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Music to Make Horror Movies By: 5 Star

Published August 16, 2020 by biggayhorrorfan

5 Star System Addict

Sometimes it just takes a great mind! Denise Pearson, lead singer of ‘80s British pop sensations 5 Star, obviously had an instinct that the inhabitants of such post-apocalyptic horrors as Aliens, Creepozoids and Hardware might have had a better chance of surviving with just one thing – a dance break. This video for System Addict, one of the band’s most popular numbers, brightly and enthusiastically works that theory out to vibrant effect.

 

Decades later, lucky (and loyal) listeners know that Denise is still brightening dark and desolate landscapes with appearances in musicals and on concert stages across the world.

https://www.facebook.com/denisepearsonmusic

Denise Pearson

Denise Pearson

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Beach House

Published August 10, 2020 by biggayhorrorfan

Beach House Gila

I suppose it doesn’t really matter whether Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally of Beach House were streaming low budget science fiction and horror films when composing their dreamy 2008 opus Devotion. Songs like the hypnotic Gila definitely make genre fans imagine that they were.

But whether they are releasing two magnificent albums in one year or expanding their musical horizons (as they did with 7, their latest release), this duo is always proving that they exist in the realm of the fantastic and otherworldly.

http://www.beachhousebaltimore.com https://www.facebook.com/beachhouse

Beach House Devotion

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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The Red Giallo Antics of Days’ Eve

Published August 4, 2020 by biggayhorrorfan

Eve Red Duo

Sporting a giallo red dress, her form surrounded by pure white lighting while an offscreen wind machine ruffled her hair dramatically, Days of Our Lives perennial bad girl Eve Donovan made her grand re-entrance on the daytime scene this past week.

Determined to stop reformed serial killer Ben Weston (subtly intense Robert Scott Wilson) from finding happiness on his wedding day to refreshingly honest heroine Ciara Brady (the forever spunky Victoria Konefal) , Donovan deployed a bomb as a distraction tactic (just as the ceremony completed) and whisked the former compulsive murderer off to a mysterious warehouse lair. Eve Solo Red

As portrayer Kassie DePaiva notes in a recent interview, Eve has “definitely gone off the deep end!” Of course, this is not surprising if one charts the series of misguided love affairs, false accusations and general bad luck that have plagued this character during the prime of her run on the show. Add in the fact that during his long-ago reign of terror, Ben claimed Eve’s sweet daughter Paige as one of his victims and you have a Molotov cocktail of intense motivation happening here. Now Eve is determined to brainwash Ben into murdering his new wife, allowing him to liberally partake in the intense pain that she herself feels over the loss of her greatest love, her one and only child.

Of course, as the mechanics of this revenge-soaked plot play out one truly hopes that the atmosphere will remain saturated in the glow of the European revenge horror films that it is already nicely imitating.

One thing will remain certain, though. DePaiva, who has always immersed herself into the mindset of every character that she plays, will compel and entrance….and possibly find herself with an Emmy nomination for her work – a feat that would bring her total nods for her efforts with this role up to three.

Eve Blue

For further information on Days/DePaiva, be sure to check out  https://www.facebook.com/daysofourlives & https://www.facebook.com/kassie.depaiva.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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When Legends Meet: Bela Lugosi and Greta Garbo

Published July 29, 2020 by biggayhorrorfan

Bela and Greta

As the pandemic rages on, sometimes the smallest pleasures can produce the biggest thrills. For example, the recently reopened Chicago Public Library has been an oasis for me, allowing me to check out a variety of classic films from the ’30s and ’40s, the celluloid eras that bring me the most joy, as of late.

A few weeks ago, I was happy to find 1939’s Ninotchka, the film that gave the usually regal Greta Garbo a chance to let loose and convulse with laughter due to the smart joys of the irreplaceable Billy Wilder’s script.

Layered with an expected sense of sly, often infectious humor, this classic film’s biggest surprise for me wound up being the presence of horror legend Bela Lugosi. Playing the commanding officer of Garbo’s loyal Russian ambassador, the two share a very fun scene towards the film’s end, resulting in a magical moment for those who are fans of all kinds of cinema. Showing that he was capable of subtle theatrics and able to stretch his skills far beyond the mysterious creatures and mad scientists that he was usually asked to play, Lugosi, in particular, shines here with a sense of authority and truth.

Admirers of his work (and of Garbo’s undiminished power) may do well to track this gem down. Its a sure way to ease those lingering stay-at-home blues for an hour or two.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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ninotchka-1939-aff-02-g

 

 

 

 

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Isaac Hayes

Published July 26, 2020 by biggayhorrorfan

Isaac Hayes_Courtesy of Stax Archives (2)

A generation knew the iconic Isaac Hayes as the deep voiced patriarch behind South Park’s love-fetching Chef. Music fiends, meanwhile, adored him for his revolutionary soundtrack to Shaft, perhaps one of the most cherished and influential celluloid musical foundations of all time.

Perhaps surprisingly to some, Hayes had a large body of acting credits, with many notches on his genre belt, as well. Films like Escape from New York, Guilty as Charged, Acting on Impulse and the Larry Cohen-William Lustig partnered Uncle Sam all benefited greatly from his unique and powerful presence.

Dying at the (far too young) age of 65 in 2008, Hayes’ multi-faceted career is thankfully and continually being honored at www.isaachayes.com and https://www.facebook.com/isaachayes.

