The most celebrated Sub-Category on Halloween Shindig gets the Shindig Radio treatment, as the gang teams up on the the worst Title Tracks horror has to offer.
In Part 1 of this 2 part retrospective, prepare to pay your dues with unfortunate tunes from the likes of Hauntedween, Ghost Fever and Scream Dream, before basking in the gleaming light of Part 2’s certified gold.
Join Graham C. Schofield and Mikey Rotella for a night of crud, duds and CHUDS, as we trudge through the dregs of this great Category.
The first 2 minutes of this 1989 Rock ‘N Roll Horror opus is literally a girl screaming. Now I know 2 minutes might not sound like a long time, but when it’s one chick screaming over and over, almost identically each time, it feels like some godforsaken pit of eternity. It’s one of the most excruciating openings to any film I’ve ever seen.
Yeah, she’s half naked, and a chainsaw eventually rips through her crotch, but that doesn’t change the fundamental essence of what this scene asks of its audience: can you ignore every instinct you have to cancel this shit and endure?
At first it just seems like a really long scream, and you imagine it can’t possibly keep going. Then you can’t believe it’s still happening. About 20 seconds in, it becomes humorous. This quickly fades. Seriously? She’s still screaming?
You still have another minute and a half.
Each second is another dare: how long will you just sit there and watch this?
It becomes almost suspenseful in its annoyance. How long will this persist?
Then, self reflection sets in: Why am I doing this? What’s wrong me? Are these the choices of my life?
Then the questions: How ever did someone endeavor to shoot this? To edit this?! Watch this repeatedly to tighten it up? Holy shit, this might have been longer…
What mad sadist would subject himself, his crew and his audience to this?
Then the screaming stops.
As the memory of that horror throbs in your eardrum like a stubbed toe, the words “written and directed by Donald Farmer” appear. The architect of your pain has a name. If you know this name, you’re fully aware of what’s to come. If you don’t, by the time it’s over, you will.
It’s a ballsy move, and for those with the fortitude, the subsequent 60 minutes are pure gold.
When I watch garbage, I want something akin to Scream Dream; shoestring relentlessness that’s unapologetic, mind boggling and approaching unwatchablity, while still somehow being entertaining. It’s not best in show, but it delivers enough to satisfy, and certainly more than most of the scrubs on this list.
When I watch a Rock ‘N Roll Horror flick, I also want something akin to Scream Dream; bad rock and lots of it. Whether it’s just the music, tons of footage of the bands playing it, or generalized Rock ‘N Roll goings-ons. Scream Dream’s got that in spades. Much more than most of these wanna-be’s.
It’s ain’t good, but it ain’t hard to watch (mostly) and at 68 minutes, it doesn’t stick around long enough to lose you, or make any sense of itself. It’s a winner of a loser.
More importantly, we’re getting this Title Track (incessantly) throughout. This puts Scream Dream up at the top of the Rock ‘N Roll Horror heap in our book, despite how long and repetitive that track may be. Seriously, it’s the same riff for like 4 and a half minutes….and I trimmed it down…
