Music to Make Horror Movies By: Dead and Buried

Published November 3, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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Director Gary Sherman has always displayed a sense of social urgency and class in his work. In 1981’s Dead and Buried, he examined the destructiveness of totalitarianism amid the face melting special effects and bloodshed. He also showed true style by using big band tunes to underscore some of the more realistic mayhem. Of special interest to songbird aficionados, he chose Doris Day’s beloved rendition of Sentimental Journey to compliment a joyful moment with Jack Albertson’s magnetic William Dobbs.

Day, who died in 2019, and Albertson, who finished out his long film career with Dead and Buried, definitely are a smart team-up. Both appeared together in 1961’s Lover Come Back to Me, making this fun, macabre mash-up all the more meaningful.

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Virginia Mayo

Published October 27, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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One of the first to earn a star on the Hollywood Walk Fame, the dazzling Virginia Mayo added gleeful zest to such projects as White Heat, (the award winning) The Best Years of Our Lives and (the truly fun) She’s Working Her Way Through College. Her finely tuned acting antics also found spooky purchase in a diverse array of macabre settings. Her performances in Castle of Evil, Haunted, Evil Spirits and an episode of Night Gallery understandably brought her great acclaim.

Some lucky appreciators also got a chance to see her perform onstage in such shows as No, No Nanette, Good News and, perhaps most importantly, Stephen Sondheim’s Follies.

The Follies clip is especially notable as it gives people a chance to actually hear Mayo’s singing voice. While her characters often silkily warbled tunes in her movies, she was almost always dubbed, allowing people to concentrate fully on her smooth dance moves as opposed to favoring her dulcet tones.

Mayo, who died at the age of 84 in 2005, also made appearances in such cult films as Midnight Witness, the notorious Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood, and The Silver Chalice, which featured an oft-robed Paul Newman in his first major role.

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Review: Cabaret

Published October 24, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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Examining the impact of the Nazi party on Berlin in the 1930s, Cabaret is a much loved musical with elements that are distinctly horrific. Nicely, in Cowardly Scarecrow Theatre Company’s current production, directors Marc Lewallen and Brad Younts highlight this fact by adding a decidedly Mary Shelley slant to If You Could See Her, one of the show’s most amusing, ultimately gut crushing numbers.

In keeping with that spirit, this show genuinely smashes expectations across the board. The naive protagonist Cliff, usually rendered as a bland collegiate soul, is given life and personality by Scott Sawa’s engaging portrayal here. He even gives this frequently colorless figure a sense of soft humor, allowing the show’s devastating ending to reflect not only the murderous intent of Hitler and his minions, but the loss of personal innocence, as well. Meanwhile, Anthony Whitaker not only sings the role of Herr Schultz with ecstatic sweetness, but gives him a delightfully romantic heart, as well, providing an endearing ingredient that other revivals have overlooked.

Of course, all of this would mean nothing without the perfect Sally Bowles and Caitlin Jackson is damn near that. Giving the character the expected oomph and sass, she also provides her with a lived in aura that makes her distinctly believable. Merging her natural sexiness with a sorrowful sense of humanity, she gifts audiences by revealing a character who is truly a victim of her own reckless desires, providing another contrast to Schultz, The Emcee (a fine Kevin Webb), Bobby (a joyful Josh Kemper) and the other members of the Kit Kat Club who are all finally victims of a sadistic regime. Jackson’s take on the title number, as well, is not only in earthy contrast to the assorted ingénues who usually brightly perform it, but a great indicator of the complicated emotional underpinnings of Bowles, as well.

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The decision to stage this version in the upstairs bar at Chief O’Neill’s in Chicago is also a wise move, allowing audiences to revel in the atmosphere that is being skillfully created here. One can truly feel the punk energy in band member Aaron Smith’s rhythmic drumming and deliciously partake in the motivations behind every wicked arch in Sydney Genco’s seductive eyebrows as she happily manipulates as the determined, vengeful Kost.

Cabaret, which obviously comes highly recommended, runs through Friday October 25^th at Chief O’Neill’s in Chicago. Tickets are available at https://cstccabaret.bpt.me/.

