He would like to take you on a strange journey...

This year in New York City has been excellent for catching horror films as they were meant to be seen: in a movie theater with an appreciative audience. Just since June, there have been three Hammer retrospectives and a Vincent Price retrospective, and before October is over there will be another 3-film Vincent Price series hosted by his daughter, as well as a series of lesbian vampire films. Plus the new John Carpenter-approved Halloween comes out later this week! So much goodness... but when will I sleep? Or shower?? Or eat anything other than popcorn?!?

I hadn't seen nearly enough Hammer films before this year began, but I am now well on the road to rectifying that shortcoming. Aside from the requisite Draculas and Frankensteins, I happily got acquainted with some of the non-series and usually lesser-known Hammer productions, like Taste of Fear, These Are the Damned, and Never Take Candy from a Stranger. Today's song comes from one of Hammer's stand alone horror films that wasn't part of series: 1968's The Devil Rides Out. It's based on a Dennis Wheatley novel about the occult, which was adapted for the screen by the great Richard "I Am Legend" Matheson. And although it stars Christopher Lee with very evil-looking facial hair, he actually gets to be the hero in this one. Charles Gray, of Rocky Horror and James Bond fame, is the nefarious leader of a Satanic cult who lures gullible youth into his evil ceremonies. 

"The Devil Rides Out" song is by a British prog rock band called Icarus. It came out at the same time as the movie, but nevertheless isn't actually in it. The group was inspired to write the song by publicity for the film, and got themselves invited to the film's premiere for their effort. Wonder if they got invited to one of those neat ceremonies with a guy wearing a goat head, too?

Check out the swinging, but oh so evil trailer! (The movie is also known as The Devil's Bride, by the way.)

The devil's doo-wop!

Although the heyday of doo-wop has passed (sadly taking with it the subgenre of Halloween doo-wop songs), one group is still keeping the spirit alive with their dulcet (yet evil) harmonies. Twin Temple formed on Halloween in 2016 and have been singing the dark lord's praises in the form of golden-age rock 'n roll ever since. Alexandra and Zachary James call themselves the high priests of Twin Temple, and although they are practicing Satanists, they say their religion has more to do with celebrating free will and nonconformity than sacrificing virgins. Still, I wouldn't piss them off if I were you. They know how to hex you, after all.

Da doo run-run away!!!

Art by Ben Newman

While one might be tempted to think that yesterday's song, "I Walked with a Zombie," is the only Halloween-worthy doo-wop song ever written, one would find themselves gravely mistaken. In fact, there's a two-disc set called Doo Wop Halloween is a Scream that collects 27 Halloween songs from doo-wop's golden age. On it you'll find the obligatory "Monster Mash," but also lesser-known tunes like "Frankenstein's Den," "I'm in the Ground for Good," and today's song, "My Baby Likes Scary Movies" by Pete and the Bloodsuckers.

Pete (or perhaps one of the Bloodsuckers) likes to take his lady to the movies to get snuggly in the dark, but will his girl settle for a sweet romantic story? Hell no! It takes the Wolfman, Frankenstein, Dracula, or the Creature from the Black Lagoon to get her in the mood. Man, can I relate to a frightening degree! This song is enough to make me believe in reincarnation. I don't think I was born when it was written, but clearly it's about me. I hope I knew how good I had it back when I could turn on the radio and hear songs like this!

Who says the dead don't walk?

One Roky Erickson song is not enough, so today's song comes from a 1990 Roky Erickson tribute album called Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye. It contains a diverse array of artists covering Roky's songs, like ZZ Top, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Butthole Surfers, and today's performer, R.E.M. 

Although R.E.M isn't a band typically known for embracing horror themes, they picked one of Roky's most overtly horror songs to cover: "I Walked With a Zombie." The title might bring to mind chunky, distorted riffs and growling vocals a la Rob Zombie, but don't be fooled. This is a melodic, heartfelt doo-wop number about a nighttime stroll with a zombie friend. If you listen closely, I bet you can learn all the lyrics in one go. 

Roky's version is still sweet and languorous, but slightly harsher than the R.E.M. version thanks to his throaty vocals. To me it's what Van Morrison would sound like if Van Morrison, y'know, walked with zombies.

The video features images from Jacques Tourneur's gorgeous 1943 film I Walked With A Zombie. If you've never seen it, and can't imagine a zombie film being beautiful, please check it out and be amazed. The trailer offers a sampling:

All I know is you will feel his bite.

Today's song comes from another tortured soul who has wrestled schizophrenia, but unlike Jackson Frank, Roky Erickson is still with us to tell the tale. At 71, he's still bringing his catchy brand of psychedelic horror rock to lucky audiences all over the country. 

