Deck the halls with boughs of Stephen King movie adaptations because ‘tis the season to be spooky. With Halloween rearing its black and orange head, we find ourselves in a tizzy – how should we spend the season? If you’re a sucker for the weird and kooky, especially when it comes to film and music, you’ve come to the right place. So, here lies a list of strange, slightly offbeat movies and music, for the strange, slightly offbeat person.
It’s safe to say that Hollywood has sucked the vampire concept dry, from annoying teen vamp Edward Cullen to Abraham Lincoln Vampire Slayer. This is not to say that decent vampire media doesn’t exist (it does!), and it can be enjoyed. One just has to dig a little deeper to resurrect it. The second DVD I ever owned was the 1987 film, The Lost Boys (TLB). Paralleling Twilight, TLB centers around the happenings of a gang of teenage vamps. In fact, one could say that they’re a bit like the Cullens. Except they ride motorcycles. They don’t sparkle. And have, like, totally obnoxious ‘80s hair. So, maybe these vampires are nothing like the Cullens, but maybe that’s a cosmic sigh of relief. The Lost Boys is a little funny, a little scary, and an entertaining watch for any Friday night. It’ll sure satisfy all your ‘80s, vampy-blood cravings. However, if you’re on the search for something more goosebump-inducing, try the once-book-now-movie flick, Interview With a Vampire. It follows the life of French vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac and gives an eerily classic view on the now deluded vampire tale. Plus, it’s 123 minutes of Brad Pitt with fangs and Fabio hair. Enough said.
The vampire fad extends to far more than just movies. In Jonathan Richman’s song, “Vampire Girl,” he affectionately serenades his vampire ladies: the stereotypical seductresses of the femme-monster world. Clearly this cliché stands true, for Richman seems to be singing to his vamp lady with big, blood-red hearts in his eyes. He gets “so intrigued” when the ladies look like a vampire girl. What does a vampire girl look like exactly? Bella Swan? Elvira Mistress of the Dark? Richman never really specifies, but he does claim that she has a “serpentine walk” and is in possession of all his records. It seems like love has taken a real bite out of Richman and, in turn, has translated into a wicked fun song for any Halloween party.
Anyone with eyes, ears, and a television set know that zombies are the new “thing” in pop culture. It seems that the vampire trend has officially been slayed (thank you Abraham Lincoln?), and zombies are now all the rage. Think The Walking Dead and World War Z. However, you aren’t a true zombie fan until you’ve seen the Night of the Living Dead. This black and white 1968 feature film is considered one of the best zombie movies of all time. Its quirky tagline of “if it doesn’t scare you, you’re already dead,” will surely conjure a few giggles. It is an old horror movie after all – though the year of a film doesn’t always deter the scary effectiveness, we’ll get back to this later with the Exorcist – it’s still intense and gory enough to evoke a few cringes. If the thought of even sitting down to watch that is more terrifying than the movie itself, perhaps Shaun of the Dead is a better option. Hilarious and a little foul-mouthed, this movie follows Shaun (Simon Pegg) and his best friend Ed, while they take down the British zombies. In one scene they use their records as weapons against the slow-moving undead. Shaun and Ed comically sift through vinyls and pick out ones that are good enough to throw:
“Purple rain?”
“No.”
“Sign ‘o the Times?”
“Definitely not.”
“The Batman soundtrack?”
“Throw it.”
This is a movie that can be adored in any season, but it is especially charming in the fall.
I’ll be dead honest with you – I don’t know any decent songs about zombies. I do, on the other hand, know of a phenomenal band called the Zombies. No, they aren’t decaying, and they don’t sing about brains, but some of their songs have lyrics weird enough to deserve a spot on this list. In their critically acclaimed album Odessey and Oracle, they have a song called Care Cell of 44. With the fun, upbeat piano and smooth-as-silk vocals, one would never guess that this is a song about a love affair with a jailbird who’s just about to be released from prison. What they were arrested for in the first place, no one is certain. Maybe we just don’t want to know. Based on an incident in the first World War, Butcher’s Tale is even creepier. It begins with laborious breathing accompanied with the organ in a manner stereotypical of a haunted house. This has been dubbed by Matthew Greenwald from Allmusic critics as the Zombies’ “strangest and most experimental song.”
If you’ve come this far and neither vampires nor zombies have tickled your fancy, there’s nothing to fear. Psycho, the Hitchcock masterpiece with the first use of that all-too-familiar shower scene, is a classic, and the only time Anthony Perkins was way more creepy than attractive. The Shining is another spooky movie must-see. Jack Nicholson is at his craziest, and Shelley Duvall’s screaming face is simply unforgettable. William Friedkin’s 1973 film, The Exorcist, is one of the scariest movies of all time. It’s nothing short of graphic exorcisms, human heads spinning 360 degrees and little girls spitting out demonic phrases like they’re going out of style. So, if scaring yourself witless is what you seek this fall, then by all means, Godspeed.
Halloween is a time for watching the Munsters, for snapping to the Addam’s Family theme and watching the Poltergeist one too many times. October gives you that incredible chance to watch all those campy horror films and listen to the music that just doesn’t sound right during the summer. So, get a witches shawl on, a broomstick you can crawl on and do the Monster Mash until you just can’t mash no more.
