Well today’s going to
be Part 2 of the series, and it’s going to be all the kid’s favorite style of
movie: Horror. That’s right, I’m talking
about scary movies and particular the slasher films of the 1980’s, the best
period for the cut ‘em up movie. I can do a whole post about these kind of
movies in particular but I’ll save it as we don’t have time for it.
But since I am being nice, a
Slasher film in a nutshell is one that has a main character who isn’t very nice, in fact
he/she loves to kill random people for purpose. It can be because they are homicidal
maniacs, their place of residence/family are in danger, or they love the thrill
of killing. While the set up of these movies may be the same, not one killer is
as they all have their strengths and weaknesses. Each movie was hit because of the cheap
budgets and made a ton of money. Such series as: Halloween, Friday the 13th,
Nightmare on Elm Street, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hellraiser, and Child’s Play
were the most popular faces of this movement.
It was truly an art form in it’s own nasty yet lovable way. And often they take an
enjoyment out of making it extremely gruesome, as gore is the staple of genre.
In their heyday these movies were called “Utter Crap” but there are millions of
fans who love to different, including your author. These are great sources of
anger and fun to watch how un-realistic they are, it’s pure entertainment. And the artists of the 80’s could not get
enough, they even made theme songs for them.
Today I’m choosing the 3 best of these songs to talk about in the same format as yesterday. Let’s all
crank up our chainsaws, oil our machetes, and find a big knife, because this is
liable to get messy…
BEST 80’s
HORROR/SLASHER FILM THEME SONGS
Friday The 13th
Part 6: Jason Lives
Singer/Group: Alice
Cooper
Song/Songs: “He’s Back (The Man Behind The Mask)”
Movie Plot: Jason Voorhees died in 1984 on Sunday the 15th
1984 after he was killed by a
young bald headed special effects freak named Tommy Jarvis. Jarvis in turn lost
his shit and was put in the crazy house, and after an incident a few years
after his death, Tommy and buddy wants to end Jason for good. However due to
bad luck, Jason’s alive again, and is a Zombie! It’s up to the mental patient
to save the day and town of Forrest Green (No Longer Crystal Lake) before Jason
takes control for good.
Stars: TJ Graham as Jason
1984 was supposed to be
the end of Friday The 13th.
Paramounrt Pictures had enough of the series, and especially after the
utter piece of crap of F13th Part 3-D, Jason had to be sliced and diced for
good. They in return hired a great action
director, one of the best effects men in the business in Tom Zavini, and a
great cast (especially Crispen Glover and Corey Feldman) and they made in my
opinion the best of the series in Part 4: The Final Chapter. However there was
a snag: The movie goers loved the film and it made a ton of money. A sequel had to be made, so instead of
quality they went for in a utter WTF? Direction.
For Part 5 they hired a
porno director and a shitty cast and out came “The New Beginning” which while
it made a good deal of money and has some underground fans (including myself,
it’s a guilty pleasure,) but the movie was hated for it’s sleaziness and most of all
it lacked Jason, instead an imposter dressed up like him. A change had to be made, so they made Jason
into a zombie! Yeah, and the movie became a horror comedy. Part 6 was a hit but
was forgot about for the most part, which is a shame because it’s quality for a
slasher film.
To bring attention,
Paramount decided to have a big name do a rock song. Several people passed
stupidly until Punk legend Alice Cooper said yes, mainly due to his gimmick of
horror based stage shows. He needed a boost as he was attempting a comeback,
and he decided this movie would be a good place to do it. He even had the song
as the starter on his new album in 1986/87, so it had to be good and worth
buying, and it truly was.
Compared to his early
works it’s a departure, mainly due to the song’s new wave style. Cooper had a
punkish sound in his early stuff but yet this turned out very well. He and the
song writer’s worked hard to not only have a Cooper-esqe song, but to capture
the tone of the movie and series at the same time. While some people hate this
song, claiming it does not fit, I think it does perfectly. Compared to the
songs made for the series before and after it’s not even close, and I even consider this one of
Cooper’s best songs. His career took off after this again, and it’s no wonder
to see why.
Movie: See it if you
like horror comedies, especially if you’re a fan of the series
Song: Classic Alice all
the way
A Nightmare On Elm
Street Part 3: Dream Warriors
Singer/Group: Dokken
Song/Songs: Dream Warriors
Movie Plot: Freddy’s back again, this time haunting a
spoiled brat named Kristen who is into self mutilation. He forces her to
attempt suicde so she is forced into a crazy house, where she finds friends who
are having the same problem as her: Freddy wants to off them one by one. They
find an unexpected ally in Nancy Thompson the hero of the Original. The group
then teams up in Dream Land where they discover they have inner powers to fight
Freddy once and for All.
Stars: Robert
Englund, Patricia Arquette, Heather Langenkamp, Lawerence Fishburne, and John
Saxon
The orginal NOES is one
of the better films of the 1980’s period due to it’s innovation of effects
while on a small and shitty budget. Plus
it was well directed, acted, and just a well done horror film, and it helped
slasher films gain new popularity. It was a hit and made New Line films survive
and expand. Then came Part 2 with it’s
not very hidden Undertones, horrendous acting, and just unlikeable characters. Despite
being very dark and having good background music, the movie was
laughable but somehow managed to make money. Then came Part 3 to fix the mess
for good.
