TRACK #434

The Fear (Morty’s Theme) by Esham

You don’t see a lot of Rap Title Tracks in Horror. There’s a few for Comedies and Action movies, and of course all the cultural movies dating back as far as Wild Style in 1982 up to Breakin’ in ‘84. Then there’s Tenement of course, in 1985.

But, It’s odd to think that the first real Rap Horror Title Track might just be Monster Squad in 1987. In 1989 you get Run DMC giving you their take on Ghostbusters, but that seems like the whole of it through the 80’s.

As you might expect, the 90’s saw a definite increase of in Rap Title Tracks, particularly with Will Smith providing 2 of the biggest Title Tracks of all time, but Horror still doesn’t quite get the nod. 1992 saw LA Posse providing the Subtitle Title Track Lost In Time for Waxwork 2 and that’s cool.

But then 1995 comes along and provides us with 2 fully Rap-centered Horror soundtracks which both feature Title Tracks.

There’s Rusty Cundieff’s excellent horror anthology Tales from the Hood which features Domino’s Tales from the Hood. Now, while that song it’s very much a Title Track, it’s an incredibly indirect Title Track that isn’t about the movie whatsoever, almost feeling like a track that wasn’t specifically recorded for the movie at all even though it was. That doesn’t really matter, but it’s kind of a bummer and has always kept me from adding it to the playlist thus far.

Such is not the case, however, for 1995’s (though the album released in 94) other rap soundtrack, The Fear. This one features horror-core pioneer Esham’s fully loaded Title Track The Fear (Morty’s Theme).

The whole soundtrack is wall-to-wall horror-core and it’s kind of weird. Why does this low-rent supernatural slasher with absolutely no tonal prompting have such a full blown rap soundtrack? Featuring acts like Half Pit, ICP and Gravediggers, it’s an album full of Shindig possibilities. Terror honestly provides a more fitting Title Track than Esham though, with the song Graveyard Tales, which is a great example of what I refer to as an Almost Title Track and is a real strong candidate for the playlist in the future.

Given all that, these songs still feel a little out of place in this weird movie full of lame white college kids at a cabin retreat. In particular, the other Esham song, Rockz Off, which plays during a sex scene (at least) sticks out like a sore boner in its comical vulgarity. What is this soundtrack?

As for The Fear itself, while certainly not anything I’d call “good,” it’s far from something I might call “bad.” It finds Morty, a life-size wooden mannequin supposedly carved by some Native American shaman, insinuating himself into a therapeutic fear retreat being conducting as a college thesis by our man protagonist, Richard.

All the acting is across-the-board serviceable for something of this nature. Plus, it features a few familiar faces like Humanoids from the Deep’s Ann Turkel, Z-Boy from Night of the Demons 2, and showing up outta nowhere for whatever reason is a goddamn Wes Craven.

The Morty suit was provided by Mr. John Carl Buechler and the boys at MMI, and it’s fine. It’s a bit too foamy looking to read as wood really, but I’m sure there were budgetary constraints. On the gore front, none of the kills are particularly interesting or graphic, which is a bummer, and you never really get to see Morty do much of anything, which is honestly probably a good thing given the suit.

As a would-be horror icon and antagonist, Morty is an interesting and somewhat unique attempt, if basically just Temu Chief Wooden Head. His early static appearances provide some genuinely unsettling moments, but by the time ole foam latex Morty gets to his psychic Tai-Chi, the shit has moved into the pure ridiculous.

This (borderline nominal) Title Track Sweet Song from Esham, however, is another matter all together. It’s a hard hitting Monster Rap for the books, and has definitely earn this long deserved day on The Shindig.