance in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

HALLOWEEN TOP 10: JUICY JINGLES

#10 - Tainted Love by Hannah Peel (American Horror Story 2011)

#9 - Touch-A, Touch-A, Touch Me by Susan Sarandon (The Rocky Horror Picture Show 1975)

#8 - I Never Dreamed Someone Like You Could Love Someone Like Me by Katie Irving (Carrie 1976) 

#7 - Questions In A World of Blue by Julee Cruise (Fire Walk With Me 1992) 

#6 - Run Baby Run by The Newbeats (The Ward 2010)

#5 - Mr. Sandman by The Chordettes (Halloween 1978)

#4 - It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels by Kitty Wells (The Devil's Rejects 2005)

#3 - The Love You Save by Joe Tex (Death Proof 2007)

#2 - Bleed to Feed by C.C. Adcock & The Lafayette Marquis (True Blood 2008) 

#1 - Tiptoe Through the Tulips by Tiny Tim (Insidious 2010)

 

CRAZY CLOWN TIME: MUSIC FROM THE MASTER OF THE MACABRE

The master of bizarre, and father of my all time favorite Twin Peaks, David Lynch has announced that his second album "Crazy clown time" will be released on November 7th.

Good Day Today (to the right) is a single from his debut album with the same name.

ROCKY HORROR GLEE SHOW

I really try not to get too attached to Glee, since I haven't really made up my mind about the show. It could be a genius pop culture production, giving life to old, forgotten classics and a new face to the current mainstream. Despite the cheesy factor, I am however an advocate for music and especially interpretations that are both interesting and surprising. ("Unlike you I'm a believer in the arts" Sue Sylvester.)

Last nights show (Season 2, Episode 5) The Rocky Horror Glee Show was the best tribute to the weird and wonderful musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show from 1975 I've ever seen. With clean costumes, doppelgangers, a female dressed as a male transvestite (Big confusion? I know.) and a real Transylvanian twist, the rocking of Rocky couldn't get any more entertaining. 

HALLOWEEN TOP 10: SOUNDTRACK MUSIC

#10 - The Allman Brothers "Ramblin' Man" from The Exorcist
Totally boring video but what else did they produce in the 70's? This Southern hexameter goes hand in hand with the most disturbing spider walk in history.



#9 - Kitty Wells "It Wasn't God Who Made Honkey Tonk Angels" from The Devil's Rejects
I love the bizarre feeling of old southern country accompanied by gory slaughter scenes. I guess they didn't wanna put that on YouTube (in my opinion, it's been total crap since Google took over) so here's the soft core version.



#8 - Marilyn Manson "Sweet Dreams" from House on Haunted Hill (1999)
A remake that'll never be as good as the original by Eurythmics, but still sets the mood in this newer version of the classic Vincent Price movie. 




#7 - Rob Zombie "House of 1000 Corpses" from House of 1000 Corpses
I guess the title says it all. 



#6 - "Freddy's Coming For You" from Terror on Elm Street
Who hasn't had dreams about this?




#5 - Muse "Apocalypse Please" from 30 Days of Night
The song actually didn't make it all the way to the soundtrack but had a pleasing spot in the trailer (here in a fan made video). "That cold ain't the weather - that's death."



#4 - The Cordettes "Mr. Sandman" from Halloween
What reminds you more of Halloween than the repeated humming of "bum bum bums"?



#3 - Jace Everett "Bad Things" from True Blood
Ever seen more good looking opening credits?



#2 - Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt Kickers "Monster Mash"
This song was actually never present on any horror movie soundtrack. However, I felt that it earned it's place here due to the fact that it's been a Halloween favorite since it's release for Halloween 1962, and my favorite song when I was in grade school.




#1 - Slim Whitman "I Remember You" from House of 1000 Corpses
Nothing gets me in the mood as this. If you're interested in the more morbid version, click here. The idea of combining manslaughter and necrophilia with some slick hit from 1966 is more bizarre than the insane screenwriting itself.