Audio

His Eyes

TRACK #67:

His Eyes by Pseudo Echo

Let’s keep the 80’s dance party/Oddball sequel thing going here.

1985 offered us Freddy’s first foray into sequel-dom, however Jason was already and old man by ‘85, going on his 5th outing.

Perhaps one of the more derided films of the series, and certainly it’s oddball entry, Friday 5 is still Paramount, still hugely 80’s and (I think) rather unfairly maligned.

It’s hard to say which is the “worst”, as some thrive where others lack and vice-versa. Honestly, a lot of it just comes down to personal preference after a point.

5 however has the distinct honor of being the only entirely Jason-less sequel (save for the pre-credit sequence…I guess) as the killer is merely assuming the MO and hockey mask. This, more than any other reason, is why it finds itself on the bottom rung with fans.

What 5 has going for it however is a serious body count. Notably the most of any Friday the 13th film at 22. That’s gotta be worth something.

Sure the effects aren’t on par with other entries and a lot of the murders are cut-aways but this dude ices 22 different people and that’s an achievement, however lessened it may be by the fact that its not actually Jason killing these people (except the first 2 guys…I guess.)

This song, by Australian pop-smiths Pseudo Echo, plays while Violet is dancing and being murdered. The song was actually a suggestion of actress Tiffany Helm, a fan of the new wave and punk music of the day.

Imagine being able to select which song to which you’d be murdered by Jason? Pretty dope.

Interesting side note regarding Violets death. Originally, she was to take a machete to the vag. Now that’s a way to go.

However, the producers thought that was a bit much, and changed it to her stomach, which they don’t even really show anyway, so I guess it doesn’t even matter. Oh well.

This song is pretty awesome though and almost sounds as if it were written specifically about Jason. It was produced a year early however, so no luck there. It does fit in nicely into the movie however, and makes a great addition to The Shindig.

 

Audio

Whisper To A Scream

TRACK #66:

Whisper To A Scream by Bobby Orlando & Claudja Barry

Lets get a Freddy two-fer going, cause your guests are still pissed…

“How the fuck am I supposed to dance to some bullshit like ‘Down In The Boiler Room’…? Are you serious right now?!”

And fair enough. I’m not sure that song’s palatable, much less danceable. So let’s look to Freddy’s soundtrack offerings for a little relief. And what better place to go for a dose of danceable 80’s synth-pop than Freddy’s Revenge.

Certainly the black sheep of the series (and with good cause), A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2 is probably the worst way you could have followed the highly original and groundbreaking hit.

Every franchise has its Oddball Entry. Ya know, that one that doesn’t quite jive for whatever reason; be it overtly non-canon (Halloween 3), lacking its main character (Friday 5) or plays fast and loose with the primary mythos, as is the case with Freddy’s Revenge.

While not so out of place at the time, just a little curve ball for the sequel, the fact that subsequent Elm Streets have totally ignored this entry, its characters and its logic, makes it the strange, stand-out entry it seems today.

Basically, Freddy attempts to possess Jesse, the new teenager living in Nancy’s old room at 1428 Elm., choosing to work through the boy in the material world, as opposed to terrorizing all the children in their sleep. Granted, he does possess Jesse through his dreams, but all the kills are carried out by Jesse in the waking world, as he slowly transforms into a flesh and blood Freddy Krueger.

Needless to say, that pissed off a lot of fans at the time, and still continues to do so today. Coupled with its generalized shortcomings (acting, writing, direction, etc), its bizarre homo-eroticism and its overall weirdness, Freddy’s Revenge is not a fan favorite, and is offend cited as the series’ low-point: a rushed and lazy attempt to cash-in on the success of the original, with Dream Warriors being a much more creative and fitting sequel. True enough, I can concede.

However, I have a soft spot for Elm Street 2, cause well…

  1. I’m a sucker for bad movies, and this one delivers.
  2. Clu Gulager is awesome. I don’t care what movie he’s in, he’s always on point.
  3. Grady is the man (as played by Ron Rusler of The Daggers….fuck yeah Thrashin’)
  4. Freddy is still scary, and he retains his creep-factor before plunging into total buffoonery as per 3, 4 et al.
  5. Jesse is such a little wiener, it’s hard not to love him. Horror’s first male Scream Queen.
  6. You could write a thesis paper on its homosexual subtext. In fact, I kinda found one looking for gifs.  Make that 2.
  7. And I appreciate the attempt to do something different. Though its failure does lead to subsequent films treading back (and back again) into more familiar waters, it’s still nice to see people trying something different.

That being said (and long-windedly at that) let’s get to Bobby Orlando’s funky beats, as heard during the pool party sequence of Freddy’s Revenge.

 

Audio

Down In The Boiler Room

TRACK #65:

Down In The Boiler Room by The Elm Street Group

Segueing nicely out of our Horror Host block is this oddity that only the 80’s could have produced, featuring a man whom himself was briefly a Horror Host, Mr. Big Time…Fred Krueger.

Between Dream Warriors and The Dream Master, Freddy-Mania was nearing its peak, and some producer (bless their soul) thought it made perfectly sound financial sense to green-light Freddy’s Greatest Hits.

Dinosaur Dracula puts it best when he writes:

Beyond the costumes and suction-cupped window dolls was this album. This beautiful album, aimed at God knows who. I doubt it sold more than a few thousand copies, but then, maybe no more than a few thousand copies were produced to begin with.
It’s a bizarre thing with no clear audience. Too sophisticated for kids, too stupid for adults. Too much like show tunes for the horror crowd, too much like scary bloody horror for anyone else.
A mix of covers and original songs, Freddy Krueger is all over the album, but only rarely does he actually “sing.” Usually, he just tacks one-liners onto the verses. The actual music-making was done by the “Elm Street Group,” who I’m guessing were regular studio musicians gathered to make two months’ rent with the weirdest work they’d ever do.