Isaac Uncle Sam

Hayes in Uncle Sam

 

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Hopelessly Devoted To: LaWanda Page

Published July 24, 2020 by biggayhorrorfan

LaWanda Page Main

Best known for fully bringing Aunt Esther’s opposition-style antics towards Redd Foxx’s opinionated Fred Sanford on the classic sitcom Sanford and Son to full bloom, the irreplaceable LaWanda Page was also a highly regarded comedienne with material that was a little bluer than mainstream ‘70s television audiences might have expected.

 

Terror fans, meanwhile, are sure to remember Page’s hysterically accurate response to some supernatural shenanigans in the ‘80s cult classic Mausoleum. While the exaggerated tone here may suggest something akin to the less than PC characterizations of Eddie “Rochester” Anderson and others, Page always maintains her control and, by the film’s end, her character seems like one of the smarter ones when it comes to dealing with the film’s bloody antics.

 

Page, who died at the age of 82 in 2002, also made appearances in such favorites as Friday, The Meteor Man and Shakes, the Clown earning her a much deserved and devoted following that continues to this day.

LaWanda Page Shakes

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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LaWanda Page Mausoleum

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Apollonia

Published July 12, 2020 by biggayhorrorfan

Apollonia

After winning Prince’s heart in Purple Rain, the magnificent Apollonia (Kotera) went onto terrorize genre veterans Mark Hamill and Amanda Wyss with her supernatural ways in Black Magic Woman.

Before this occult take on Fatal Attraction, though, this always striking entertainer showed her sweeter side with the fun and energetic Since I Fell For You from her underrated debut album.

A humanitarian who has devoted time to such organizations as GLAAD, Apollonia is working on her memoir and can be followed at https://www.apolloniakotero.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/ApolloniaKoteroOfficial.

Black Magic Woman

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Va-Va-Villainess: Dorothy Lamour

Published July 4, 2020 by biggayhorrorfan

Dorothy LaMour Lulu Belle

For someone held in regard most often for her untouchable beauty, the divine Dorothy Lamour had a surprisingly eclectic career. She jovially accompanied Bob Hope and Bing Crosby throughout the adventurous Road series while also breaking hearts as a love sick gun moll in Johnny Apollo. She was an endangered woman in the appropriately titled Manhandled and was even further victimized as an elderly shop owner in the opening segment of Creepshow II. Damn kids!!

Dorothy La Mour Lulu Belle duoBut she coolly and efficiently turned the tables on the more dominant sex as the advancement minded Lulu Belle in the 1948 film of the same name. Beguiling an up and coming lawyer to assist her in rising above the dusty barroom that she performs in; she soon finds herself bored by the mundane trappings of the life that he can offer. Flirtations with a successful boxer, a night club owner and a distinguished business man soon improve her station.  But ever the fickle minded schemer, she soon finds herself uninterested in the successful Broadway productions that she is starring in and, once again, longs for the honest man that she initially led to ruin.

Framed in flashback style and presented as a bit of a crime mystery, Lamour delights throughout the proceedings here. She nicely adds a bit of heart to her creation, evening out the character’s more self-involved edges. One truly believes that she has feelings for her first love, but just can’t help herself from trying to aim for ever glitterier heights.

Horror Hall of Fame:

Besides Creepshow II, Lamour also showed up in Death at Love House, a fun 1976 supernatural television film, as the former rival of a long-deceased Hollywood movie queen.

Dorothy La Mour Lulu Belle poster

Horror Mash-up: Grace Jones and Eartha Kitt

Published July 2, 2020 by biggayhorrorfan

eartha-kitt-robin-givens-halle-berry-eddie-murphy-grace-jones-boomerang

If you ever doubted that an Eddie Murphy movie could offer something special for the gay community, please consider 1992’s Boomerang.

Here Marcus, Murphy’s advertising executive (not so) extraordinary, meets his match when confronted with Eartha Kitt’s sexually adventurous beauty queen Lady Eloise and Grace Jone’s unstoppable super model Strangé. Seeing both of these icons onscreen at the same time is an incredible delight and worth the film’s 117-minute running time. As always, these two are forces of nature and they command the proceedings whenever they are featured. scene 2

While Jones and Kitt’s outsider status automatically appeals to both the queer and the horror crowds, each of them actually do have some genre credits between them. Jones magnificently brought the title enchantress of Vamp to life while Kitt dove into the frenzied antics of Old Lady Hackmore in Earnest Scared Stupid, cult classics, depending on who you ask, both.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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grace jones boomerang

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Della Reese

Published June 28, 2020 by biggayhorrorfan

Della Reese

Much grittier than her Touched By An Angel persona may have suggested, the amazingly eclectic Della Reese had a vast, multi-leveled career. Her extensive credits even include an appearance in Psychic Killer, a horror effort directed by B-movie stalwart Ray Danton, the one time husband of Creature from the Black Lagoon’s Julie Adams.

Audiophiles meanwhile have embraced One More Time, a mid-60s recording effort that finds Reese at the peek of her performing powers.

A more sensual Reese is discovered on her interesting cover of Bob Dylan’s Lay, Lady, Lay, as well.

Proving herself to be a performer of many moods and textures, Reese is eternally honored at https://dellareese.com/.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

Psychic-Killer-Neville-Brand-Della-Reese

Reese with Neville Brand in Psychic Killer

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