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Freda Payne and Belinda Carlisle

Published October 20, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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When you’re a possessed killer doll there is only one thing that you need, besides an innocent soul or two to take over (of course), and that is — a band of gold. Thankfully, for the over ominous Annabelle that’s exactly what she receives in the first few minutes of her latest offering, Annabelle Comes Home. As the Warrens, the central couple of this film series, drive our deadly inanimate lass off to her final resting place, Freda Payne’s classic song of heartbreak pops up on the radio.

Of course, Annabelle being Annabelle, she might prefer a still sweet yet harder edged cover version like the one provided by Belinda Carlisle, the sassily magnetic leader of the Go-Go’s.

But whatever version she ultimately chooses, there is one thing for certain -this mistress of mayhem definitely has good taste!

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Unsung Heroines of Horror: Marguerite Churchill

Published October 18, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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One of early horror’s most refreshing presences, the glorious Marguerite Churchill charmed her way through two significant entries of macabre mayhem in 1936.

Working with Boris Karloff under the intense supervision of the distinguished Michael Curtiz (Casablanca), Churchill’s Nancy spends the majority of The Walking Dead radiating with lush concern for Karloff’s ill used John Ellman. Brought back to life after being sent to his death by a crew of mob lowlifes, including the eternally oily Ricardo Cortez as Nolan, Ellman’s revenge fueled actions are magnified in an understanding light here via Karloff’s haunted facial tics and Churchill’s sympathetic glow.

Dracula’s Daughter meanwhile allowed Churchill to display a sassier nature. Consistently providing comic aggravation for esteemed psychiatrist Jeffrey Garth (Otto Kruger), Churchill is full of zesty energy here. Even when her character faces peril as the victim of the exotic Countess Marya (Gloria Holden), Churchill shines with warmth. It’s no surprise that, at the film’s fade out, the darker charms of Holden pale next to Holden’s vibrant spark and Kruger’s Garth is as smitten with her as those many lucky viewers in the dark.

Ultimately surviving two of her three children by several years, Churchill retired from the screen in the early ‘50s. Later she spent many years overseas, before putting down roots in Oklahoma. Wherever she went, though, one hopes that she understood the depths of her filmic legacy and all the happiness that she provided cinema lovers, worldwide.

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Helen Morgan and Lillian Roth

Published October 8, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

Helen Morgan’s lovely take on Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man from Show Boat is used to grand effect in Alfred Sole’s unusually powerful horror effort Alice, Sweet Alice. Introducing the pivotal presence of Mr. Alphonso, a creepy landlord who antagonistically preys upon the title character, Sole uses this number in the background to illustrate the strange emotional landscape of this sometimes pitiful, always unsavory character.

Morgan (above left), who died of alcoholism at an early age, had two biographies filmed of her life and troubled times. In an interesting coincidence, Sole cast Lillian Roth (above right), a singer and actress in the tradition of Morgan, in a small but pivotal role of a pathologist in the film. In reality, Roth’s path echoed Morgan’s on many levels, adding a nice layer of show business coincidence to this well loved film, which was recently given the deluxe Blu-ray treatment from Arrow Video. As with Morgan, Roth’s life was given a cinematic appraisal by Susan Hayward, who was nominated for an Oscar for her work, in I’ll Cry Tomorrow.

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Hopelessly Devoted to: Laurinda Barrett

Published October 3, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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Esteemed theater actress Laurinda Barrett is probably best known to celluloid buffs from her work in the 1968 film adaptation of Carson McCullers’ The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Eagle eyed viewers will also remember her appearance in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Wrong Man, as well.

Laurinda Wrong Man Thankfully, working with the Master of Suspense must have prepared Barrett for her work as Molly Sherwood on the long running mystery soap The Edge of Night. With knife like precision and incisive skill, Barrett enacted Sherwood’s reign of terror with a rare sensitivity – and a cold blooded determination. Illogically predisposed to do away with anyone who seemingly threatened a loved one, Sherwood not only calmly killed those she considered perpetrators, but also anyone she suspected may have knowledge of her crimes.

Utilizing horror influences to the extreme here, this EON plotline reached its pinnacle when Sherwood stabbed one offender while wearing a disturbingly cheery clown hand puppet to mask her fingerprints.

A veteran of multiple soap operas, including All My Children and Guiding Light, it is ultimately Barrett’s macabre run as Molly that lingers on in viewers’ minds. Decades after those initial airdates, this observation is a true testament to the richness and power of her work all those years ago – and proves that even without superstar status, this dedicated performer made a true impact on people’s lives.

