danny elfman

Audio

Beetlejuice (Main Titles)

TRACK #231:

Beetlejuice (Main Titles) by Danny Elfman

We haven’t had a good Horror Theme here in a spell and it’s also been a while since we’ve had a visit Shindig All-Star Danny Elfman.

So, we’ll take care of both here with this addition that’s been waiting too long in the attic to pop out and scare us all.

What can we say about Beetlejuice that hasn’t been said? If you’re reading this, chances are we don’t need to tell you how great this film is, but I’m sure I’ll tack on at least a couple sentences below this that will do just that. So, who am I kidding exactly?

Arguably Tim Burton’s finest contribution to the world, everything from it’s off-beat story, wonderful production design, inspired special FX and iconic titular performance from Michael Keaton all coalesce to make this a bona fide horror comedy classic that has truly stood the test of time. I’m still shocked to see how much Beetlejuice shit I see around on Halloween. Hell, I just saw one of those obnoxious inflatable lawn decorations in a store that was a sandworm! It was the first one I ever even remotely considered putting on the front lawn.

And that is to say nothing of Danny Elfman’s amazing score, which fits this film like a black and white striped suit.

So grab a sheet, you’re handbook for the recently deceased and let’s scare the hell out of the Deetz’s!

It’s showtime!

 

Audio

This Is Halloween

TRACK #120:

This Is Halloween by Danny Elfman

If you’ve been following The Shindig for any reasonable amount of time then you may have noticed I hardly ever mention A Nightmare Before Christmas. In fact, aside from that post-Halloween gif I reblogged last year, I’ve never mentioned it before. There’s a couple of good reason for this.

One of them is that there is certainly no shortage of love shown to Tim Burton and Henry Selick’s 1993 stop motion classic around the web, especially within the Halloween circles this blog runs. I’ll wager you could recreate the film pretty handedly from just the gifs on Tumblr alone. Everyone knows it, everyone loves it. No sense in beating a dead horse, the way I see it.

More directly though, it has never been a movie I typically associate with Halloween. Sure, Jack The Pumpkin King, Halloweentown and all of that, but for me the film has always been a decidedly Christmas affair. Fuck, the word Christmas appears in its title. That’s an automatic disqualification from any Halloween movie list as far as The Shindig is concerned.

However, as everyone is well aware, the first 10 minutes or so before Jack happens into Christmastown are about as Halloweeny as as it gets, aided in no small part by this fantastic song from Halloween Hero and Shindig All-Star Danny Elfman.

It’s one of the most Halloweeny songs ever committed to film or record period and any Halloween playlist would be remiss not to include it. And whenever that claim comes down the pipe, The Shindig abides.

Everyone hail to the pumpkin song!

 

Audio

Tales From The Crypt (Theme)

TRACK #23:

Tales From the Crypt Theme by Danny Elfman

With so much representation on the Shindig, in one form or another, it’s strange to see we’ve gotten this far without including Danny Elfman.

Easily my favorite anthology-form horror offering, HBO’s Tales From the Crypt positively scared the shit out of me in my youth, largely thanks to its creepy intro with that incredible model, the Cryptkeeper bounding from his coffin like a ghoulish jack in the box, and Elfman’s eerie theme here.

Perhaps my favorite theme of all time, and certainly my favorite of Elfman’s (maybe with The Simpson’s catching a close 2nd), creeping us a little further into the Shindig, here’s Tales from The Crypt.