Music to Make Horror Movies By: Hattie McDaniel

Published November 25, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

After Hattie McDaniel won her Oscar in 1940, it was 24 years before another black performer received the statuette. While criticized for taking on stereotypical roles in her lifetime, McDaniel is now often praised for being a pioneer in the entertainment industry and for her commanding performances under frequently humbling circumstances. Nicely, the fun revue Thank Your Lucky Stars allowed her majestic personality to fill the frame as something other than a domestic and she appears to truly be enjoying herself as the neighborhood gossip in the number below, Ice Cold Katie.

Granted, McDaniel’s connections to the horror genre were small as she was mainly cast in comedies. But she did appear alongside terror icon Bela Lugosi in 1935’s Murder By Television. As the cook Isabella, she provided the studio mandated, over exaggerated comic relief, but she is eventually given a couple of more level headed moments. In one more progressive segment, she even interrupts a murder scene intruder and helps throw him out, proof positive of her power and strength as a performer.

Hattie Murder shots

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Olivia de Haviland

Published November 18, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

Filled with iconic musical numbers, the 1943 revue-style film Thank Your Lucky Stars is notable for showing the world a much sillier side to the usually regal and calmly gentile Olivia de Haviland. In the goofy The Dreamer, wherein this award winning performer is paired with George Tobias and the equally iconic Ida Lupino (Thriller, The Devil’s Rain, Food of the Gods), she so revels in the chance to be outrageous that the fact that her singing voice was dubbed by Lynn Martin doesn’t do anything to diminish her work here.

Haviland, who is still living a life of refinement and grace in England, nicely, lent her talents to such goth-tinged efforts as The Dark Mirror, in which she plays twins suspected of nefarious dealings, Lady in a Cage, Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte and The Swarm, as well. These credits add irrefutable evidence to the fact that she is the one of the true queens of all genres of filmmaking prowess. Hail, hail!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Pointer Sisters

Published November 11, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

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Sibling rivalry does its thing. My sister’s love of Beauty and the Beat by The Go-Go’s meant that I was unable to truly worship at its punk-pop greatness until nostalgia hit me in my mid-40s. Meanwhile, my brother’s love of Madonna and Olivia Newton-John left their charms eternally foreign to me. Another of his favorite records, the Pointer Sisters’ Contact, also came under my powers of derision. But a recent pick-up from a dollar bin has uncovered its darker, smoky charms to me. The popular Dare Me, for example, seems like the perfect background music to the violent cat and mouse face-offs that exist between such supernatural slasher icons as Freddy and Jason and their (often ingeniously) wily targets, Nancy Thompson and Laurie Strode.

Thankfully, The Pointer Sisters are still spreading their rich magic – one of their songs was even used on Ryan Murphy’s short lived Scream Queens – and showing the world how their blend of pop, rock, soul and (even) country music made them one of the world’s truly under-sung super groups. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/The-Pointer-Sisters-Official-131523497289/ –

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Nona Hendryx

Published November 4, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

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In the week that we totally need to rock the vote, no one gets more nominations for awesomeness than the amazing Nona Hendryx. As a vital part of Labelle, the legendary super group responsible for the rightfully celebrated Lady Marmalade, Hendryx did much of the group’s writing, allowing them to dive into rare stratospheres of rock and roll and fabulous science fiction flecked soul.

Hendryx, who had a couple of compositions decorating late night cable thriller The Surrogate, also married the thrills of romantic adventure with the perfect description for horror film victims with her infectious song Soft Targets.

An activist and a mighty force of nature, Hendryx is still keeping the rhythm alive at https://www.facebook.com/nonahendryxofficial/ and https://www.nonahendryx.com/.

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Adele Bertei

Published October 28, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

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She’s my favorite eclectic monstress, her work pitching from No Wave aggression to pop smoothness and back again. Her collaborators, ranging from the queenly Nona Hendryx to the sci-fi flecked Thomas Dolby, have also expanded her artistic reach, making Adele Bertei one of the most interesting figures in the ‘80s cultural landscape and beyond.

Not only has her art celebrated queer feministic contexts, but Little Lives, Big Love, the single from her unjustly underappreciated solo album on Chrysalis, also sent out a strong anti-apartheid message.

Thankfully, Bertei, who is also a writer and filmmaker, is still creating vast, rich cultural landscapes at https://www.adelebertei.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/AdeleBertei/.

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Bruce Davison

Published October 21, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

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Beloved by the queer community for his Oscar nominated work in Longtime Companion, an acclaimed look at the effects of the AIDS crisis, the eclectic Bruce Davison has also worked with a number of classic film’s acclaimed divas.

Bruce-Davison-Mame-1974 In the skittering horror of Willard, Davison shared significant screen time with Elsa Lanchester, the Frankenstein Monster’s favored bride. A few years later, he played the nephew of comedic genius Lucille Ball in the celluloid version of the musical Mame. In that project, he added the role of vocalist to the many notches on his creative belt.

Nicely, Davison is still providing layered and passionate support to many of gothic filmdom’s talented divas. His recent work opposite Lin Shaye in Insidious: The Last Key provided both performers with the chance to connect with subtle yet deep emotion. He also provided a glow of kind energy against the more nefarious outpourings of such genre pros as Meg Foster and Dee Wallace in Rob Zombie’s very personal Lords of Salem.

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Lucille Ball

Published October 14, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

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Known to many as the queen of comedy, the adventurous Lucille Ball was also movie royalty. Her many projects ranged from dramas (Stage Door) to musicals (Ziegfeld Follies) to smart amusements (Room Service). She also conquered the blacker edges of cinema with The Dark Corner, a popular film noir, and Lured, a gothic horror piece that had her showgirl facing down a Jack the Ripper type and a very neurotic couturier, played with nervy zest by Boris Karloff.

Admired for her enthusiastic appearances on a number of variety programs, Ball teamed with Mel Tormé to spoof the rock and roll flecked beach films. Nicely, The Surfboard Came Back By Itself also provides a bit of Jaws flair for all animals gone wild diehards.

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Marlene Dietrich

Published October 7, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

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Marlene Dietrich is far from a horror baby. But this cinematic icon did work with Alfred Hitchcock, the genuine master of suspense, in the fun thriller Stage Fright. As a favor, she also graced Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil, which contained elements of odd noir and general spookiness, with one of her most indelible portrayals.

This classy lady also knew how to rock and roll as evidenced by her smooth take on Boomerang Baby, a staple of her live shows for years.

This simple, sexy performance proves that Dietrich was not just one thing…she was everything!!!!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Melba Moore

Published September 23, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

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From the gilded Broadway stages to poverty row, the luminescent Melba Moore has seen it all. Her appearances in Def By Temptation and The Mandrake Root episode of Monsters also prove that she likes to put a little fear into the hearts of her devoted fans.

Further showing her eclectic nature, Moore, known for the fluidity of her rhythm and blues crooning, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Female Rock Performance for her sexy take on Read My Lips, the title track of her successful 1985 album.

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Bette Midler

Published September 16, 2018 by biggayhorrorfan

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From the towel clad patrons of NYC Bathhouses to distinguished opening night Broadway crowds, the divine Bette Midler has entertained them all. Nicely, she has also noticeably charmed a generation of queer terror lovers with her hysterical take on witchery in the beloved horror comedy Hocus Pocus.

Thankfully, Midler also worked some of that dark magic with her take on My Eye On You. This mysteriously possessive tune is a highlight of No Frills, her enjoyable album of rock and New Wave numbers. A deadly journey in less than 4 minutes, this number proves why Midler always has us risking our lives by coming back for more.

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