He started out in the mid-60s in a group called The 13th Floor Elevators, but after spending a few years in a state mental hospital, he formed a new group with a harder sound and a fixation on horror/sci-fi themes. His 1981 album The Evil One is a start-to-finish classic. Songs like "Stand for the Fire Demon," "Don't Shake Me Lucifer," and "Bloody Hammer" will have you singing along to their sweetly poisoned choruses before you can say earworm. Imagine if the Misfits grew up in Texas and you might get something like...

Halloween Is Black as Night

It's been a gloomy day here in New York City, following a gloomy weekend (in more ways than the weather). Autumn has really begun to sink its teeth into our necks. Feels like the right day for a pensive Halloween song that captures the spirit of the season and of our uncertain times. 

Jackson C. Frank was a folk musician at the beginning of a promising career in 1966 when he began a slide into mental illness that he would never quite recover from. Paul Simon had produced his self-titled debut album a year earlier, and although it was well-received, Jackson fell into a life-long battle with depression shortly after it was released. At one point he was diagnosed as schizophrenic, but he rejected that and maintained his troubles stemmed from a grade school furnace explosion that killed many of his friends and left him with lingering injuries. He ended up homeless in his later years, but was searched out by a fan who helped him record some demos of new songs.

Today's song, "Halloween Is Black as Night," is one of those demos. It and a few other new songs were released along with his 1965 self-titled album when it was finally put out on CD in 1996. Sadly Jackson Frank's life was cut short just three years later at age 56, but his legacy lives on in the many people who have uncovered his work and recorded his songs. Hardship and misfortune drip from his rough voice and plaintive guitar, and provide the best company misery can offer on a dark October night such as this.

 

How's your head?

As noted last year, Elvira is sadly no longer doing her fabulous Halloween show at Knott's Scary Farm. However, this year marks the 30th anniversary of her classic film, Elivra: Mistress of the Dark, so there is still much Elvira excitement to be had this Halloween season! Arrow Films recently announced their forthcoming remastered bluray of the film, top-loaded (heh heh) with tons of extras. Have I already pre-ordered my copy, you ask? Well, does a chicken have a pecker??

Yesterday, Cassandra Peterson hosted a screening of Elvira: Mistress of the Dark at the Salem Horror Fest in Salem, Massachusetts. I'm crossing my fingers, toes, and earlobes in hopes that she will host more screenings in other cities as the release of the bluray draws near. Her movie didn't get a proper release when it first came out in 1988--the film company went bankrupt on the very day the movie came out, so it only made it to a handful of theaters. Such a classic film deserves much better treatment, and hopefully will get it this time around!

While we wait for the sparkly new 4K Elvira to grace our TV screens, let's enjoy some of what the movie has to offer. First up is the opening credit sequence, featuring the song "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" by Lori Chacko. It's not the 80s song of the same name you might remember by Great White. This one rocks harder, is less sleazy, and is sung by a woman (although her voice is so deep, for many years I thought she was a man). When I was a kid, this sequence made me want to learn to drive, and to one day own a Thunderbird. I achieved the first goal, but I'm still saving up my magic beans for that dream car...

  

During last year's Knott's Scary Farm show, Elvira recreated her movie for the stage, including a cameo by the baddest car of all, the Macabre Mobile! Below is a clip of the segment replicating the opening of the movie. Not much has changed between then and now--clearly the gal's still got it 30 years later.

And if you're curious about the actual singer of "Once Bitten, Twice Shy," here is the original video in all its 80s teased-hair glory. Poison wishes they could get their hair this high!

Doom buggy race!

For several years now, Disney has been promising an animated TV special, or perhaps even series, of their classic ride The Haunted Mansion. In 2014, amazing horror illustrator Gris Grimly announced that he had been hired as Art Director and Executive Producer. Yet nothing ever materialized of that partnership. Early this year, however, Disney finally released a trailer for the series, now animated by Shannon Tindle, creator of last year's excellent animated film Kubo and the Two Strings:

As cool as that looks, Disney is still dragging its feet on making the dream of a Haunted Mansion cartoon a reality. Hard to understand why, considering how many people love the Haunted Mansion ride, and how rich it is in storytelling opportunities. Who wouldn't want to follow the adventures of Madame Leota, a ghostly head trapped inside a crystal ball? Or take a trip with some hitchhiking ghosts? 

My theory on the delay is that Disney is haunted by an entirely different kind of ghost--the one of that awful Eddie Murphy Haunted Mansion movie from a few years ago. But c'mon, Disney, you know you can only go up from there! Until you come to your senses, us happy haunts will have to satisfy ourselves with the beloved Haunted Mansion music of yore. Here's a cover Los Lobos did of the Haunted Mansion theme, "Grim Grinning Ghosts":

And of course the original!