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Music to Make Horror Movies By – Little Boots

Published September 29, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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Tenth anniversary analysis articles on Jennifer’s Body, the feminist horror buddy flick scripted by Diablo Cody, have focused on the much renewed appreciation brewing for this initially maligned exercise in fright making. (For the record…I loved it from the get go and saw it twice in the theater before it quickly disappeared from the screens.)

Besides its energetic performances and enthusiastic direction, the film also featured a killer soundtrack. One of the most notable numbers was the perky yet strangely ominous New in Town, sassily essayed by the unforgettable Little Boots.

Perfectly capturing the film’s essence with that song, Little Boots is now winning over fans’ hearts anew while touring in celebration of Hands, the album that initially featured this tune.

https://www.facebook.com/littleboots https://www.littlebootsmusic.co.uk/

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Unsung Heroines of Horror: K.T. Stevens

Published September 27, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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Sometimes heroines of horror are unsung simply because they don’t have any true horror projects to their credit. Take the unforgettable K. T. Stevens for example. While she doesn’t have a Frankenstein or Dracula on her resume, she did play Vanessa Prentiss on The Young and the Restless for years. Her face hidden behind magnificent veils due to traumatic scarring, this character was one of the more gothic villainesses of the classic early ‘80s of soapdom. The perfect amalgamation of one dark stormy night theatrics, Vanessa made life a living nightmare for Laurie, the soap’s most prominent anti-heroine. In fact, upon learning that she was terminally ill, Prentiss staged a fight with her rival and then threw herself off the balcony of her apartment building. This assured that Laurie would be charged with her murder, a final revenge as surely psychotic as anything that Peter Lorre cooked up in Mad Love. KT 3

Starting out as a juvenile lead opposite Barbara Stanwyck in The Great Man’s Lady, Stevens enjoyed a fairly distinguished career including noir adventures (Port of New York) and guest shots on classic television shows (I Love Lucy, The Big Valley). She even took a shot gun blast to the chest as a supporting player in the T & A thriller They’re Playing with Fire.

Graced with a layered yet formidable presence, she was also a favorite of the producers of Thriller; the Boris Karloff hosted anthology series that always dealt with matters of the macabre. Stevens’ episodes were more criminal minds in nature than exercises in terror, but she got to show some range. She was the Capri pants wearing, con minded other woman in a first season episode entitled The Merriweather File. The second season’s Kill My Love found her calmly enacting calculated patrician control as the wealthy Olive Guthrie. Even though Guthrie is ultimately the victim here, her chilling use of subtle silence lingers long after the episode ends.

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The eclectic professionalism of Stevens, who passed away at the age of 74 in 1994, should come as no surprise, though. Her father was director Sam Wood (A Night at the Opera, King’s Row) and she made her debut at the age of two in one of his silent features with (child prodigy) Jackie Coogan, later Uncle Fester in the original The Addams Family.

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: My Boyfriend’s Back

Published September 22, 2019 by biggayhorrorfan

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The Angels sweet, valedictory take on My Boyfriend’s Back has insured that number a place in musical history. Their original version has even appeared in Matinee, Joe Dante’s loving nod to genre cinema and its great showmen. It was also the obvious inspiration for the beloved early ‘90s, Sean S. Cunningham produced horror-comedy My Boyfriend’s Back.

As with many iconic ‘60s songs, there have been a multitude of cover versions to charm and/or amuse the ears. Everyone from Kristy and Jimmy McNichol to Melissa Manchester and The Raveonettes have put their mark on this cheery yet revenge fueled composition.

One of the favored takes was provided by popular soap actress Sharon Gabet in the early ‘80s. At the time of the recording, Gabet was starring as Raven on the gothic mystery sudser Edge of Night. Nicely, the dark rhythms of that show’s plotlines emerge in the pulsing backgrounds in this harder edged takeover.

Gabet, a veritable soap hopper who also appeared on Another World and One Life to Live, is now the author of a number of books including From Raven to the Dove, which beautifully describes her seven year experience working on Edge and her life since then.

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P.S.: Those with sharp ears might even catch Donna De Lory’s vocals on the background of this track. De Lory, of course, has long been a part of Madonna’s roving troupe of players and is an established solo artist in her own right, as well.

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