The Director Chuck Russell
(Who made The Mask with Jim Carrey 7 years later,) had his hands full but managed to do well
under pressure and made a very unique and wonderfully fun movie. Along with the cast of actors who could
actually act and this created a great sequel, and I beg to differ the best of
the series, even better than the first movie and that’s not easy. The movie was a mega hit and I mean MEGA. It
made 30 Million in it’s first week (Low for now but huge for 1987) and was the
first independent film to be #1 nationwide in the modern era (which started in
1982). The series then kept going until 1991, when Freddy was killed off for
only three years.
The producers wanted a
memorable theme song, as the original’s was very forgettable. So they decided
to skip pop and head down the heavy metal route and choose a popular band. Many of them laughed at the idea of recording
the theme, so it took a while to find the right choice, and then came in
Dokken. They were a middle of the road band that had a decent hit album in 1984
but were mostly into touring. They said
yes so the song was recorded in 1987.
The song itself is a
typical heavy metal song, but yet it’s unique for the type of film it was
in. While a horror film theme, the song
is great and is surprisingly motivating to a point, I used to have it as a
weight lifting song and it worked very well.
The lyrics reflect the struggles of the movie’s characters as they
struggle to manage their dreams and overcome the main evil, Kruger before they
are slashed and diced. The tagline of the song is great too: “Maybe tonight
you’ll be gone!” It’s repeated several times and each time the pace picks up
and gets heavier.
Without knowing what
the song was about it could mistake for a rather inspiring metal tune but when watched
before or after the movie the music video helps to clear it up. The music video itself was a major hit on MTV
in 1987 and is played a good deal still on VH1 Classic and is one of the more
well known vids of the 80’s period. The ending is also classic, as Freddy gets
a dose of his own medicine. It’s rather hilarious and classic, great stuff.
Movie: Defiantly See, a
very creative horror film. I’m just
scratching the surface there.
Song: Classic 80’s
Metal song, music video’s great as well.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
2:
Song/Songs: Stewart Copeland
Movie Plot: 10 years after the original, Leatherface and
his screwed up family survived, and they love to tramatize the
countryside. After killing two
douchebags while on the air of a radio station, it get’s the ear of a cop who
wants to put an end to the killing, and with the help of a Radio DJ they try to
do just that.
Stars: Dennis Hopper
Ten years after the original TCM came out in 1974, the sequel finally came. Thanks to the mob who ripped the original
crew out money they deserved , a lawsuit took forever and there could not be a
proper sequel. Finally in 1984 the movie
was given a green-light, and the orginal director/ some of the cast returned.
However the movie was completely different than the orginal. Instead of relying
on gore and psychological mind fucking, the sequel switches that in for dark
horror/grossout comedy and it surprisingly works.
This movie is way too bizarre
and crazy to write about but that’s what makes it so good and I am going to
give it a shot. For a horror film it’s
very hilarious and has a good amount of gore to top it off. Plus the fact that
the main “hero’s” even crazier than Leatherface makes for some good stuff all
through the movie. They have a chainsaw duel in the style of Star Wars LightSaber
fights , and despite sounding like I am making it up it’s true. It’s not for the faint of heart and is tough
to watch for those who hate gore and extreme violence. But to us true horror
fans it’s one of the best horror comedies ever made. Hell even the poster’s
hilarious, it’s a parody of the breakfast club.
The movie’s soundtrack is
a mix of popular 80’s bands and one hit wonders but the song I choose was
unusual. Most average person has never
heard of Stewart Copeland but to make it short, he was the drummer in the band “The
Police” with Sting. His dad was the manager and he and Sting did not get along,
which caused them to break up. Sting went on to be a major solo star while
Stewart stayed in the back and did background music for movies and games like
Spyro The Dragon, which I love.
This is the first
country song on the list, and is not really a pure country song. It’s very
unqiue and is far from the traditional American country mild. I love the guitars in it, and the singing by
Copeland fits very well. There may be even some banjos in it, but I can’t find
an instrumental anywhere so I don’t know for sure. He’s not the best singer in
the world but he works well here as it’s a good fit for the movie it was
in. The lyrics reflect how bizarre and
strange the rural parts of the country are, especially the southeast. This movie fits well with the series and when
I watch either this, the orginal, or the remakes I always listen to this right
quick beforehand because I love it and it helps psyche me up for the backwoods
setting of the movie.
This song was never
released sadly so I had to rip this from the DVD, so that’s why it’s so good
quality. It was placed in the end credits and is a good closer to the end of
the movie after the craziness you have just witnessed. The beginning of the
video shows just that.
Film: If you can handle Gore, watch it, if not then
skip it. If you’re a major horror fan then you should be thrilled.
Song: Under-appreciated 80’s Country Hybrid Classic.
Well with a ton of films to choose from, I choose three and it was not easy. But these are three I best enjoy so there you go. Be on the lookout for the next part soon.
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