Queen of the Galaxy

After visiting with those friendly Martians yesterday, I've developed some galactic wanderlust of my own. What lies beyond the stars? Do lifeforms reside there? If so, do they know about Halloween? I have a feeling the universe needs a few good Halloween missionaries, and I can think of no one better to lead us on this journey than the sexiest interplanetary traveler in the galaxy, Barbarella. 

Barbarella came to life in an early 60s comic strip, but she was brought to icon status by Jane Fonda in the 1968 film adaptation. If you haven't seen this film, you really owe it to yourself to do so. It's sexy, campy, silly, and furnished with some of the trashiest retro-future set pieces you'll ever see. As Gilbert Gottfried once said when he was hosting the film on USA Up All Night: "Good thing the garage sale wasn't rained out or we wouldn't have a movie!"

Sure the plot doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and Barbarella doesn't really do much except have sex and get rescued (often combining the two activities). But still, this movie is all about the journey, not the destination. Witness killer dolls devouring Barbarella's leggings! A space ship wallpapered from floor to ceiling in brown shag carpet! Jane Fonda nude! (Or not? Hard to tell...) But Barbarella DEFINITELY breaks the evil doctor's orgasm machine from enjoying its function too much.

This year marks fifty years since Barbarella was released, but you know what? She hasn't aged a bit. Must be all those sessions in the Excessive Machine. Here is the opening song and super-sexy credit sequence, feature zero-gravity disrobing with strategically-placed letters.

Martian Rhyme Time!

Welcome, benevolent overlords!

Ever wonder if that stranger you saw on the street with the peculiarly-spaced eyes and odd ammonia smell was perhaps not of this world? Or if that store clerk who always stares daggers like you're going to steal something is in fact scanning your face in order to shapeshift and commit evil in your name? I've seen It Came from Outer Space, dude! I know what you're up to.

But perhaps if extraterrestrials do indeed walk among us, they are benign or even helpful, like E.T. or Gort. That is the theory behind today's song, "Here Come the Martian Martians" by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers. Maybe Martians would just like to ride bikes with us, eat ice cream, and take notes about our strange Earth ways. It's possible.

The very first song featured on this blog in 2011 was a maniacally infectious number called "The Martian Hop," about Martians throwing a dance party for the whole human race. "Here Come the Martian Martians" is a worthy companion to that, with its confectionery melody and fun-loving Martians. After a massive Earth-wide dance party, wouldn't you and your new Martian pals want to chill out with some cake and ice cream? I sure would.

Veni, vidi, voodoo!

VOODOOS AND DON'TS FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER:

DO:

Eat candy
Watch horror movies
Carve pumpkins
Deck your house in black and orange
Stick candy corn on your teeth for tasty fangs
Wear costumes
Make your dog wear costumes
Read horror stories
Write horror stories
Prank your neighbors
Drink pumpkin beer
Visit a haunted house
Attend a Halloween parade
Make voodoo dolls of  your enemies

DON'T:

Stick a pin in the butt of my voodoo doll (or any other body part, for that matter). My revenge is swift, pointy, and unrelenting.

DEFINITELY DO:

Listen to the Cramps! It's October first, for crying out loud. Crank the volume and lose your mind under the spell of their voodoo idol!

P.S. Check out this wicked 1980 Cramps photo shoot, narrated with lyrics from "Voodoo Idol"!

Happy Halloween!

In the words of the late, great Zacherley:

"Gather 'round creeps, gather 'round fools,
gather 'round spirits and gather 'round ghouls.

Listen to me, for I have a story,
of blackening fright and all things gory.

Of grinning pumpkins and demon cats
of wicked witches and scurrying rats.

Beistle art

They've all come together to celebrate and feast,
Larry the wolf, and Igor the beast.

For this is the night when little babies cry,

and orange mist pours from their eyes.

Monster girls and monster men,
patiently wait for the fun to begin.

What do they know that you've never seen? 
Well, I'll you my friend...

The glorious hootenanny called HALLOWEEN!"

With so many losses of horror and music icons in recent times, for the last post this year we're going to celebrate the life and legacy of yet another icon who left us for the next realm: Lemmy from Motorhead. Lemmy bucked the rock 'n roll odds by living fast and hard, but dying old. In his 70 years on earth, his music helped define heavy metal as a genre, his cracked voice (and face) became one of the most recognizable in rock 'n roll, and he made major contributions toward keeping the tobacco and whiskey industries in business. 