Naturally, there’s a couple of these gems on Shindig, starting out with this particularly strange number concerning Freddy’s boiler room.

Led-in with a clip from Freddy’s Nightmares – Mr. Krueger’s own personal horror anthology television show that first aired the following year. The program had Freddy playing Rod Serling to all manner of neutered Elm Street-style tales where Freddy fucked with the protagonists for any number of ridiculous reasons.

Enjoy!

 

Audio

Haunted House

TRACK #64:

Haunted House by Elvira

Well, we couldn’t do a block of Horror Host hits without including the most successful, recognizable and desirable Horror Host of them all, Elvira.

Casandra Peterson was initially picked to become the new Vampira, when KHJ-TV in LA approached Maila Nurmi to reboot The Vampira Show in the early 80’s.

Maila wanted Lola Falana. KHJ did not, and essentially just hired Peterson on their own. This irked Maila so thoroughly that she completely walked away from the entire project.

No matter to KHJ, they went ahead and did it anyway, without Maila, renaming their host Elvira, and proceeding with “Elvira’s Movie Macabre.”

This also irked Ms. Nurmi. So much so that she sued Casandra Peterson for likeness infringement.

She lost the suit however, as the court found a striking similarity was not infringement enough,  and ruled in favor of Peterson. Casandra went on to find great success as The Mistress of the Dark, becoming a brand unto herself, with national syndication, spokesperson deals, 2 pinball machines, 2 feature films and scores other Elvira themed products.

A whole new generation of horror nerds had their own wet nightmares at the…hands…of the almost impossibly beautiful Casandra Peterson, who remains so iconic to horror culture, it’s difficult to think of a time without her.

Wrapping up our Horror Host block is the Mistress herself (who else) singing about the dangers of a Haunted House.

 

Audio

Morgus The Magnificent

TRACK #63:

Morgus The Magnificent by Morgus & The 3 Ghouls

Chances are, if you grew up in New Orleans between the years of 1959 and 1989 (and maybe even later) you’re familiar with local legend and House of Shock host Morgus The Magnificent.

Perhaps the most prolific host, Sid Noel’s seminal mad scientist still gets syndicated airplay down in the Big Easy, where the good doctor has one hell of a loyal fan base.

So much so that hometown hero Dr. John, who most famously speculated that he was “in the right place, but it must have been the wrong time,” cut this tune about the doc back in the early 60’s.

Released under the pseudonym band “Morgus and the 3 Ghouls,” Dr. John pays tribute to medical contemporary and self proclaimed 38th degree Mason Dr. Morgus and his late night House of Shock.

Morgus also has the honor of being one of a few hosts to have his on movie. The Wacky World of Dr. Morgus finds our titular physician creating a Batman: The Movie-style machine which turns people into dust and then back into people again.

So sit back with the 2 docs, and enjoy this old piece of Horror Host history.

 

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Vampires!


To whomever created this graphic,

I enjoy the idea here, and it would be awesome to see this expanded to include:

The Brit (Christopher Lee, any of his Dracula films)
The Neighbor (Chris Sarandon, Fright Night)
The Punk (Bill Paxton, Near Dark)
The Best Friend (Robert Sean Leonard, My Best Friend Is A Vampire)
The Virgin (Jim Carey, Once Bitten)
The Psycho (Nicholas Cage, Vampire’s Kiss)
The Poser (John Amplas, Martin)
The Revamp (Gary Oldman, Bram Stoker’s Dracula)
The Musician (Dean Cameron, Rockula)

Shindig followers! Add your own vampire archetypes to the list. Signal boost. Lets get this graphic so big it includes Radu and Grace Jones from Vamp.

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Like a Fine Wine

 patricia-von-black

Can we all just sit here for a moment and appreciate how fucking gorgeous Maila Nurmi was even as she aged?

Seconded, and wholeheartedly at that.

Audio

Vampira

TRACK #62:

Vampira by Bobby Bare

The Misfits weren’t the only cats to sing about Vampira. In fact, they weren’t even the 1st.

Back in 1958, marginally successful country singer Bobby Bare recorded this ode to Ms. Nurmi.

Though not the impassioned and awesome tune Danzig and Co. deliver, this strange old ditty is surefire Shindig fodder all the same.

 

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Mistress to the Horror Kid

thismusicleavesstains:

The most famous and reproduced image from the Misfits/Vampira summit on April 17, 1982. It should be noted that even though Arthur Googy quit the band earlier in the week the drummer did fulfill the rest of his obligations for the Walk Among Us tour (which ended the same day Lodi’s finest met tv’s spookiest). Alas, Arthur was in no mood for Kodak moments such as this. L-R: Jerry Only, Vampira, Doyle giving the Jersey fist-pump, Glenn Danzig. Photographer unknown.

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The Misfits meet Vampira

thismusicleavesstains:

The Misfits meet Vampira, April 17, 1982, at Vinyl Fetish in Los Angeles. Touched by their musical tribute, the reclusive horror hostess stepped out of the shadows to thank the band at this meet and greet. Notably absent from these shots is Arthur Googy; the drummer quit the Misfits two days earlier following a donnybrook with Glenn Danzig over a McDonald’s cheeseburger. First photo, L-R: Doyle, Vampira, Jerry Only, Danzig; foreground head unknown. Second photo, L-R: Jerry, Vampira, Doyle, Danzig. These images were both printed in the Summer 1993 issue of Ugly Things and came from Jerry Only’s personal collection. Photographer unknown.