To honor him, last November Metallica released a song named after Lemmy's beloved bass amp, "Murder One." The video tells Lemmy's life story in Aeon Flux-style animation. See Lemmy get stranded in Canada by his first band Hawkwind, then have revenge sex with all his former band mates' girlfriends, and finally form the "dirtiest band in the world," just to show 'em. Clearly Lemmy was a master of the long game! Just spending five minutes in an animated version of his neon-lit, whiskey-soaked, chain smoking life feels a bit hard on the health--to make it to 70, Lemmy must've literally been larger than life.

And not to forget the legend himself, here is Motorhead's version of Ozzy's "Hellraiser," used in 1992's Hellraiser III film. In the video, Lemmy plays poker with Pinhead and (of course) outwits him. Silly Pinhead--don't you know your evil is no match for Lemmy's superhuman powers?

But don't get too sad at Lemmy's passing. It's Halloween after all, and besides, Lemmy wouldn't want it that way! When you find yourself feeling down, just take the advice of Lemmy and his good friend Big Mouth Billy Bass:

Long Way Back from Hell

You know that sad feeling when one of your favorite bands has been around for a while and they're still making music, but it's just not what it used to be? It's kind of nice that they're still making an effort, but it also feels like an effort to listen to their new stuff and not just replay the old. That's how I've felt about Glenn Danzig for a long, long time, until...

Back in skull make-up,
where he belongs.

Skeletons! Sure it's a cover album, but who cares? It's so good I think it deserves a fifth spot in the pantheon of great Danzig albums, alongside Danzig #1-4. The songs on it are what Glenn Danzig considers his "skeletons"--songs that fans may or may not have guessed he was influenced by. He takes on The Everly Brothers, ZZ Top, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, and (of course) Elvis. Even the cover of the album is a cover--it's an homage to Bowie's Pin Ups. 

The production on Skeletons isn't top-notch, but on at least a couple songs I think that's what Danzig was going for and it works in his favor. Both of those are themes from 60s biker films: Satan's Sadists and Devil's Angels. I love both, but to me the Devil's Angels theme sounds like a long-lost Misfits song, so that's what we're going to hear today.

Devil's Angels is a Roger Corman-produced film starring John Cassavetes as an outlaw biker in a gang called The Skulls. Originally the theme was a surfy instrumental by Davie Allan and the Arrows. Because of the lo-fi production, the lyrics are mostly unintelligible (except for a pause-for-effect "Motherfucker!"), but so it goes with many early Misfits recordings. Glenn Danzig has said he wanted to record "Devil's Angels" since 1979 and used the same arrangement he would have back then, hence its time traveling sound. 


Last year Glenn Danzig reported he'd finished recording an album of Elvis covers, so if we're lucky, maybe we'll be hearing something from that this time next year. Until then, check out "Devil's Angels" and bask with me in the Danzig-is-good-again glow! 

The original theme from Devil's Angels. No lyrics, but lots of fun, fuzzy surf pop.

Wind-fast! Death-driven! They hunt in packs like rabid dogs! Beware... the Devil's Angels!

Shamrock 'n Roll

I didn't really know the Dropkick Murphys' music when I saw them this summer with the two other bands we heard from this weekend, Rancid and The Bouncing Souls, but I liked them more than I would have guessed. They put on a fun, rowdy show, with a sizable but endearing amount of Pogues worship. 

Other than being a good live band, however, several years ago they recorded a cover of "Halloween" by The Misfits, which makes me trust their taste and also makes them relevant to our purposes here. They get the gritty, steel-edged spirit of the song right, and their Celtic inclinations tie into the ancient Celtic origins of Halloween. It isn't really Halloween without a few dozen listens to "Halloween," so check out this version, but don't forget to balance it out with the original. Happy Samhain, witches! 

Evil's my BFF

Give 'em the boot!

The second time this year that I got to see yesterday's band, The Bouncing Souls, was as part of a punk rock powerhouse tour with Rancid and the Dropkick Murphys. They played to a sold out crowd of churning mosh pits and epic mohawks in a Coney Island amphitheater this summer. Coney Island is one of my favorite places on earth at any time, but on a warm night with the boardwalk lit up, the ocean sparkling under moonlight, and some of the best punk rock to survive the 90s filling the air, it's truly magical.

Rancid's 1994 breakthrough album Let's Go came out when I was in high school, so because of some MTV exposure, they ended up passing through the small college town near where I lived in rural Virginia. They weren't my first concert, but they were my first punk show, so they will always hold a special, metal-spiked place in my heart. They've stayed together all this time, and have consistently released good albums of catchy, crunchy, politically relevant punk songs. 

Today's song comes from their 2014 album ...Honor Is All We Know. "Evil's My Friend" is more about real-world evil than anything supernaturally bad, but has some Halloween-suitable organ fills that wouldn't sound out of place in an Addams Family jam session.

 Skank, Lurch, skank!